Milford Sounds

Today we went on a coach - cruise - coach tour to Milford Sounds, run by the company Juicy, which basically means we spent a ridiculous amount of time on a coach for a short cruise.

We set off at 9 and picked up a whole load of people from various stops around Queenstown and then started our journey. Our first stop was around half 11 at a town called Te Anu. We stopped at a little centre that had a cafe and a shop. Neither Lauren or I got anything. It was expensive and we brought food with us. Whilst we were there we saw the Kiwi Experience bus that was going to Milford Sounds also stopped there. At 11:50 we set off again towards Milford Sounds. We pretty much followed the Kiwi Bus all the way. We stopped at all the same photo spots, including the Mirror Lakes, which was actually a river, and Monkey Creek.

We got to Milford Sounds around 2:45pm. We got straight onto the boat which was leaving at 3 for an hour and a bit cruise. The Kiwi Experience group got on the exact same boat. If we had done our trip yesterday with Juicy, we would have been with the other girls anyway.

Milford Sounds is just stunning. The water was a greeny turquoise colour and was surrounded by huge cliffs. The sky was blue and the sun was out, which is apparently very rare in Milford. We went upstairs onto the top deck at the beginning of the cruise. It was very very windy. I didn't last long up there while Lauren stayed almost the entire cruise. Whilst I was up top though, I did see a dolphin which was awesome. It followed the boat for a while and then disappeared.  When I came down from the top deck I stood outside at the back which was considerably less windy. It was just beautiful. We reached the sea and then turned around and came back.

On the way back I went back up the top and it was much less windy. We went and floated right next to some rocks which had fur seals lazing about on top. They were pretty cute. Then we went basically right under a waterfall. Lauren and I went right out the front of the boat in our waterproofs. We got soaked. The spray was going everywhere but it was pretty amazing.

The cruise ended back where it started and we got back on the bus from the long journey back. We drove for an hour and 45 minutes and go to Te Anu around half 6 for a short stop before continuing on our way. We got back to the hostel about 9 and started packing as tomorrow we are leaving Queenstown.

A day by the lake

This morning was going to be our last day with the other girls. We all got up around 7:30am and got ready to go on a day trip to Milford Sounds, where we would all go our separate ways at the end. When we came to get on the bus, our names weren't on the list, despite signing up on the Kiwi bus a while ago and having a voucher as we had pre-paid that had been checked by Helly, who had said it was fine. It turned out, which we hadn't realised, that the voucher was for a different company and we couldn't do the trip through the Kiwi Experience. Lauren rang up the Kiwi Experience office and argued with them about how they should have told us and that one of their drivers had said it was fine. The office told us to speak to the driver. It turned out we weren't the only ones not on the list, although the others all had vouchers for the Kiwi Experience. The driver let them on and we then explained our situation to him. He checked his bus and he only had one spare seat. So we couldn't go. The other girls, who were already on the bus, got back off, telling the driver they wanted to say goodbye. There were tears and hugs all round as we said goodbye. So now Lauren and I are back down to a pair.

We went to the office of the company we had the voucher for and they were friendly and understanding and managed to get us into a trip tomorrow which was lucky as it is the only day we have left and the trip for today had already left.

So instead of the day trip we had a fairly relaxing day. We walked to the bottom of the hill and got the gondola up to the top. We went on to the viewing platform and got an amazing view over Queenstown, the lake and the surrounding mountains. It was a beautiful clear day. We also saw people bungying off a ledge from the top of the hill. We didn't feel like having a go.

We got the gondola back down and wandered through Queenstown back to the hostel to dump some stuff and then we headed out to Queenstown Gardens and had a stroll alongside the lake. We sat for a while at the side of the lake just admiring the view before continuing on our way. We wandered through the rose garden and back to the hostel. We grabbed some sandwiches we made for the day trip, a drink and a blanket and went and had a picnic on a grassy area on the lake front promenade. We sunbathed for about 2 hours and then headed back to the hostel to chill there for a bit.

At around half 6 we ordered domino's - $5 a pizza - went to collect it and then eat it sitting on a wall in front of the lake. We basically spent all day by the lake. Then we came back to the hostel to chill and get an earlyish night.

12,000 ft above sea level

Yesterday evening as a pre-farewell drink we went to an ice bar. There was 6 of us and we got two cocktails each. We had a half an hour time limit but you wouldn't have wanted to spend more than that in there as it was freezing. Afterwards all the other girls went back and myself and Lauren went to join the Kiwi Experience bar crawl. We weren't out that late as it was a boring and expensive.

This morning we had a leisurely morning just wandering around the town. All the others had gone off on activities so Lauren and I just mooched around the gift shops. At half 11 we started queuing at Fergs Burgers, which every time we walked past, has been rammed and had a queue out the door down the road. It had been mentioned to me by a former  work colleague and also by the bus driver when we arrived. The queue moved quickly and we ordered our burgers and found a seat inside. Lauren ordered a standard cheese burger and chips. I ordered a pork belly burger with seeded apricot mustard and a hash brown. They came pretty fast given how busy the place was. And they were AMAZING. We both thought they were probably the best burgers we had ever had. Lauren couldn't finish the chips as the burgers were so big. We went and finished them by the lake front as the sun was shining and the sky was beautifully clear.

Around 1pm we were joined by Sophie and Beth who had returned from rafting. We sat chatting for a while and then returned to the hostel. Sophie showered while Lauren and I chilled, then we met up with a Canadian girl we met at Hot Water Beach, and the four of us went skydiving.

We were all absolutely terrified. We suited up and met the dudes we were going to be strapped to, and into the plane we went. We were squished in with some others and when we got to 9000ft, 4 people jumped out. We then climbed higher to 12,000ft which felt like it took forever. Then we opened the door and I was the first to go. It was absolutely terrifying when we first got out the plane. But as soon as we were stabilised and falling flat it was just amazing. We were over Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables mountain range. The feeling was insane and the view was just unbelievable. I went first, followed by Lauren, who was apparently screaming before she even left the plane, then Emily the Canadian, a random girl called Jen, and finally Sophie. We were free falling for about 45 seconds before the parachute deployed. Then we floated down to the ground before landing with a bump. We all absolutely loved it. I was so proud of them all as they were all absolutely terrified having never done it before. I was terrified too despite having done it before, although this was 2000ft higher. The whole thing was over very quickly but it was so amazing and we were all so glad we found the courage to do it.

After we got back we went to a donut shop and got amazing 'freakshakes'. These were like amazing milkshakes. We came back to the hostel, did some laundry and broke the news to our mothers.

Queenstown

Today we left the hostel at 9am on the Kiwi bus which took us to Puzzling World. It was an optional extra but for $17 we decided to give it a miss and instead sat in the cafe doing the free puzzles. We left at half ten and our next stop was Mrs Jones fruit store. It was basically a fruit lovers paradise, which meant of course that neither me or Lauren were that excited. We only stopped for about 20 mins. Most people got ice cream instead of fruit. Neither of us got anything.

Our third stop was at AJ Hackett's bungy jump over the Karamau Gorge. The river was a awesome green cover and we watched people do the bungy jumping from 43m off the bridge. We think some people from our bus may have jumped too but most people we know left Wanaka the day before so we don't really know.

We got to Queenstown Sophie and Beth were waiting for us to grab our bags so we could quickly check in first so we could be in the same room as them which was real nice of them. We managed for all 6 of us to be together for out last two nights together before the other 4 leave on a different bus for a tour of the south we aren't going on. We're in a big 8 bed room that has the 6 of us and 2 Swedish girls.

We had a pretty chill afternoon. We had a very little wander round the town and went to the shop. We haven't seen much of the town but it looks good from what we've seen.

Tonight the 6 of us are going out for a couple of drinks as a sort of early goodbye.

Roys Peak

Today all the other 4 girls left to go to Queenstown on the 9am bus, however Lauren and I stayed to climb Roys Peak. We got up after they left and got ready. We left around 10am and walked to the corner of the road alongside the lake. The mountain was a 10 minute drive away so we hitchhiked. We had a sign that said Roys peak and we were only waiting about 3 minutes before a Danish couple pulled up. We jumped in and they dropped us off at the car park at the bottom. They had done it the previous day and told us it took about 5 hours.

It was a real sunny day and there no clouds in the sky. Our bus driver the day before had said it was 6km so we weren't too bothered and the website I looked at had said the same. But when we got there there was a sign said that said 16km and we were fairly sure we were going to die. We didn't have much water but we set off anyway. It was really hard and very steep. We got very hot and sweaty. We got a decent way and got to some picnic benches were we stopped and took many photos. We then had the sandwiches we had made. At this point we decided that due to the severe lack of water and heat it was probably not sensible to continue to the top. We would have probably been really dehydrated and ended up with sunstroke.

The view from the picnic area we were at was still incredible and the walk back down also offered awesome views. It was really easy coming down. In fact it was easier to run it than walk as it was quite steep so that's what we did, jogged down the hill. We still didn't get as hot and sweaty as we did climbing up.

When we got down we had to wait about 5 minutes before someone else who had come down the hill behind us pulled over and gave us a lift back to Wanaka.  When we got back we got a drunk and sat and drank them by the lake. It's such a beautiful place. We watched people kayaking and paddle boarding for a bit before heading to the supermarket around 3pm to get something for dinner then back to the hostel for showers.

Gorgeous Glaciers

Today has been amazing. We got up at 8am and got dressed to go up the glacier. We were told to wear 2 - 4 warm layers. I only had one long sleeved tshirt as I packed for summer.

We checked in for the heli hike at 9am and completed a medical questionnaire and got weighed. Then we got completely kitted out in a waterproof coat, waterproof trousers, thick socks, an optional hat, massive waterproof boots and a waterproof bag. Once everyone was ready we had a five minute walk through the rainforest to a helicopter that tool us to the top of the glacier. The view from the chopper was amazing. It was a really short ride, about 4 minutes and as it flew over the glacier I was wondering where it was going to land as there was no proper heli pad in sight. It ended up just landing on a little square of ice that had been cleared by a dude with an ice pick.

Once we landed we jumped out the helicopter and put on crampons, which are like spikes for your boots and we were given a pole. Then off we went. We were being lead by a guy called Scottie who had a pick axe and was clearing the path as we went. The glacier changes everyday so the path varies slightly and has to be cleared. It moves up to 8 metres a day. We were hiking over the ice for 3 hours, on a circular route, squeezing through tiny crevices and over large flat surfaces.  At one point we had to place one foot behind the other and shuffle as there wasn't room for two feet next to each other and it was too hard to step one foot over the other. Both Lauren and I, as well as Sophie, one of the girls from Leeds (who is actually from Liverpool) got stuck at one point and had to be pulled out. Scottie pulled Lauren out, who pulled me out, and I pulled Sophie out. We also had to crawl through a small hole at one point.

Eventually we returned to the heli pad, wet but surprisingly not cold. It wasn't cold at all really up on the glacier. The sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We had a good amount of layers on and the hiking kept us warm. We then all piled into the helicopters for the short return journey. Again the views were just amazing.

The hike was just phenomenal. It was so fun and the scenery was just incredible. It was expensive but so worth it. We finished at around 2pm and had an hour to kill before getting a 5 hour bus journey to Wanaka. We had a couple of photo stops along the way including Thunder Creek Falls and a look out over lake Wanaka.

We arrived at Wanaka at 9pm and all the shops were shut and we couldn't be bothered to cook so we got fish and chips from a takeaway shop and took them back to the hostel to eat before going to bed.

Glacier Hot Pools

So this morning we woke up, got ready and headed to the Glacier Guides place for the heli hike. As predicted, it was cancelled. They told us they didn't know what time but that we would probably be able to go tomorrow. We were originally scheduled to depart Franz Josef at 7:30am on the Kiwi bus but our drivers, Helly and Guy, had managed to arrange for us to do the heli hike on Thursday morning and leave after, meaning we will get to our next stop pretty late but I'm sure it will be worth it.

So because the hike was cancelled we were all dressed and ready to go at 8:45am with no where to go and nothing to do. We decided to go for a walk but we had to wait until 2pm to find out if we had been allocated places on the hike or whether we had to sign up for a specific time. Then we studied the map a bit harder and realised it would take us a long time to get to the start of the walk and we wouldn't have time to be back by 2pm to sign up when the list went up. So instead we pretty much just ended dossing around the hostel until lunch and then making sandwiches.

After the list went up and we were confirmed for the hike tomorrow we went to the Glacier Hot Pools, which were run by the same company as the hike. We had to pay a $21 deposit that would get refunded to us when the hike went ahead, as it was part of a package.

The hot pools were 3 outdoor pools, one at 36°, one at 38°, and one at 40°, that were outside in the rainforesty area. They were covered so we were sheltered from the rain but there were trees and fern all round the pools. We spent time in between all the pools. It was a really relaxing afternoon and we were all really wrinkly when we got out.

After showering we made pasta for dinner and packed for tomorrow's second attempt at the Heli hike.

Franz Josef

Today has been another slow day. This morning after breakfast I was supposed to be doing greenstone carving but when I was looking at the designs the man running the session said we couldn't do some because we didn't have the time or tools and this meant the ones I most wanted to do were ruled out and none of the other really took my fancy. So instead,  whilst Lauren and two of the other girls did the carving, myself and the other two girls in our room went for a wander to the lake. It was pretty but nothing on some of the lakes we had seen.

At around 12pm we left the hotel on the bus. There was many people feeling rough due to partying too hard last night and some people has to sit near the front of the bus incase they were sick. We were not any of those. 

We headed straight through to Franz Josef instead of stopping as there was one guy in particular who really was not very well, and not just from drinking too much. We arrived around 2pm and went straight to the hostel to check in. The hostel toilets are similar to those of a fancy hotel. They have hair straighteners and hair dryers as well as a flat screen TV. The rooms by comparison are not as good but do the job. Ours has a big patch of mould on the ceiling above Lauren's bed.

We went for a wander to the supermarket with the other girls and it started chucking it down.  It had been lovely and sunny when we left the previous place but it had become cloudy and overcast as we got into Franz Josef. None of us had our raincoats with us so we sheltered in some nearby souvenir shops. Eventually it stopped and we headed back. We chilled in the room until about 7:15pm before heading down to the bar. There was a prize giving ceremony for last night's fancy dress costume party. We were absolutely thrilled to discover we had come second. First place went to a girl who dressed as a shuttlecock made from an upturned washing basket. She was a worthy winner to be honest.

Tomorrow we are supposed to be going up a glacier but the weather is looking bad, so our trip may get cancelled. We prepared ourselves anyway and spent the evening chilling in the room.

Synchronised Swimming at Lake Mahinapua

So yesterday morning (Monday) we left Westport at 9am and drove to Cape Foulwind for a hour long walk along the seafront. It would have been lovely if it hadn't been chucking it down. We did however see a colony of seals on the rocks below which were pretty cute.

After the walk we drove to Punakaiki to see the pancake rocks. These we some pretty awesome rock formations that,  as the name suggests, look like stacks of pancakes. We stopped at the cafe across the road from the rock formations and had 40 minutes to see the rocks, hace lunch and generally do whatever you wanted. It was still chucking it down at this point so Lauren and I quick marched to the rock formations round the short circular paths, briefly stopping to take photos before heading back to the bus.

Our next stop was at the town of Greymouth where we had to shop for the evenings fancy dress party with the theme 'Olympics through the decades'. We had already planned what we were getting. The 6 of us were doing a group costume.

We then drove on to the Lake Mahinapua hotel. It was a bit of a shock when we arrived. You hear hotel you think big brick building. It was a collection of corragated iron huts and porter cabins. But we were in a room of six and the beds were comfy and the showers were hot and almost powerful.

We spent two hours showering, preparing our costume and getting ready be free heading off to dinner at half 7. Dinner was excellent. It was roast pork, roast potatoes, veg and gravy, garlic bread, crackling, and a brownie to finish. After dinner we changed into our costume.

We dressed up as a synchronised swimming team. We had a paddling pool which we decorated and cut holes in the bottom so we could stand in it. We fashioned swimming caps out of a material we found in the costume room at the hotel and we had goggles we had bought, as well as nose strips for nose pegs. The six of us wore the paddling pool round our waists and we all had to move together to go anywhere. It was very funny trying to fit through doors. People seemed to like it as some took pictures and people kept coming up to us. We did some synchronised dancing for effect. The party went on until well past midnight but we were getting tired so went to bed. 

This morning when we got up we were provided with breakfast, which was pancakes and bacon, maple syrup, and cereal and toast.

Westport

Today has been a fairly quiet day. We had a walk along the beach this morning before getting on the coach to head to Westport.  We stopped along the way at Nelsons Lakes and had a picnic and a paddle.  Then we headed along on a beautiful drive to Westport. We got a takeaway for dinner as we left our food on the locked bus and then had a group bonfire on the beach. 

Kaiteriteri (Saturday)

The quiz last night was a really hard quiz but we got free pizza so can't complain too much. There was a paper aeroplane round and a round where you had to shoot a spit ball at the picture of Donald Trump, and depending on where it landed depended on how many points you got. We ended up coming 7th. We were just happy we didn't come last.

This morning we got the bus at 7:30am to go to the ferry across the Cook Straight and onto the south Island. It took about 3 hours and 15 minutes and had nice views of Wellington as we left and the mountains in the south as we arrived. We arrived into Picton abut 12:15 and got onto a bus to take us down to Kaiteriteri on the edge of the Abel Tasman national park. The landscape was absolutely beautiful and our new driver was pretty cool. We have a woman called Helly.

We stopped at a supermarket around 16:50 and did some food shopping. We had to be back at the bus by half 5 but we ended up staying until around 18:10 because the windscreen had to be fixed after being chipped by a huge rock earlier on the drive down.

We arrived at the hostel about 7 and checked in. There's 6 of us in an ensuite room. We met back up with two girls from London we'd made friends with before and all got a room together. We made dinner and then I had a wander by myself down the beach. It's a small, picturesque little beach which was quite nice. Then I came back to the hostel and showered, and then we were all just in the room chatting and having a laugh.

Wet in Wellington (Friday)

So yesterday evening we set off for Mt Victoria at around half 7. It probably took us about 35 minutes to get to the summit. It's not a very tall mountain but at certain points it was very steep and we were all quite proud of ourselves for making it. 

From the top we got fantastic 360° views across Wellington, the surrounding mountains and the bay. It was quite cloudy so we didn't think we would get to see the sunset. But we were treated to amazing sky that started a pinky colour before turning orange and then red. It was fabulous. We also saw planes landing at the airport. We saw these two planes with multi coloured lights taking off and flying around and an older gentlemen (who we decided was called Stan - real name unknown) told us there was supposed to be pyrotechnics and these planes were supposed to be putting on a show. We waited a while whilst the planes flew around the bay and then we saw them land. It turned out Stan had driven 40km to see these supposed show and was quite disappointed. We felt so bad for him. He overheard us talking about walking back down the hill and offered us a lift. We said we were going to stay at the top of the hill a bit longer to watch some people who had just started blowing giant bubbles. He said he would be in the car park for a few minutes in a white car if we wanted a lift. 

After about 5 minutes we started heading down the hill, which takes you into the car park, and we saw a white sports car that was all pimped out pull out of a space. Because of the type of car we assumed it wasn't Stan but he pulled up in front of us and offered as a lift again. He was so sweet and we felt so bad for him so we decided to accept. There was 4 of us after all and one of him. After a couple of wrong turns and almost getting us killed he dropped us off just round the corner from the hostel. He was such a babe!

When we got back we took advantage of  the free and 2 for 1 drinks before heading to bed.  

Today it's welly weather in Wellington. It's been raining all day non stop. Which is a massive shame because a lot of the things to do in Wellington are outside. This morning we wandered down Cuba Street, which was supposed to be a nice little street full of cafes and shops but it was pretty average. I don't know if it was just because of the rain, meaning it wasn't as bustling and exciting or not. It had a pretty cool fountain though, and the green men at the pedestrian crossing were green women (see photo). After this we wandered round the city hall, library and art gallery area by the waterfront and towards the national museum of New Zealand - Te Papa. We looked around an exhibit about refugees who have come to New Zealand and also saw replicas of the Treaty of Waitangi. 

After this we headed back to the hostel for lunch. We ended up staying for quite a while trying to figure out what we could do.

Eventually we found a Friday night market that started at 5pm so we headed over to that and it was a total disappointment. I don't know if it was because of the rain (again) but there was about 5 stall's and 3 of  them were selling Chinese dumplings.

The other two girls have suggested the quiz night at the hostel this evening so we have just packed our stuff and that's our plan for this evening. I'll let you know how we do in tomorrow's post.

Tomorrow we leave Wellington at 7:30am to get the ferry across to the South Island, which despite not being that far (we saw it from the bus yesterday before we got into Wellington), will take 3 hours. Tomorrow is going to be a very boring day.

Welcome to Wellington (Thursday)

So last night went pretty much as I said it would. We got to the lodge around 6ish, found a room and cooked dinner. After dinner Lauren, Beth, Sophie and I went to look at the river. There was a trolley to take you over the river, which was basically a wooden platform that worked on a pulley rope system type thing. Lauren and I decided to have a go and the second we sat down we went shooting across the river. Lauren was screaming and we could hear the other two laughing at us from across the river. We got about 3/4 of the way and then had to pull ourselves across the rest of the way. Getting off was quite a precarious task as you just sort of had to jump off and hope you didn't slip or overbalance into the river. We managed to get off, before promptly getting back on and crossing back over much to the amusement of Beth and Sophie. It was quite funny to be fair to them.

We also had a game of volleyball/kicking the ball over the net. It wasn't very successful. The highest rally we managed to get was about 3 but it was quite amusing. The rest of the evening was spent playing cards and we eventually went to bed around 11:30.

This morning we got up and opted to get the earlier bus to Wellington as there wasn't much point in us hanging around with nothing to do so the bus left at about half 10 with around 15 people on board.

The area around the lodge we stayed in was really scenic. The drive in and out of the area was on wonderfully windy roads and the landscape was just so hilly. It was just up and down for miles. And there was loads of sheep (obviously).

We arrived in Wellington around 3 and checked into the hostel, doing some washing and showering etc. We had a free dinner from the hostel and we plan to climb Mt Victoria this evening. Despite being a mountain it doesn't look very tall and is only supposed to take 25 minutes. I'll let you know how it goes.

River Valley (Wednesday)

Today all four of us got the bus at 9:30am to go to River Valley for the night, which is on the Rangitikei river. We're staying in a Kiwi Experience exclusive lodge right on the riverside. It has 'limited wifi', whatever that means, and no phone reception. So I will be posting today's events up until we get off the bus and then if anything significant happens I'll fill you in tomorrow. 

As we drove out of Taupo we could see snow covered mountains behind the lake, which was pretty beautiful. The weather is a lot better today and the Tongariro crossing we were going to do was open but unfortunately we just don't have the time to stay another night in Taupo to do it. I forgot to mention yesterday that the Tongariro crossing goes across the bottom of, with an option to scramble up, Mt Doom from Lord of the Rings, real name Mt Ngauruhoe (the cone shaped one in the pictures).

We stopped for a 6.5km circular walk in Tongariro National Park past Taranaki falls. It was a really lovely walk through trees and along the river, with Mt Doom and another snow covered mountain, Mt Ruapehu. We stopped and had lunch in front of the water fall about half way round.

At around half 3 we continued on to River Valley.  It seems like there is not much to do so the evening will probably be spent playing cards and other games.

Tipping it down in Taupo (Tuesday)

Today's weather has been miserable. It's been cloudy all day and the rain has been on and off. It's such a shame because Lake Taupo would be so beautiful in the sun.

We were meant to be doing a 19km walk today that includes a 2km stairway called Devils Staircase at the beginning but the Tongariro crossing was closed because of severe winds and rain. So instead we have basically spent the day bumming around between the hostel and the town. We mooched around the shops for a bit. There's not much to when it's raining and you're on a budget.

This evening I had an amazing shower, which was probably the best shower I've found so far. It was hot and powerful, and it was so nice to have a hot shower after having to have a cold one at the previous hostel, which appeared to have no hot water whatsoever, either in the showers or kitchen. For dinner we cooked what was a very bare basic spag bol, even more so than last time and then we packed as we are moving on tomorrow. 

Sailing on Taupo

This morning two Kiwi buses left Rotorua for Taupo.  The one we were on only had 20 people on but the other was full and had 50.

The first stop off, after about half an hour was Te Puia, which was a large geyser that offered a guided tour for 33$. We decided not to as it was raining and the tour was two and a half hours and we'd seen some small ones already. Instead, whilst some people did the geyser, we went for an hour long walk in a redwood forest, called the Waitawa walk. It was a fairly straightforward pleasant walk but we were sheltered from the rain so it was all fine.

We picked people up from Te Puia at 12 and set off towards Taupo. We stopped at a cafe at one and then went on to a waterfall caller Huka Falls, which wasn't really a waterfall, but more like rapids but they were pretty powerful. These falls are where Lake Taupo joins the river. It was only a quick stop and then we were back on the bus for about 10 minutes to Taupo. As we got back on the bus is started raining, again.

Taupo is situated on a massive lake, called Lake Taupo, which is apparently bigger than the size of Singapore. It's in a crater of a volcano. When we reached the town, the four of us who shared a room last night checked into a four bedded room at a hostel called Urban Retreat. The room was much smaller than the one last night and the ladders for the bunk beds were inaccessible, causing me to have to climb on the windowsill and Lauren's bed to get onto the top bunk. I suggested to Lauren that she should sleep at the other end so I didn't step on her head during the night if I had to get up. We were staying at this hostel, whilst most of the Kiwi experience people were staying at another one, that didn't have room for us all. We had heard this one was nicer and the driver said it was quieter so we volunteered to stay here for the same price.

We just chilled in the room chatting until around 7pm, at which point Lauren and I went off to go on a trip called Sail Barbary.  It was raining as we set off so we were a bit apprehensive about going out on a boat. We had driven past the boat earlier in the day and it didn't look particularly covered. But it turned out to be a really chilled evening and the rain held off. We didn't really see the sunset and we weren't able to go and see the Maori carvings but we got free pizza and just sat on the boat, cruising round the lake, drinking coke, playing 'who am I?'. It was really relaxing. After the cruise, which finished at 10 we went back to the hostel.

Rotten Rotorua

Today we returned to Rotorua. We hung around the hostel for a while just chatting and using the WiFi to speak to parents. Then we went for a wander through Kuirau park which has multiple steaming water holes, causing the whole place to smell like rotten eggs, hence the title. We found one that you could out your feet in and sat down for a while. The water was really hot and when we took our legs out you could see where the water had been as our legs were red.

We went back to the hostel around half 12 and put some washing on, then sat chatting to Sophie and Beth from Leeds.  We checked in at 2pm as one group of 4 and we got an bedded room with a toilet and shower, and a balcony. It was fab and we were all very happy,  although the shower turned out to be useless. We then all went on a group trip to Pak and Save which is like a budget supermarket. Lauren and I bought loads of food to cook with for the next couple of days as well as some snacks. We returned to the hostel, got showers and went and cooked dinner.

We had a very simple version of pasta bolognaise which was actually pretty good. Then we went down to the bar for a free cocktail before returning to the room to sort out our bags and laundry which was all over the room. 

Tamaki Village

Today we left Waitomo at 9am and drove for about ten minutes and stopped at a place to do a half hour Ruakari bush walk that went past the exit we came out of from the cave yesterday.

We got back on the bus and drove until about half 11, when we reached Hobbiton. Hobbiton is the set of the Lord of the Rings filmed where filmed. It was an optional trip but neither Lauren or I where interested enough to pay 95$ to visit. We had lunch and dropped off around 25 people who were doing the trip and headed on to Rotorua.

Rotorua is like a geothermal hot spot.  There is steam coming out of the drains and off a mud pool in the middle of a park we drove past. Its basically due to thw town being situated on the Rotorua Caldera. There is also a big lake.

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Around 4pm we went to Tamaki Village, which in a traditional Maori village. We got off the bus, having chosen a chief of our 'tribe' and were greeted by a dude called Hec. He told us a little about what would be happening and led us into the village. We had to walk in the order - chief, ladies, men. We sat down under a tree, seated women at the back and men and chief at the front and Hec gave a speech in Maori, welcoming us on to their land and also sang a song. Our chief then made a speech and we gad to perform a song in return. It was a chant inspired by a scene in the Wolf of Wall Street film. If you've seen the film you will know what I mean.  The chiefs then performed what is called (but may not be spelt correctly) a hungi, not to be confused with a hangi (also probably not spelled correctly). This is a Maori greeting where the two chiefs touch noses, sharing a breath of life. After this we went for afternoon tea.

Afternoon tea was amazing. There was shortbread, chocolate biscuits, banana cake and deep fried bread/doughnut things. Before we ate the food was blessed and then we tucked in. The doughnut things were really good. I had 2.

After the afternoon tea, we split into two groups and headed off for different activities. The first activity was some games that involved throwing and catching sticks around a circle to a chant. We didn't managed to go a whole chant without someone dropping one. It was quite hard as you had to throw the stick to your right and catch the one coming to you. To make it harder, every now and then you had to catch the stick from the person next but one to you, which caused minor chaos. After this the two groups met up and we learnt a song to sing after dinner.

Before we could have dinner, we attended a welcome ceremony, where members of the Maori tribe welcomed us after arrving by canoe, and performed a ritual to ascertain whether or not we came in peace. This involved the chief recieivng a gift from the natural earth while tribe warriors danced and moved threateningly around. The chief had to keep their eyes on the warrior who placed the gift on the ground whilst collecting the gift and returning to their place without turning their backs on the warriors. All the while other warriors were dancing round. We were not allowed to smile or laugh whilst the warriors performed. After this was complete and we could relax and smile we were shown, in tribes, different aspects on Maori life in different little huts set around a path. There was 5 tribes, totaling about 150 people. We were told about things such as migration and the haka. We also were told about tattoos and how they related to gender equality.

Maori culture believed in equality. When women were giving birth to their first born,  every time they had a contraction, a man would get a stroke of a tattoo on his leg. In those days the tattoos were done by splitting open the skin and allowing it to scar several times before the ink was added. The women felt the pain of childbirth and the men felt the pain of tattoos.  

After we had been to all the little huts we saw where our dinner was cooked. It was cooked in an underground pit, called a hangi, and we saw it being raised out of the ground. It was pretty impressive and smelled amazing when they lifted it out.

Finally, one last thing before we had dinner, we watched dancing and singing by the tribe, which was really awesome and they performed the haka for us. It was a fantastic experience.

And if everything we had experienced already hadn't been good enough,  we were fed an amazing buffet style dinner of roast lamb, potatoes,  carrots, kurama, chicken, salad, fish and mussels, and pudding. I didn't have any of the fish or mussels but the rest was amazing.

After dinner, we performed our song, the men on our tribe performed the haka and the hosts sang some songs. Then all the day guests went home. We were staying over night though and had the rest of the evening free. We went and sat next to the bonfire toasting marshmallows and chatting. It was a really nice evening and the whole day was just fantastic. It was so interesting to see their culture and way of life and their dances and the haka were amazing to see.

The room we slept in had 21 people in it, in 2 rows of beds. It was all painted and had wood carvings which was pretty cool.

Tomorrow morning we'll be getting up for breakfast and then heading back to Rotorua. 

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The next morning we got up at 7:15, packed up and had breakfast which was cereal and toast. Then left around 9am back to Rotorua.

Glow worms and waterfalls

We left Hot Water Beach on the bus at around 7:30am. We stopped at a supermarket around 9am and bought some food and drinks for the next couple of days. Then at around 10am we stopped at Karangahake gorge for a 50 walk along the river and through an old railway tunnel which was pretty nice.

We arrived at our accomdation around 2pm and checked in. It's another lodge type place, not on a holiday park this time though. We are in a 4 bedded room, all singles, no bunks which is nice. We're sharing with the girls from Leeds as well so everything is all good.

SO at 15:45 myself and Lauren went on a trip called 'Labyrinth' with the Legendary Black Water Rafting Company. It was a tubing and caving trip. We got picked up from our accommodation and taken to their centre, where we struggled into wet suits and boots and donned helmets before being driven to a little river with a wooden deck out over it. We were fitted for our black water rafts, which were basically giant rubber inflatable rings and then we had to test them. To do this we had to jump off backwards into the river. Lauren was chosen at the demonstrator and bravely went first. I didn't realise (and I don't think Lauren did) until she jumped in that you do actually go under the water. Beth, one of the guides, was counting to three and then you just had to jump. It took me about 3 counts before I actually had the courage to jump in and water went all up my nose. It was not pleasant.

There was to be two jumps like that in the caves, one about 5 and half feet and one similar to what we had just done. I really wanted to have the courage to do them  ut my brain doesn't know how to not breath and I know I would have just ended up choking and spluttering and it would not have been pleasant so instead I just climbed down the waterfalls, whilst everyone else jumped. I'm a bit disappointed in myself but I don't think I would have enjoyed it for I had almost drowned twice.

The rest of the trip was walking through the Ruakuri cave through the water and floating on the rings down the deeper bits. At two points we all linked up, by holding feet and turned off the lights on our helmets whilst Alex, another guide, dragged us through the caves. It was fantastic because the caves are home to glow worms, or rather glow maggots, and it almost looked like stars as we floated along. Apparently the shiny bits are glow maggot poo, which kind of makes it less cute.

The caves we were in were 210 feet below the surface and we walked about 900m through the caves, although it seemed like a lot further! The trip was super cool, apart from the waterfall bit for me, and we both enjoyed it a lot. 

Unfortunately I don't have any photos as we weren't allowed to take our own cameras (probably a good thing for safety reasons) and the photos weren't great.

A midnight trip to the beach

So yesterday evening we met up with Sophie, a girl who I met at the University of Portsmouth who has moved back to Auckland after living for 7 years in the UK. She picked us up and drove us out to  Mission Beach. It had just about stopped raining when we got there.

Sophie treated us to Fish and Chips, and a New Zealand drink called L&P, which was like lemonade but better. We sat on the beach chatting and eating the fish and chips, which was really lovely. Then we had a little wander along the promenade, and stopped at a shop to buy an ice cream that's popular here in New Zealand. It's like ice cream topped with jelly, covered in chocolate. Like a more exciting choc ice. It was actually really good.

Afterwards Sophie drove us back to the hostel.  It was a really lovely evening.

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This morning we got up at 7:45 to catch a bus to Hot Water Beach. A tip for going travelling that I learnt today: if you're going to get into the underside of a bus to put your luggage in, don't wear your sunglasses on your head,  because if you do and you bang your head, you may smash the sunglasses you bought two days ago to replace your broken ones.

The drive was quite scenic and our bus driver, Ben, was pretty funny. We got to Hot Water Beach around 1pm and checked in to the little lodge we are staying in. He original plan had been to go and dig holes on the beach to create spa pool type things, as there are lava tunnels (apparently) running under the beach that heats the water, and you can only do this at low tide. But the conditions weren't great and the beach was packed so instead we went to Cathedral Cove. We plan on going to the beach at the next low tide which is 12pm!

We went to Cathedral Cove at 2pm. It was only about a ten minute drive from the lodges we are staying in. It was a hilly walk down to cathedral Cove but it was pretty beautiful when we got there. The path lead down onto one beach and then you could walk through a huge hole in the rock to get to another smaller one. On this beach there was a large limestone rock about a metre into the sea. I thought it looked like someone's face. We had a wander on the beaches, climbed some rocks and took some photos before heading back. The walk was harder on the way back because we had to go up a long flight of stairs that we went down on the way there.

This evening before we go to the beach we will just be chilling at the holiday park we are staying at. The lodges are actually pretty nice. There's 14 of us in one, split into two rooms, with showers and toilets, and a small kitchenette, with a microwave, sink and fridge in the middle of the rooms.

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SO this evening we had dinner around half 6 and then chatted to two girls from Leeds and played cards with them. Pretty sure Lauren was cheating because she kept winning!

 The girls told us that the woman at reception said anytime between 10pm and 2am would be fine for going down to the beach so we all decided to go down then. We told the girls on our rooms and they told the girls in their room so at around 10pm, 10 of us girls all headed down to the beach with our shovels, ready to dig a hole in the sand. It was about a ten minute walk down to the beach and when we arrived there was already people there. Much to our delight there was also a pre-dug hole there.  And the water was indeed hot.  Some patches were too hot to stand in. A Canadian girl was brave enough to be first to sit down in the pool and I followed suit. We were having trouble getting a nice warm big pool and some nice German boys next to us let us extend their pool to connect to ours and Lauren and a few more people got in too.

After a while we decided to head back as we had to get up early in the morning. It was pretty cool to see a beach with hot water, but when we left we were absolutely covered in sand. I've showered and I'm still not convinced I've got it all off. Now we're going to sleep for 6 hours before getting up to get the bus on to the  next place.  

Back to Auckland

Today so far has been fairly uneventful. We hung around Paihia this morning, people watching and soaking up the sun until it got too hot, and then relaxing in the shade.

Then at 2:30pm we got the bus back to Auckland for the night. As we approached Auckland we got a nice view of the skyline. It was raining when we arrived which may put a downer on this evenings plans to visit Mission Beach. But we will see what happens and I will let you know in the morning when I have WiFi!

The Beautiful Bay of Islands

Today we headed down to the pier for 8:45am to do a four hour tour of some of the Bay of Island's 144 islands (counted by Captain James Cook, of which only 88 are officially classified as islands; the others are just rocks).

We first stopped in Russel, a town on the mainland on the other side of the bay to pick up some more passengers and then we were on our way.

The first main island we saw was Motuarohia, or Robertson Island, where in 1769 James Cook anchored the Endeavour and went ashore. His party become involved in a dispute with the local Maori tribe and a musket was fired, resulting in the death of the Maori chief. Caption Cook stayed on this island ten days before leaving.

We also sailed to the Cape Brett peninsula and saw the lighthouse. Next to Cape Brett peninsula is Piercy Island. Piercy Island is renowned as The Hole in the Rock, for an obvious reason. The hole is 16m wide and goes through the island and out the other side. We sailed through the hole much to everybodies delight, before heading back towards an island we had passed earlier.

At around 11:15 we had a 45 minute stop on the largest island in the bay, Urupukapuka Island. The waters surrounding the island were really clear; we saw two sting rays just swimming about. We got off the boat and had a paddle. We saw some tiny hermit crabs and some tiny tiny almost clear fish type animals. We got back on the boat around 12.

The name of the boat was the dolphin seeker. We hadn't seen any dolphins and the skipper told us they weren't allowed to look for dolphins between 11:30 and 1pm, and as it was 12pm, we just has to head back to Russel. We were quite disappointed  however luck was in our favour. As we headed back we sailed directly into the path of a pod of dolphins. They were pretty big ones and came so close to the boat. We got a fab view of them. And as we sailed away we could see them jumping out of the water behind us. It was so  awesome!

When we reached Russel, Lauren and I got off to have a look round, as the tour included a ferry ticket back to Paihia. There wasn't much in Russel but we sat and had a drink before getting the ferry back around 2. It only tool about ten minutes. We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the grass in front of the sea.

The Bay of Islands is absolutely beautiful. We sailed past so much stunning coastline and I have so many pictures that just do not do any justice to the place. The landscape is just amazing.

Waitangi Day

This morning we got up at 6am to catch our first Kiwi experience bus at 7:05. The bus driver for the Kiwi Experience was a lot more friendly and cheerful than the ones for Greyhound, but then they are more than just a bus driver.

We have a Kiwi Experience pass called the Zephyr pass, which allows you to get the bus up to the Bay of Islands, back to Auckland and then hop on and hop at place round New Zealand. The Kiwi experience also guarantee your first nights accommodation at all major stops, and book tours and future buses for you, via your driver. Our driver, Jarrod, passed round multiple clip boards with the different things on where you signed up or indicated what you needed and wanted and then he rang up and sorted everything out.  New Zealand is smaller than Australia so most of the journeys are only 3-4 hours long.

We stopped at a little town at 8:30 for a food ad toilet stop, and then stopped again at 10:20 for a quick break to see the Whangarei waterfalls.

We got to Paihia, the town we were staying in at the Bay of Islands at around 12:30pm and checked straight in to the hostel. We are in an 8 bed room, that's split into two smaller 4 bed rooms, with an attached bathroom. 

We dumped our bags and headed out. It's Waitangi day today, which celebrates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand''s founding document, so there was lots going on. We walked for about 20 minutes along the sea front and found the main area where the festivities were. There was lots of market stalls selling food and arts and crafts, a couple of stages, and there were some things going on with Waka boats, which are long canoes. We wandered around for a while, watched some Maori men drag the Wakas out of the water into a fancy shed and generally soaked up the sun. It is a beautiful area, with sparkling sea, tree covered islands and green hills.

In the afternoon before we headed back to the hostel we watched a young female dance group perform before heading back towards Paihia and the hostel around 5pm. 

We were planning on cooking dinner but one look at the kitchen soon changed our minds. Instead we went out for dinner. 

A day trip round Auckland

Today we got up at half 8 and sorted ourselves out as we had just dumped our stuff last night to avoid waking people up. We left the hostel at around half 9 and headed down to the harbour area. At 10am we went on a free walking tour of Auckland, that lasted three hours. As walking tours go, the one of Auckland wasn't as good, in terms of we didn't see as many amazing/interesting things, however this might be because there just isn't as many in the city.

During the tour we saw one building, the Britomart, that the guide told us was the oldest building in Auckland. It was 100 years old. All the buildings are relatively modern apparently and the architecture shows it. However later after the tour Lauren and I walked past a building that was opened 105 years ago so we don't really know if the tour guide was accurate in his descriptions.

We did learn quite a bit on the tour about the Maori people and their culture and Craig,  the guide, told us how they came to be in New Zealand. Apparently they arrived by boat, navigating using the stars, that are now represented on the New Zealand flag.  Craig seemed quite interested in Maori culture; he told us he was 1/32 Maori.

Other places we saw on the tour included the sky tower, which is quite hard to miss anyway as the tallest building in the southern hemisphere, and Fort Lane, the former red light district. Some of the former brothels now house cafes. Apparently a lot of older buildings now have cafes in and people make jokes about how you can tell which building are older because they have cafes in them.

Another place the tour stopped at was the Albert Gardens which were pretty nice. They were named after Queen Victoria's Albert. Apparently underneath the park there are tunnels that the Americans packed with left over gunpowder after the end of world war 2 and then bricked up, meaning something horrendous could happen at any point. The tour also went to look at a memorial to a church reverend.  The memorial was sort of encased by tree branches which was pretty cool, but the most interesting thing about the memorial was the spelling mistake, that had attempted to be corrected on the plaque. A letter was missing and the person making the sign had just done an arrow and added the letter above.  

Whilst on the tour we learnt some pretty interesting facts about New Zealand and Auckland, such as Auckland is the 4th most expensive city to live in. The average house price is 1 million dollars. Also, Craig told us that New Zealand has more coast line than the USA and that it was the first country to give women the vote.  Apparently the women's movement tricked the more conservative figures in society into believing they would vote for an alcohol restriction or ban that was being tabled if they were able to vote, so they were give the vote, only to not back the booze ban. 

The tour finished around 1pm and afterwards we wandered around the seafront area. We went to the end of Princes Wharf, which allowed us a nice view of the sparkling sea and the surrounding areas. We also could see Auckland Harbour Bridge,  which has nothing on Sydney.

We wandered round the city until arond 5pm, before treating ourselves to Nandos for dinner. We then headed back to the hostel, showered and packed, as we have an early bus tomorrow to the Bay of Islands.

Our time in Auckland has only been short. It would have been nice to visit the surrounding islands and go up the sky tower had we had the time and money. We will be back for an afternoon later on in the week and we plan to visit Mission Bay with a little help from a friend.