Week 39 - Crossing to the South Island

FACT - Nelson is New Zealand's sunniest city

Day 11. Wellington-Nelson

Having to get up that early requires a lot more organisation. You're in a 6 -bed dorm, getting up at 6.30am (a real non time for backpackers), it's still dark outside, and also in the dorm and I'm not thoughtless enough to just whack the light on (like alot of other backpackers). So before going out the previous night I'd made sure that all my stuff was ready and packed and my clothes I wanted to wear were sat neatly on my backpack. New Zealand had made me more minimal with what I wore actually. I generally just stuck to two t-shirts, my shorts and my leggings in the evenings. It was just easier to keep those things on the top and then I didn't have to do my daily routine of unpacking everything to find something different to wear. So, up early and out the door without much fuss. I did have a shower. The bathrooms were usually down the hallway and there were a few loos and a few showers in each. Vaulable information for anyone reading this. It was rather tricky getting dry enough to dress when in the cubicle. A bit like when you go swimming. You do get used to it, even with my little flannel towel (and I mean little) but I was looking forward to that home comfort of having a nice big fluffy towel greeting me after a shower. So. Early. Door. No fuss. I still had David's cardigan which I'd borrowed the previous evening and got it to reception and went and emailed him so he knew it was there. Didn't want give him anymore material to write about another stolen cardigan and I didn't know when I might see him again.
So, the bus picked us up (and by 'us' I mean a whole new bunch of people. Oh except for those young 'whatsanames'. No, they were still on my bus. Of course they were) and took us to the ferry port. There were actually three other familiar faces from the other bus. Three welsh girls; Beca, Rebecca, and Hollie. So we got a seat with a view on the boat and off it went. I do like being up early and the sky was worth it. Really nice picture. I did actually fall asleep for a while but woke up in time for an amazing sail through just such a picturesque set of mountains. I could have been on just a boat trip or something, and not just getting from A to B. The crossing took 3 hours. Once we got to the South Island we waited around and before we knew it were back on the bus with Rich. As we drove he talked about how the Maori had lived in that particular area for generations and told us about folklores and legends. We drove through the rather scenic Marlborough Valley which is world famous for it's Sauvignon Blanc. Rich also explained that the South Island was the most picturesque. Anyone who was lucky enough to bag the front seats were not allowed to read or sleep as they head the best seats in the house. The young lot bagged them, and then in true ignorant style left jackets or sunglasses or books on the seats each day so that they could bag them once again in the morning.
We stopped for some lunch at the Pelorus Reserve and the girls got an icecream, which was really quite huge. We went for a little walk down to a gorgeous water hole there, but it was well cold so no one attempted to get in! As we chatted I learnt that all three girls were in a gap year from their A-levels. It was moments like these that made me feel olllllld. That was so long ago for me. But it make me feel a little better that they were just as shocked when I told them my age, thinking I was 22, at the most. Good. After our stop off we headed straight to Nelson and got checked in to our pub hostel - Fern Lodge. There wasn't much in Nelson itself but was the gateway to the Abel Tasman National Park where people went and camped and spent quite a few days. Again, I was more keen to carry on. My main reason was that I was staying with a friend in Queenstown and hadn't seen her for quite a long time so was excited to get there. Me and the girls wandered in to the town. They were camera shopping, which I was going to half do as well, seeing as my camera was losing all my pictures. It wasn't really an expense I wanted to add on but I couldn't be missing out on pictures from the NZ South Island. As we were in the camera shop I explained what had happened to my pictures. The guy asked to see my memory card with the malfunctioned pics so he could see what I was talking about. But they weren't malfunctioned! They were there! All of them! Obviously I was really rather confused. Why had the other place told me I'd lost them? But I was so so happy. And happy that I didn't have to get a new camera. So happy that I went and bought some jeans... later on me we had dinner together and then I went off for a walk to find the very centre of New Zealand. I figured that as I wasn't staying there I wanted to have something to remember Nelson by (apart from my lovely jeans!). Noone else wanted to come, so I set off with my map (uh oh) and headed towards the 'hill' I'd been told to get to. Now I would call it 'hill' or a mountain. But something in between. I did really enjoy the walk to the top, but it was hard work. Round and round and through foresty bits, and up and round and up, through more forest. The views were getting better as I went up. There was a slight hairy moment when the path thinned somewhat and I had to edge my way round a corner and ensure I didn't slip down the hillside. But one last steep hill bit and I was at the top!! Along with three Japanese people who were taking some pics. I joined in the picture taking, and just sat for a while, admiring the view and being at the very centre of New Zealand. I soon snapped out of my distant reverie (I'm trying to sound like a proper writer now, ok!) when I realised just how dark it had become. It had taken about 45 minutes to walk to the top so I began my walk back down. But it really was dark. An even hairier moment getting past that thin bit of path but I talked myself through it trying to shun the image of me falling and breaking my leg and no one being able to hear me right out of my head. But the real fear factor came when I was walking back through the foresty parts. It was actually pitch black as no light at all could get through the huge trees. And no I didn't have a torch with me I hadn't thought that far ahead. All I could do was tread really carefully and ignore the sounds around me which was sending my imagination to extreme horridness. I was pretty certain that someone was following me at one point. I wouldn't have known though as I couldn't see a thing. I did have my phone on me which I hope would create some light from the screen but it didn't do too much. And being such a basic phone it didn't have a SOS light on it! AND even if I did have credit, which I didn't, there was no signal. So all was set up for a beginning of a horror film. But a rather rubbish horror film because I did eventually make it to the bottom... and back to the hostel... in to a hot shower, and then over to the tv room to catch the last of 'Fools Gold', which i'm glad I only had to sit through the end bit. Me and the girls then watched our skydive videos and swapped stories etc. I was a little envious that they had done theirs in NZ as the views were really fantastic. But I'd done mine, which I was still proud of. After the evening's dramas I was pretty tired, and had to be up early, so headed to bed.

Week 38 - Time for a rest...

Day 9. Taupo-River Valley

The next day was time to leave Taupo. It started off fairly sunny but as we left the area is became damp and miserable again. I use the word 'miserable' but everything we did, even when raining, was actually far from miserable. It was another disappointent though, as most of the day we were meant to be hopping off the bus for various walks. But we didn't. We did, however manage to go and see another waterfall. They didn't get boring, each one was so different. And some crazies amongst the bus load decided to get in to their swimmers and go jump off the waterfall. It was freeeeezing. I'd say that I don't think I could have done it, but of course I could have. But it may have taken me a few hours to psyche myself up for it, and I just plain didn't want to anyway. So I took pics with a few of the others. Afterwards Rich, our bus driver told us a story about when he had just started the job and took the group to the same waterfall and watched as a girl jumped in and didn't re-appear. Rich shat himself and jumped in after her but couldn't find her. She was fine though, she'd just managed to pop up somewhere completely away from the group. Didn't put him off taking people there though!

We also stopped at a museum linked to the national park, which was quite interesting. And then we headed right to River Valley. It was really raining by now. So once again, it kind of felt like brownie camp. It was a cute little place in the absolute middle of nowhere. With huge mountains around us and a river beside there was lots of scope for lovely walks. If it hadn't have been raining. The sleeping arrangements were a bit different too. The real cheapy one was a dorm for about 20 people. Basically it was one huge bed where everyone just bunked on. Luckily I bagged the next one up which was a normal, and extremely cosy dorm, for just 6 people. There was lots of offers of roasts, massages etc on the go. Me and a couple of girls - Lynssey and Clare booked ourselves for the roast and then went for a little walk around and then sat in the hot tub for an hour, which the 'spa' boasted. It was hot though. I mean Lynssey couldn't sit in it for the first 20 minutes because she went so red. And I have to say that when I popped back to the lodge to get us a drink, I did nearly pass out from being rather hot! But once you got used to it, it was lovely. And it had stopped raining by then and the view out in the open was gorgeous. After our burning soak and gossip about life at home, we settled for an evening of the best roast. Well not as good as home roast but it was still 'well nice'. And a quick update on the young shits of the bus... Rollo (the one who thought it fun to have a bag of wine under his arm the whole time) had run out of money. So much so that he even had to audacity to walk amongst the tables of people eating roasts requesting that we maybe give him any scraps. I might have almost felt sorry for him but he was pissed and still holding a rather full bag of wine under his stupid arm, so I really didn't. But the evening was pleasant and I had a brilliant long sleep.

Day 10. River Valley-Wellington

FACT - Wellington is located directly on a major earthquake fault line. The biggest earthquake was recorded in 1855 and measured 8 on the Richteer scale.

We didn't have to leave until midday the next day as there were a number of activities going on. Some of the group went horse riding and others did some white water rafting. This particular river was actually a grade 5 for rafting in NZ, which means it had lots of dangerous rapids I think! On the way to our next stop of Wellington, we drove through and stopped in a town called 'Bulls'. And what the town had cleverly done was play on the name and named a few shops after it e.g. 'Consta-Bull' (the town's police station) and other such names. It was quite a drive so we were told to ensure we had 'supplies' as we wouldn't be stopping until dinner time. This, as usual brought people in to a food buying panic like there was going to be a 7 year famin or something, and so we'd run to the nearest store and buy a week's worth of shopping just in case we went hungry... and I got used to this, but it still didn't change anything when Rich told us to make sure we had enough to eat. So quite a few hours later, and quite a few bellies full later, we arrived in windy Wellington, as it is known for. I was feeling quite 'hormotional' actually. Time of the month. I think it was a mixture of that and also it being the last night with most the people i'd made friends with. Wellington being the capital, most people stayed on as there's a few bits and bobs to see and do. But I still wanted to get on. I'd been to museums and botanical gardens and actually I preferred the non city stops so I didn't really want to stick around there even if it was the capital city. When I checked in I paid just $1 extra and got to go in the 'santuary' dorm. Basically it's just a dorm for girls. But you get a towel and some beauty products wrapped in it, along with a voucher for a free glass of champagne. Sold. The beauty products were actually from Aveda, which made me smile as that's where Mirella works. I'd arranged to meet up with David that evening as he was arriving there as well. He was staying on for another day though. I met him in my hostel and he immediately picked up on my hormotional mood which I was pretty impressed by. We went had some dinner in the hostel's rather clean kitchen and caught up on past day's activities. We also were very amused by someone's dinner of a carrot which looked rather lonely on the plate, waiting for it's probably hungry and skint owner to come and eat it. The rest of the evening was spent with some of my friends down in the hostel bar. The difference between my bus and David's bus was that my lot were all up dancing, laughing and being generally silly, and David's lot were sat down having rather conservative-looking chats. It was like someting you may see in a comedy sketch. Granted, an averagely funny comedy sketch. We'd had enough of hostel bars so me and David (I'm starting to feel like Posh spice saying that) went off to explore a bit of Wellington. Afterall I was up very early the next day so wanted to see a bit of it at least. We found a place putting on a gig and went and had a boogie until we decided to go for falaffel. I mean alot of time had passed since dinner. And I'd given up smoking so I think my need to eat increased by 500%. Can you get 500%? Anyway David has an amusing/embarrassing picture of me eating a falafel, which he's threatened to put on Facebook. It won't be going on here. But it was a fun night anyway.

Week 38 - A very big lake

FACT - At 616 Km2, Taupo is the largest lake in Australasia and is big enough to fit the island of Singapore in it. If you wanted to.

Day 7. Waitomo - Taupo
With the morning's caving adventures over, and our hot soup and bagel sitting happily in our stomachs, we went off on the bus and headed towards Tongariro National Park. As we arrived in Taupo, we could see the national park in the distance. Alot of the filming for Lord of the Rings was done here. Ngauruhoe (Na-ru-hoe-e), the cone shaped mountain, was more famously known as 'Mount Doom!'
Before we arrived at our hostel, we stopped for a walk at the Huka (Foam) Falls. They are situated on the Waikato River, just 2Km noth of Lake Taupo and are 11 metres high. The falls were formed by an earthquake and are completely natural. And really mesmorising to watch, with the water being just so blue. Once all pictures had been taken we hopped back on the bus and it wasn't long before we arrived at our hostel. Booking in to these hostels always took a little while as all of us, plus perhaps another bus load were dropped off at the same time. Me and Sarah stuck together so we could request being in the same room again. We got our keys, heaved our backpacks up to the third floor and were rather excited to find our room with just the 1 bunk bed in it! Sharing in a six or eight bed dorm is fun, and you get used to sharing with so many people. And actually I liked it because you start talking to someone different each time, but in situation where you've just paid for an 8-bed dorm, and actually get one to share with just one other person occurs, it's a good time! It's just a bit more relaxing and you can unpack your backpack and leave things out.
Anyway the plan for our 'free day', for the following day was to do the Tongariro crossing. It was on my list of things I wanted to do. I'd been told it was a real physical challenge and I hadn't really done any trekking since Asia. It boasted stunning scenery and volcanic activity and is classed as one of the top 10 one-day walks in the world. But we found out that it had been cancelled for the next day due to weather warnings. I was pretty disappointed, but I guess it's better to be called off then be blown off a volcano by rather large gust of wind. These things do happen for a reason afterall...
I popped in to a shop to get my photos put on to DVD, to find out that they too had all been lost. I couldn't believe it had happened again. All my NZ pictures so far. I was so gutted. By this time is was evening so I got myself ready and met up with some of the girls I'd been chatting to for a drink. Which turned in to quite a few drinks and then quite a few more. I hadn't had a drink like that for a very long time and after quite a bit of dancing with lovely people from my bus, and a succesful game of pool with my two Swedish friends, I took myself off to bed.

Day 8. A free day in Taupo
Overdoing the drinking is always a good lesson to not go and do it again. Especially this time. I think age is kicking in and I can't really handle it anymore. I woke up actually feeling fine. But also glad to not be sharing with a bunch of other people. I woke up completely naked, so was even more glad for only sharing with Sarah, who assured me that she hadn't seen any of my nakedness. ANYWAY! I'd woken up early to go and skype home. I was with home for about an hour and a half before I really started feeling rough. I said my goodbyes and took myself back to my room and back to bed. After a few more hours sleep I went and attempted some cereal but it didn't do much good so I had to go back to bed. I was so annoyed at myself for feeling so crap. I was in a beautiful town, with the sun shining bright (not sure why the walk was cancelled but never mind) and all I could do was lay in bed feeling awful. It took until about 6pm to feel ok to get downstairs and meet up with David. He had arrived that afternoon and we'd pre-organised to meet at my hostel at 6pm. And there he was. Nose in laptop as usual... he told me I looked rough. Thanks. We went for a walk around Taupo at my request, and I wanted to find a postbox to send a card to my mum and dad. But there were no postboxes anywhere. So we found the post office, which obviously was closed, but the post box was inside the locked doors! I slipped my postcard under the door, but then got paranoid that someone will read it so David tried to get it back but it had gone in too far. It did get home though.
That evening we decided to splash out a bit and go for a curry. So we stepped inside a restaurant, were seated and then legged it when we saw the prices. They were a little steep. David said he'd been told about another one round the corner. But when we found it, we realised it was owned by the same people as the first one, and the setting and ambiance wasn't near as nice, so we snuck back in to the other one. Our menus were still there so I think it went unnoticed that we'd made a dash for it 10 minutes before -not a surprise going by the 'I'm going to eat my arm' slow service! We eventually ordered, and then eventually ate about an hour after that. No joke. And the waiter really did have a stoop like Sméagol from LOTR. I don't think it was meant to be any sort of link. And the food didn't even taste like curry. My lamb rogan josh tasted like beef stew. Ah well, we had a giggle about it and then spent the evening in a really cold pub, where I beat David at pool AND darts. HA.
I had been half tempted to stay on in Taupo, seeing as I'd had such a waste of the day I had there. And I wanted to do that walk, but it had been called off for the next day aswell. I didn't really want to leave the pals I'd made already so decided to move on...

Week 38 - Black Water Rafting in the Waitomo Caves

FACT - A glow worm uses its glow to attract food and to burn off waste. The tail glows as a reaction between the chemicals gven ff by the worm and the oxygen in the air. This reaction produces light, which insects fly towards and then get stuck in the sticky lines the worm has hung to catch food. Glow worms also use the glow to put off other creatures from eating them.

You know when you wake up on a cold winter's morning, and the last thing you want to do it get get out of your snuggly bedding and out of your Pj's, and under the shower. Well next time in such situation i will remind myself back to what could be worse... getting up at the crrrack of dawn, out of a cosy cabin, out in to the chilly morning to wait for a van, off to the water rafting office where we had to part with 90 good new zealand dollars, and then given cold, wet, cold wetsuits to go and climb in to in an open changing room... outside.

Of course we had opted to do the trip so i'm not complaining, but yes. The getting in to the cold wetsuits was rather harsh. We then got rallied off to a river where we practised jumping in backwards in to our rubber rings. This practise was for later on when we'd be in the pitch black caves and would have to do it with ease! Falling in to the water was bloody cold. And we were told that it was about twice as cold under the caves!

So after the practises off we went to the caves, making our way under. It felt a lot more controlled and safe than the caves in Laos, although I think I enjoyed those more, in a weird sort of terrorised way. As we waded through the icy waters, Sophie, one of the Swedish girls i'd made friends with the previous night, was not on top form. She couldn't really cope with the cold and asked to be taken out. Although not amusing at the time, we did chuckle afterwards at the guide, who tried to give her some hot coffee to warm her up, but she just yelled

"GET ME OUT THESE CAVES"...

And so he did. While the guide took her back, we had to wait for him to return, so were entertained by the other guide who told us more about glow worms, and how the light is actually their poo. And we got a chocolate fish as well. By now my body was numb but i was having a wicked time so I didn't really care. I think I have a lot more body fat that Sophie so was able to keep considerably warmer!

The other guide came back and we continued, crawling, dipping, ducking, swimming, tubing, through the caves. Oh and jumping backwards in our tubes over small waterfalls. They were the best. And then at one point we all had to make a sort of caterpillar (like the pic at the top) and we turned out head torches off and the guides pushed us along. Up above there were thousands upon thousands of glow warms, it was unreal. But real. It was really special. And before we knew it, it was time to be climbing out again. 3 hours sure goes quickly when you're cold and wet under the ground.

It was the best thing to be getting the wet suits off, and to be greeted with a hot hot shower, and then some hot hot soup and a bagel. A good touch.

Week 38 - NZ - Off 'darn sarf'

FACT - In 1769, Captain James Cook anchored in Mercury Bay to observe the transit of Mercury in the evening sky. Hence the modern english name for the bay.

Day 4. Auckland - Mercury Bay

So the bus was full of new people who I hadn't met or seen in the hostel. And it was full. I was still a bit worried that it was going to be fill of w*nkers who wanted to see how many boxes of wine they could get through as they heckled at passers by all the way around NZ. Actually we were waiting for the bus to arrive and one of the 'boys' made a rude weight comment about the rather large lady who walked past the group. She heard. And she turned on him and pushed him off his backpack that he had been perching on, as she had a rant about 'us tourists'. So that's just an example of the type of w*nker behaviour I was hoping to avoid. Oh and he was also one of the clever arsed people on my whole trip to question my postcode..

"Do you actually live in a London postcode, or are you the sort of person to just say 'London' but actually live on the boarder?"

Sort of person?

What the...? I don't think my character can be judged on keeping a an answer quite simple, rather than going in to the geography of where Sidcup in Kent is. I'd been away too long to do that every time someone new asked me where I was from. Our first stop before even leaving Auckland was to the top of Mount Eden. It is one of the 70 dormant volcanoes in the region and had the best views of the city. The weather was grey and miserable. And rather windy. Then we stopped for breakfast. As I sat with a coffee, I started talking to Sarah, a girl from Holland. Although, her accent was so english I thought she may have been from London. I didn't quiz her on her postcode though. She had been working in Australia for 6 months and was on her last few weeks before heading home. I expected her to be about my youthful age but it turned out she wsa just 18. So pretty close to my youthful age anyway. Next stop was Cathedral Cove. We were booted off the bus and shown the way to walk. An hour later and we were on a really beautiful beach. It's a shame the weather wasn't better but it didn't spoil it entirely. I thought about Joanne, my cousin, who just a couple of months before had gotten engaged on this very beach. By the way Jo, how did you manage carting all the baby stuff down to the beach? Mission or what!! And then all the way back up again? Supermum. Back up the top and who did I bump in to - yes David. It seemed he was going to be a reappearing character in my New Zealand tales. And as David's usual luck would have it, it began to rain again just as he was off to do the walk that we had done. Just before we hopped back on the bus I noticed Sarah's bruised knees. She had been sandboarding too. Only obviously wasn't quite as good as me... The rest of the day was spent driving to our hostel. We were meant to stop for walks along the way but it was really raining for most of it, so didn't end up doing any more walking. I loved the hostel we stayed in. It was just so homely. And there was the option to go to some hot water swimming pool that evening as well. But, agreeing that we both felt like we were on brownie camp, me and Sarah decided to hang back, eat spag bol and watch a movie with some hot chocolate whilst the rain continued to chuck it down outside.

Day 5 Mercury Bay - Rotorua

Up early the next day as we had alot of driving to do. It was still wet and miserable so once again a couple of the walks were called off. I really hoped it would brighten up at some point. My tan was fading. Fast. We did stop at Karangahake Scenic Reserve en route. It had stopped pelting it quite so much. Here we went on a walk that followed the river, crossed over a couple of swing bridges (that looked like they belonged in Asia actually) and then 1Km through a railway tunnel. It was pretty cool as there were glowworms in there as well. Not that they lit the way at all. It was pretty dark. Then for the first Lord of the Rings encounter. We drove through a town called Matamata, which was the filming location for Hobbiton. So, of course, we stopped and got a picture. And were told that actually the community were currently trying to get the town changed to 'Hobbiton'. We then drove on to Rotorua. It's a very volcanic area and there was steam coming from under the streets though storm water drains. The Maori name for the town is 'Whangapipiro (Fong-a-pe-pero), meaning 'an evil-smelling place'. And it was. It smelt like eggs, which was due to all the geothermal activity going on. By the way don't be phased by all my knowledge. I do have the 'Kiwi experience' guide book to help me along. I haven't turned clever or anything... As we arrived we were welcomed, Maori style, and given a short presentation about the history of the village. It was a nice thing for them to do, but also a bit of a sales thing as at the end you had the option to get your ticket for that evening Maori night. As it goes, I had already got mine on the bus. It had been on offer on one of the clipboards that got handed around. Sign sign sign. I just like to sign my name actually. The evening was really great. Colourful, with some performances and a real insight in to the history of NZ. And the grub they put on after the show was tasty too. All you can eat. Me and Sarah did very well indeed. We did have a crazy bus driver as well. He had picked us up from the hostel and greeted us in about 50 languages on the way to the Maori village which was about 20Km out of town. It was pretty impressive. The first part of the evening was out in the forests where they re-created a load of 'Maori stuff' (see what I mean. There is limited information about that part of the night in this booklet so you'll have to make do with my rather original informative style). Oh and they also did 'The Haka' as well which was cool to watch. Then on the way home the bus driver quite crazily sang a few songs, including 'here we go round the mulberry bush', as he went round and round and round and round a roundabout. Wasn't the best of plans after such a huge meal but never mind. In the middle of the night I woke up to Sarah shouting out the window. She was actually saving the arse of the w*nker i mentioned earlier on. He was so drunk that the security guard didn't want to let him in the hostel. But the wan... (ok ok sorry, he was called Cameron), got all cocky and mouthy and was then being threatened by the guard. But yes, Sarah diffused the situation and we were able to get back to sleep. Cameron had made friends with a group of 18-yr old, just out of paid education know it alls, who were also drubk alot of the time. Actually one of them, named 'Rollo' (and that is very serious) had a bag (he'd ditched the box) of wine clentched in his hand morning, noon and night. And he walked around bare foot because he didn't like wearing shoes. I'm glad they all found eachother because it meant they would stay out of my way.

Day 6 Rotorua - Waitomo

We got up early (I'm going to stop starting like that because we got up early most days), and I grabbed some cereal. Then 30 minutes later we stopped at a place for breakfast. I learnt quickly that this happened most days. They told us to be ready to go on the bus at about 8am or 9am, so you'd race around getting your stuff together and have breakfast, and then they'd stop off within the hour to eat. So we stopped at some sort of fun park/sheep shearing farm. Rich, the driver, told us that the sheep shearing show was pretty funny. We were going to be there for a couple of hours so me and Sarah decided to go. And it was funny actually. I felt like I was back in Thailand though. About 20 coach loads of Thai tourists got dropped off so we were surrounded. The bloke just talked about the farm and stuff and all the different sheep. I know it sounds dull but it really wasn't. And Sarah got picked for going up to milk the cow. I laughed at her, glad that it hadn't been me. But within 10 minutes I was up on stage as well, feeding some lambs. Doh. And when the show was over I had a chat with the Southdown sheep that gets sent for england for roast dinners. After all the sheep fun, Rich did a bit of a BBQ and we had some sausages before getting back on the bus. And then we arrived in Waitomo. Here we go. 'Wai' means water, and 'tomo' means caves. The local caves are made out of limestone and hidden beneath the countryside. This town was famous for it's caving , white water rafting, and blackwater rafting. On went the signature for some black water rafting, but we were told that our turn would be the following morning before leaving. When we arrived the sun came out and Rich took us on a really nice bush walk in the Ruakrui Reserve. And the rest of the afternoon was up to us to chill and stuff. And that evening we had a few drinks. I started talking to a swedish couple of girls. Sara and Sophie. And a load of other people as well. I felt well in to the swing of it all now.

Week 37 - NZ - Bay of Islands (the top bit)

FACT - 'The Bay of Islands' was commonly referred to as the 'Hell-hole of the South Pacific' by Charles Darwin.

Day 1 - Auckland to Paihia
I was up early and got myself to the bus and settled in to a window seat. And off we went. And after my jazzy evening in good company I was most definitely feeling brighter. Off across the Auckland harbour bridge, which people bungy 40m off over the water. Why? Because it's NZ. After some driving up the Hibiscus Coast, we stopped at a honey centre in Warkworth. I grabbed a coffee and wandered about the honey centre watching the thousands of bees doing their thing. It was an absolutely glorious sunny day. I went to the loo, and I don't mean to go in to too much detail but I was 1 minute in there. And when I came out it was bloody raining. What the...? I'd heard that the weather was somewhat erratic but really?

But by the time we got to Paihia it had all cleared up. Now I have to tell you now about how the Kiwi Experience operates. The bus driver is a very informative tour guide and tells stories as you get driven along. One being about the 'Shiraffe' that was produced as a scientific experiment back in the 60's. When he pointed them out they looked just like Lama's. I'm thinking they were. Although I only thought that later on AFTER I'd told the story to someone else. Ahem. And the pink sheep!! Apparently the farmer was trying to get tourists in, and painted his sheep bright pink to attract more attention... ANYWAY. The bus driver passes back clipboards which have different activites on them which are available in the place you are travelling to. And another clipboard for accommodation. So you simply write your name on the ones you want and the driver then books it all. So down went my first (of many) signatures, for swimming with the dolphins...

... as I sat on the boat eyeing up the other passengers (not in a pervy way - I mean just being nosey in a people watching way. Oh apart from one french guy. Yeh I was checking him right out. Hot), I got a bit nervous. Yes, swimming with dolphins sounds very magical, but then so did riding an elephant and walking to a beautiful waterfall. They were both quite traumatic. Someone asked if ther were any sharks, to which the woman simply answered 'Yes'. Not the most comforting approach but never mind. So we headed out in to the pacific. Or Tasman sea (oops sorry i'm not sure which one it is) and it wasn't long before we spotted the first pack of dolphins. It's true what they say - dolphins make you really happy. They have some sort of special effect. Everyone was smiling and talking to them as we were told that they respond to voices. I quietly sang 'Under the sea' from 'The Little Mermaid' but didn't have the guts to belt it out. Although I did get a few people to sing 'happy birthday' as it seemed like the only one that people knew the most, seeing as no one else appeared to be english. Lots of pictures. Lots. And people took it in turns to lay on their fronts at the nose of the boat. The tour guide woman pretty much held on to ankels so the passengers could get up really close to the dolphins. Whilst I was dangling the front of my body over the boat (a sentence I didn't ever expect to write), a baby dolphin appeared and started jumping and flipping all over the place. Pretty damn cute. But because of the baby, we were not allowed to swim with them. Some sort of law. I was happy though. It's just something that will remain on my list until another time. We then made our way deep in to the ocean/sea. I was sitting at the front at this point and I actually remember this being the moment that I fell in love with NZ. Sorry to sound all 'travelly' (I promise I won't be philosophising all over the place when I return) but something just clicked and knocked that wall over. At that very moment I was taking in the most beautiful scenery (very LOTResque) whilst the breeze was blowing all that homesickness away. It was great. I was back on track. As I walked back to the hostel (taking a wrong turn along the way and being very amused by a girl who recognised me from the bus that morning, so followed me as she didn't remember where the hostel was), I thought about what I fancied doing that evening. Just as I walked in to the reception I literally bumped in to David! Hello David. He was staying at the same hostel. We made a brew and decided to just have the BBQ that was on offer at the hostel. (How many times did I just write hostel?) Along with Chantal who I made pals with walking from the dorm to the kitchen. Not sure how that happened actually. You just talk to everyone. As we sat chomping, a guy called Colin from Yorkshire joined us...

Q: How can you tell if a man is from Yorkshire?

A: Because he's already told you 3 times.

A good joke because it's true. And amongst his ongoing chat, he told us a rather disturbing story, which he only realised was disturbing when he saw our rather horrified reactions. He also smelt pretty bad, so we renamed him 'Eau de Colin'. I know that sounds mean but you didn't hear the story. And no. No i'm not going to tell you what it was. We just did our best to avoid talking to him again. After that we just had a few drinks and then I went off to bed as I had an early start the next day.

Day 2 - Pahihia to Cape Reigna Day Trip
So I was told the top bit was a good day out. Mind you, the woman selling me the ticket told me that. But I was keen to see a few things on it anyway. First stop was at the Puketi Kawi forest. Kawi is a type of tree. Some of them in this forest are about 2000 years old and were once used for boat building. And they are now great for hugging. I couldn't help myself, it was just so big! After a little walk in the forst we were driven along 90-mile beach. Which, according to our driver, is only 64 miles. As we drove he told us old Maori stories about the area. And at the end of 64 mile beach (doesn't quite have the same ring does it) there were some sand dunes. Sand dunes which were for sandboarding. Obviously. I'd seen it in pictures and had read about it. I wasn't so sure I was up for it. Not sure why now. Maybe just the height of the dune. So we were given a boogey board and ordered up to the top of the dune after a brief deomstration of how to do it. Woah. I thought I was reasonably fit but it turned out I wasn't. Me and a few others had a sit down midway. Well, almost midway. We watched as people sped past us, either making it to the bottom, stopping half way due to too much knee dragging, or just coming right off the board and rolling the rest of the way down the dune. So it still wasn't appealing to me but sure enough I found myself literally facing the bottom of the sand dune. And... it was 'well fun'! And... I got to the bottom quite perfectly thank you. I would've done it again if it wasn't for the walking up the dune again. Yeh yeh, lazy. I know.
Next up was Cape Reigna itself. There was a lighthouse there which indicated the very tip of New Zealand. Lots of stories along the walk to the lighthouse told of how the Maori people believe that when they die their spirit transcends the land and passes through to the other world, through a sacred tree growing from the cliff. And as I arrived at the lighthouse and looked in to the water, I could see where the Tasman Sea and Pacific joined, which was another attraction of the place. You can actually see where they join, it's pretty cool. And then some lunch at a place called Tepotupotu Bay. Most of these names in NZ are quite tongue twistery. I sat and had lunch with the girl who i'd been sat next to on the coach. We didn't even exchange names actually. Just chatted about stuff. She was from Africa and was working on the Cook Islands as a beauty therapist. Some people's jobs. And then it was time to drive back to Paihia. With a fish n' chip stop along the way. However, I had my budget cap on (it was a little dusty but I found it) and declined. We'd also only just had lunch. I had some rice and cherry tomatoes back at the hostel that needed eating. Which ate when we got back. And David was there too to eat what I rather cleverly had thrown together. He bought me some digestive biscuits as well which is my perfect accompaniment to a cuppa! (Right Laura?!) So with David now firmly on my Christmas card list, we had a few drinks along with Chantal. We managed to avoid Eau de Colin as well which was a plus. We had a giggle that night anyway. Mostly at the expense of my horrible southern accent (I'm not against anyone elses southern accent i might add. Just my horrid one). Chantal is from Holland so was finding it harder to understand me. For example, we were talking about Michael Hutchinson and I asked
'Is that how he died?' although I think what Chantal heard was
'Izat howry died?' and thought I was asking how hairy he was or something. Not that I was actually drunk by the way. It's just 'howri' talk. Much to David's amusement. Bloody northener. Oh and I also took the challenge on to give up facebook for lent. I'd been going on it every day expecting something new to be happening and it drove me crazy. So that was it. No facebook for 40 days and 40 nights. It was going to be hard. I mean, I think if the devil produced facebook in that desert, it might have all been a different story...

Day 3 - Paihia-Auckland

This was a bit of a non day really as we had to be ready at 3pm for the coach back to Auckland. David went and did a boat trip, much to his regret. He'd booked it the day before when the weather had been rather brilliant. But this day was not. It was dull, rainy, and there were severe gail warnings that had caused most trips to be called off. Most, except for David's. His was still on. So, with just one other person booked on the trip for him to talk to, he went on his way, dragging his feet. As it was such a dull day, me and Chantal just went to have some coffee. Then I popped in to the post office to pop a few postcards off, and also a little bday present for my cousin Sarah. I hoped it would get there on time. The rain stopped by this time so we went for a bit of a walk. We got 45 minutes up the coast before it absolutely crapped it down. And with no shelter around, we got wet. But hey ho, at least we got some exercise before our 5 hour drive back to Auckland. Chantal was on my bus as well so we got a table seat together and then spent most the time chatting (or as NZers would say 'having a yarn) to the guy who sat with us. Richard. It turned out he was the bus driver for the next day. He was quite new to the job so this would be his 4th trip around NZ. He's lived in London before and had worked as a chippy. Hey why are they all carpenters when in London? Anyway it was nice to meet him and I was more excited for the trip ahead. David got back later on, and we had a brew and a yarn about his rather enjoyable boat trip he'd had, and called it a night. He was off down south the next day as well but on a different bus so we worked out we'd probably catch up again in a few days time.

Week 37 - A bit of Jazz and blues

So on the Sunday I had found out that there was a jazz and blues festival at Mission Bay, which was just a bus ride away. So I arranged to meet my new friends. Me and David went off for a roast, and Hayleigh met us there later on.

Mission Bay was very picturesque and with the jazz and blues going on in every direction it was a really nice evening. We sat on the grass and listened to the music as we accepted all the free tasters of beer that were coming round. It's an art being a backpacker you know. And also laughed about the fight that we'd seen the previous night. Me and David had been walking along (trying to find another bar other than that of the hostel I have to add) and suddenly over on the left in a carpark there were a couple of blokes having a bit of a punch up. Actually alot of a punch up. We stopped and watched from afar. One of the men ran round in to a big van and was driving away as the other guy was trying to smash the back window with his fists. Meanwhile at the exit of the carpark a random police car was sitting there completely unaware of the carpark drama. Me and David were still stood there watching. Then someone made the polieman aware of the fight and he hopped to it and ran over to the van that was trying to leave the carpark. At this point we thought it best to move on but kept watching. Whilst the policeman was standing right there next to the van, the other bloke came right up to it and threw a brick through the window. We couldn't believe it. And the absolute comedy moment was that the brick thrower was using a walking stick, so he ran-limped away, with great difficulty it seemed and relying quite heavily on his stick, which made the police chase rather, well, rather easy. The policeman just walked up behind him, and reached out quite placidly taking the stick away. The running-limper therefore stopped and was lead to the policecar. It was extremely entertaining.


After we were sufficiently filled with free beer tasters we wandered about and watched the different live music that was going on. We particularly liked the swing band. I stood and reminisced the great times I had with the jazz group at school and thought about Mr Michael who passed away last year. Good memories. And also good memories about the Eynsford Concert Band. I wondered how they were doing. Must send them a postcard. And with the music was a group who had obviously been learning how to swing dance. And it's now on my list of things to do. My ever growing list. Their energy was brilliant and they looked like they were having so much fun. Sooo doing it.

After all the swing jazzing, we watched some blues. I took a video of one of the songs playing as it reminded me of my dad. He plays and listens to a lot of blues. So all in all it was a really great evening.

We had a cuppa when we got back to the hostel and then I headed to bed as I was up early in the morning to start my kiwi experience. David was leaving as well, but he was booked on to a different bus - 'Sway'. He teased me about the Kiwi Experience being for 'young people'. That's why I was on it David!! But I was a little nervous that i'd be much older than the others and that it might turn out to be like a booze cruise for school leavers...