We drove to the Coromandel Peninsula, and lucky for us, the weather was also great on the east coast! We based ourselves in a town called Whitianga where we could visit Hot Water Beach (you can dig a hole in the sand at low tide and thermally heated water fills it!) and Cathedral Cove, a beautiful beach accessed by a 30 minute walk through the bush. Before we knew it, it was time to head to Auckland. We spent the afternoon walking around the harbor and checking out the Anniversary Weekend festival. By evening, we were arriving at the Cliffside home of Jeff and Gilli. We were stunned by the amazing view down to the Muriwai black sand beach from their back porch.
Jeff and Gilli were so generous that they offered us their holiday home in Taupo Bay to explore Northland, the northernmost region of NZ. We took the scenic route up to Taupo Bay stopping at several beaches and sights along the way. While in Taupo Bay, we made day trips to Cape Reinga, the northernmost point of NZ, and to Waitangi for the festivities of Waitangi Day, a holiday celebrating the Treaty of Waitangi that was signed between the Maori and the Europeans. The rest of the time, we relaxed, swam in the ocean, did some reading, and at low tide collected tuatua (clams) for dinner. We were on a good old kiwi holiday! Although we hated to admit it, our time in this beautiful country was running low, so we made it back to Auckland to return the rental car and spend one last day with Jeff & Gilli. After a delicious fresh seafood BBQ with potato salad, baked beans, and coleslaw, and fruit salad with homemade whipped cream for dessert, we packed up for Melbourne. The next morning, Jeff was driving us to the airport and it was time to say goodbye to friends and an incredible country. Onward to the next adventure…
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Black Water Rafting and Black Sand Beaches!
After an awesome stay in Rotorua, we drove west to Waitomo to check out the caves! We got set up with a cave tour in which you climb and tube down through the caves for several hours in frigid water, over waterfalls, and sometimes in the pitch black. It was awesome! We were happy we had wetsuits and helmets with lights…when we all turned off the lights, it was very eerie. We finally saw glowworms, which are actually gnat larvae that produce a bit of light to lure prey in the dark cave.
After surfacing from the cave tour, it was a hot and sunny day, so we headed to Raglan, the beach town! There was still plenty of daylight left so we relaxed on the black sand beach, then headed into town for some dinner. Our time in Raglan was spent watching the surfing and kiteboarding and catching some vitamin D. Before we left, we met up with my dad’s friend Tony Bruce! He owns the surf/kite/coffee shops in town. He showed us around his empire and we caught up on the happenings of the past 25 years. It was tough leaving Raglan, especially with such beautiful weather, but we still had much of the North Island to conquer.
After surfacing from the cave tour, it was a hot and sunny day, so we headed to Raglan, the beach town! There was still plenty of daylight left so we relaxed on the black sand beach, then headed into town for some dinner. Our time in Raglan was spent watching the surfing and kiteboarding and catching some vitamin D. Before we left, we met up with my dad’s friend Tony Bruce! He owns the surf/kite/coffee shops in town. He showed us around his empire and we caught up on the happenings of the past 25 years. It was tough leaving Raglan, especially with such beautiful weather, but we still had much of the North Island to conquer.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
The Town of Many Smells
When it was time to move on from Taupo, we headed north to a town called Rotorua, which Kent named the “Town of Many Smells.” All around Rotorua, the crust is very thin and the hydrogen sulphide can be smelled throughout the town. Yum! There is a ton of stuff to do there though, and we had a great time. Coincidentally, our visit coincided with a reggae festival called Raggamuffin, so we bought tickets and headed to the all day concert! Great reggae, great weather, what more could we ask for? Well a place to spend the night for one! We had been trying for the past week to find accommodation in or around Rotorua, but because of the festival, everything was booked solid! We drove 15 minutes outside of town, in the dark, to a camp ground, reclined the seats in the Corolla, and tried to catch a few hours of sleep!
While in Rotorua, we visited the world-renowned Polynesian Spa, where they have sulpher pools and mineral pools geothermally heated to different temperatures and supposed to heal physical ailments and sore muscles. The pools are outdoors overlooking Sulpher Bay. We also visited Wai-o-Tapu Thermal Wonderland where we saw a (fake) geyser, colored mineral pools (yellow, blue, green, red – from the different minerals dissolved in them), craters, boiling mud, hot springs, and waterfalls. Even though the geyser was induced to erupt, and I was very skeptical to go see it, in the end it was pretty impressive. Later that night, we had plans for a Maori cultural experience. The Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand. Our group was picked up in a bus and taken to the Tamaki Village. After a warriors’ welcome that was both extraordinary and intimidating, we were led into the village to see how the Maori lived in the 1800’s. Next, we were given a musical dancing performance, and taken to the dining room to eat the hangi (a feast cooked by fire-hot rocks in an underground pit). Everything was delicious and we left with a belly full of food and wine, and knowledge of the Maori people. Before leaving Rotorua, we hit up the luge…a downhill track in which you sit in a little go-kart and hurtle down to the bottom where you catch a ski-lift back up to do it again! Good times!
While in Rotorua, we visited the world-renowned Polynesian Spa, where they have sulpher pools and mineral pools geothermally heated to different temperatures and supposed to heal physical ailments and sore muscles. The pools are outdoors overlooking Sulpher Bay. We also visited Wai-o-Tapu Thermal Wonderland where we saw a (fake) geyser, colored mineral pools (yellow, blue, green, red – from the different minerals dissolved in them), craters, boiling mud, hot springs, and waterfalls. Even though the geyser was induced to erupt, and I was very skeptical to go see it, in the end it was pretty impressive. Later that night, we had plans for a Maori cultural experience. The Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand. Our group was picked up in a bus and taken to the Tamaki Village. After a warriors’ welcome that was both extraordinary and intimidating, we were led into the village to see how the Maori lived in the 1800’s. Next, we were given a musical dancing performance, and taken to the dining room to eat the hangi (a feast cooked by fire-hot rocks in an underground pit). Everything was delicious and we left with a belly full of food and wine, and knowledge of the Maori people. Before leaving Rotorua, we hit up the luge…a downhill track in which you sit in a little go-kart and hurtle down to the bottom where you catch a ski-lift back up to do it again! Good times!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
The North Island Adventure Begins!
We had heard that the ferry from the South Island to the North Island is a beautiful journey on a 10-deck ship through Marlborough Sounds and the Cook Strait. Unfortunately, the storms caught up to us again and we had a rough day at sea. We were probably in the minority in that we managed to keep our lunch down, as they say (thank you Dramamine). After a long and arduous journey, we made it to Wellington to find the weather as cold and windy as the Cook Strait. We spent several days in Wellington, visited the local farmers’ market, Te Papa Museum, the harbor, and some eats. We also made plans on how to conquer the North Island.
Setting off from Wellington, we drove north in the rental car to do the Tongariro Crossing, a 7 hour 19.4 km walk through Tongariro National Park, on the rims of several volcano craters, over natural hot springs, and around hydrogen sulphide gas steaming through thin layers in the earth’s crust. What an incredible journey!
After that walk, our legs were tired, but our arms weren’t! So the next day we went for a canoe in the Whanganui River. We were jet-boated up the river and left to canoe down at our own pace and enjoy the sunny weather. The scenery was awesome; in some areas the river was glassier than any lake I have ever seen, with huge cliffs rising up on either side and wild mountain goats grazing. In other areas, there were rapids! We paddled through several areas of rapids, only having to bail out the canoe once….until we reached the final rapid, the fiercest rapid of all! Kent was gung-ho about tackling this head on, so we paddled as fast as we could though the highest and roughest part, right down the middle. We sliced right through each wave, and we were almost through, but the sides of the canoe were level with the river and we were sitting in a completely flooded canoe! We swam out of the canoe and hung on to it until we found a spot downriver to pull over and finish our ride.
After that adventure, we were on the hunt for something relaxing. Our next destination to spend a few days was Taupo, a cute little town on Lake Taupo, which is a lake in a volcano caldera and the largest lake (by surface area) in NZ. There were plenty of beautiful sights, a waterfall, and great bars in Taupo. Our highlight was when we found an aquatic center with geothermally heated pools and lap pools! We got some exercise, relaxed in the heated pools, and had a steam in the steam room. We found our relaxing destination!
Setting off from Wellington, we drove north in the rental car to do the Tongariro Crossing, a 7 hour 19.4 km walk through Tongariro National Park, on the rims of several volcano craters, over natural hot springs, and around hydrogen sulphide gas steaming through thin layers in the earth’s crust. What an incredible journey!
After that walk, our legs were tired, but our arms weren’t! So the next day we went for a canoe in the Whanganui River. We were jet-boated up the river and left to canoe down at our own pace and enjoy the sunny weather. The scenery was awesome; in some areas the river was glassier than any lake I have ever seen, with huge cliffs rising up on either side and wild mountain goats grazing. In other areas, there were rapids! We paddled through several areas of rapids, only having to bail out the canoe once….until we reached the final rapid, the fiercest rapid of all! Kent was gung-ho about tackling this head on, so we paddled as fast as we could though the highest and roughest part, right down the middle. We sliced right through each wave, and we were almost through, but the sides of the canoe were level with the river and we were sitting in a completely flooded canoe! We swam out of the canoe and hung on to it until we found a spot downriver to pull over and finish our ride.
After that adventure, we were on the hunt for something relaxing. Our next destination to spend a few days was Taupo, a cute little town on Lake Taupo, which is a lake in a volcano caldera and the largest lake (by surface area) in NZ. There were plenty of beautiful sights, a waterfall, and great bars in Taupo. Our highlight was when we found an aquatic center with geothermally heated pools and lap pools! We got some exercise, relaxed in the heated pools, and had a steam in the steam room. We found our relaxing destination!
Monday, February 8, 2010
Our last days on the South Island
We headed towards the west coast and booked a tour to hike on the Fox Glacier. It started off as a cloudy day, but nothing we weren’t used to by now. Then the rain started to fall, just as we were ascending 800 steps through the sub-temperate rainforest on our way to the ice. The glacier was enormous with a bluish tint and tons of deep crevices that could swallow you up with the slightest slip. By now it was starting to rain pretty hard, and we could hear the booms of ice on the terminal face breaking off. We hurried off the glacier and back towards the parking lot avoiding falling rocks and icy surge waves along the way. After drying off a bit, we found a basic campsite to spend the night and parked beneath a tree hoping that this would help prevent the van from leaking. The “daylight” woke us up early in the morning and the rain had not let up one bit. To make matters worse, a window had been left cracked open throughout the night and our van was infested with what seemed like hundreds of sleeping mosquitoes! We both freaked out and started driving towards shelter so we could open all the doors and windows without getting soaked in the process. Luckily, there was a gas station nearby with an awning…that was a close call and we both managed to escape with just a couple bites. The rain kept coming down and we decided to drive north until we found sunshine again. It was still raining a few days later, but we finally found nice weather in Nelson! Since the sun was shining, we decided to do some kayaking in the Golden Bay, which is part of Able Tasman National Park. We would paddle through glistening waters for a while, then pull up on the beach for a bit to catch some rays. In Nelson, we enjoyed a short hike to the center of NZ during the day and a delicious steak dinner at Lone Star in the evening (not the same as the American version….much better). After a couple days of city life, we had to make our way back to Christchurch, but not without a short stop in Havelock, which is apparently the green lipped mussel capital of the world. They were very big and tasty! While in Christchurch, we sadly said goodbye to the van and prepared for our early morning train ride to Picton where we would catch a ferry to the North Island.
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