The Kiwi Experience
Trip Start
Sep 18, 2006
1
50
55
Trip End
Ongoing
North Island...part one,
New Zealand
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
I started way back in Auckland. A nice city. However, on my first day, I got bad news from home which sent me into a bit of daze. But I got on with it, and it wasnt long before I got my second wind. It was here I met Jon, a bloody legend, who ive travelled with ever since. I'd booked onto the Kiwi Experience, departing on the 6th. So that morning we waited patiently for the big green bus to arrive. Guess who'd followed me from Oz, Natahsa and Sarah, who i knew wanted to visit New Zealand, so they planned it, in order to be on my bus. Our first destination; Bay of Islands, North of the North Island. Here we took a boat trip, called the excitor and we sped around the 144 islands off the coastline
Angolan rabbit mid-shave
.Back south again to Auckland the next day, where the girls had contacts and I stayed with a very nice family, who looked after us very well. As much as we could eat of proper home made food. Delicious! In fact, ive never eaten as well on my travels as NZ. Day 3, we were back on the road and this was the start of the 'real' kiwi experience. Most of the people on this bus, ive been with for the duration (picking up others en route) . After a stop to look at Mt Eden, our driver Dan (who has turned out to be another legend) played a prank on us. At first we all thought he was a passenger as another guy picked everyone up, but when he said there was an emergency, Dan volunteered to drive the bus down to the bottom of the windy hill. He blantanly could not drive and it looked like curtains for us all as we got nearer the cliff edge. This is where he stood up and introduced himself. The pranks never stopped! That night we stayed in the Coromandel Peninsula at Mercury Bay. We did several beautiful walks on the way, we do this pretty much everywhere. Its a good way to see all the most picturesque parts of the country.
The next day we made a lunch stop in Hobbiton, a town made famous for its part in Lord of the Rings (i wasnt interested!). Then onto Rotorua. This place stinks. Literally. Its so geothermally active, there are bubbling mud pools, holes in the floor where stream come out, etc. Im sure that much sulphur in the air cant be good for you. It was here the extreme activities began! First up, Zorbing. This is where you're squashed into a big inflatable ball, add some water, then push you down a hill. Wet fun! Up next, luging, this was awesome. We organised races around the fast tracks and caused carnage! I won one race, I was a manic tho and nearly came flying off my piece of plastic on wheels
Angolan rabbit pre-shave
. At night we attented a Tamaki Maori Village. Learning about the culture, we witnessed the haka among other very good dancing, and tucked into a cracking feed.Waitoma up next. A place reknowned for its underground caves. On the way, we made a very random, but comic stop at an Angolan rabbit shearing huts. Rabbits were stretched by their 4 legs and shaved for a demonstration. Not sure of the relevance of this stop. I spent the afternoon quad biking on some of the most gorgeous land imaginable. That night we had a group feed, a great chance to meet everyone on the bus. After this night, we had quite a tight group together. At least until we reached the south island anyway, which is much busier.
On the way to Taupo, we stopped at the Huka Falls for a brief walk. The first time i had to implement the coat Grace gave me in Fiji. It was starting to get colder the further south we went. But so far, touch wood, its still relatively good weather. Just cool, that didnt stop me getting a pair of long john, my most inspired purchase to date. Taupo was our first real night out, and we had a great time. We stayed 2 nights in Taupo, so a welcomed lie in was utilised.
Day 8, we drove to the Tongariro National Park. Dan pranked us all again by telling us to jump 11m off a waterfall into 'geothermal' waters. We did just this, and lost feeling in our bodies as the water was sooo cold! It was beautifulk here, mountains all around. We stayed the night at River Valley. This was superb, a lodge in the middle of nowhere, which came equiped with an amazing setting and volleyball court...which kept us all competitively entertained for hours
Bay of islands
. The night ended in untasteful manner as many of us played strip poker in the bar.The next day, we made a move towards Wellington. On the way my favourite stop so far at a town called Bull. Every shop has bull in it or a slogan. The best; Conts-a-bull for the police station. Soci-a-bull for the bar. It really was a town like NO UDDER, incred-a-bull. We reached Welly late, but id pre-arranged to have dinner with Siobhan, who Id travelled with for weeks in Vietnam and Thailand. It was good to see her again, and hopefully on the way back up north we can meet again as this was fairly rushed. This was the night we lost key members of the bus so we had a good night out, and all raised our glasses for Nana, as it was the funeral back home.
This was the last stop on the North Island (part one) as the next day we took the ferry over to the sourth island. A very scenic 3 hour journey followed. There are many places that ive not been able to include in this blog as i dont want to turn the entry into a book, but it has been awesome and believe me the fun and follocks does not end there!!
