New Zealand Part 2 - The Return of the Woodpidgeon
Trip Start
Jan 02, 2009
1
17
19
Trip End
Jun 21, 2009
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Auckland,
North Island,
New Zealand
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Arrived in Fox Glacier in the mist and minus my book (which randomly fell out the van, how? I don't know). The mist continued for a few days, woke up on Matts birthday to a beautiful clear day! Finally got to see Mount Cook and Mount Tasman, took a walk round Lake Matheson to get amazing reflection views, apparently very rare! We went for a Helihike that afternoon, apparently its a must before you turn 32! I was a little apprensive before getting into the helicopter but once we got up there was plenty of amazing scenery to take my mind of it. The Helicopter landed on the ice, we put on our crampons and off we went. It ws surprizingly easy to walk on the ice once you get used to it. It was a brilliant experience although a little scary how deep some on the crevaces were! We had a look at Franz Josef Glacier from a distance, equally as impressive if not more, and then continued up the coast to see the Pancake Rocks in Punakaki, which are more exciting than they sound!
After a whole day of driving we arrived at Abel Tasman National Park. We stayed the first night at Golden Bay and went to see the "worlds clearest water" at the PuPu falls. We attempted sea kayaking the following day - lets just say it didn't agree with Matts stomach and he ended up feeding the fishes!!! We opted to walk part of the track in the afternoon as Matt still hadn't found his sea legs!
Forgot that the following day was Anzac Day and headed for Nelsons Saturday morning markets only to find a ghost town! Continued down the east coast to Kaikoura for a spot of Whale Watching, the staff at the "Whaleway Station" were particularly rude probably becasue the trip had been cancelled every day for the last few weeks - they didn't let on though!! We booked for the following day only for it to be cancelled we were pretty gutted but decided not to waste our time hanging around especially seeing as the company don't indicate one way or the other!
We drove up to Picton, where we did a day walk on the Queen Charlotte Track. It was torrential rain when we started and it doesn't help when you stand in a bog up to your ankles when you're 5 minutes in! It was a 15km walk and it ended with a pint so its all good. It was time to say goodbye to South Island and head north in search of some better weather - nae chance!!
Arrived in Wellington (nicknamed Windy Wellie for a reason) and it was still raining, and hasn't stopped since (slight exaggeration). Only stayed long enough to check out the Museum and tried to out run the weather heading north!
Drove up through Tongariro National Park but didn't even get a look at Mount Doom, the cloud was so low! Arrived in Taupo, the Skydive capital of NZ, were we tempted - yes! Did we do it? - Did we hell!! Ran into a familiar Caithness face there which was nice. Lots of nice walks to do around here when the weather allowed, the Huka Falls were pretty cool. On a another rainy day we went to see Wolverine, and have realised who Matt has been modeling his barnet on!!
Took our last breath of fresh air and continued north to Rotorua. We visited Kiwi Encounter, a conservation project, where they hatch eggs and reintroduce them into the wild when they are less vulnerable. The baby kiwis were pretty cute but it has to be said not the brightest. We visited Waimangu Volcanic Park, where we walked round crater lakes and watched steam rise from the ground and water bubble, it was really alien looking! That afternoon we went to Hells Gate where there was actual bubbling mud and a 2m high mud volcano, we hung around for a while waiting for it to erupt but alas it didn't!! We treated ourselves to a mud bath and sulphur spa, at least we know that our cheap Thai wedding rings are silver because they are now black! Ever since that day every thing smells vaguely of rotten eggs!!
Raining again, we went north to Coromandel, which was surprizingly green. Visited Cathedral cove when the sun was shining, toyed with idea of buying the cafe for sale there. Then Matt reminded me we both have jobs we love at home!! Next stop was rainy Hamilton for the Chiefs vs Hurricanes super 14 match, you would think one of us would have double checked the day before drving all that way!! The game was the following day - the only day that we actually had somthing on, drove to Tauranga via Hobbiton, to meet Katie and Tyrone for lunch.
After that we headed north of Auckland, we were really surprized how massive Auckland is, hopefully will get us used to a big city again before Santiago! It rained for the whole 4 days we were in Northland "the winterless north" apparently, didn't get to see Bay of Islands or visit Cape Reinga. We were a bit gutted we didn't get to try sand dune surfing maybe we'll try it on Dunnet beach when we get back! The only thing we got to see in the rain was some very large very old trees!!
Now in Auckland waiting to fly to Chile on Saturday. We have had an ace time in New Zealand, it was every thing we expected and more. We'll be sad to leave and to return our trusty Woodpigeon but we'll definately be back!
Sweet as, Bro.......................
