Taupo

Sunday 18/11/12 - Friday 22/11/12

On the way to Taupo we stopped at Wai-O-Tapu "Thermal Wonderland'. Clearly we wanted to take in the magical rotten egg smells one last time.

We arrived in Taupo and checked into Blackcurrant backpackers which had been recommended to us when we were in Auckland. I understood why straight away. We loved it. Such a contrast from the last place. Bright, airy and newly renovated. The atmosphere was also very relaxed and comfortable. We took a wonder into town and despite it being mid afternoon on a Sunday, there was still quite a bit going on. I think we were walking for no more than 10 minutes before I felt an instant connection with the place. I loved the layout of the town, the types of shops, bars and restaurants and of course the mass of water nearby. It felt very cosy and homely, and the people are ace.

We very nearly bought some snowboards in the summer sale, but managed to walk away.

The following day we walked around the town some more. The weather was a bit cloudy, but the forecast for the rest of the week was hot and sunny everyday. We used this day to try to start making some long(ish)term plans, as to be perfectly honest, I could quite happily stay here indefinitely. Eventually we agreed that we would keep moving; see all we could before the money ran out (and it's going fast at the moment) and if Taupo was still our favourite, we would come back. So in summary, our plan was not to make any plans. Good.

There were, however, some things we wanted to do whilst we were here.

Skydive - 15,000 feet (tandem).
It's something we've both always wanted to do, but never really had the money or the opportunity. We found ourselves having both in Taupo. Mari was super nervous but she was holding it together pretty well. The van came to pick us up on a bright and sunny morning and took us to the small airfield just outside the town. Barely a cloud in the sky. I personally was far more excited than nervous as we watched the safety video, geared up and met our tandem masters. I was paired up with a Swedish guy called Patrick who had to suffer me trying to converse with him in my best SweNorEnglish. He was a top guy. Mari was paired with Joel who did his very best to make Mari relax. In vein, I might add. We got on the old prop-plane which only had one sliding door at the rear. We took off and started ascending.

Oxygen masks were given to us and we dropped off a couple of girls and 12,000 feet. I think that's the point where my heart picked up the pace a little. Just watching these girls sat on the edge of the plane with their legs dangling over the side and flapping in the wind. One second the were there, WHUM! they were gone completely out of sight and the plane rocked slightly as the weight distribution changed. The door slammed shut and the plane started climbing again.
Mari and I along with our tandem masters were the last people out of the plane. The guys briefly lined us up so we could hold hands and say our goodbyes. I watched Mari disappear as I did the others. WHUM!.....gone. As Patrick and I shuffled to the edge my brain suddenly had an epiphany. "Hang on. This isn't actually a very good idea!" Nothing under my feet other than green fields and crystal clear blue water. Quite a long way under my feet actually. I put my head back and hung on to the harness as instructed and off we went.
We tumbled head over heels a couple of times until he stabilised us and pulled the drone chute, then I was given the signal to spread my arms like wings.
I can honestly say that that it was the most exhilarating 60 seconds of my life. The wind rushed past at a deafening volume. He spun us like a turntable a couple of times so I could take in the amazing view of the snow capped mountains and crystal clear lake. The free-fall seemed to take a lifetime. My mouth was flapping in the wind and tears were building up in my eyes. The ground didn't really look all that much closer than it had in the plane, but suddenly we were jerked from horizontal to vertical as the canopy deployed. I supposed even the most veteran skydivers still feel a sense of relief when they feel that upwards force. All was good. Patrick pointed out Mari's open canopy below. An equally big relief.
The decent was slow and we spiraled gently towards the air field. The view seemed even better at this speed. We came in pretty fast and we slid on our arses across the dry grass. "Wow! I want to do that again."

Mari was clearly very pleased to be back on terrafirma, but I felt hooked. I watched Patrick grab another pre-packed parachute and walk straight over to his next jumper and board the waiting plane again. Possibly one of the best jobs in the world. Y'know, if you like that sort of thing. I certainly did.

Rapids Jet Boat

We did a jet boat ride up and down the rapids near the Hukka Falls. That was great fun too. Another man with a great job. He pointed out the spots where Peter Jackson had been filming parts of 'The Hobbit' only a few months ago.

*I want to only put my own photos on here, but the last 3 photos were borrowed from the net. Perhaps it's the Scottish in me, but we just couldn't justify spending the huge amounts of money they wanted for the photos they took of us.We're talking more than the event itself in some cases and equating to a weeks rent. We looked ridiculous in them anyway* 

Today we drove down the the Tongariro National park and did a couple hours hiking. It was well worth the trip.

We've done some seriously good eating & drinking here in Taupo as well. Off the back of a recommendation we had Chilli and beef borritos washed down with corona & slushy rosebud cocktails at Taco Taco. Tonight were going for a touch of class at Scenic Cellar which looks to be a 50/50 mix of an extensive wine shop and a chic tapas bistro.

We're dragging ourselves away from Taupo tomorrow and heading North to a little surf town called Raglan. I do feel a little sad to be leaving, but at this early stage of our travels it needs to be about the journey, not the destination. Having said that, a part of me is convinced we'll be back at some point.

Rotorua

Rotorua

Tuesday 13/11/12 - Sunday 18/11/12

We stayed in the comfortable Sunkist hostel in Thames just for the one night.It's quite a nice little town by the water. I was at the local supermarket by 8:30am getting breakfast and the clientele were interesting to say the least. New Zealand's version of Asda in Farnbrorough I suppose. There were some goldmines that you could visit, but that didn't really appeal, so we packed up and drove to Cormandel. It was a 'Must see' place from a friend of mine, but we didn't really find anything of any real interest there apart from it being a pretty little beach town. Are we becoming spoiled? But even the tourist information point was full of leaflets for other areas, so we kept heading around the cape.
We reached Whitianga which is a jumping point to 'Hot Water Beach' and 'Cathedral cove'. Unfortunately, the weather was turning a bit sour and soon rain was hitting the windscreen again. We grabbed a coffee and probably stayed for the best part of an hour deciding what to do. After all, you would prefer beach weather for a day at the beach. Eventually we decided to keep going with our travels and return here when the weather was a bit nicer. There was also that fact that our next stops; Rotorua & Taupo had been top of our list when we were planning this trip in the UK and we could feel excitement for this building. Decision made.
We made a reservation at Crash Palace Backpackers and set-off. We drove 342km that day and after that I promised myself that we would make shorter hops in future. It was a bit too much time behind the wheel for my liking.

Arriving in Rotorua, we initially though that we were driving past a water treatment plant. The smell was horrendous. As we kept getting closer and closer to the town, the smell continued and we thought that the farmers must be muck spreading. It was only hours later that we realised that the smell was caused by the thermal activity and all the sulphur in the air was to blame...and it wasn't going away.
We eventually arrived in the Crash Palace at dusk and checked in. The reception area was nice, but the room was pretty depressing. The walls were painted dark grey and there was a small window with bars over it. And of course, that window had been open and the room was smelling of sulphur too. We were thinking about cutting our stay short, but it was one of the highest rated hostels in town and everything seemed to be fully booked now anyway. "It will do", we concluded.

The town was an odd little place really. It was so quiet everywhere we went. I lost count of the amount of bars we walked past with NOBODY in them. Just a really bored looking barman, reading the paper.

We ventured into 'The Pheasant Plucker' which was one of the busier looking bars [4 patrons] and bought a couple of drinks from two native barstaff that had clearly never done this before. They had one type of beer. "I guess I'll have a pint of that then, please". We played some pool and listened to a local band 'Swamp thing' that were surprisingly good. We spent most of the evening laughing about how bizarre the place was.

We spent some time at Rainbow Springs [a zoo of sorts] as Mari was desperate to see a Kiwi bird [no photos allowed].

We did a tour of some of the thermal spots to get a bit closer to the source of the bad smells.

An excellent couple of hours mountain bike riding in the redwoods. The trails were great. Intricate and flowing with well groomed berms and table tops. I gave my rented hardtail a bit of a hard time. We barely scratched the surface of the trails available. I think if I lived in this area, I would be here several times a week. It was great fun.

We had a slap-up curry one evening and duvet day when the weather was bad.

Our geography was a little out and some of the things we were excited to do were much closer to Taupo than Rotorua, so it made sense to wait until we got further along.

Maps

Here you go, Mum. This should give you an idea...

Far North

Saturday 10^th November.

God, it feels good to be mobile. We can go anywhere, do anything. But first we need to go and pick up a mattress for the back of our van. It’s actually a lot comfier than it sounds. We get lost looking for highway 1 and have a bit of lunch in Mairangi Bay.

We eventually find highway 1 and head North, but with the option of a toll road, or the Coastal scenic route, we took the latter, obviously. We stopped for a bit just outside Orewa...

and then again around Leigh/Pakiri

Up to Whangarei to get some supplies, then head back down to a camping ground we passed called Raukaka. I should explain the term for people like us who sleep in the back of cars/vans and usually do it perhaps where they shouldn’t be doing it. It’s called: ‘Tramping’. There are also loads of people in their winibagos, watching their sky TV whilst roasting a chicken. This is: Glamping. Anything in between is just regular camping. Well, we were going to ‘tramp it’, but there were some shady looking people hanging around the public toilets, so we went 30 seconds down the road to a proper campsite with cold showers, a long-drop toilet and everything. We went for a walk along the beach and then turned in.  

Sunday 11^th November.

An early awakening for me as our make-shift curtains had failed and it was pretty bright in the back of the van. We take our breakfast of black coffee and pain o chocolates to the beach. It was completely deserted for the whole time we were there. That’s one of the things I’ve been finding hard getting used to. You’re doing something you think everyone should be doing, in a place where everyone should be. But there isn’t. You’re the only people there. On occasion it’s made us wonder if we’re even in the right place.

A hot shower at the visitor’s centre, then we head into Whangarei forest to check out some trees and a waterfall.

We decide to hoof it North. We took a scenic coastal route to KeriKeri. A weird Indian curry pizza in a Taipa. Up to Matai bay. We stopped there for a little bit, but we’re keen on getting to the top now.

Heading up to cape, the whole tone of the place changes. There really are no shops, petrol stations or mobile signal for the last 40-50 miles. I should have filled up when I could. Luckily there was a ‘last stop’ petrol station where you pay over the odds for everything. But…lesson learnt and no harm done. We finally reach the top where we’ll camp for the night. The rain is coming down now, but we’re getting much more organised at this camping business and the rain on the top of the car is really nice when you’re inside and cosy in bed.

Monday 12^th November.

Morning view:

We head back up to the cape as we didn't really have a good look around the day before.

We started our way back down. We climbed the giant sand-dunes of Te Paki

A quick stop for lunch in Kaitaia then carried on down to Kohukohu where we would catch the ferry to Rawene. We got some attitude from some local chickens whilst we were waiting for the boat to arrive.

Driving round the coast we come across Omapere, which has to be one of the biggest highlights for me so far. It was breath-taking.

Looking for a place to camp, we overshot the Waipaua forrest, but we found a little hill-billy campsite a couple of miles down the road. It has to be the clearest night sky I’ve ever seen, so I decided to do try some long exposure photography. Initially frustrated that the stars were always out of focus, only now as I’m putting this together that I realise that the blurring effect is actually star trailing. It’s where the single points of light form a line as the Earth spins and we hurtle through our galaxy. Pretty cool eh?

Tuesday 13^th

Start the day by taking a quick walk through the Kauri trees. It's hard to give a sense of scale in this photo, but trust me. This is one big-ass tree.

 We consult the map and the guide book and conclude that there’s nothing more we really want to see North of Auckland, so today is going to be heavy on the driving. We stop ever couple of hours, but we keep pressing on to our destination of Thames. On the way, we drive through one of the heaviest thunder storms I’ve ever seen and as our altitude increases a little, the road is covered by ice, snow or hail. Tentatively we reach Thames, but tonight is one night you don’t want to be tramping, so we splurge on a comfy double room at the Sunkist hostel. An opportunity for us to recharge batteries literally and metaphorically.  

North bound

Tomorrow we head North.
Our first week in Auckland has actually been very stressful, so I've decided not to write about it fully. We have our bank accounts, mobile numbers, a decent van and insurance The details regarding what it took to get all that is something I would sooner forget. It's been a massive pain in the arse, but we're all set now. The adventure can continue.

I'll quickly mention the highlights of Auckland so far. We'll probably be back in a few weeks and hopefully we can enjoy this area a little more the second time around.

The Epic breakfast in the beautiful, relaxed and cosmopolitan area of Ponsonby.

My climb to the top of windy Mount Eden to take some photos of the city at dusk. 

Sat underneath the Sky Tower in the Sunshine

 Tall cappuccinos in Queen's Wharf

 Our morning in the Aquarium with the King penguins....

 ...and the stunning view of the city on the walk home

Today we got the van. Not a moment to soon. Had we not got one today, we would have had to compete with all the other backpackers at the Auckland car-mart, or cut our losses and catch a bus South to Taupo.
But here he is. Tomorrow, we head north.
The plan doesn't extend much further than that. It's a very appealing notion and one that I'm very excited about.