Walking and wine!
Trip Start
May 06, 2006
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61
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Trip End
Mar 23, 2009
Napier,
New Zealand
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
The journey here was great and made me glad I'd made the decision to take the bus rather than fly or drive myself - I can just enjoy the scenery along the way without crashing the car! We drove way up in the hills around some windy roads to Rimutaka Summit which was beautiful. I think the driver may have had some bad experiences with people getting car sick (bus sick?) 'cos he kept on telling us not to throw up on the bus! After those Sri Lankan roads and nearly killing the Tuk Tuk driver I was doing fine!
We then stopped off at Mt Bruce wildlife centre where they're trying to stop the extinction of a lot of native birds as well as re-introducing kiwis to the wild (the bird, not the people!). So, I got to see my first kiwi! I'm sure there'll be plenty more to see in captivity but I'm gonna try and spot one in the 'wild' too!
My first day in Napier was spent hiking up to Bluff Hill for a great view of Hawkes Bay and Mt Ruapehu. It was worth the steep but short hike to the top to see it. However, it did really show me how unfit I am and that the one day hike across the Tongariro Crossing in a few weeks might actually kill me but after climbing that mountain in Sri Lanka I'm game to try! I could feel a few muscles in my legs that I haven't felt in a while but it didn't take long to get over it!
I then decided that as I was in wine country I should maybe go on a wine tour.
Rimutaka Summit
I was picked up after lunch and joined by a fun couple from England, Nikki and James. We proceeded to taste many wines (I have since discovered that I apparently like sweet wine - ice wine was amazing!) and slowly but surely become slightly tipsy. A local rugby team had won and so our tour guide (Gareth) told us it would be busy out and instead of dropping us back we all went to a bar on the seafront! Gareth left his tour van there and we headed into town for more drinks. I was, once again, drunk and we continued the party at Gareth's house! I arrived home at about 8am for some much needed sleep! Most of yesterday was spent recovering. I had planned to hire a bike and go out to see the gannets but I laid down for a rest and to mentally prepare for the bike ride and woke up 3 hours later! Oh well!Today is on to Taupo, tomorrow my sky dive (still deciding between 12,000 or 15,000 feet - probably the latter!) and then on to smelly Rotorua for possibly more adventure - haven't quite decided on what to do on the way up and what to do on the way back down yet! There's apparently a wildlife centre in Rotorua where you can play with lion cubs so I'll be giving them a call to see the cost of that... and maybe if I can work there!
I'll try to add some photos today but I'm not having much luck with it at the moment! I'll definitely make more of an effort with the sky diving ones! Right, time to go! Hope every one is well!
