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With the Glacier hike ticked off my list and the decent night's sleep that followed it I was ready to move on. I continued up the west coast, the views and landscape picking up from where they had left off, as before the 3 hour drive in front of me was a world away from being any hassle. I found myself in Greymouth, not much to report there really, a very quiet town which was only a stop off point to spend the night. There is nothing too much of interest about the next couple of days, I drove east to a place called Hamner Springs where they have natural hot pools you can go in. The day after I continued east to a place called Kaikoura. You can go whale watching there I was tempted to stay the night, but decided to continue up the east coast to see where else it would take me. It was the first time I had been next to the sea in New Zealand so driving up the coast with it being right next to me and having the mountains on the other was really nice, the sea was rough, crashing on the huge rocks which were close enough to spray your windscreen. People had stopped at the side of the road a few miles up so I got out to see what was going on. I looked over a wall onto the rocks and there were about 20 or 30 seals of all sizes (not the Navy ones). Don't think I have ever seen them like that before so I stayed about 20 minutes, took some pictures then continued on my way. I arrived in a place called Blenheim near the top of the east coast about 30 minutes away from Picton, which is where I would catch the ferry from the following day. Again, there is little point in dragging out the events of that evening because there were none, Blenheim is another quite town where I was just spending the night. The only eventful thing that happened there was that I got a parking ticket and I am now $40 dollars worse off. I had paid the parking meter but I got done for "Parking Incorrectly", in other words my car was not facing the way the traffic was going on the road. So yes, probably the most boring little story in this blog. I caught the ferry the following day from Picton to Wellington. My departure time was 7pm, but as with another boat journey previously mentioned it was delayed 2 hours due to conditions at sea. After stowing my car in the hold, the huge ferry set off about 10pm. It was a 3 hour journey to the North Island, Wellington being my destination. I did not sleep, but the ferry's size limited the effect of the waves and it was nothing compared to a previous experience. I got into Wellington and it was approaching 2am, I had accommodation booked and a rough of idea of where it was but driving around a new city at that time tired and fatigued was never going to be good. I got directions from what people I could find at that hour who all told me different things, the one way system baffled me with my in-experience of the place together with the inaccuracy of the map I had. I would not of got away with the manoeuvres I pulled that night had it not been approaching 3am with literally no other cars on the road. I parked and checked in going straight to sleep around 3 o'clock in a full, rather sweaty dorm. I had to be up at 8 because the parking meter parasites would be out after that fixing more penalty notices to anyone who hadn't paid (it was free from 6pm - 8am). As you might of guessed I was tired when I awoke and felt like I had not had nearly enough sleep, still I went to the shop re-stocked some supplies: milk, cornflakes, cereal bars, bananas - things that would keep me going for the next few mornings. I was faced with about a 5 hour drive to Lake Taupo (North) so despite my grumpy mood with lack of sleep it was good that I was setting off early. It doesn't take long to notice just how different the North Island is to the south. The landscape is much flatter, the car population is tripled and even though the sea was in view for a short part of the drive, compared to the south Island, well, there is no comparison. Five hours dragged considerably until something spectacular came into view.
The view was a gigantic volcano that I could see in the distance, and the windy road I was on seemed to be aiming straight for it. With snow on the peak of it despite being a sunny day, I thought how epic it would be if just erupted in front of me. As I got further toward Lake Taupo it turned out I would not be driving up the volcano, but it was the best thing I had seen for 4 hours on the road and it changed the mood a little bit. I arrived at Lake Taupo about 1:45pm and after a quick drive around I found accommodation. Easter weekend was approaching and I knew some places on the North island (and the south) where just packed with people holidaying away somewhere for the weekend. I booked a night before going down to the lake, the biggest in New Zealand, it's about 25km across. A lot of people had said you have to go to Taupo, but in my opinion it's a little overrated, it's very nice but it is just a lake and seens as I was not doing my skydive I didn't feel like spending much time there. I'm sure there are trips you can do from there but funds where low and I wasn't going to do something for the sake of it. I met a German guy sharing my room called "Frodo" which was his nickname from an early age, the first thing I said to him was where on the middle earth did you get that name from. My humour was wasted on him, and he just said he looked like Frodo when he was young and it had stuck - I could still see the resemblance. We ended up going out for something to eat and having a few beers. As we were sinking the last one 4 police cars and 2 ambulances turned up, I knew they weren't just after a pint, something had to be quite wrong. We found out a German girl had cut her wrists in the Hostel opposite where we were sat and she was in a bad condition. She came out on a stretcher alive and was going to be okay, but me and my hobbit friend couldn't believe what would make someone do that while travelling. With a bit of a gloomy end to the night we went back to the hostel. Frodo was hitchhiking and wanted to get to Rotorua which was my next destination, so I said he could come with me for the next part my road trip. The following day we set off, with only 2 hour journey to our destination. We got a hostel and decided what to do with the day. We ended up checking in, then driving half an hour from which had come to go to some natural thermal pools. It was a huge volcanic area of bubbling water and huge holes filled with yellow water and all kinds of strange liquid everywhere reaching over 100 degrees. We did a 2 hour walk around the place, and the main thing to mention is the smell of sulphur - although that's not what you thought it was when you inhaled. It was foul, nose breathing was a bad idea and combined with the landscape and the rock pools it made you think you were on another planet, it was like the bog of eternal stench (I know only a few will get the reference). Even when we left back to the town the smell was with us, it even found its way into the hostel. As nice as Rotorua is, I could not live there for that very reason. We went for a little shop and Frodo bought the essential ingredients for tea. 1 x jar dolmio, 2 x tins of tuna, 1 x packet of pasta, 2 x mars bars, 2 x Dr Pepper cans. You find pasta and sauce is very popular with travellers because it's cheap, filling, and can be quite tasty. Not as tasty as some of the meals the Japanese people put together, when I was in Hamner Springs there was 5 Japanese girls cooking a full banquet which looked awesome despite them preparing it for over 2 hours. After our tea we were both knackered so just got an early night. I left Frodo in the morning, he was off somewhere else, and I was going white water rafting. The weather that morning wasn't great but I wasn't bothered, I was going to get wet anyway. I was picked up and taken to the base of the rafting place, it was right next to another Thermal pool so the smell was invading my senses once again. They gave me a wetsuit, life jacket and a helmet and we set off. I became aware that it is was only me on that morning trip, so I was just with 3 of the instructors which I thought would be good. They were all Kiwi and really nice guys. The river was 10 minutes from base and one of the instructors went through the safety procedures I needed to know. The river is sacred to them because their ancestors lived by the river over 300 years ago and where actually buried in it. They told me stories of wars and the people that lived there and I got the feeling that it did mean something to them not just part of the usual tourist speech. The river was only a few meters wide with rock faces at either side and trees growing out of them with more woodland on the top. It was easy to imagine what might of gone on there and you could feel an atmosphere to the place. They said they were the only company doing rafting that said a prayer before they went in the river and we all had to chant it. We entered the river on a 6 man raft, me at the front with another guy opposite. One of the main things being when you paddle on the command from the guy at the back, you must do it together. As with other things I have found on my trip, there is quite a lot to it (not paddling) especially with the river being quite narrow with lots of rocks either side and very fast flowing water. There would be a flat part for 50 meters maybe, then we would hit a rapid, which would send you crashing down it, instantly soaking you. It was right up my street and the rapids got progressively bigger and faster. We went over a 3 meter waterfall which was pretty good but the best was yet to come. We stopped as we approached one of the main events, a 7 meter waterfall. The instructors briefed me on what could happen:
1. 1. We go over it, pop right up, it's all good.
2. 2. We go over it, it flips us, we manage to hold on to the raft and come up underneath it in the air pocket then exit but still holding on to the raft.
3. 3. We go over it, it flips us, we can't hold on and drown, haha, no, the river takes us on a little trip.
They also said we had to have another little chant before going over it to ask the river to look after us. My adrenalin was building because I had never done this before and really didn't know what to expect. We set off, and before I knew what was going on, the raft was vertical and we plummeted head first into the rough white water below, we disappeared under the water totally submerged, the raft wobbled and I thought it was going to flip but we came up, and with the crew shouting to get our weight to one side we held it steady. Now I know the crew do this about 4 times day, but it still felt like a big deal to them, in fact we were all shouting, elated that we had made it without flipping. I think I kind of hoped we would flip over just to see what would happen. I told one of the instructors who laughed, but within a minute he turned to me and said "Do you want to amp it up a little bit??", I said casually "yeah why not" and he replied "well jump out then". I was like, what? Jump out? He said "get out". I didn't need asking twice, I jumped out not quite sure what was going to happen really. It soon became clear though that I was going to go down of the rapids free style, I didn't have much time to prepare as the river dragged me into the fast water flow they just shouted "stay straight, hold your breath!!". So I faced forward and held my breath as the rapid took me over the edge, the next thing I know I'm under the water getting pounded from the water above, I'm holding my breath but I'm not coming up, and I'm thinking…am I going to come up?? It felt like I was in a washing machine getting mangled from the water above, I started to look for the surface as the last of my air drained out, but nothing. It was getting pretty intense when the white water spat me out to the left and I surfaced. The guys thought it was hilarious, but shouting and chanting, impressed at my effort. They said I was under for a while, and all I could say was "No s***!". It was awesome though (I know I use that word a lot, but it's one of the best I have), I had challenged myself and knowing what to expect now I would just hold a bigger breath! We did some more rapids, before it came to an end. The waterfall in front of where we finished was a no go apparently because it was a grade 6 (we had done a grade 5). If you go over it the pool at the bottom would take you under and just keep you going round like a washing machine and basically drown you - I understood this concept. We got back to the base and they showed me photos that had been taken as we were going down the river, there was some really good ones which really captured the experience so I had to have them.
I was back in Rotorua by about dinner time and as I had already checked out of my hostel I was ready to get on my way. I was heading to Auckland to drop the car off the following day but I wasn't sure if I'd go all the way there or stop somewhere close by for the night. As I went through a few towns I didn't really see anything of interest, though I did stop half way in Hamilton for a butty and a coffee. I made it the rest of the way to Auckland and I knew my car drop off point was near the airport, so I thought it would be a good to find it the night before so I wasn't messing around in the morning. All I had to do then was find somewhere to stay the night. This was easier said than done, there was no backpacker places to be seen, I expected to pay a bit more in a hotel but when I asked for a price at the first one, the lady with a smile on her face said $155. This would get me about 6 nights in a hostel so I was definitely not going stay there, images came back to me of when I slept in my car and I thought it might be an option, even if not a very pleasant one. I continued around looking everywhere, getting lost, asking people, getting lost again, getting very stressed, hungry, tired before I found a hotel for $75. I had to expect that from a hotel and it was Easter weekend and the guy at the hotel said he can charge what he wants and if I came in later it would be more. I had really had enough, so I just got my room and stayed in it for the night. The $79 did give me a nice double bed (something I had not had in a while!) a nice TV and on-suite bathroom, not to mention a fresh stock of soap, shampoo and a hand towel. I had a nice sleep and woke up early and went to the car drop off company, despite being gold in colour and small, I didn't really want to give my Toyota Yaris back! haha. I asked the lady about the parking ticket and if I could settle it with her, which I couldn't so I wasn't sure how I was going to do it - to do it online you really need an NZ account. Anyway, I got the free shuttle to the airport then another bus in Auckland centre. After a 40 minute walk I found my hostel, called Latena Lodge. I had done a bit of research on the internet about where is good to stay and this one came up near the top of the list. It also had free Internet access to, which is a rare perk if you're in a hostel but a very welcome one.
Auckland is a nice place, not a great deal of tourists, but a lot of backpackers working out there. I was just happy to have a few days chilling out before going to America so that's what I did. I met my friend Ruth who I knew from work, she was living out there so we met up for some drinks. There is good night life around the area if you know where to go, we ended up at a casino bar at toward the end of the night because for some crazy reason everything shuts early on Easter Weekend -the casino was open 24 hours. We stayed till about 2am which was late enough due to how I felt in the morning. I spent that day just doing washing and sorting a few things out. The following day was much the same, though Ruth was going for a meal with a friend and invited me along. It turned out there were seven of us, English, Australian, Kiwi, a good mix of people who were all really nice. It was a good way to spend my last night in New Zealand, nothing heavy just a couple of beers before I got a lift back to the hostel. New Zealand was ticked off my list, I didn't want to leave and it was my favourite country so far. I could see myself living there and could of spent much longer travelling around because there is so much to see and do. I know I will be going back though so I kept that thought in my head, and after all I was heading to Hollywood so I didn't really have much to complain about…
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