Willandclaire’s Travels

Auckland – so after the flight from hell with 200 plus Chilian kids going to see the Pope for World Youth Day, we arrived in Auckland. It was cold and wet. We picked up our campervan (Toyota Hiace) and drove to a camp in Auckland for a couple of days to explore Auckland. We generally just pottered about and slept after out budget 2 days of flights from Mexico.

Bay of Islands – We drove the olde camper beast up North and arrived at Pahia the gateway to NZ’s Bay of Islands. being winter but still sunny we didn’t embark on any dolphin cruises or anything mad and simply got the water Taxi across the bay to NZ’s first capital of Russel. It was very quaint and quiet and we walked to Flagstaff hill where they kept hoisting union Jack flags and Mauris kept cutting it down… Then we visited the Waitangi Treay Grounds where Mauri and the British crown signed a treaty that established a British Governor in NZ and made the Mauri the rights of British subjects. As there were 2 versions of the treaty (Mauri and British) there was misunderstanding…. the british point of view was that the governor would run NZ whilst the Mauri disagreed. Ho hum.

Cape Reinga – Up to NZ’s most Northerly point, the road was dirt and the weather drizzley but we passed some amazing coastal views, every 10 minutes yield yet another Kodak moment. We camped near the beach in the middle of no where then walked to the tip of the cape and saw Cape Reinga’s lighthouse. It was a lovely morning with prefectblue skies as we watched the Tasman Sea crash into the PAcific Ocean.

Kauri Museum – we drove south back fromt he cape and stayed by the west coast. We visited the oldest Kauri tree in NZ a huge beast and then popped into Nz’s Kauri museum detailing everything Kauri from how they chopped them, transported with dams, collected gum (sap), turned them into dressers and furniture and how the Kauri fellers lived.

Coromandel Penninsular – After a lengthy drive along an amazing road that hugged the coast we arrived in the Corramandel Penninsular. We had some amazing sunny weather and duely visited hot Water Beach and tried to dig a hole on the beach and sit in a hot water pool, we nearly accomplished this but not having a spade and using our hands the hole wasn’t the best…. nice beach though.

Roturua – We arrived in smelly bad egg Sulphurtastic Roturua and went off for a lovely Polynesian Spa, very realxing, acidic pools and alakaline ones for the skin, it was a great realaxing experience with lovely views across the lake. Then we went to a Mauri entertainment night with tradition Hangi food (food cooked in an oven in the ground) I ate my own body weight in food, chicken, beef, fish, pasta, all together. Lovely. There was a traditional Mauri dance show and I attempted the Haka it was amusing after plates of food it was the last thing that I wanted to do. Claire chickened out doing Poi dance and preferred to just point and laugh at me!

Taupo – Rainy Taupo, we arrived it rained we camped it rained, we walked and marveled at the huka Falls then went to the Honey Hive and ate a large amount of honey from tubs. I marveled at the Geothermal powerstation and then watched the rapids at Aratiatia come to life as they release water throught the dam to make electricity (simple things) : )

Napier – Art deco Napier on NZ’s East Coast was splendid. It is a town that was levelled to the ground in 20/30’s by an earthquake therefore they rebuilt it all but in the Art Deco style of the period. It was great everything is art deco, banks, shops, fountains, skate park and outdoor theatre and toilets. We explored the area along an art deco walk, visited the national aquarium where we saw shark feeding, crocs, piranha and lots more. Then we went and relaxed in Napier’s Sea side spa, overlooking the water, it was great to watch the stars coming out whilst in the hot water – maybe they could make Margate Lido like this….. or maybe not.

Wellington – Windy wellington was windy, we saw a Rita Angus exhibition in the national gallery and did touristy things like going up the cable car to the mountain overlooking the city. Then we got blown and battered for 3 days so much so that our sailing on the ferry to the South island of NZ was canceled.

Kaikoura – The drive down Nz’s South islands East coast was amazing, the surf smashes into the beach metres from the tarmac, we stopped off for lunch and Fur seals were in abundance. We arrived at Kiakoura wanting to  go out on the boat and do some whale watching but the blustery weather up north and the fact the NZ was being hit by the largest storm in 10 years meant that we were unlucky and we decided to push on.

Hamner Springs – We decided to drive the Lewis pass over Nz’s central mountain range towards the West coast but stopped at the small adventure town of Hamner located up the mountain. Hamner had fresh alpine air and lush trees all around we walked around the alpine slopes and through forests enjoying the relaxed atmosphere then we did some more relaxing by going to the Hamner springs spa resort and enjoying the mineral enriched water whilst seeing the snow capped peaks in the distance.

Waiuta – Next we overnighted in an old gold mining town along the south islands west coast. Then town is located high on a plateau with great views across the valley and hills, it was once a huge place with many houses and shops but when the gold dried out, all the people left and took houses with them, some are left like the post office barbers and rugby pitch and swimming pool. All the mine equipment remains and they have the deepest mine shaft in NZ! very interesting, claire thought I was silly exploring the ruins but I enjoyed it

Fox Glacier – We climbed the Fox Glacier amid high winds and the fear of being blown off the ice! But it was fantastic, beautiful ice holes, crevasses, holes and rivers afforded great kodak moments and a great stroll on the ice.

Wanaka – We arrived at the lakeside town of Wanaka and enjoyed its relaxed atmosphere. We climbed mount Iron an ice shaped peak to get a good look of lake wanaka and the surrounding mountain ranges peaked with snow. Then we decided to be more active and enrolled on a 2 day Ski lesson program 90 english pounds! bargin! We drove every morning up a pretty dicey track (snow chains a must) to arrive at the piste at Cardrona ski field. Skiing is great and loads of fun! we had a ciouple of lessons and got the basic wedge turns and stops and then hit the slopes, it was great to cruise along the slopes and marvel at the pure white powder all around. Definitely a ski holiday in the near future we think.

Queenstown – We arrived in Nz’s adventure capital and went to a adventure film festival (very daring!) it was great all about skiing and canoeing and mountaineering basically going wrong. Other than that we wandered around Queenstown and booked our trip out Milford Sound.

Milford sound – We took a coach trip down to one of NZ’s Southerly Fjords called Milford sound. The weather was great and we were able to really enjoy the mountains and views during the cruise. The panoramic views were amazing, we saw penguins and seals and even ran over a blind sea bird in our boat, it was ok afterwards. Milford Sound is a truly amazing place, everywhere you look there is nature, waterfalls, sea, ferns, mirror lakes, mountain passes and no other bugger there!

Dunedin – We arrived in student filled Dunedin and booked our selves straight onto a Cadbury’s choc and Speights beer tour! they were both pretty good and i’ve not eaten so much chocolate in such a small period of time! the beer tour was good to and the unlimited beer at the end made up for it even if it was only shitty NZ tipple in silly little glasses! why don’t they do pints? Other than this we cruised around the Otago peninsular and loved the views of unspoilt bays and lovely country, twisty roads and more great kodak moments.

Kiakoura – We tried again with the whales and drove back to Kiakoura, we were unlucky  on the first day with a huge swell cancelling our trip but we stayed the night enjoying the great sunny weather (apparently not shared off shore). But it cleared the next morning and we had a great time spotting 5 14 sperm whales off NZ’s cast, it was amazing to be 10 meters from one of the beasts cruising along and hearing it blow out the spary from its air hole and then bring its tail up to dive. Truly breathtaking! Claire didn’t fair to well on the trip as there was still a large swell running but she managed to see some whales in between spewing into bags!

Christchurch – We dropped our camper off here without any major accident and it felt odd to have to carry our bags again after 5 weeks on the road! We spent a few days exploring Christchurch’s galleries shops and generally mouched around until we flew on to Fiji for some warm weather. Oh and Claire bought a cool SLR camera.