Auckland
The view of Auckland from our hostel balcony
And so here we are, at our final destination in New Zealand, Auckland. In just a couple of days we fly out of here, 14 hours to LA. I can’t believe it’s gone so quickly. After a 3 hour drive from Paihia (including a 30 minute stop at a mans house whilst he filled our chip in Percy’s windscreen), we arrived in Auckland.
Percy had been lucky to avoid any damage since we’d had him, but the chip in the windscreen was annoying, and whilst our windscreen repair man did a good job, we could still see the chip after he’d finished. We were nervous about handing Percy back and so decided to do it immediately after arriving in Auckland. After a brief shimmy through the car wash we arrived back at Ace rentals and after a quick inspection of the car we were given the all clear and sent on our way. Olly and I could no believe our luck, effectively we’d just saved ourselves $300 which is what it would cost to replace the whole windscreen – whew, we wasted no time in leaving!
We are staying at Verandahs hostel, possibly one of the nicest city hostels we’ve stayed in. From the verandah’s of Verrandahs the city sky line of Auckland looks stunning. The sky tower stands tall in all it’s glory. It’s the type of view that people would pay top dollar for in a restaurant, I bet its fantastic at New year.
The other thing we love about Verandahs is that it’s in Ponsonby, possibly the most trendy street in Auckland, teeming with funky bars and cafes it’s the place to be and be seen. We had a day soaking up the cafe culture, whilst people watching from the open windows of cafes, it was fantastic.
Lonely planet describes Auckland city centre as a little bit grey and generic. After spending the day there today, I can confirm that there isn’t a whole lot to do. However some of the side streets can be pretty lively, and on a busy lunch time on the right street, you could be forgiven for thinking you’re in London.
The best thing that happened to us in Auckland was finding out that we’d won the BBH (a group of hostels out here) monthly competition! This meant we got 23 nights accommodation for free! Amazing. See you in the USA!
The Bay of Islands
Our boat Gungha II ready for the days sailing
Perfect Paihia, a beautiful place just three hours from Auckland. We didn’t really know what to expect from the Bay of Islands but it really surprised us. Paihia was fantastic, it really made the North Island for me.
We had three nights in Paihia and it was almost like being on a holiday (from our holiday). We stayed in a lovely hostel, called the Peppertree, just a minutes walk from the beach. The sun was shining so we donned our beach gear and headed for the sand. It was the perfect time to lay back, relax and soak up the last of the New Zealand summer (it’s now autumn – in March – strange for my Northern Hemisphere brain to get around this!)
As our White Island trip had been cancelled a few days earlier, we had some funds in the bank and decided to reinvest them on a sailing trip on the Bay of Islands. I was a little bit dubious but Olly had decided that before we leave New Zealand, he wanted to learn to sail. There are masses of different companies that go out every day, but we decided to go for a 65 foot sail boat called Gungha II, they didn’t have a very slick marketing campaign but their reviews online were fantastic. A proper sailing boat, it was going to be a day of adventures!
I’d bought some sea sickness tablets for White Island, so rather than see them go to waste, I took a tablet in the fear that the weather may turn quite stormy. It didn’t, well at least I didn’t feel sick that day at all (maybe that had something to do with the tablet?!).
We arrived at the harbour at 9.45am as instructed, met Till, a friendly German chap who was to be another passenger on the boat that day, and Mike and JL, the guys that ran the boat. To our surprise that was it! A boat that would normally carry 20 odd passengers would today carry only three, me Olly and Till, it was going to be an amazing day.
We spent the morning sailing through the waters, weaving in and out of the 140 islands that make up the bay, the five of us talked about politics, dreams and aspirations. JL and Mike would sail the boat and occasionally ask if we wanted to help, naturally I let the men take control. I was happy to sit there and sunbathe. Olly pulled all sorts of sails in, and even got to steer the boat, Captain Suckling has a certain ring to it doesn’t it?! He really enjoyed it anyway.
Just before lunchtime, Olly, Till and I pulled down the sail and we docked at an island. Here JL took us on a bush walk up to the top of a hill where we had a view across the whole peninsula. From here we could see the turquoise water in all its glory, it reminded me of being on the Whitsunday Islands in Australia.
After eating a very tasty homemade sandwich back on board Olly and Till decided to go snorkeling (the water was freezing and I wasn’t stupid, I wasn’t going to jump in for anyone!) Olly informs me that there were some pretty tropical fish under there, apparently there are a plethora of stingray and octopus under there too but they were being shy that day. After another few hours sail home and we were back in Paihia. It was a fantastically relaxing day, I can see why sailing is a favourite pass time of the rich and famous. Lucky things!
In hot water
Yeah, good luck digging in there!
The Coromandel peninsula was somewhere I was really looking forward to visiting, beautiful beaches and an almost tropical climate, we weren’t disappointed.
We had three nights in Coromandel, one night in Hahei on the eastern side of the peninsula and two nights in Coromandel town, on the western side.
After a long drive up from Waitomo down some very windy roads we arrived in Hahei, beautiful! No sooner had we arrive than we were off to our first tourist activity, building our own hot tub on hot water beach!
Hot tub building is heavily tide dependent, several hot water streams run from the cliffs, under the rocks, through the sand and into the sea. It’s clear to see where these streams are when you arrive at the beach as it’s where all the people are hoarding, feet dug into the sand being kept warm as the cold seas waves batter their legs. When we arrived at the beach we didn’t quite understand how the hot tub building worked, we’d been given a big metal spade by our hostel so we felt fully equipped, but we decided to watch for a while and see how it was done. It quickly became obvious that no one else had a clue either, this could turn out to be a funny evening.
We got there at 7pm, an hour before low tide, which we were told was the ideal time. People stood crowded around the hot streams, staking their claim to a spot so as soon as the tide went out far enough, they could dig out their hot tub. The problem was, the tide never went out. We waited for two hours, an hour either side of low tide, but it was to no avail. We found some great spots but every time we tried to dig the surf would come rolling back in and inevitably destroy our tub. The waves were so big that a few times we saw people float past, spade in hand, having been knocked over by the force!
As the light faded, the same sight could be seen all over the beach. Men frantically digging holes anywhere and everywhere, determined to build a hot tub whilst their wives stood next to them, soaked and freezing, arms crossed, wanting to go home.
Although Olly tried numerous times, the sea was against our hot tub building efforts that day, it just wasn’t meant to be. Tired and dejected I lead him back to the car, trying to discourage any thoughts of ‘just one more try’.
The next morning we walked over the cliffs to Cathedral Cove. A lovely beach with powdery sand, accessible only by foot (and I suppose by boat). We set up camp for a few hours, reading our books and soaking up the sun. By the time we left the beach was teaming, mainly with all the same tourists as the night before. Not quite the deserted beach we’d hoped for.
We spent the next couple of nights in Coromandel town. A charming little town on the west peninsula. We ate some local mussels and generally chilled. A really relaxing end to our time there.
Waitomo Caves
Inside the Ruakuri cave
A morning of caving didn’t exactly fill me with glee. As I’m a little on the claustrophobic side the idea of being stuck in a cave system metres underground wasn’t really going to be great, but I wanted to do it, I wanted to see the glow worms!
We had booked to explore two caves, the Ruakuri cave and the slightly more famous Glow Worm cave.
Although Olly was keen for the extreme blackwater rafting, abseiling, caving combo, budget and claustrophobia dictated otherwise. Instead we booked the safe, cheap, family friendly walking tour through the caves. I’m glad we did as we later found out the water is full of eels! Eugh!
We were first to do the tour that day and I’d say it made for a much more enjoyable experience. Before we were allowed in the cave the guide had to unlock the cave! Funny I know, however, access to the actual cave is through a man made entrance, which spirals right down into the belly of the cave. The lighting was very slick in the cave, all illumination was off unless a green button was pushed which lit up a segment of walkway and after a time then turned off. As we were first in the cave we were confronted by a big black hole. However as the lights turned on in sequence, the spiral gradually lit up below us, each time going deeper and deeper into the abyss, scary!
Once we entered the cave it was really magical, stalactites hung down and stalagmites grew up to meet them. The walkway took us 5k around the cave system, through smaller passageways into larger openings. As long as I didn’t think about how far down iwas, I was actually OK. We saw amazing rock formations and plenty of glow worms (and this wasn’t even the glow worm cave).
On our way out of the cave we met other groups on their way in, it made me think, I’m definitely pleased we were first! They were just being conveyor belted through the cave, we were special!
Glow worms close up
After Ruakuri cave, it was on to the glow worm caves. Wow! After a brief guided tour of the cave our guide loaded our group onto a boat and proceeded to take us through a pitch black cave, lit only by thousands of glow worms. I can only describe it as floating beneath the night sky, with a galaxy of glow worms shining above. It was incredible, we were told to be silent, so everyone sat quietly starring at the ceiling. I found it magical at first, before I started to think about exactly what they were, glow WORMS, eugh! One tour guide had described the worms as looking exactly like a stream of snot, and to be honest, she wasn’t far off in her description, glow worms as pretty ugly things. But I’ll give them something, they are quite beautiful, en mass, in a cave, in the dark, in New Zealand.
Mount Maunganui
Yes this is in New Zealand surprisingly
On our way from Whakatane to Waitomo (its a long long drive!) We stopped off at Mount Maunganui for a bit of a walk and a bit of beach, what a surprise!
We’ve been running out of time on the North Island and so have had to start packing everything in, after spending two nights in Whakatane, we decided not to spend any nights in Maunganui and just pay a visit for a few hours on our way through. What a mistake, I must say we absolutely loved it, I wish we’d stayed longer. Mount Maunganui sits right at the top of the peninsula with the town nestled below, filling the thin split of land that runs up to it. The town is lined with funky little cafes and restaurants. As it is a peninsula, there is sea on both sides, within five minutes walk you can hop from one side to the other.
Our first challenge in Maunganui was the walk, we decided that we should hike all the way up to the top. Now, from the bottom, it looked very high, and whilst we were climbing, it felt extremely high, however the sign later informed us that the summit sat a mere 232 metres above sea level! I honestly think they need a re-measure! The climb up to the top was quite stunning, the walkway winds around the mountain, getting steep towards the top (as all mountain paths do, we know things like this, we’re pro’s now!). It’s quite hard work, but the selection of paths towards the top made the journey much more interesting and meant that there were far fewer people to pass along the way. We chose to do the ‘medium’ graded walk up to the top and I was concerned and I may not make it, until we passed a three year old on her way down, honestly, the steps were almost as big as she was but she continued happily singing as she descended towards the bottom – incredible!
The view from the top was pretty special, you can see both sides of the peninsula, the fantastic beach and many of the tiny islands sitting off the shore. There were a number of picnic tables at the top which would’ve made for a great spot for lunch (unfortunately I forgot the sandwiches!).
After making it to the bottom (down hill, my favourite bit!) we headed for the beach. For the next hour we relaxed, whilst watching the crazy surfers heading into the enormous waves, rather them than me!
Stuck in Whakatane
Ohope – 10kms of great beach
Whakatane is where you come to stay if you are planning to go to White Island, an island upon which sits an active volcano and sulphuric acid lake. After a 3 hour boat journey you don gas masks and hard hats and have a 90 minute guided tour of the island, think of the photos!! Olly said. We’d met a couple of people who had done the trip since arriving in New Zealand and said that it was the highlight of their trip, so we couldn’t wait to go. We booked it up, booked a couple of nights in Whakatane and off we went.
We checked into our hostel in Whakatane, The Windsor, an old funeral parlour! It was owned by a lovely couple and rooms were really clean, which was great, but I did find it difficult to separate the funeral parlor bit from the hostel bit. Our room had no windows, god only knows what it used to be used for!
Anyway, after overhearing the shipping forecast on the radio (gales gales and more gales), we became a bit concerned and within hours our hopes were dashed, the trip has been canceled and it wasn’t looking good for the whole of that weekend.
So, we were stuck with two nights in Whakatane, in a funeral parlour, with not a whole lot to do.
Luckily, the weather was fantastic, so after a brief chat with the owners of our hostel, we headed out to Ohope beach. Just 5kms from Whakatane, we were met with about 10kms of beach! Admittedly, it wasn’t the white powdery sand of Australia, but it was wild, strewn with drift wood and full of seagulls pecking at the shore line. Best of all we were were some of the only people on it! We set up camp in the sand dunes and spent the whole afternoon sunbathing and reading, it was lovely and relaxing and a great way to spend the day.
I wouldn’t say it was as good as hiking on a live volcano or getting that all important facebook profile picture wearing a gas mask, but it did make Whakatane for me, it’s not too a bad a place actually. Apparently the White Island Trips are canceled quite frequently because of the weather, so if you do find yourselves in the same position as us – head for the beach! Or maybe better still stay in Rotorua and only head over when you know the island trip is a ‘goer’.
Eggy Rotorua
Couple of geysers
The first thing that hits you as you drive into Rotorua is undoubtedly the smell, the sulphur in the air gives Rotorua an unmistakeably eggy odour. To be fair to Rotorua it is built around one of the most enormous geothermal hot spots in the country and therefore houses some amaxzing sights and it doesn’t smell of egg all the time, I think it just depends which way the wind is blowing.
We had a slow start to exploring Rotorua, Olly had come down suddenly with food poisoning on our last morning in Napier, I drove for three hours from Napier to Rotorua with him moaning and groaning in the seat next to me, he was not well at all, poor thing. When we arrived in Rotorua Olly pretty much collapsed on the bed and wasn’t to be seen until the next morning, when he woke up and asked for a fry up! A fry up?! A miraculous recovery, thankfully Olly was well enough to enjoy our last day in Rotorua.
Because of the lack of time we had to cram everything into a short space of time. We decided to hit the Kuirau park, explore the Te Puia park and ride the gondola and luge at the top of the mountain.
Our first stop was at Kuirau Park. Free to enter, it’s full of cordoned off areas brimming with steam, in fact there were so many areas we didn’t have time to visit them all. We saw bubbling mud, steaming pools, sulphuric waters, it was pretty cool, you certainly don’t get things like that in the local Castle Park back home in Colchester. Despite it being quite a chilly day, the closer you got to the pools, the hotter it became, it was incredible to think that it was all natural, just rising from the ground. The ‘displays’ are constantly changing, everywhere there were places where the fencing had been changed because a vent has incresed or decreased in size, or stopped working altogether. Apparently they can just spring up over night too, cool!
Te Puia is the big draw for tourists in Rotorua, housing one of the biggest geysers in the country, they charge big money and offer a few other bits to get you through the door. Olly and I opted for a ticket to the park and a cultural show. Before seeing the show we were given a free guided tour of the park, which included a look around a wood carving studio where young Maori men are enrolled to study old Maori carving techniques, it was fun to see tikis being carved before our eyes. Our guide also took us to the kiwi house situated inside the park, where we finally got to see the illusive kiwi bird. Kiwis are nocturnal birds, but as our guide said, these birds were on British time, being kept in a dark display area by day, so that us tourists could get a quick look. The lights are then turned up in the night so that the birds get a chance to sleep.
The cultural show was quite fun, we were given a traditional Maori welcoming ceremony and were invited into the temple, where we were told to remove or shoes and not to smile, this would be disrespectful! It was worth it to see the Haka performed, but I did feel uncomfortable not knowing whether to smile or frown or clap to show appreciation. Before we had entered the temple a member of staff had gone mental at a couple of men that had tried to charge into the temple to get good seats, whilst the men were in the wrong the staff member did not opt into the ‘customer is always right’ school of thinking and proceeded to scream at them, and everyone else as a warning not to do the same thing, like naughty school children she placed them at the back of the queue. This made for a very bad atmosphere as everyone was terrified of this woman.
The geysers, the reason that we went to Te Puia, really were worth it. Constantly spouting water it looks as though the earth has sprung a leak! The water leaves the hole with such force its incredible to think that its a constant natural process. As Olly described it, it looks very much like a reverse waterfall.
Our final day was spent on the luge! Having been on the luges in Sentosa and Queenstown it was only right that we rode the Rotorua luge and thank god we did, it was the best one yet! We opted for 3 luge rides starting with the scenic route (very long, slow, sloping road with places for you to stop and take photos – this was my favourite), the intermediate route (a slightly faster route which got you down in no time) and the advanced route. I was slightly dubious about going too slow on the advanced route and being taken out by someone like Olly coming down the track at full speed, but still I climbed on and off I went. The advanced track was by far the most challenging but was great fun, going down bumps and uphill bends, it was like being a rally car racer. Apparently if you go fast enough you can even get some ‘air’!
Don’t be put off by the fact that Rotorua smells, it can’t help it. Enjoy the reason it smells – the massive collection of geothermal sights, and of course whlst your visiting them you can go on the best luge ride in the world (well out of the three we’ve tried), a perfect excuse :)
Negotiating Napier
Napier loves art deco architecture
Having been flattened by an earthquake in the 1930’s, Napier was completely rebuilt shortly after and now boasts some of the most impressive art deco architecture in the Country, if not the World. It’s also in the Hawkes Bay wine region, which was of course the main attraction for us.
Our journey into Napier had quite an interesting start. On the drive down from Taupo to Napier, we stopped, as we always do, at a sign which said ‘look out point’ (Olly always stops to get photos). We were met by an older couple who were very interested in where we were from and where we were going. When we told them we were headed for Napier, they told us to stop and head back in-land. They had stayed in Napier the night before and had been woken up that morning by the receptionist giving them a tsunami warning! Yes, a tsunami warning! They’d packed up their car and driven swiftly away.
There had been an earthquake in Chile which had set off a tsunami, which apparently was headed our way. A quick check on the radio confirmed what we’d been told, we had a 12 hour window in which there was a chance a wave might hit. I was quite concerned and contemplated turning around. Olly though, who was driving, thought it was great, what a fantastic photo opportunity! And if it hit, what a great blog post it would make! Well, I guess that would be right, if we survived!
We carried on and eventually made it to Napier town centre. Locals seemed to be going about their business as normal, in fact it seemed most people had headed to the sea front to watch the waves come in! However, I’m pleased to report that the tsunami didn’t end up hitting and we did indeed live to tell the tale. Quite an exciting introduction to Napier though.
After a good look around the town centre and its wealth of art deco architecture, Olly and I decided to embark on another wine tour by bike expedition. Only this one would be a little different, no Nigel to pick us up and take us to where the wine region was, this was budget style. We hired bikes from our hostel for next to nothing and set off on our own.
After surviving our last wine tour by bike experience I was OK to be getting back on a bike but still a little apprehensive. Due to the low cost rental, the bikes were not of a fantastic quality, I was unable to change gear without the chain slipping and the brake handle was about two feet away from the handlebar (no chance of me accidentally pulling on the front brake at least!). We had been given a map which was incredibly low on detail, details like road names and landmarks were missing, the type of things that make maps useful.
The long and short of our day was that we ended up getting incredibly lost. Much of our day was spent cycling along busy roads and crossing major intersections, which were not too much fun at all. We made it to three wineries along the way, Mission, Church Road and Park Estate, they were lovely places but we weren’t too impressed with the wine (look at us becoming wine snobs!). Our detour meant that we ended up cycling 40 kilometres that day and missed out on a vineyard and brewery as by the time we reached them they were closed for the day. We pretty much cycled constantly from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m., it was really good exercise, but if you are contemplating a wine tour of the Hawkes Bay region I’d definitely recommend doing it properly. Our day was a real example of ‘you get what you pay for’ and I had a very sore bum by the end of the day.
Lake Taupo
Dinner
The colossal crater of an age old volcano, Lake Taupo is truly beautiful, and absolutely enormous! Taupo, like Queenstown is an adrenaline fueled town, full of sky diving, bungy jumping, white water rafting and paragliding. So, Olly and I decided to… go prawn fishing!
We had been quite keen to go fishing during our round the world trip (don’t laugh!), but had found that it was incredibly expensive to try. Not having a clue what we were doing, we would need instruction and supervision which in New Zealand costs hundreds of dollars. Prawn fishing, on the other hand, we discovered, is cheap! Just $20 has you equipped with a rod, bate and a bucket in which to stash your catch.
A catch is of course almost guaranteed, it was a prawn farm we were fishing in, the waters were full of them. After loading our rods with bate we cast our hooks into the water and waited. It didn’t take long until something started tugging at the other end, luckily, Olly and I had read the instructions and knew what to do when this happened! The tugging is the prawn checking out the food, once its completed it’s investigations, it takes it on a little walk. Whilst it does this, you follow the prawns tugs with your rod, it really did feel like taking a prawn for a walk. Once the prawn has decided it likes the food it begins to eat, and that’s when you pull up your line.
Olly was first to successfully land a prawn. As he pulled his rod up from the water we could not believe the size of the thing on the other end. Prawns are put in salads and stir fries, they’re meant to be small. This one was massive, it had tentacles and nippers and big black eye balls – eugh. It was wriggling around and we had no idea what to do, nowhere was there any instruction on what to do when you catch one. Olly had to walk his prawn back to reception where he learned how to hold the prawn and how to de-hook the beast.
It didn’t take long before I caught one too and soon we had four prawns in our bucket. I had been appointed official ‘prawn getter off the hooker’ as Olly flinched everytime one came near. I don’t blame him, prawns are scary creatures, I wouldn’t mess with one. We had to end our days fishing when our prawns became a bit fidgety. They started flinging themselves out of the bucket and onto the grass! Of course as soon as they were on land they couldn’t move or breathe, but they didn’t learn, flinging themselves over and over again. I was really jumpy, terrified that one would land in my lap!
The restaurant at the prawn farm cooked up our prawns for free. In retrospect we should’ve tried to catch a few more, the four we had didn’t make for much of a meal. It was quite a disturbing feeling eating our catch, we’d seen those prawns alive and here we were ripping off their heads and munching them down (they were a lot smaller once they had shed all their armour). In fact, it put Olly and I off eating prawns in the near future.
Another great attraction we visited at Taupo was the Craters of the Moon. A geothermal walkway which takes you through steaming earth and bubbling mud. It really reminds you what lays underneath the earths surface and how incredibly powerful (and hot) it is. It was really impressive to see and at the bargain price of $6 it was well worth it. We have been told that Rotorua has a much more impressive geothermal display, so we’ll keep you posted on that.
We spent the evening drinking one of our Marbrough wines whilst watching the sun set over Lake Taupo, a great end to a great couple of days!
Spot the volcano
A rare appearance from Mt. Taranaki
The city of New Plymouth is towered over by the all impressive Mount Taranaki, an enormous volcano which stands in Egmont National Park, dominating the horizon. Almost the perfect volcano shape it’s round all the way around, with a satisfying pointy tip which reaches high up into the clouds.
When we arrived in New Plymouth, during our journey through the suburbs, we caught a glance of this towering inferno (well, it didn’t actually explode, but wouldn’t it have been good if it did?!). It was cut in half by some cloud but the top was clearly visibly and mightily impressive. That was when we should’ve stopped the car and taken the photo!
As we’ve learnt since being in New Zealand, the weather can change in an instant, literally. In the time it took us to check into our hostel and head back to the national park, the volcano had almost disappeared. We drove right up to the base of this enormous monstrosity of nature and were met with, well, nothing actually, just dark grey cloud! We sat and waited, I even licked my finger and stuck it in the air to test the wind direction and work out which way the cloud was moving (well, that’s what I told Olly, I had actually seen people do it on TV and thought I’d copy it). After an hour of cloud watching we decided to call it a day and headed back to the city. I’m not kidding, literally, as we were driving into the city, I turned around and there it was, the cloud had cleared and the volcano was visible once again. Amazing!
The following day we drove to Taupo, but on the way up there we decided to take a detour past Whakapapa and the infamous Mount Doom (Mount Ngauruhoe) from Lord of the Rings. Once again, as we approached the national park – we played the game of ‘which cloud is hiding the volcano this time?’, it was as if they knew we were coming. Fortunately Olly and I had wisened up by now and decided to embark on a walk around the park to see if the skies cleared up. The eruption risk was a mere one out of five, so we left the marshmallows in the car. Within half an hour the skies cleared and what a great sight! Three enormous volcanoes towered high in the sky around us.
Whanganui River road
New Zealand really does 'remote' villages well
One of the most fun things about Wanganui is pronouncing its name, try it… isn’t it satisfying?! I wish I lived in a place called Wanganui just so that I would get to say it all the time, Wanganui Wanganui Wanganui!
Anyway, back to business. Wanganui is famous for Whanganui River Road (yes I know they’re spelt differently, that’s just how it is). We only had one night in Wanganui and so after a long drive up from Wellington we decided to settle down for the night, ready to complete the Whanganui River road the next day and then continue the drive up to New Plymouth.
I’m not sure what we had expected from the river road, but as is always the case, we were surprised by what we found. The route was stunning, a very narrow road/more like a path, takes you winding up along the hills either side of the river, and as you can imagine, the views were phenomenal. The day we chose to drive the road was quite overcast, dark grey clouds loomed in the distance but the sun still shone through the gaps making for very dramatic photographs.
The narrow road was also almost all unsealed gravel! I am so glad that I didn’t drive that day, driving a gravelly narrow windy road along the edge of hills was not something that filled me with confidence. It felt like we were on a theme park ride or maybe karting in spectacular circumstances.
One of the biggest disappointments with the river road for us was the length of time it took us to drive, whilst it’s not the longest road in the world, the conditions do not promote speed. All in all the whole journey from Wanganui up the river and back took us four hours, and that’s without really stopping. This was hard work for us as after that we had a further two and a half hour journey to New Plymouth to complete that day!
All in all though the river road was worth it, it was pretty good fun and the scenery was beautiful. If it’s bucketing it down with rain I’d probably give it a miss as the hills will be hidden by cloud and the chances of sliding off the road and into the river are vastly increased. A fun thing to do on the journey up from Wellington into the heart of the North Island and if nothing else, you get to say you’ve been to Wanganui, there you said it again, great isn’t it?!
Windy Wellington
A Wellington local
Well, we’ve done it! We’ve arrived in the North Island. After a three hour ferry crossing which was very pleasant, we arrived in Wellington, the gateway to an island full of volcanoes (amoungst other things!).
We checked into our hostel, which happened to have free internet – bonus! Fantastic we thought, we’ll use it to check our bank balance – mistake! Oh my god, how on earth had we spent so much money?! Well, maybe the whale watching,… and the sky dive… and the sea kayaking… and the glacier hike, OK, well, there was only one thing to do, contact the Bank of Mum and Dad, and in the mean time, cut right back on spending.
The result of this was that we didn’t do a whole lot in Wellington, but what we did do, was free and actually very impressive. Our first day was spent at Te PaPa Museum, possibly the best museum I have ever been to. Firstly, it was enormous, secondly, it was completely interactive, and thirdly and most importantly, it was free! We learnt all about the volcanic history of New Zealand, experienced what it was like to be in an earthquake in an earthquake simulator, saw a real life colossal squid and learnt all about immigration in New Zealand in the last 100 years, absolutely fascinating. We loved it so much that after spending all morning there, we went home for lunch and then came back for more. We only left because it was closing (we did contemplate hiding and doing a ‘night at the museum’ style evening just like the film).
The second, very impressive free activity we did in Wellington was to visit the Weta caves. Weta are the company that make all the props, costumes and characters for films like Lord of the Rings and Narnia. As you walk into the cave, which is attached to their workshops, you are greeted by a rather large statue of Gollum, we got some fun snaps of us posing with this ugly yet intriguing character. The cave, which houses a Weta museum in itself is quite small and modest, given the amount of blockbuster films Weta have been involved with. There is however a 20 minute film which is shown in a small cinema room. It explains Weta’s history and relationship with Peter Jackson, it also shows all the work which goes into making the stuff they creative for the movies. It was truly inspiring.
Wellington was indeed true to its name and very windy. Girls, if you go to Wellington don’t do as I did and wear a skirt, or if you do, wear nice knickers, because they’re bound to be on show at some point!
A whale of a time Kaikoura
Whale watching in Kaikoura
Kaikoura is a beautiful town, sat in the middle of a headland it juts out into a very blue, almost turquoise sea.
When we arrived in Kaikoura, we booked to go whale watching, one of ‘THE’ things to do there, it was also one of the things I most wanted to do in the whole of New Zealand, I couldn’t wait. We booked it for 6am the following day as we’d been advised by the owners of our hostel that the sea was calmer earlier on (always a bonus!).
Well, 6am came and we arrived at the whale watching centre, ready to ‘check in’. Just like being at the airport, there was a check in board above the receptionists head and on there were notes and information about that particular trip. It was there that I first saw it, ’sea sickness warning’, was what it said. Gulp! Luckily, the night before I’d met a lovely girl in our hostel who had kindly given me two sea sickness tablets, warning me that I may need them. I gulped them down and handed over the money for the trip, I wanted to do it and if I was going to feel slightly ill then I would have to deal with it. Steely stomached Olly declined the sea sickness tablets and boarded the boat anyway, he wasn’t concerned about a few big waves!
After a short whale information video made by the Discovery channel in 1863 (well, it felt quite old), we watched a safety briefing and boarded our coach which took us to the boat. As we climbed aboard the boat we were given no fewer than 10 sick bags each, 10! Blimey, we just hoped that they did that so as not to have to re-stock too frequently, not because we were going to be sick 10 times! The boat was very new, but a lot smaller than I’d imagined, there were 48 of us in the group and we were told to grab seats inside and stay seated until the boat stopped, the captain ended his spiel with ‘I think you’ll find it hard to stand up anyway when the boat is moving’, oh god!…
Once the boat was speeding through the sea, the waves became bigger and I think the first person was sick about 15 minutes into the journey. We were riding into the swell, the boat was smacking against the waves and we were flying from side to side. Gradually more and more people succumbed to the sickness feeling, people were retching and throwing up all over the place, it was pretty horrible. Although I felt a bit queasy, I kept my eye on the horizon and that, along with the tablets I’d taken seemed to do the trick.
Once were were a few miles out to sea, the captain stopped the boat (everyone ran outside for fresh air!) and put down a hydrophone thingy-ma-boby into the water to try and detect the location of the whales. Soon enough, we’d found one and all the sea sickness feeling seemed to disappear (momentarily)!! A few metres from the boat an enormous sperm whale (about 18 metres long) had surfaced. It was blowing air up through its air hole which sent water spurting everywhere, I just couldn’t get over how massive it was. We watched for a while until the whale did what we’d all been waiting for, prepared to dive down into the water. We were all stood there, camera’s poised, ready to get that all important whale tail snap. But no, this whale wasn’t going to play ball, it dived and decided not to put its tail up – my goodness, how rude!! If only it knew what we’d been through to get here.
After a much rougher ride further out to sea, whereby anyone who hadn’t been grabbed by the sea sickness feeling, was suddenly leaning with their head over the side, we found another whale! In fact, when we looked around we saw another two in the distance too, blowing water up from their blow holes. Luckily, this whale did play ball and we all saw his tail, fantastic!! After this, the boat headed back to shore and everyone started to feel a little bit better.
It took a while for my stomach to settle once we were back on dry land and whether the enormous cost we paid for the trip and the terrible feeling of seasickness it gave us was outweighed by the sight of two sperm whales is something Olly and I keep on debating. I’m not sure whether it was worth it or if I’d recommend it to someone with a fragile stomach, but if you’re as steely stomached as ’steely stomach Olly’ and you like big fish, hop on board, you’ll have a great time!
Blenheim by bike
It's ok, she survied this time
Blenheim is the place to come for wine tasting in the Marlborough region of New Zealand. A small town on the edge of numerous vineyards, a whole world of wine on your doorstep.
Whilst in Blenheim, we of course wanted to do wine tasting, but we decided to do it the cheap way – by bike. Now, given that the last time I rode a bike I ended up in A&E and pretty much out of action for the following five weeks, mixing bike riding and alcohol was a risk… and a challenge!
However, before we braved the bikes, which were booked for the afternoon, we decided to head to the Montana Vineyard and do their highly acclaimed tour. I must say, it was really good. With just four people in our group we got a very detailed tour all around the winery, got to ask all the stupid questions we wanted and learnt all about the wine making process. Luckily for us we had come just before the grapes were picked so all the machinery was being tested, we saw some of it in action (a rare sight most of the year). The tour finished with a structured tasting which was really helpful and set us up for an afternoon of pretending and looking like we knew what we were doing.
Then came the bike ride! I was petrified, but some friends we’d met whilst traveling told us about ‘Wine Tours by Bike’, run by a lovely man called Nigel, originally from Kelvedon in Essex. Nigel offers a service whereby he picks you up, takes you into the heart of the vineyards, sets you up with a bike (with the all important wine bottle holders), a helmet and a map and promises to come and get you should you run into difficulty or get a puncture. Knowing that we had Nigel in an instant should we need him, I was happy to get back on a bike again.
Of course I didn’t tell Nigel about my bike riding history when we rented the bikes as he may never have let me loose on the roads, it did mean though that I had to act incredibly calm when first mounting the bike, despite being incredibly terrified. As soon as I was on, the riding bit came quite easily, and after a while (and a few ‘tastings’ of wine) I was sailing down the road.
We managed to fit in five vineyards in our four hour rental period, all extremely friendly and helpful. We learnt all about the Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc (which to be honest we’re not really fans of) and learnt that we absolutely love the Marlborough Pinot Noir. Our favourite vineyard was Te Whare Ra. As a family owned vineyard it was Jason Flowerday, the vineyard owner, who took us through the tasting. His enthusiasm and passion for the wine really showed and it made the experience all the more exciting. Jason’s enthusiasm obviously rubbed off on us as we ended up purchasing a bottle of his Pinot Noir to have with some New Zealand lamb a few days later – DElicious!
It was a bit of a race to get back to Nigel’s house for the end of the day but the alcohol fueled and sped us along. We made it and I was so relieved that I had ridden a bike again with no accidents. So relieved in fact I let Nigel in on my secret and we ended up sharing and comparing chin stitches stories, he having a similar thing happen whilst playing volleyball.
Wine tasting in the Marlborough region is not to be missed, if you’re thinking about it, I’d say do it the fun way, hire a bike, and if you have more money than us, get them for a full day and enjoy lunch at one of the vineyard restaurants along the way, they looked scrummy.
Sea Kayaking in Abel Tasman
Our mighty vessel
When I thought of sea Kayaking, I’d imagined large waves, the sea splashing over our heads whilst we battled through with our oars. However, once again, what I’d worried about didn’t happen (can you see a pattern here?!). We had a wonderful day on the sea, and I was most upset when it it was over.
We began our sea kayaking adventure in Nelson, we’d checked in for the night, it was 9pm, we were discussing what we were going to do over the next couple of days. We had been told to do a sea kayaking trip of the Abel Tasman area and so had booked two nights in Motueka, the gateway to Abel Tasman, planning to book something for that day. However, upon looking into the weather, we realised we were going to have to do the trip the following day, from Nelson. The day we had planned to book for was set for rain, which would be no fun for a day on the sea! We gathered together our leaflets and started to call them one by one, to see firstly if anyone would pick up at that time, and secondly if anyone had space. The first couple thankfully did pick up but unfortunately didn’t have space for us. We were ringing in pirce order, so the more people we called, the more expensive the trips became. Finally, a lovely man named Pete from The Sea Kayaking Company in Motueka answered and confirmed, yes he could take us on a trip the next day, but it would be a whopping $200 each. Argh! We were so desperate, we agreed, then had a minor panic, and then did what we usually do – convinced ourselves we’ll easily pay the credit card man all this money back once we have jobs back home. If we were going to sea kayak anywhere, this is THE place to do it, why let money stop us?!
The next day we were up bright and early for the short drive up to Motueka. We made it just in time, checked in and got intruduced to our group of 8 and our guide for the day, Kim. Kim handed out some dry bags for our stuff, loaded us onto a coach and drove us down to the coast. From here we donned life jackets and were loaded onto a boat,… on the back of a tractor! certainly a first for me. The sea was so shallow that in order to get the boats out far enough into the sea to ‘go’, they are pulled on trailors by tractors. There were 5 tractors sitting out in the ocean at the time we arrived, a rather strange sight!
Once we reached deep water, our tractor off loaded us and off we went. It was a twenty minute ride to where we would start our kayaking adventure. It was a cloudy day and as the speed boat zoomed across the water, the cold air gushed in. Abel Tasman is a National Park with hardly any inhabitants, the coast line was beautiful, deserted beaches, surrounded by cliffs covered in varying varieties of trees.
Upon arrival at our beach, we donned our outfit for the day, a rubber ’skirt’ which would help to keep our bums dry as we rowed, a 1980’s style waterproof and a life jacket. We were reassured that it was very unlikely that the kayak would capsize, but just incase, Kim took us through a drill to ensure that we would know what to do should this happen. Having passed the drill and after a short lesson on how to row (which is actually rather complicated), we loaded ourselves into our kayak and went off into the water.
Olly and I had a double kayak, the person that sits at the front, rows, the person that sits at the back rows and also has control of the peddles, which steer the boat from left to right. As you may have guessed, Olly sat at the back and I sat at the front.
I found kayaking surprisingly easy, it was tough on my arms and I’m sure I used muscles that day which I have never used, but it was really good fun. The sea was really calm and in fact whenever a boat came by Olly and I would turn ourselves into the wake in order to ‘ride’ the waves, it was great fun.
The first stop was Tonga Island which was laden with seals. We kayaked all the way around the island at a very leisurely pace. Kim gave us information about the seals which were all female, having just given birth they were rearing their young alone, the male seals had been kicked off the island as they were too troublesome! It was fantastic watching the seals from the sea, in their territory, some seals came out into the sea to play, they were spinning and diving right next to our boat.
After the seals, we headed back to the coastline and meandered along, passing numerous deserted beaches. We stopped at mosquito bay for delicious chicken and Camembert sandwiches, carrot cake and a game of frisbee. Unfortunately the tide was going out which meant our scheduled kayak down a river could not take place, but we did get to explore more coastline which was breathtaking.
After lunch Kim told us to watch out for penguins as some had been seen recently in the area, just after this, low and behold, we saw four penguins, one swam right next to our kayak!! They were sitting on the water, darting down every so often, hunting for fish, It was great to see the penguins in the water, we felt really lucky.
Kayaking was such a peaceful day, really relaxing, it was time to sit back and take stock. I was really upset when Kim told showed us our landing spot on a beach which came into sight far too quickly, I could have kayaked for hours. The rest of our group (obviously a lot richer than us) were staying on at the beach, camping out ready for a another day of hiking and more kayaking the next day. We said goodbye to them and loaded ourselves onto a water taxi which took us right back to the start.
If you are going to Abel Tasman, it would be a crime not to sea kayak the coast. If you’re thinking about it, do it and do it for as long as you can afford. Olly and I were sad to leave and if we could have stayed for a second day we would have. I would recommend the Sea Kayak company, especially our guide Kim, she was one of the best guides we’ve had our whole trip.
Grey Grey Greymouth
So much beer, so little time
Greymouth does just what it says on the tin, it’s gray! Well, it was when we were there anyway, grey buildings, grey town, grey sea, grey skies, everything was grey!
That is, apart from our hostel. It’s ironic that one of the best hostels we’ve stayed in happened to be in one of the most dull and uninspiring places we’ve ever visited. Global Village was a fun, brightly coloured hostel, filled with bits and pieces from all over Asia. It was friendly, warm and welcoming, and we were very sad to leave (the hostel, not Greymouth!).
One of the reasons we stopped at Greymouth was to do the tour of the Monteiths brewery (one of Olly’s favourite New Zealand beers, so it must be good). We called a couple of times to try and book onto the tour but were just met with an answer phone message. Giving up, we picked up our raincoats (the clouds were grey) and headed for the brewery.
Monteiths beer is rather slick in its design, covered in funky packaging which has won many awards, I was quite shocked when we walked into a rather dull (grey – surprise!) green/brown room. There was one woman running things, who it turned out was the only person in the brewery at that time.
We booked ourselves on the tour, which was quite popular that day and waited for it to start. Our guide locked the main door and took us through to the brewery. We were shocked, silence! There was nobody there, no beer was being brewed, nobody was working, it was rather eerie to be honest. Our guide took us around the machinery and gave us a talk about what each piece did. She was obviously quite stressed being the only one in the office that day and was quite keen to get the tour done. I’m not entirely sure whether she was also nervous, but as she talked it sounded more like she was reeling off a pre-learnt speech, she closed her eyes often and her head turned around the group, only opening her eyes to look at our shoes, then the process began again. Olly and I were quite disappointed, having high hopes for Monteiths because of its good public image. We knew that the tastings were at the end and so we focused on that, free beer, surely that would turn it around… it certainly did!
Our guide sat us at separate tables and invited us up individually to try the seven different Monteiths beers, it was a bit like being at school (although I obviously didn’t get free beer at school!) Then came the fun bit, the bit that we didn’t expect at all. We were all invited to go up to the bar and pour a schooner of our favourite beer for ourselves! Amazing! Having never pulled a pint before we were all rather excited about the photo opportunities this provided. We rushed up, had a go, got the photos and enjoyed our drink. By this point our guide had sat down and was casually chatting to some of the group. Then it dawned on the rest of the group, we’re allowed more than one drink! In fact, it turned out to be free beer for the next hour… all you can drink beer for the next hour!! What a brilliant tour! Within moments, the groups opinion of the tour had changed, the beer and conversation was flowing. We had a couple of young guys in our group who started getting a bit rowdy, pouring several types of beer into one glass, and so the free beer ended, but for that hour it was one of the best tours we’d ever been on!
Haast Pass (easy for you to say)
Lake Wanaka on the way to the Haast Pass
Being able to say the words ‘Haast Pass’ without sounding too much like Hyacinth Bouquet is the first challenge, the second is to stay on the road and not swerve off as you pass some of the most draw dropping scenery in New Zealand. We don’t normally write posts about our car journeys, but the amount of times we stopped for a photograph on this ride meant that this had to be an exception to that rule.
We left Wanaka and started on our five hour road trip up to Fox Glacier. We hadn’t expected an enormous amount from the scenery and were stunned by what we saw. The first part of the journey took us along Lake Wanaka, which in itself is incredibly beautiful. With each turn in the road, snow capped mountains would greet us standing high and proud amongst all the other mountains in their range.
The further into the the Haast Pass we drove, the narrower the roads became, the closer to the mountains we were and the more I had to keep telling Olly to ‘focus on the road’! Every bridge crossed an amazing waterfall, and every forest contained a rewarding walk.
We stopped and walked to the turquoise Blue Pools, Thunder Falls and the Haast Pass lookout. Not one for the vertigo sufferers, the Haast Pass lookout track takes you right up to the top of a mountain. The view was incredible, and the fact I managed to get back down to the bottom without landing on my bum was also incredible!
If you’re doing the journey up from Wanaka through the Haast Pass make sure you leave early and give yourself lots of time to stop, walk and soak up the scenery, because you’ll want to. Make sure you put plenty of sandfly spray on too though, i got bitten about twenty times by those little blighters!
The Nimble Fox
Climbing Fox glacier
When I signed up for the full day glacier hike, I was a bit concerned. The leaflet stipulated that you must have a ‘good’ level of fitness. Now, Olly and I have completed a few mountain walks in New Zealand, but compared to many hardcore walkers here, whose fitness level must be ‘good’ if not ‘very good’, I did have concerns about whether I was going to make it.
I was concerned that we would be climbing steep hills and covering ground in a speedy fashion, so quickly that I wouldn’t be able to keep up. Anyway, as is always the case, what I worried about didn’t end up being a problem. Today was an extremely challenging day.
We booked a one day glacier tour with Fox Glacier Guiding. After being suited and booted (proper army style walking boots and a very fashionable bin bag shaped waterproof) we set off on a short bus journey to the glacier. Once at the glacier our group of 13 was introduced to its tour guide, Passang, a real adventurer. Passang was from Nepal, sherpering people up Everest in the winter and doing glacier tours in New Zealand in the summer. He spoke with a distinclty New Zealand accent, saying the obligatory ‘ay’ after every other sentance. Seriously though, this guy was a legend.
We were unable to start our walk straight onto the glacier at the ‘terminal face’ as it was incredibly dangerous, the ice moves up to 5 metres a day and just a couple of years ago two men were killed at this point by falling ice boulders. All around the start of the glacier there are rocks strewn everywhere, our guide informed us that these rocks are falling constantly, he showed us one which had fallen just 5 weeks ago, I’m not joking, it was the size of a small elephant! As the stories came out, my anxiety rose, talks of death and falling rocks, why were we going up onto the glacier again?!
We started our ascent to a part of the glacier that we could start walking on, through an area closed off to the general public and up a ’secret staircase’ up the side of an adjacent mountain, which started with 800 steps! wow did I feel my thighs burn! the steps were all man made and so despite being a fantastic cardio work out, they were not too tricky to navigate. After about 750 steps, Passang stopped the group and said those wonderful words, words that froze my feet to the spot ‘no cameras for the next 10 minutes guys, we’re going to climb up a ladder (bearing in mind we’re on the side of a mountain) and then walk along a walkway which doesn’t have a barrier and has a sheer drop over down the mountain, so make sure you use both hands to cling to the rope attached to the rock as you move’. ARGH! I’m pleased to report I made it, but it was a challenging climb!
At last, we made it to the ice!! it looked magnificent! It reminded me of the top of a large lemon Meringue pie, covered with white troughs and peaks differing in height. The sun was shining down on it, and from our position, the ice was towering over us, white in colour, with flecks of ‘dirt’, which is, believe it or not, dust blown over from the Sydney dust storm last year! below the surface you could see an icy blue colour glowing through, it looked truly awesome and I couldn’t wait to get walking.
Before we set foot on the ice, we were given a walking pole each (I now want to invest in one of these for everyday walking, it saved my life so many times on the ice!) and some crampons. The crampons were fitted to the bottom of our shoes, in the arch of our feet, and had large metal teeth which dig into the ice as you walk. Passang gave us a lesson on how to use them, whereas you would normally step with your heel first, or lightly tread with your toes, to walk with crampons you have to stamp your foot down (making sure the middle goes down with full force!) it took a while to get used to but after a while we were crampon experts.
Our first walk on the ice followed the a track that was used by most tour groups, nicely carved out stairs (carved fresh that morning!) and a flatter walking surface. This lasted for about 5 minutes. Then, as we were on the full day hike and we had the most adventurous guide, I think possibly ever, we went off piste! for 5 hours!
Walking on the ice was amazing, it was filled with crevasses, waterfalls and amazing little holes, whilst absolutely beautiful these things did prove a little hazardous when walking. There was no time for chatting or taking in the scenery, we walked single file, following each others footprints. As we went Passang hacked out steps with an axe.
I must say I found walking on the ice incredibly challenging, every step had to be thought through, the chances of falling were pretty high, so ultimate concentration and focus were required. My brain was exhausted by the end of the hike!
It was well worth it though, Passang took us to ice caves, crevasses and waterfalls It was stunning to see how the ice changes colour the further under the ‘top layer’ you go (i’m sure there’s a technical term for this!). The further up the glacier we climbed the less dirty and the more impressive the ice became, giant boulders rose out of the glacier on the horizon, despite being exhausted I yearned for more, to explore further. We saw very few other groups on the ice today too, giving it a feel sense of ‘adventure’ and discovery.
That said, by the end of the walk Olly and I could not wait to ‘cramp-off’. The ties were pretty tight and the stomping walking was killing my legs. I was sad to be leaving the ice, but I knew that in order to get back we’d be going down that ladder up the mountain and along the path without the barrier and I wanted to get it over with! The journey back down the mountain was easier than expected, Olly managed a James Bond style tumble down the stairs, and was saved from falling down the sheer drop by clinging onto the trunk of a tree, I think he was just showing off to be honest.
I really enjoyed today, despite it being an enormous challenge. As I sit here writing this post, I can feel my legs siezing up. My muscles are screaming with agony. This might be the bit where people who have a ‘good’ level of fitness don’t suffer too much! I need to work on that. Glacier walking is no mean feat, I will certainly give more respect to anyone that’s done it in future, what a day!
Wanaka
Scary! Puzzling World in Lake Wanaka
Wanaka is described in Lonely Planet as Queenstowns little sister, a place where older travelers may choose to go instead of the hustle and bustle of Queenstown. I am pleased that we have chosen to visit both, Wanaka is a great ‘wind down’ after the non stop hustle and bustle of it bigger sister.
Wanaka has a similar set up to Queenstown, it’s a beautiful town sitting on the edge of a deep blue lake, surrounded by snow capped mountains. There is even a ‘beach’ area to sit in relax and watch the world go by, though like Queenstown don’t expect any sand. We have been pretty lazy since arriving in Wanaka, for one reason, it’s because of the enormous cost of our skydive, and also because apart from walking, there isn’t a massive amount to do here.
Yesterday, Olly and I embarked on our first walk of the week, the ascent up Mount Iron. Now, I’m not sure whether its because of my sky dive adrenaline fueled lack of sleep the past couple of nights, or whether I really am unfit, but I found this ‘relatively easy’ (lonely planet) steep climb up the side of a mountain pretty tough. It was straight up all the way so it really did work our calves, but the view from the top was worth it, we had 360 degree panoramic views, pretty special.
After our walk we decided to venture to one of Wanakas biggest attractions, Puzzling World. Why we don’t have such a thing in the UK is beyond me, puzzling world was great. The first obstacle in Puzzling World is to complete the maze, a maze made of wooden panels and bridges, the object is to find all four towers and then make your way back to the start. Whoever designed the maze is mightily cunning as it was an incredibly difficult feat. The maze is 1.5 kilometres long, but apparently most people end up walking 3-5 kilometres (and I think we were one of those people). Once we found the first tower we climbed to the top hoping that from our higher perspective to be able to calculate our route to the next tower, but no! the maze was cleverly designed so that the crucial paths were blocked with bridges and buildings, genius! Olly and I were pretty good at the maze, we had it done in under an hour but we did need a rest after an hour of literally going round in circles!
After the maze there’s a series of optical illusion rooms that try to mess with your mind. Holograms jump out at you, perspectives are distorted and there’s an entire room of faces that follow you as you walk, spooky!
My favourite attraction in Wanaka was Cinema Paradiso. A funky little place where you can relax on a massive sofa, comfy arm chair or VW Beetle (as we did) with a bottle of wine and a freshly baked cookie and take in some of Hollywoods latest. At a fraction of the price of a ticket to an Odeon back home, Cinema Paradiso tops any cinema going experience, I don’t think it’ll ever be the same again!
The day we jumped out of a plane!
Skydiving man!! (Obviously this photo wasn't taken by Olly)
I can’t believe I jumped out of a plane yesterday!!
Before I came out on the trip I was adamant that I would never do anything in the way of extreme sports, especially not a sky dive. I even had a bet with my friend that I wouldn’t (which I have now lost, thank god it was only for a bar of chocolate!!).
I knew that Queenstown was extreme sports central and that if we were going to have sky dives shoved in our faces anywhere, it would be here. As you cross the street buses go by with people off to bungy, jet boat or white water raft. So, as soon as we arrived here, the idea of a sky dive suddenly became real.
Olly did a great deal of research and decided that he wanted to do one from as high as possible, 15000 feet, giving you 60 seconds of freefall. We found out that Skydive Lake Wanaka was one of the top rated sky dives in New Zealand with magnificent views across the whole of the Southern Alps. It certainly wasn’t the cheapest (especially with the video) but we decided if we were going to do it, it was probably only going to be once, so we would do the best!
We were due in Wanaka in 4 days, it happened to be our next stop, great we thought, we can do it then. However, a quick check of the weather revealed sun for the next day and then rain rain rain, if we were going to do it, we were going to have to do it tomorrow – ARGH!
Olly called the company and before I knew it he’d put the phone down and informed me we were booked in for 9am the next day. OH MY GOD! my stomach turned. I don’t think I could concentrate on anything that whole day, even eating was difficult. Every ‘what if’ was flashing through my mind. But at the same time I was thinking, how good am I going to feel if I do this?! As you can imagine, I didn’t sleep much that night, anxiety and nerves increasing by the second.
The alarm went off at 6.50am and we were up and off. We’d been told to call in half an hour before to check that the jump was still on (I did kind of hope it would be canceled, but I’d psyched myself up so much by this point I think I needed to do it, the adrenaline needed to go somewhere!).
After a very quiet nervous hours car journey to Wanaka we arrived at the office, a hanger in the middle of an airfield in Wanaka. Everything that happened from then on seemed to be a blur!
We watched a safety video which told us what positions to put our bodies in for jumping, freefall and landing, were weighed, paid and were fitted with jump suits. No sooner had I zipped myself up than I was being told to step into a harness, fitted and then I was lead to meet Eric, my instructor, the man in whose hands I would be putting my life. He was a lovely and calm, he completely understood my nerves and did his best to put me at ease.
Moments later Eric took me to meet Yuko, our camera woman. She would be taking the video and photos of the dive, yes, she would be jumping out of the plane with us, at the same time! I did a very terrified interview with Yuko and at the moment she put down the camera, Eric grabbed my arm and led me to the plane, oh my god, I didn’t even have time to speak to Olly, this was it, I was getting on that plane, it was taking off and I wouldn’t be in it when it landed!
Eric quickly checked my harness before climbing into the plane, the plane was tiny, literally just wide enough space for 2 people to sit side by side (no seats, obviously). I sat in between Eric’s legs and Yuko crouched next to us. Eric kept on playing with my harness, I could feel it getting tighter but I had no idea exactly what he was doing. Olly boarded next, he and his instructor sat opposite us, with his camera man literally lying in the space next to us by the massive glass door that we would soon be jumping out of.
I am not a fan of flying so the thought of taking off in a teeny tiny plane was freaking me out a little, however, with the whole jumping out bit playing on my mind the take off didn’t scare me one bit, in actual fact, it calmed me down! We flew straight up over the mountains, the scenery was breathtaking. We saw Mount Cook (the highest mountain in New Zealand) and numerous rivers and lakes. The sky was blue, it was 30 degrees and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.
Then came harness time! (I was kind of expecting to be attached to Eric outside the plane so that someone could check it, double check it, triple check it etc) I pulled myself up onto Eric’s lap and he started clicking some straps in place, before I knew it, we were attached at 4 points (hips and shoulders), it was quite an intimate affair, I could feel everytime Eric breathed or moved! Then it was on with the hat and goggles and I watched as the dial on the height gauge on Eric’s watch approached the 15000 foot indicator.
At that moment the green light went on above Olly’s head which meant ‘jump time’, within seconds the door had opened, the wind was gushing in and Olly’s instructor had shuffled them to the exit, they were sitting with their legs dangling off the edge. Then came the most scary bit of all, they jumped. I watched there bodies become smaller and smaller as they plummeted down towards the ground. Great, I thought, me next! (I was also terrified about Olly’s well being).
No time to think, you really do not have a choice whether to jump or not. I was attached to Eric and whatever he did, I did too. Yuko climbed out the plane and hung on the side (I think she was super woman!) watching whilst we got into our position sitting, as Olly and his instructor Geoff had just done, with our legs dangling out of the plane. I think this was the scariest moment of the whole thing.
Then, before I knew it, Eric got my head next to his in freefall position, said ‘Ready’, I shouted ‘I’m ready!!’ and out we flew!! I cannot describe the feeling, but I will do my best. The freefall was unreal, wind was gushing by, yet it didn’t really feel like we were falling (despite the ground getting remarkably bigger!) all I could see were brown mountains – stunning! I had no fear at all, it was an incredible rush. Falling falling falling, wind wind wind!
After sixty incredible seconds, Yuko was gone and I felt an enormous jolt, the parachute had gone up and I was once again vertical! I screamed!! and everything started to sink in (just a little bit). Eric’s first comment was ’so Laura, how do you like my office?!’ wow! From then on the journey was fantastic, we floated down for 6 minutes, Eric gave me a guided tour around the landscape telling me where and what everything was, it was so quiet and peaceful, really really relaxing. When we reached 2000 feet, I looked down and saw Olly land in the airfield (whew!), then it was our turn to land.
Landing was so easy, Eric steered us in, I put my feet up and slid right in on our bums. I’d done it!!!! I hugged Olly, hugged Eric and ran in, completely high on adrenaline, I wanted to live it over and over again in my mind and I wanted to talk it through over and over again with Olly. I felt alive and I felt invincible!
I don’t think I stopped shaking for about an hour, I felt completely sick. I had been so worried before the jump I’d worked myself up into a right state. The whole of the rest of the day Olly and I spent celebrating being alive. I can’t stop saying ‘I’ve jumped out of a plane!!’ My heart won’t stop thudding, sleeping last night was impossible, everytime I closed my eyes I was back on the edge ready to jump (in a good way!). I honestly think it was a life changing experience, I feel like I could do anything now, anything! One of the best days of my life!
ps I JUMPED OUT OF A PLANE!!!!!!!!!!!
Queenstown
Queenstown – adventure capital of NZ
Queenstown has to be one of my favourite places in New Zealand so far. I was expecting a tacky town on the edge of a river, filled with adrenaline fuelled backpackers. but no! It was brilliant. Queenstown is a classy establishment, streets lined with funky bars and eateries, set around absolutely stunning scenery… filled with adrenaline fuelled backpackers. I could have stayed there for months (if only we could afford it!).
On our first day in Queenstown we decided to head for the hills, quite literally. Just beside our hostel was the entrance to the gondola, which took you right up to the top of the mountain and the start of the luge! The journey up the gondola was quite a nail biting experience. I chose to sit facing the mountain as I’m not a massive fan of heights, the gondola is quite steep (it felt almost vertical) and I’m informed by Olly that the views on the way up are stunning. Once we reached the top I got to check out one of the most astounding panorama’s I’ve ever seen, an incredibly still blue lake, surrounded by mountains, the most impressive of all being the Remarkables, which truly are remarkable. Just like the rest of Queenstown, the top of the gondola was filled with extreme sports, paragliders take off from the top, and bungy jumpers scream as they freefall into the forest below. It’s quite fun to watch as things are going on all around you, you don’t know whether to be taking in the scenery or watching the next stunt.
A small chairlift further up the mountain takes you to the start of the luge ride. Olly and I had lots of fun on this, after our warm up in Sentosa, I was ready for this one, it had tight corners and even tunnels, it also had the views. Best luge ride ever. Olly was feeling super brave and so after the first luge ride he chose to participate in the ‘advanced luge’, this one had steep inclines and everything! Given my track record of going fast down hills on wheeled vehicles I decided to give it a miss, but he informs me that it was fantastic.
In addition to views Queenstown also has fantastic places to eat, our favourites being Patgonia and Fergburger. The former for the incredible ice cream and the latter for the ‘life changing’ burgers they serve. Fergburger is somewhat of an institution in Queenstown. We had met somebody in Thailand who had told us about the burgers there, so we came to check out what all the fuss was about. We weren’t disappointed, they truly were the best burgers ever, absolutely delicious. If you find yourself in Queenstown, it would be a crime not to stop in for a Fergburger, I’m telling you.
We happened to be in Queenstown for Waitangi day, at the time weren’t entirely sure exactly what it was, but it seemed to be a very social day with live bands playing in most bars and free BBQ’s offered by some so were happy! We spent the afternoon lazing by the river with hundreds of others, sunbathing, sipping cider and listening to the live DJs play some chilled out tunes. (We later learned Waitangi day celebrates the signing of a contract that essentially gave birth to New Zealand, quite an important day then!).
I loved Queenstown, it was simply awesome.
Sounds like Milford
Milford Sound
Our trip to Milford Sound started at a spritely 5.30 am! It was an hour and a halves drive from Te Anau, where we were staying and in order to avoid the conga line of tour buses that set off at the more civilised time of 9am, an early start was required.
We jumped in the car and started our journey through sunrise. It was magical, overnight the mist had floated down and settled on the ground. As we drove further along the road the mist that had been clinging to the road and hugging the trees started to disappear. As sun rose, the mountains took on a bright orange glow. There were no other cars on the road at that time, we felt that we had the whole area to ourselves.
En route we stopped at Mirror lakes, which, you’ve guessed it, are lakes which mirror the view of the mountains. Unfortunately when we got there a fish had decided to jump up out of the water causing a small ripple effect, luckily this soon died down and we were able to see the lakes in all their glory.
In order to get to Milford we had to drive through a tunnel, which was unlike any tunnel we’d ever driven through before. It’s basically a 1 km tunnel on a steep hill carved out of a glacier. We were pretty scared driving into the tunnel, it wasn’t lit and it literally felt like we were plummeting into darkness. We were so relieved to see the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’, which brought us out right in the heart of the mountains.
Milford Sound itself was beautiful. A deep blue water surrounded on all sides by towering mountains which glowed a bluey colour in the early morning light. There is no sign of life around the Sound apart from the port which housed all of the tour boat companies.
We opted for a 9am cruise with Mitre Peak. We sat, with our free mugs of tea in the open air on top of the boat and watched as the world went by. We were one of the first boats out that day, so the view from the boat was awesome, uninterrupted Milford Sound. The cruise lasted two hours and took us all the way out to the Tasman sea (which thankfully for us was less choppy that day), seals swam beside our boat and birds flew overhead. We sailed by Mitre Peak, an enormous mountain shaped like the top of a bishops hat, and went right beside free flowing waterfalls, Because our boat was quite small we were able to get up close and personal with the waterfalls. Unfortunately it hadn’t rained in a while so we didn’t get to see the water flowing in all it’s glory but it was still pretty impressive.
After a relaxing two hour cruise and lunch overlooking a glacier, we decided to embark on a three hour walk up to Key Summit. It was a tough endurance walk, but the views from the top were breathtaking. Mountains on all sides, no buildings or roads, we literally were on top of the world.
On our way home we passed two hitchhikers asking for a lift, taking pity on them we opened the car doors and they bundled on in, thanking us profusely. Our hitchhikers were from Israel, and we spent the entire journey swapping traveling stories. I think my favourite part of the journey was when our hitchhikers (who had only just met) broke into an argument about which part of Israel makes the best hummus, I laughed so much I almost cried.
The Lost Gypsy
The Lost Gypsy Gallery
What a guy! The Lost Gypsy is a man who seems to have created the perfect job, in the perfect location. He’s chilled out and spends his time creating fun things from ’stuff’ or old pieces of junk he finds lying around. This collection is the result of about 10 years of his tinkering.
The first part of the gallery is set up in ‘the office’, an old bus which is full of toys the lost gypsy has created, there are handles to turn, buttons to push, games to play and pieces to manoeuvre. Everything in the gallery is interactive and made from old pieces of wood, shells, bottle tops, wires, literally anything and everything. Things ‘pop’, ‘gurgle’ and ‘whiz’ all around you – watch out for the model train running around the shelves.
If you like what you see in the first part of the gallery (and we certainly did), payment of a small fee entitles you to entrance into the big stuff gallery, basically a garden crammed with bigger objects to turn, push and twist. My favourite was a room filled with numerous noise making objects, which were each individually connected to keys on an old piano keyboard. Pressing a key would trigger a noise, such as a door bell, TV or record player. Pressing all the keys would make, well, noise! A fun noise though, it was great. Olly and I were composers of our own noisy tune.
The Lost Gypsy Gallery has to be the best man made attraction in The Catlins, almost worth a trip down there all on it’s own. I’ll certainly look at rubbish in a different way from now on, everything has potential!
Cathedral Caves
The cathedral caves – not afraid of the dark are you?
The next morning it was an early start to reach Cathedral Caves during the only time they are accessible, low tide. We rolled out of bed and into the car, reaching the caves by 8.30 am. After a short walk through the forest and a trek across the beach, we reached the enormous caves. They were massive, as tall as, well, I imagine, a cathedral. They offered a good shelter from the down pour that seemed to have descended upon us since we’d arrived.
The caves went back a long way, you could even walk right through one cave and out of another. Unfortunately for us, as we ventured further into the cave it became extremely dark. It was a kind of darkness so thick and heavy that it could swallow you up like tar, we almost had to wade through it. It was so black that our meager maglite barely stood a chance against it, we had to keep checking it was still on! It seemed that of all the times the batteries could go, they had chosen that moment. I had a terrible fear that there was an unfriendly sea lion lurking in the depths for us which freaked me out so much that I chose to run to safety.
Luckily for us, there was a fearless five year old boy just behind us carrying a torch bigger than his head, which lit up the cave like a sun. If he can do it, so can we, we thought. Hands grasped and walking quickly we made it all the way through the cave to the other side!
There are several other caves all along the shore, and it’s worth checking them all out if you can stand the darkness, just make sure you take a good torch!
All the paragraphs are by Lau, all the pixels are by Olly. Hope you enjoyed it! You can read more about us on the