We have now spent 4 weeks in New Zealand, and this is no where near enough time to see everything. We have seen enough to know that we want to come back and see the rest...
Lets start at the beginning...
Our first day was spent in Auckland, a beautiful city, we had nowhere near enough time to explore it all, but luckily our campervan rental company didn't have the campervan ready, so, we got a free car for the day and was told the best places to go in Auckland in just a few hours.
The sky tower was incredible, the highest building in the southern hemisphere, and of course in New Zealand style,it had to be jumped off by some idiots who needed the thrill. There was a zip wire from the top to a target at the bottom: not for us!
After Auckland, we picked up our camper van and headed off onto our adventure of discovery, we couldn't wait, after 5 months of back packer hostels and dodgy dorms and sometimes even people, we had our freedom, stopping when we wanted, sleeping where we wanted, own food, own bed; bliss!
Our first night was spent an hour north of Auckland, in a place called Hawera, it was right on the coast and so friendly. You could hear the waves gently hitting the wall as we had our first meal in our new camper. Our first moonlit night was a full moon, and we woke in time for our first sun rise, beautiful!
So much has happened in the last four weeks it is hard to remember all that we have done! It has definitely been a busy few weeks, zipping around the country in a blur, but hopefully the pictures, more than the words show what a beautiful country this place is, so many different backdrops to drive through;mountains, plains, farms, wineries, lakes, beaches, orchards, rainforest, the colours... it is endless, not to mention the hospiality of the people here, they are so friendly.
We shall split our time here into 2 and do a quick tour of where we have been, there certainly isn't enough time or money to spend writing it all down on the blog.
North Island.
After our first night we headed to the bay of Islands, a beautiful bay, with, you've guessed it, lots of islands, we only had time to spend a night there, but it was stunning, perfect clear, blue water, with islands dotted in the distance.
Our main destination in the North Island was to see John and Barbara (James'Uncle and Aunt). It was so nice after 5 months to see familiar faces and have a home to stop in for a couple of days, they couldn't have been more hospitable, a big thanks to them both. While we were there we couldn't miss going to Rotorura, the home of the thermal springs. To say it was smelly is an understatement! The whole area is thermally active, and is covered in hot steaming (smelly) pools. It was amazing to think of all the activity going on under ground to create all this... There was also a Maori carving school here which showed the impressive carvings created.
After Tauranga, we headed off to Napier, a town, which was destroyed in an earthquake in 1931, most of the buildings were flattened, and in just 2 years the whole city was rebuilt. Because of the time they were built all of the buildings are art deco style, and it is an impressive sight walking around and looking at the buildings. A great place with interesting history.
A couple of days later, we headed to Wellington to see Andrew (James cousin). Wellington has a nickname, 'windy wellington' and we know why. Just look at the pictures! We postoned our ferry trip to the south island because of it!
South Island.
The ferry over to the safe island was luckily calm and sunny (most of the time!) The journy into Picton on the south island was beatiful. You sail through the Marlborough Sounds, which are lots of little islands scattered around.
Our fist stop in the south island was a national reserve called Abel tasmin. It is a big park on the coast, you can only get to it by doing a five day trek, or by boat, of course, we did the boat option and a half day hike! The beaches were golden and the sea a beautiful turquoise, definitely the most beautiful beaches we had ever seen.
The great thing about the beaches was that you were usually the only people on the beach. Your only companion was a couple of seagulls!
After a couple of days in Abel tasmin, we hit the road again!
Now this blog entry could go on for days... so we shal show you the pictures...
After many months of lake spotting, we finally found our mirror lakes. Spot the one with the camper van, we stayed here overnight, for free, unbelievable!
Another thing we got a bit carried away taking pictures of was road signs. We were always after that elusive kiwi sign. Unfortunately we only saw one and it was dark and raining so we didn't get one. Oh well we know where it is for next time!
Queenstown was a stop off well worth doing, beautiful autumnal trees, another ride in a cable car, not so scary this time! A ride on the luge, a sledge with wheels, a visit to paradise (almost!), an ice bar, and a Lord of the Rings scene spotting (yawn). A little place called Arrowtown, just a few km down the road was stunning, set in the mountains with trees of all shades surrounding them. we also visited the spot of the first bungy jump and watched a few idiots jump...
We are almost there! A few days ago we spent the weekend with Tom and Ange and their gorgeous children. Tom is friend of James who has been living in NZ for almost 5 years. It is clear to see that it was the best thing he has done, and no regrets at all, it is very tempting to follow suit! James ahd his fix of tractors, seeing a world record attempt of the most tractors working in one field at the same time. Lots of dust and exhaust fumes, but pretty impressive! A big thankyou to Tom and Ange for a great weekend, we were sad to leave. (remember, a foghorn is not classed as an instrument!) I have finally got over the hangover!
Our last adventure in New Zealand was our whale spotting. We splashed out and hired a helicopter to see some sperm whales. They are rare to see so close to shore and NZ is the only place to do it because of their deep oceans which are close to shore. Sperm whales come up to the surface every 45mins for air and we were lucky enough to spot one. It was incredible to see...
Can you spot the whale? The pictures really don't do it justice!
We did so many more things in this fantastic country, but it is impossible to write it all down. We have stopped in the most remote and beautiful locations, many memories that a camera cannot possibly take. But, here are a few more...
We are so sad to leave NZ, but we are now looking forward to Oz, we are sure it will be another entirely different type of journey, we will have to just wait and see...