Ok i've just posted my last blog and am determined to keep on top of this one so am starting the next one right now.
Today is our 3rd and last day in Lake Taupo and Tina and I are sooo glad we decided to marinate a bit here, we've not really done much today except mooch about and make future plans for the trip but I think that's all we needed, some time to do nothing.
Unfortnately for my waistline the kiwi's seem to love their bakery/pattiserie/pastry shops and my sweet tooth is litrally
screaming out in pain for gingerbread men, caramel slices, apple strudle, custard twists, cinnamon squares, chocolate brownies and iced buns. I'm going to be honest...i'm not showing much...well, any restraint and seem to be handing over my money and pocketing the sugary goodness before i even know what's going on.
The great carrot cake hunt is something that has developed out of nowhere over the last week, it started back in Sydney when we went to Taronga Zoo and saw a big fat nutty creamy sweet delicious looking wedge of cake behind a glass counter and caved in by buying a piece to share. No joke, that was the best piece of carrot cake i've ever had, everything from the buttercream icing to the walnut pieces sunk deep within the moist sponge was perfect and from that moment on everytime Tina and I see a piece of carrot cake we're compelled to buy it to see if another will ever compare to the Taronga orignal.
Our plans have been changing a fair bit today and we've got our organisational hats on overdrive. As our trip here develops we're looking more and more at our kiwi bus route and how we can make it better by tayloring it to us. Instead of going back up the country via Lake Taupo and finishing in Auckland (which we have paid to do) but will have already seen, we're now only going as far up as Wellington and then leaving the Kiwi bus to fly out of wellington to Melbourne. The only problem with this is that in our frantic rush at the airport on the way out of Oz we bought a flight from Auckland back to Melbourne...
Anyway I won't bore you with the details but we've spoken to Qantas and to cut a long story short we've had to pay an extra $210 fare to change our departure location and date but will gain an extra 5 days to play with in the South Island so it's totally worth it.
The other thing we've been busy planning is our upcoming trip to Nelson and the amazing Abel Tasman National Park. It's a gorgeous piece of coastline on the nothern coast of the south island which Tina and I are going to Kayak along for 3 hours, walk a second section for 3 hours and then finally take a water taxi back to the starting point. It's pretty pricey but these things have to be done...originally we were going to camp overnight and spend 2 days in the park but we're trying to cut costs a little.
Tina's been making me laugh recently, I thought I was bad bringing GHD straightners travelling but she's got straightners too and even managed to dye her hair in the hostel last night! It was hilarious seeing her run between the bathroom and bedroom with the dark dye and clips poking out all over her head haha!
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Now it's Jan 20th and i'm sitting in a hostel in Nelson called Accents on the Park. it was described as 'affordable luxury' by the Lonely Planet and like always we've booked it independantly from the Kiwi Exp so while the rest of the bus has been thrown into a bigger place i'm chilling in a very cute victorian type town house which has been converted really nicely, there's vintage radios and lamps suspended on shelves, a large table and benches carved from local wood and even a full size wulwitzer juke box standing proud in the corner opposite me.
Tomorrow is a 6am early start and we're set to board a coach that will take us an hour up the coast to the National Park where we'll do our kayak, hike and water cruise day.
After leaving Taupo last week we headed down to an amazing little place called River Valley lodge, this was one of the gems I doubt we'd have heard about if we'd not been with the Kiwi Exp as it was so hidden away. In an ideal world i'd have liked to stay another day there but with the itinery more structured than ever and the Kiwi buses booked up days in advance it wasn't possible.
The lodge offered grade 5 rafting which I really wanted to do (but chose to save the pennies) and is built on the very edge of a gorgeous river bank with a sheer grassy cliff face plunging dramatically into the river behind. It had a bit of an adventure vibe to it, there was even a rickety old pulley tray system that you could dangle above the water on and use to pull yourself over to the other side. It needed some good bicep power to work it though!
After 2 weeks i'm pretty used to the dorm situation now and sharing with people isn't half as wierd as i first found it but that night in River Valley I opted for the cheapest option and put myself down to stay in the 'orgy room'(!) for $22.
It's called that because it's basically 2 massive platforms which everyone puts a little matress on and shares like a huge sleepover, i'll never do it again though and can't believe how loud and inconsiderate people are when others are asleep. Mainly all the dutch grrrrr!!
I had planned to do some nice calming meditation by the river in the early morning but that plan went down the drain when I got up and realised i'd left a bag in the hostel at Lake Taupo containing ALL my underwear, socks and bikini's :( :( :(
After the initial panic I called Kiwi Exp and begged for the next driver passing through Taupo to pick it up and bring it
down to me in Nelson....after multiple phone calls I've been told a driver has agreed to get it and bring it down with him but it's fair to say he's less than impressed at having to carry a plastic carrier bag full of girls knickers with him across on the ferry from north to South Island, whoops. I'm just praying he rememebers to pick it up...
After River Valley we headed southbound to the capital city of Wellington, otherwise known as windy Wellington as on something like 174 days of the year it blows at more than 30 knots. This would be great for kite surfing but unfortunately brings bad weather to the city alot of the time, even in summer. Luckily for us it was bright blue sky when we arrived and checked into our YHA hostel for the night.
The next day we stayed in Wellington and walked up Mount Victoria to get some excellent views of the city, after that we went to their pride and joy, the Te Papa museum and saw a great short documentary on some of the more interesting people of New Zealand, their hobbies and what they love about the country.
It was an inspring film, really well made and made me realise how nice it is that the people here have a sense of pride about where they live. They're kind, respectful and take a genuine interest in the people visiting their country which just makes me think 'when shall I come back and use my working visa here???...
Wednesday 20 January 2010
Friday 15 January 2010
Rain rain go away, New Zealand come along my way
Happy new year people, happy 2010! I like the sound of 2010, it's a nice sounding year and hopefully full of nice fulfilling adventures and stories. I started typing this while on the plane to Auckland but as usual didn't get it finished and now have been playing catch up for days.
It's been really weird not having Loz around anymore, we split on the morning of the 7th Jan and I feel like i've lost a
limb or something. However Tina is here now and by the end of our time in Sydney I was very ready for everything to kick off.
The last month in Sydney was really fun but by the end I felt like a sprinter on the starting blocks after the gun had fired and been smoking for some time now. It was time to get going, get on the move, meet new people, see new places, think new thoughts and just get away from it all once more.
The December weather was very unseasonal in the last few weeks and i'd have liked a few more beach days instead
of walking into the CBD for the 5th time in a row but we got through it even if we did go a bit stir crazy at times. It felt
like quite a chaotic month with people coming and going and 6 people camped out in the flat but Loz and I got our $1500 bond back without any problems from the land lady so that was great.
The Christmas period came and went without a hitch, our food was probably the highlight of it all as we'd bought lots of nice things to cook and treat ourselves to. Checking the weather in advance was the right thing to do, it meant that our Christmas eve picnic worked out great on the beach...even if the cool bags were creating a mini river of melted ice in the taxi on the way down! We had our smoked salmon, salads, breads and dips all washed down with white wine while wearing red sequin santa hats and mucking about in the sea.
Waking up on Christmas morning was surreal and not a great feeling being so far away from friends and family but I opened my Christmas stocking box mum had sent over from England and put on a dress to celebrate the day. It was grey and raining outside so after a special breakfast we all trekked it down to circular key to visit the Sydney ice bar. We thought it'd be funny to say we'd been surrounded by ice on x-mas day while in Oz but that plan fell apart when we arrived and found them closed even though they'd promised a few days earlier they'd be open. Oh well, there wasn't much else to do except sit in Starbucks and waste some time before heading back to the flat to cook a massive roast dinner, pull some crackers and listen to Christmas songs which got us into the festive spirit :)
On the 29th Loz's brother Damien and his girlfriend Jess rocked up and joined us as part of their holiday in Australia and the next big night out was New Years Eve which ended up going awesomely and all to plan. We'd discovered a perfect look out point to see the fireworks from and a perfect bush to stash our cool bag of Champagne. We started the night at club Bungalow 8 in Darling Harbour which we had tickets for and by 11pm were walking towards a hidden observatory park for the best local secret in Sydney.
We arrived at the small patch of green, retrieved our alcoholic goodies and realised that there were only about 30 other people sitting around to watch the display, there were even 3 portaloos, it like being at a mini festival or something!
As midnight approached we realised how lucky we were to be able to enjoy the fireworks with a few locals and the most incredible view while 1,000,000 other tourists jostled for position at predictable hot spots like The Rocks and Botanic Gardens, what a blag! As we left, the locals made us promise to keep the location a secret from others so shhhhhhh!!!
After the immense fireworks we walked back to the club for more dancing and eventually finished the night in the early hours. At this point I should mention that we 'could've' carried on as the headline DJ invited us to his private after party and then offered to by me a flight to Melbourne the next day(!) but we thought we should call it a day while things were good.
I can't really remember much between New Years day and leaving Sydney but I know we did manage to get down to Bondi once more on our last day when the sun began to shine again which was a nice send off. And as our little urban retreat month came to an end and our international visitors left one by one it eventually came the time to leave Surry Hills myself and make the now famliar journey on the Citylink train into the North Sydney suburbs to Turramurra and to a sanctuary of another kind, Marys.
Tina, Loz and I spent the 6th, the day before I left Australia chilling in her swimming pool, sunbathing, catching up and eating and drinking the effortlessly amazing food and wine Mary whisked up for us. It was so great to relax and use that time as a transition into what was round the corner.
On the 7th the day got off to a good start and after a bit of an emotional goodbye to Loz, my travel partner of 7 1/2 months, Tina and I got into the car and begun our non-stop journey to New Zealand.
The car journey to the train station went fine, no hiccups.
The train journey to the airport went all good, error free.
But getting onto the plane to take us to NZ was a different story and as we smugly approached check in with passports outstretched and e-tickets in hand the perky woman sitting in front of us very quickly wiped the smile off our faces by telling us we could not board the plane unless we had a return ticket back to Australia...and we had 40 minutes to get one... ah, slight problem then.
Composure crumbling around our feet, luggage trolley flinging itself in random directions and cowboy hat flying
off my head as I ran to the Qantas desk we hurriedly got quotes for a number of random return dates in around 5 weeks time and then split up to find free internet in order to make online comparisons.
You see, as much as we hate them it's the situations like this where our natural planner skills burst into action and we thrive. We soon realised that the only way to board our flight was going to be with another e-ticket print out and that we needed a Qantas printer to do that. In all the rush it was fairly stressful having to choose an exact date to come back and something we really didn't want to do but went for the 13th Feb, 2 days after my birthday.
Landing in NZ 3 hours later we bumped into another fairly annoying incident when we had our bags x-rayed and then pulled aside for a full open, rummage and search job. It was fair to say that we were highly unimpressed with the 'bio hazard team' for doing this as it was less than 5 hours previously that we had been sweating, shouting and swearing over our bags as we desperately tried to crowbar another vest top behind the bulging zips.
After concluding we weren't smuggling anything of 'bio hazard' nature into the country (although I did have my trainers
scrubbed clean of the remnants of Bryce canyon's red dust) we were allowed to make our way into Auckland.
We didn't do much with our first night except sample the local Burger King delicacy and panic about how we were ever going to travel about with our exploding bags. They seemed to be multiplying and reproducing baby bags and soon we would have a whole family to lug about. Tina was impressed with the hostel though, I think she had pretty low expectations so was pleasantly surprised. Meanwhile I think I was still in a state of shock about it being day 1 of chapter two and was walking around with a bit of a glazed expression in the eyes.
There's alot to write about as i've been pretty far behind with the blog recently (note to self: always write it regularly)
but i'll write the general gist of it down.
Our first morning in Auckland we were pretty nervous about the big green kiwi bus pulling up, we'd heard some very unfavourable rumours about it and the last thing Tina and I wanted was an 18-20's party and puke bus. It was an early start, like most of the morning pick ups but when we saw the other backpackers waiting on the pavement we relaxed a little. No crazy looking chavs waiting to board or anything like that.
Now skip forward 8 days (to where I am in time now) and I can probably give a more accurate run down of what we make of it...
I'll be honest, i'm not totally sure it was the right thing to do, and yes, Tina and I may have been way too excited back in Sydney when we booked the one with the most stops because to be honest, they're not all needed.
The problem is, i've been building up this trip of mine for about 7 years, I knew I was going to do a big trip from when I
was 18 but didn't know when (although 25 was my deadline). I've been building it up so much and creating the perfect trip and experiences in my head for so long that unless it matched my internal ideal I was always going to be disappointed and have to adapt.
I love New Zealand ALOT, it's just what I wanted it to be but i'm not getting that independent backpacker 'into the wild' vibe I desperately want. Then again, what was I thinking?! Of course I was never going to get that by boarding the most touristy bus in the country but it seemed a good idea when I booked it.
The alternative, renting a mini van and driving round for 6 weeks would've worked out the same price but then add petrol and the fact we'd have to actually drive everywhere and that's why we didn't pursue that option when maybe we should have done...
Oh well, what's done is done, yes we feel a bit like we're on a school trip being herded around like cattle, and yes it's
all a bit rushed stop to stop but I have to look at the positives and it would be unlikely that we'd see as much as we will in the 5 weeks we're here if we'd hired the van.
My regret and slight depression was only made worse when we bumped into some very cool Israeli musicians who were doing the 'car thing' and saying how awesome it was and then winced in disgust when we said we were with the Kiwi Experience. They even asked us to join them in their van on their trip but of course we couldn't.
I think the main problem is the time limit, because we were forced to book a return date and we chose one in 5 weeks time (not knowing that it wouldn't be long enough) we've been forced to move from place to place almost daily and we just don't feel like we're actually seeing much of NZ, just the inside of the bus.
HOWEVER, it's not all doom and gloom. We've got 7 extra days to play with and are using them mostly down in the South Island so we'll have a little more time at the important/good stops, we're hoping it won't all feel so rushed and school trippy then.
The other thing that didn't help was we've had a new driver who's REALLY annoying and just talks verbal diarrhoea into the coach microphone the whole time pissing the whole coach off in a big way!
Because of this, and the fact we desperately needed a break from being on the move we've used one of our spare days and 'hoped off' at Lake Taupo for 2 full days which has been really nice :)
The thing that's really perplexed me is the complete lack of isolation I feel, it's made me realise that the world is just TOO connected now. There's very little way that a person can feel totally alone anymore, too many internet cafes, wi-fi hotspots and skype centres. I guess travelling isn't what it used to be...and not what I was after.
Australia will no doubt be buzzing with backpackers too but we're both hoping that by not being on a tour it'll feel more spontaneous and then when we get to Asia I want total chaos, bring it on.
We've actually started to rebel a little and are now booking hostels independently of the Kiwi Exp just to regain that
feeling of control (!) but we've also started to get quite chummy with a few people on the bus, unfortunately we're the
oldest of the group but shhhhhh, we're trying not to mention any ages!
Right, out of the negative and into what we've done in the last week which is loadsssss!! Firstly NZ is absolutely stunning, it's a gorgeous country from what i've seen so far and will 100% come back. Our first day saw us driving up
to the Bay of Islands in the North Island. The Kiwi Exp. book all your tours/activities for you (which is a bit deadly on the bank account) but we signed up to do a boat cruise around 12 of the 144 islands up there. It was really nice but unfortunately the weather caved in and brought us some cold cloudiness. It was also at this point we met and got talking to a Liverpudian called Paul who became our 3rd musketeer until he hoped off the bus in Rotorua a few days later.
The next day we were straight up to Cape Rienga which is the northern most point of New Zealand and where the Maori believe their spirits leave the country to find their long lost ancestors after they've died. It's also the point at which the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean collide in a white watery fight, the Maori folk say it represents male and female meeting and becoming one, all very spiritual which I like!
That day we started off by driving to a bit of local rainforest and all taking a quick walk around a boardwalk which went pass some very old historic native trees, then we drove up to '90 mile beach' a stretch of beach which is actually 64 miles long but that was before people had the means to measure distances properly. That was pretty cool as the bus actually drove along the beach as the sea laps at the tires. Unfortunately for the heart strings we also passed a kite surfer doing his thing in the surf and I had to just sit and watch. The beach was very desolate though and we got a chance to get out, stretch the legs and write our names in the sand.
After that we drove to some nearby sand dunes and got to go sand boarding, something which i'm not sure was worth the exhausting climb to the top but pretty good fun, just remember to keep your mouth shut on the way down!
In the afternoon we squeezed in an hour at a beautiful beach near the cape and then it was back on the bus to swing by a fish and chippy and then back to Paihia...it was a very full on day!
The next morning we headed down to a place called Mercury Bay via Cathedral Cove, supposedly NZ's most beautiful beach. When we pulled up in the car park our dippy driver gave us 2 options, go and chill on the local beach for a couple of hours or do the 30min walk to Cathedral Cove and be back by 3pm. Unfortunately for Tina and I the dippy driver had parked in the wrong bloody car park so the 30 min stroll which we opted to do turned into a 50 minute power walk each way which gave us 15 mins at Cathedral Cove before we had to turn back and do another 50 minutes back on ourselves in the blazing sun. It was a gorgeous walk but not much fun under the circumstances!
The following day it was off again from Mercury Bay (a VERY sleepy town) to Rotorua, famous for it's natural hot springs, bubbling mud pools, steaming gysers and smelly sulphur gases which make the air smell very eggy eugh! In Rotorua we were squeezed for time once again and all got a bit hectic but we went to a guided tour of the natural earth crust phenomenas and in the evening splashed out on an activity called the Tamiki Village where locals have recreated a traditional maori tribe village complete with warriors singing, dancing, demonstrating their history and putting on a massive buffet at the end. These things can sometimes be a bit tacky but it was actually really good and helped everyone get into the cultural side of things a bit more.
Rotorua was the first stop where we had decided to break free of the 'recommended' hostel stops and Tina, Paul and I booked ourselves into an eco-friendly hostel called the Funky Green Voyager which had a great vibe and an honesty pot in the fridge for their $2 beers!
The next day it was up at 7pm and straight to Waitomo (see, told you it was full on!!) to see their caves. The activity of choice here is something called 'Black Water Rafting' which the Kiwi's invented a few years ago. Basically you put on a smelly cold damp wetsuit, grab a big black rubber ring and go down underground into the caves to swim/climb/clamber through the dark tunnels and jump off a couple of waterfalls.
The caves are also famous for their glow worms and the tour makes sure you get a great show when at one point everyone turns their helmet torches off and float down a long rocky tunnel with thousands of little yellow glowing stars (the worms) dancing above your head. It's very cool and Tina and I had a great time doing that but it's lucky we're prepared to splash out on all these activities as there's not much to do if you don't!
The next morning it was straight to Lake Taupo (where I am now) where most people were opting to sky dive, Taupo is the sky diving capital of the world and has 30,000 people jumping out of planes over it every year. We're going to do our dive over in Oz so didn't sign up for it. That afternoon we decided to make the most of the day by walking up to a natural hot spring that's in the area. On the way we ended up walking past Taupo Bungy and bumping into our fellow kiwi exp friends watching people take the dive.
One of the guys decided he needed an adrenalin rush and within 5 minutes of getting his wallet out had paid and was standing on the edge of the 50m drop into the river below. After his jump all the other boys started getting a bit alpha male syndrome and signed up to do one as well.
I've always dreaded coming face to face with a bungy jump as I knew i'd be tempted to do it or face the regret of letting something 'beat' me. If it had been ridiculously expensive like the one in Queenstown ($260) I could've justified not even contemplating doing it to save money for something I was more passionate about but this one, being 1/3 the size of Queenstown was only $109..50 quid...very do-able.
I must've stood there for over an hour watching plunge after plunge trying to make a decision but however much I tried I just couldn't move my feet to take me over to the pay and weigh counter.
The others had been and gone and after some meaningless encouragement from them I decided not to jump off the ledge...I can't believe i've finally met my match in the fear stakes!!! I've told myself i'll defo do one on my next trip here, I wasn't ready for it this time round.
After the bungy Tina, me and our new backpacking buddies bounced down to the lake and jumped in for a splash about in the natural hot spring water.
....and that brings me to today! Today has been my best day in New Zealand so far because we got up at 5am and took a mini-bus up to the trail head of the Tongario Crossing, rated one of the top 10 walks in the world.
The walk is 19.5kms long and was pretty damn challenging, it took us through a multitude of terrain ranging from dutch style fjord land to sharp rocky lava fields, from barren grassy mountain slopes to thick lush forest. My feet do feel a little sore but it was awesome and i'd totally recommend it. At one point I thought I was going to get blown over the sheer drop of the volcano crater when the temperature dropped to 5 degrees and the wind was gusting at 70kms.
Anyway, 2 glasses of wine, a beer and a white magnum later and i'm pretty happy with myself for doing that and seeing the real New Zealand! :)
It's been really weird not having Loz around anymore, we split on the morning of the 7th Jan and I feel like i've lost a
limb or something. However Tina is here now and by the end of our time in Sydney I was very ready for everything to kick off.
The last month in Sydney was really fun but by the end I felt like a sprinter on the starting blocks after the gun had fired and been smoking for some time now. It was time to get going, get on the move, meet new people, see new places, think new thoughts and just get away from it all once more.
The December weather was very unseasonal in the last few weeks and i'd have liked a few more beach days instead
of walking into the CBD for the 5th time in a row but we got through it even if we did go a bit stir crazy at times. It felt
like quite a chaotic month with people coming and going and 6 people camped out in the flat but Loz and I got our $1500 bond back without any problems from the land lady so that was great.
The Christmas period came and went without a hitch, our food was probably the highlight of it all as we'd bought lots of nice things to cook and treat ourselves to. Checking the weather in advance was the right thing to do, it meant that our Christmas eve picnic worked out great on the beach...even if the cool bags were creating a mini river of melted ice in the taxi on the way down! We had our smoked salmon, salads, breads and dips all washed down with white wine while wearing red sequin santa hats and mucking about in the sea.
Waking up on Christmas morning was surreal and not a great feeling being so far away from friends and family but I opened my Christmas stocking box mum had sent over from England and put on a dress to celebrate the day. It was grey and raining outside so after a special breakfast we all trekked it down to circular key to visit the Sydney ice bar. We thought it'd be funny to say we'd been surrounded by ice on x-mas day while in Oz but that plan fell apart when we arrived and found them closed even though they'd promised a few days earlier they'd be open. Oh well, there wasn't much else to do except sit in Starbucks and waste some time before heading back to the flat to cook a massive roast dinner, pull some crackers and listen to Christmas songs which got us into the festive spirit :)
On the 29th Loz's brother Damien and his girlfriend Jess rocked up and joined us as part of their holiday in Australia and the next big night out was New Years Eve which ended up going awesomely and all to plan. We'd discovered a perfect look out point to see the fireworks from and a perfect bush to stash our cool bag of Champagne. We started the night at club Bungalow 8 in Darling Harbour which we had tickets for and by 11pm were walking towards a hidden observatory park for the best local secret in Sydney.
We arrived at the small patch of green, retrieved our alcoholic goodies and realised that there were only about 30 other people sitting around to watch the display, there were even 3 portaloos, it like being at a mini festival or something!
As midnight approached we realised how lucky we were to be able to enjoy the fireworks with a few locals and the most incredible view while 1,000,000 other tourists jostled for position at predictable hot spots like The Rocks and Botanic Gardens, what a blag! As we left, the locals made us promise to keep the location a secret from others so shhhhhhh!!!
After the immense fireworks we walked back to the club for more dancing and eventually finished the night in the early hours. At this point I should mention that we 'could've' carried on as the headline DJ invited us to his private after party and then offered to by me a flight to Melbourne the next day(!) but we thought we should call it a day while things were good.
I can't really remember much between New Years day and leaving Sydney but I know we did manage to get down to Bondi once more on our last day when the sun began to shine again which was a nice send off. And as our little urban retreat month came to an end and our international visitors left one by one it eventually came the time to leave Surry Hills myself and make the now famliar journey on the Citylink train into the North Sydney suburbs to Turramurra and to a sanctuary of another kind, Marys.
Tina, Loz and I spent the 6th, the day before I left Australia chilling in her swimming pool, sunbathing, catching up and eating and drinking the effortlessly amazing food and wine Mary whisked up for us. It was so great to relax and use that time as a transition into what was round the corner.
On the 7th the day got off to a good start and after a bit of an emotional goodbye to Loz, my travel partner of 7 1/2 months, Tina and I got into the car and begun our non-stop journey to New Zealand.
The car journey to the train station went fine, no hiccups.
The train journey to the airport went all good, error free.
But getting onto the plane to take us to NZ was a different story and as we smugly approached check in with passports outstretched and e-tickets in hand the perky woman sitting in front of us very quickly wiped the smile off our faces by telling us we could not board the plane unless we had a return ticket back to Australia...and we had 40 minutes to get one... ah, slight problem then.
Composure crumbling around our feet, luggage trolley flinging itself in random directions and cowboy hat flying
off my head as I ran to the Qantas desk we hurriedly got quotes for a number of random return dates in around 5 weeks time and then split up to find free internet in order to make online comparisons.
You see, as much as we hate them it's the situations like this where our natural planner skills burst into action and we thrive. We soon realised that the only way to board our flight was going to be with another e-ticket print out and that we needed a Qantas printer to do that. In all the rush it was fairly stressful having to choose an exact date to come back and something we really didn't want to do but went for the 13th Feb, 2 days after my birthday.
Landing in NZ 3 hours later we bumped into another fairly annoying incident when we had our bags x-rayed and then pulled aside for a full open, rummage and search job. It was fair to say that we were highly unimpressed with the 'bio hazard team' for doing this as it was less than 5 hours previously that we had been sweating, shouting and swearing over our bags as we desperately tried to crowbar another vest top behind the bulging zips.
After concluding we weren't smuggling anything of 'bio hazard' nature into the country (although I did have my trainers
scrubbed clean of the remnants of Bryce canyon's red dust) we were allowed to make our way into Auckland.
We didn't do much with our first night except sample the local Burger King delicacy and panic about how we were ever going to travel about with our exploding bags. They seemed to be multiplying and reproducing baby bags and soon we would have a whole family to lug about. Tina was impressed with the hostel though, I think she had pretty low expectations so was pleasantly surprised. Meanwhile I think I was still in a state of shock about it being day 1 of chapter two and was walking around with a bit of a glazed expression in the eyes.
There's alot to write about as i've been pretty far behind with the blog recently (note to self: always write it regularly)
but i'll write the general gist of it down.
Our first morning in Auckland we were pretty nervous about the big green kiwi bus pulling up, we'd heard some very unfavourable rumours about it and the last thing Tina and I wanted was an 18-20's party and puke bus. It was an early start, like most of the morning pick ups but when we saw the other backpackers waiting on the pavement we relaxed a little. No crazy looking chavs waiting to board or anything like that.
Now skip forward 8 days (to where I am in time now) and I can probably give a more accurate run down of what we make of it...
I'll be honest, i'm not totally sure it was the right thing to do, and yes, Tina and I may have been way too excited back in Sydney when we booked the one with the most stops because to be honest, they're not all needed.
The problem is, i've been building up this trip of mine for about 7 years, I knew I was going to do a big trip from when I
was 18 but didn't know when (although 25 was my deadline). I've been building it up so much and creating the perfect trip and experiences in my head for so long that unless it matched my internal ideal I was always going to be disappointed and have to adapt.
I love New Zealand ALOT, it's just what I wanted it to be but i'm not getting that independent backpacker 'into the wild' vibe I desperately want. Then again, what was I thinking?! Of course I was never going to get that by boarding the most touristy bus in the country but it seemed a good idea when I booked it.
The alternative, renting a mini van and driving round for 6 weeks would've worked out the same price but then add petrol and the fact we'd have to actually drive everywhere and that's why we didn't pursue that option when maybe we should have done...
Oh well, what's done is done, yes we feel a bit like we're on a school trip being herded around like cattle, and yes it's
all a bit rushed stop to stop but I have to look at the positives and it would be unlikely that we'd see as much as we will in the 5 weeks we're here if we'd hired the van.
My regret and slight depression was only made worse when we bumped into some very cool Israeli musicians who were doing the 'car thing' and saying how awesome it was and then winced in disgust when we said we were with the Kiwi Experience. They even asked us to join them in their van on their trip but of course we couldn't.
I think the main problem is the time limit, because we were forced to book a return date and we chose one in 5 weeks time (not knowing that it wouldn't be long enough) we've been forced to move from place to place almost daily and we just don't feel like we're actually seeing much of NZ, just the inside of the bus.
HOWEVER, it's not all doom and gloom. We've got 7 extra days to play with and are using them mostly down in the South Island so we'll have a little more time at the important/good stops, we're hoping it won't all feel so rushed and school trippy then.
The other thing that didn't help was we've had a new driver who's REALLY annoying and just talks verbal diarrhoea into the coach microphone the whole time pissing the whole coach off in a big way!
Because of this, and the fact we desperately needed a break from being on the move we've used one of our spare days and 'hoped off' at Lake Taupo for 2 full days which has been really nice :)
The thing that's really perplexed me is the complete lack of isolation I feel, it's made me realise that the world is just TOO connected now. There's very little way that a person can feel totally alone anymore, too many internet cafes, wi-fi hotspots and skype centres. I guess travelling isn't what it used to be...and not what I was after.
Australia will no doubt be buzzing with backpackers too but we're both hoping that by not being on a tour it'll feel more spontaneous and then when we get to Asia I want total chaos, bring it on.
We've actually started to rebel a little and are now booking hostels independently of the Kiwi Exp just to regain that
feeling of control (!) but we've also started to get quite chummy with a few people on the bus, unfortunately we're the
oldest of the group but shhhhhh, we're trying not to mention any ages!
Right, out of the negative and into what we've done in the last week which is loadsssss!! Firstly NZ is absolutely stunning, it's a gorgeous country from what i've seen so far and will 100% come back. Our first day saw us driving up
to the Bay of Islands in the North Island. The Kiwi Exp. book all your tours/activities for you (which is a bit deadly on the bank account) but we signed up to do a boat cruise around 12 of the 144 islands up there. It was really nice but unfortunately the weather caved in and brought us some cold cloudiness. It was also at this point we met and got talking to a Liverpudian called Paul who became our 3rd musketeer until he hoped off the bus in Rotorua a few days later.
The next day we were straight up to Cape Rienga which is the northern most point of New Zealand and where the Maori believe their spirits leave the country to find their long lost ancestors after they've died. It's also the point at which the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean collide in a white watery fight, the Maori folk say it represents male and female meeting and becoming one, all very spiritual which I like!
That day we started off by driving to a bit of local rainforest and all taking a quick walk around a boardwalk which went pass some very old historic native trees, then we drove up to '90 mile beach' a stretch of beach which is actually 64 miles long but that was before people had the means to measure distances properly. That was pretty cool as the bus actually drove along the beach as the sea laps at the tires. Unfortunately for the heart strings we also passed a kite surfer doing his thing in the surf and I had to just sit and watch. The beach was very desolate though and we got a chance to get out, stretch the legs and write our names in the sand.
After that we drove to some nearby sand dunes and got to go sand boarding, something which i'm not sure was worth the exhausting climb to the top but pretty good fun, just remember to keep your mouth shut on the way down!
In the afternoon we squeezed in an hour at a beautiful beach near the cape and then it was back on the bus to swing by a fish and chippy and then back to Paihia...it was a very full on day!
The next morning we headed down to a place called Mercury Bay via Cathedral Cove, supposedly NZ's most beautiful beach. When we pulled up in the car park our dippy driver gave us 2 options, go and chill on the local beach for a couple of hours or do the 30min walk to Cathedral Cove and be back by 3pm. Unfortunately for Tina and I the dippy driver had parked in the wrong bloody car park so the 30 min stroll which we opted to do turned into a 50 minute power walk each way which gave us 15 mins at Cathedral Cove before we had to turn back and do another 50 minutes back on ourselves in the blazing sun. It was a gorgeous walk but not much fun under the circumstances!
The following day it was off again from Mercury Bay (a VERY sleepy town) to Rotorua, famous for it's natural hot springs, bubbling mud pools, steaming gysers and smelly sulphur gases which make the air smell very eggy eugh! In Rotorua we were squeezed for time once again and all got a bit hectic but we went to a guided tour of the natural earth crust phenomenas and in the evening splashed out on an activity called the Tamiki Village where locals have recreated a traditional maori tribe village complete with warriors singing, dancing, demonstrating their history and putting on a massive buffet at the end. These things can sometimes be a bit tacky but it was actually really good and helped everyone get into the cultural side of things a bit more.
Rotorua was the first stop where we had decided to break free of the 'recommended' hostel stops and Tina, Paul and I booked ourselves into an eco-friendly hostel called the Funky Green Voyager which had a great vibe and an honesty pot in the fridge for their $2 beers!
The next day it was up at 7pm and straight to Waitomo (see, told you it was full on!!) to see their caves. The activity of choice here is something called 'Black Water Rafting' which the Kiwi's invented a few years ago. Basically you put on a smelly cold damp wetsuit, grab a big black rubber ring and go down underground into the caves to swim/climb/clamber through the dark tunnels and jump off a couple of waterfalls.
The caves are also famous for their glow worms and the tour makes sure you get a great show when at one point everyone turns their helmet torches off and float down a long rocky tunnel with thousands of little yellow glowing stars (the worms) dancing above your head. It's very cool and Tina and I had a great time doing that but it's lucky we're prepared to splash out on all these activities as there's not much to do if you don't!
The next morning it was straight to Lake Taupo (where I am now) where most people were opting to sky dive, Taupo is the sky diving capital of the world and has 30,000 people jumping out of planes over it every year. We're going to do our dive over in Oz so didn't sign up for it. That afternoon we decided to make the most of the day by walking up to a natural hot spring that's in the area. On the way we ended up walking past Taupo Bungy and bumping into our fellow kiwi exp friends watching people take the dive.
One of the guys decided he needed an adrenalin rush and within 5 minutes of getting his wallet out had paid and was standing on the edge of the 50m drop into the river below. After his jump all the other boys started getting a bit alpha male syndrome and signed up to do one as well.
I've always dreaded coming face to face with a bungy jump as I knew i'd be tempted to do it or face the regret of letting something 'beat' me. If it had been ridiculously expensive like the one in Queenstown ($260) I could've justified not even contemplating doing it to save money for something I was more passionate about but this one, being 1/3 the size of Queenstown was only $109..50 quid...very do-able.
I must've stood there for over an hour watching plunge after plunge trying to make a decision but however much I tried I just couldn't move my feet to take me over to the pay and weigh counter.
The others had been and gone and after some meaningless encouragement from them I decided not to jump off the ledge...I can't believe i've finally met my match in the fear stakes!!! I've told myself i'll defo do one on my next trip here, I wasn't ready for it this time round.
After the bungy Tina, me and our new backpacking buddies bounced down to the lake and jumped in for a splash about in the natural hot spring water.
....and that brings me to today! Today has been my best day in New Zealand so far because we got up at 5am and took a mini-bus up to the trail head of the Tongario Crossing, rated one of the top 10 walks in the world.
The walk is 19.5kms long and was pretty damn challenging, it took us through a multitude of terrain ranging from dutch style fjord land to sharp rocky lava fields, from barren grassy mountain slopes to thick lush forest. My feet do feel a little sore but it was awesome and i'd totally recommend it. At one point I thought I was going to get blown over the sheer drop of the volcano crater when the temperature dropped to 5 degrees and the wind was gusting at 70kms.
Anyway, 2 glasses of wine, a beer and a white magnum later and i'm pretty happy with myself for doing that and seeing the real New Zealand! :)
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