Across the Seas!

I HATE sea travel...

So was less than happy when I found out that the only way to get ourselves and the car across to the South Island was a three hour ferry journey... Anyway, I will spare you the details but I made it, and it was fun driving around inside a big boat!

That afternoon we burned it over to Nelson and had a look at some Chinese gardens. The following day we went to visit Nelson Lakes National Park. The park had lots of snow covered mountains around two massive lakes. We decided to attempt the Arnus Range walking track, a 6hr return hike up a mountain for great views of the lake and mountains that surrounded it. The start of the track took us through some really old rotting woodland and into the forest, which looked like something out of Lord of the Rings! The mountain ascent was really steep so Sara went back and I carried on alone. After walking for two hours up a very steep track, I emerged from the tree line and walked to the top point of the mountain. As soon as I got out of the cover of the trees the wind hit me and it was so cold I couldn't even take many pictures cos my hands froze! I was over 1500m up on a snow-covered peak and the views were amazing!!





SETI on the boat!



The boat which bought us across was huge!



Our first look at the South Island



View across the lake at Nelson National Park



Going into the wood!



View from the top down to the town



Freezing my ass off trying to get a good picture with the camera timer!



Another view from the top



The other mountains that make up the park!

Taupo to the South Island

After a night camped out by Lake Taupo we woke early and headed for the volcano museum. After watching mini volcanos errupt, films of earthquakes and a display about the volcano we wanted to climb in the next few days errupting in 1995, 1996 and 2006, I found a computer with info on recent earthquakes and found that there had been a fairly big one on the 17th October 2007 which we didn't even feel. It caused a few medium sized landslides on the South island and we should have felt it on the North island but we didn't even notice, how rubbish!

Next stop was the Aratiatia Rapids...or lack of them! The Aratiatia Rapids was a section of ferocious white water on the Aratiatia River...that was before they built a hydro-electric dam right before them! However, they have to open the dam three times a day to stop it from over-flowing, so you get to stand on a lookout over a landscape of huge boulders and watch a gate open and a huge wave of water rush along, covering everything! A very cool site to see!

The book mentioned a 'hot water beach', a small area of sand on the bank of Lake Taopo which is heated by the volcanic rocks just below the surface. This meant that all we had to do was dig a big hole in the sand until we hit water to have our own personal hot water spa!! We spent the cold afternoon relaxing on the beach with our feet in toasty hot water admiring the snow covered mountains in the distance...

The next day we headed off to Mount Ruapehu and were hoping to climb it but the weather was bad so it wasn't looking like we were going to be able to. Visiting the information center confirmed the fact that we couldn't go up as there had been volcanic activity and they were advising people not to climb to the top incase there was an erruption!! So we had a long drive down to the windy capitol of Wellington and spent the night just North at a campsite in the green countryside.

First thing we did in Wellington was visit the botanical gardens, which covered a small hill, to see the view over the city. After that we visited the three buildings that make up NZ's houses of parliament and managed to get a tour around them! We weren't allowed to take any photos but some of the rooms we were allowed to go into included their version of the house of commons, house of lords and a committee debating room. The main building is called 'The Beehive', because that is what it looks like, and was designed by British architect Sir Basil Spence.

That afternoon we visited the Te Papa Museum, a huge free museum of everything Kiwi, from ancient mouri history to the day the Europeans arrived and up to the present day! That night we viewed the glowing lights of the city from a lookout on the top of a large hill, the next day we'd be making the trip to the South Island...






Aratiatia Rapids, pre soaking...



As soon as the gates opened a big pool built up at the top of the rapids...



...and began to crash down over the rocks...



...and on...



...until the rapids were really flowing!



The dam gates



The view of some snowy peaks from the hot water beach across Lake Taupo



The Beehive



The middle of the three parliamentary buildings, Parliament House



The Parliamentary Library



Wellington at night

Volcanic Springs and Other Things!

After the Bay of Islands we had a big drive South to the volcanically active center of the North island. The first stop was a place called Rotorua and our first activity was to cruise to the top of Mount Ngongotaha via gondola (cable car-type thing) for a great view before speeding down the side of the mountain by luge (toboggan-type thing)! As we approached the town we could see a huge plume of steam coming from behind some bushes, which turned out to be a park with lots of huge volcanic springs and mud pools bubbling away! That evening we went to a really cool indoor climbing wall which I scaled for a couple of hours before losing all feeling in my arms!

The next day we went to Te Puia, a big park with more volcanic pools that included a big geyser (also called Te Puia) which blew a column of boiling water about 20m into the air a couple of times every hour! The park also had a lot on maori history and tradition, and included a performance by the maori people with the haka among some of the dances! That afternoon we went to one of the only places you could bathe in a natural volcanically heated stream for a relaxing soak and headed to our next destination, Taupo, feeling very refreshed!






Looking back on the way up the mountain from inside our gondola



The next racing world champion!



Thats supposed to be me standing by a volcanic pool...but at the crucial moment the wind covered me in steam that was coming off the water!



Some sticky bubbling hot mud



The biggest volcanic pool, the water can be as hot as 80 degrees!



Reaching the top of a challenging climb



We camped the night by a lake that had lots of little hot pools around it, just what you need to warm your feet up in the morning!!



A big muddy bubbling pool at Te Puia!



Te Puia Geyser blowing its top!



Maori warriors and dancing women from the show

Cape Regina & The Bay of Islands

Cape Regina is on the tip of the most Northern part of NZ. It's also where the Pacific and Tasman seas meet and the location of the gateway to the Maori underworld...

After seeing a pretty rough sea, Cape Regina Lighthouse, and the big tree which stands at the entrance to the Maori spiritual underworld, we cruised back to some huge sand dunes and tried some 'sandboarding'! This involves shooting down some huge dunes on a body-board, hopefully avoiding random bits of sandstone...and trees!

The afternoon was spent sampling 'the finest fish & chips in NZ' (they were damn good!), before the long slog to the Bay of Islands. We got there just before sundown and randomly ended up playing Guess Who in a hostel that we'd tried to find internet access in!

The Bay of Islands is a huge bay with about 100 little islands just off shore. We did a little boat cruise round them and stopped off on one, before cruising over to the 'hole in the rock'. This is the most pictured of the islands and has a huge cliff with a hole going right through, which we cruised through to see the other side. The Maori people say that if a drop of water falls on your head when you pass through the hole you will be granted with the gift of eternal youth...one landed on my t-shirt, so close damnit!





Beautiful views from Cape Regina



The Northern-most tip on NZ!



Can you spot the gateway to the Maori spirit world?



The huge dunes...perfect for boarding!



Hanging on for dear life as i slide down a huge sand dune!



I even managed to stand up!



What a whopper!



The lighthouse at The Bay of Islands...a nice steep walk for the lighthouse keeper every morning...at least the neighbours wouldn't give you any trouble!



The hole in the rock



Just before we shot through...with only 6ft clearance on each side of the boat!



Inside the cave



The lighthouse again, wouldn't wanna fall off that cliff



As we came out the other side the captain said 'look at that woman'...can you spot her?



Views of the islands from the lookout on our island stopover



Somebody's private beach, the guy had a space to park his helicopter!

Flying Through the Far North in our Spaceship

So I got to NZ finally! STA have had to change my Sydney - Bangkok ticket for the day that I return to Sydney from NZ so that I will only be in transit (and therefore don't need another Oz visa) and once I have my new Oz visa they will change it back! Its all very complicated but the important thing is that I made it to NZ and didn't get arrested at customs...only 6 hours later than planned!

The first thing me and Sara did was go and pick up our 'Spaceship', a custom fitted Toyota Lucida with a bed, fridge, DVD/CD player, cooker and table! Her name is SETI, named after the SETI organisation ('Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence'), which is trying to detect Extraterrestrial life!

We drove straight out of Auckland, North on the Twin Discovery Route. The scenery in NZ is amazing. There are huge rolling hills, lush green forrests and huge farms everywhere. Its a bit like the English countryside but more remote and a bit warmer! Our first stop was a small random beach where we walked along the black sand and out into the sea across a large rock. The next stop was The Art of Cheese Cafe shop in Puhoi!! We had a little look at cheese being made and I couldn't resist buying some pepper chedder. After that we visted The Honey Centre in Warkworth, which had transparent bee hives and all the flavoures of honey you could taste (for free!). We spent the night parked right by the sea just north of Warkworth.

After waking up early we headed off to the Kauri Museum in Matakohe. The museum was all about the Kauri tree, one of NZ's most important exports in the early days, and had the cross-section of a huge Kauri tree right in the middle. The museum gave directions for the largest living Kauri tree on record so we went to see that in the forest just up the road. After walking for about 15 minutes we were suddenly surprised by the hugest tree I've ever seen in my life! It was over 8m in diameter and even the branches were bigger than most trees I've ever seen! We then drove North to Rawene and got the car ferry across a huge river. We spent the night parked by the sea again, at the edge of Ninety Mile Beach in Ahipara.




The lovely SETI!



Trees by the beach



We climbed a small mountain, this was the view, can you spot SETI!?



A big saw for cutting Kauri trees



The huge tree, calles 'Father of the Forest'



Me and the tree



A looking out over the mouth of the Hokianga river