Taupo & Auckland

It was st paddy's day when we were in Taupo although most of the guys had just done the Tongariro crossing when we arrived so it wasn't a big night and then straight on to Auckland the next day, with only two nights left in New Zealand we tried to make the most of the time even with the bad weather. Kiwi Experience do a free bus day trip around the city so we made use of this, being taken across the Auckland bridge and watched a couple of bungee jumpers, then over to Davenport, test out the Kiwi fish and chips before heading back to the centre and being dropped at the museum. The trip was great and the guide was really useful, the museum had some interesting areas however a lot overlapped with Te Papa in Wellington so I breezed through these.

I think one of the biggest shocks and saddest part I have had on this holiday was as I walked through one of the sections for children to greet a full sized stuffed elephant they had, he had been killed by his keepers in the 30's as he was untrained and wouldn't do rides :(

I had one small night out with Beardy Joe as he was off to the bay of islands the next morning so both had to pack, then my last nights sleep in New Zealand.

The next day we tried to eat as much of the food left as possible although one of the biggest challenges was working out what could go with what. Then still feeling quite hungry we were off to the airport, this I later found out was rather fortunate as Quantas seem to have an unlimited source of food.

I enjoyed New Zealand, it is like England without the people, with a few more extreme sports and far more environmentally friendly with all natural electrical sources, recycling everywhere and the most signs you could ever see about turning off taps - probably a slight overkill and waste of paper. I'm going to miss this place the most, we met great people here and I really enjoyed the whole experience, I can see why Maddy stayed...I'll have to be back soon.

Northbound

Due to the earthquakes in Christchurch the Kiwi bus no longer has this as an overnight stop, you can hop off if you like however the bus continues all the way to Kaikoura almost 800km from Queenstown so a long day on the coach, this is what we opt for. Kairkoura is a small town but being next to a deep trench in the ocean has an abundance of marine life there, seal colonies on the beaches and well known for seeing Wales, dolphins and much more. We are there for the Dolphins, checking in to one of the weirdest hostels we have seen, with no reception and not many people either. 

We wake early and although we headed north with blue skies the grey storms that are chasing us around have caught up again, on arriving at the dolphin tour offices they take us all through some safety and information on the animals before saying that the sea state is heavy and that anyone may leave with a full refund, everyone stays and wetsuits up but as we find later, that may have been the best idea for some. We go out on two boats both quite large, the sea doesn't look too bad but on leaving the harbour I soon realised the swell was larger than it looked, quite quickly a few people become sea sick, but with the rough seas and high winds it's a great day for bird watching and I ended up seeing loads of sea birds including a few wandering albatross.

The crew spot a small pod of dolphins and drop us in off the back, with only snorkels and flippers the swell makes it hard to watch them and soon they disperse, they tell us that we have to make the dolphins interested in us by making noises and trying to swim down. The next drop is a little more successful but still only lasted a few minutes, the final drop and they pod is much larger, nearer to 50 dusky dolphins, all making noises and swimming around a fair few decided to have a play and are intrigued by us. If you follow them round you often end up swimming into other divers and I think they seem to make a game of this in the end. We are there for a good while until finally the horn goes and it's back to the boat.

The crew them find the pod again and give us a talk all about the dusky dolphins, amazingly at this point a few has started jumping and flipping all around us and others are swimming around the front of the boat playing in the bow wave.

Finally we have to leave on returning to the back of the boat I find that about ¾ of the tourists are now looking pretty worse for ware or cuddling a bucket.

Back on dry land and little to do with most places closing quite early so with all the travelling around New Zealand we thought it was time to watch lord of the rings.

Queenstown / Adrenaline capital of the world Day 4

The on and off weather we had been having throughout our trip seems to have come back and after a few days of beautiful sunshine the rain came down hard. On our second night we had all gone on the Kiwi Crawl a pub crawl around the bars, as per usual there were a few competitions and things on offer for free drinks but in the morning I had woken up to find a 2 for 1 jet boating voucher in my pocket. With the weather so bad I wasn't sure if anything would be running but after a quick phone call from the hostel office and it was booked. Down at the jetty and the rain looks to be clearing slightly so the boating is on, the trip is with Kawarau jet, going along through the lake, up the Kawarau river and then onto the Shotover river, the boat can go in as little as 5cm of water once on the plane, whenever there is a deep section the pilot indicates that he is about to spin so we need to hold one before he makes the boat do a full 360.

We shoot under branches and alongside rocks and posts before heading back to the start, this was pretty fun however after all the other adrenaline filled days this now feels quite tame in comparison. Back in the hostel and pack ready to leave the next day and then off to the cowboy bar downstairs, will free pool, a free rodeo bull ride and 1 litre glasses it's a good place to have our last night in Queenstown.

I was also informed that this is the pub where the England rugby team were caught on CCTV and did the dwarf throwing instead of training. Most of our friends were staying longer or were off to Milford sound the next day so it was a parting of ways and quite sad to be leaving, this is also the furthest I had ever been from home, one of my favourite sayings of the trip which I could now no longer use.

Queenstown / Adrenaline capital of the world Day 3

Day 3 and I had saved the most dangerous until last.

Downhill Mountain Biking, on average 2 people a day are taken to A&E in an ambulance on the queenstown tracks so the aim for the day was to not be one of them.

Before we all split off to our various activities we all went for an early lunch in Ferg Burger a single burger shop famous throughout New Zealand and to be honest they are pretty awesome and there are so many choices. After quickly polishing off one of those it was time to ready myself and locate some equipment.

There are a few bike hire shops all around the same price, I find myself a nice looking bike with loads of travel on the suspension to handle the bumps and head to the gondola, I have a half day pass that I won in the Pool tournament in Franz Joseph so a nice saving of $45 there.

The runs are marked like ski routes with the same colour scheme to grade the severity of the pain you will be in, Green, blue, black. I start on a blue, it heaps of fun, fast in some parts and slower and more technical in others.

Throughout the rest of the afternoon I try most of the other routes meeting a few people on the way and even another person that was one of Chris' friends and has met Tommy before out in France. 

I did about 6 or seven runs in the end but even with only going downhill the biking is tiring, the last run showed I was tiring when I started making mistakes and sliding off the edges a few times. I make my way back to the hostel to find all the room mates and work out some plans for the evening.

Queenstown / Adrenaline capital of the world / Day 2

Day 2

The weather was almost perfect, blue skies not too windy just what you need when your planning on jumping out of a plane.

Off we went to Nzone, the airstrip was about 20mins outside Queenstown, on arrival we didn't wait around long before we were taken into the hanger and jump suited up and given our partner. My instructor experienced skydiver was greg, they showed us the banana shape we had to make as we jumped out and then hold as we fell and instruction over, off to the plane.

We climbed fairly quickly with great views all around, a few people went out at 12,000 then only a few minutes later it was time for us, we shuffled forwards and being first in the plane I was last to go, legs out a quick roll and we're out, you barely get the sensation of falling more that it is seriously windy.

The view around was amazing, this was far less scary than the swing but so much fun, we spun around a few times, you could see right over all the mountains and Queenstown just over the lake then he opened the chute. Quite a lot more gentle than you would expect, we then floated around until he spiralled us down towards the hanger landing just before the plane did.

(Photo's to come, need a cd drive)

Skydive done and back in queenstown, quick lunch before heading the the AJ Hacket office to be taken to the Nevis Bungy jump.

This is a platform suspended about 180m above a gorge outside of the town, the drive up is sketchy enough before you are harnessed up, and taken out using a gondola type thing, similar to that at the end of goldeneye, so just in case you weren't nervous enough that does not make you feel safe. The hanging Cabin in the middle almost feels like a relief until you remember that in a couple of minutes you are going to fling yourself off the edge and fall 134m. With a few friends having jumped already some with slight hesitation it was time for me, you sit in a seat similar to that of a dentist chair while they strap your legs together before you waddle to the edge trying not to look down. A few people jeering you on helps but also adds a little more pressure, another few poses for their photo's before a couple more inches forward and 3,2,1 Jump...I almost shocked myself that I did but a few seconds in and you are still falling but are happy and remember you on a bungy and not falling to your death. Unlike the skydive camera was aloud so back on the arm it went and this is how it looked.

Queenstown / Adrenaline capital of the world (Day 1)

Day 1

It's not far from Wanaka so we arrive around lunch time, on the previous journey Kane had showed us a few videos of the canyon swing and so now its a few videos and stories about bungy jumps before we arrive at the Waikato bridge, the original bungy, we are taken inside and told all about bungy, how it started and then watched anyone on our bus who had booked to do the jump, they all went with little hesitation. 

We continue on until we are faced with the great lake on the side of which Queenstown sits squashed in by the mountains with the new gondola leading up into the distance. The hostel where we resided is Nomads the only one we have been in that rivals Wake up in Sydney, almost brand new, well planned out and helpful staff although even with this the usual chaos occurs when a coach load of backpackers arrives to check in.

From seeing Kane's videos and hearing about it previously I had decided to book on to the Canyon swing for that afternoon, we didn't have much time so had planned out how to fit in as much as possible. On arriving at the Canyon swing office a about 20minutes early to check in I was speaking with the Kiwi who looked rather familiar to find out that would be running our trip to find out that it was Chris who Tommy had worked with in the Alps on a season a few years previous.

I think the swing must be one of the best places to work in the world, they play some videos on the way about what you are about to do and a few standard ways of leaving the platform before you walk down a small track arriving at an office perched on and slightly over a cliff edge, lives signed away it was time to be harnessed up and led to the edge. This is where things now differ from how things would and have to be done in England, at home there would be countless safety videos instructions and reassurance, in Kiwi land they like to be a little different, yes they double check everything but the second person mostly loosens things and says he doesn't really know what he's doing or checking for. The then clip you on lean you over the edge for some photo's before thinking of every way known to man to make you feel less safe and go off the edge, supposedly they used to have a cattle prod before a newspaper got hold of it and it made national news of them using it, not only on someone as they jumped but as they were hanging being brought back up.

They are all about having fun, although peering over the edge for the photo, fun was the least of my thoughts, the 60m drop and then 200m swing was more in my mind, I started with a tandem Jump with Jamie,

3 – 2 – 1

Jump

.

.

.

Still falling

.

and swing

Yes I'm alive!

But it doesn't stop there even as we are brought up the rope is making a clicking noise..doesn't feel safe, on approaching the top the guys shout quick quick get to the edge it's not right, Jamie and I are worried now, then finally clipped on we find out actually they have just been tapping the rope from the top, any excuse to continually scare customers.

Jump 2

This time I have gone for something a little scarier, this time alone I am hung by the harness over the drop I then cross my legs on the rope above and lean back so I am upside down looking straight at the floor, unfortunately when I go is now in their hands and of course Chris has to have his fun, so some fumbling with the rope and pretend pulling of the release and then drop.

This time the rocks seem to be coming very quickly then the rope tightens and I'm swinging again, Yes still alive. I may also have worn my cape from the Poo pub fancy dress night for this one so also very happy that is had not fallen down over my face at the start.

Jump 3

Do you really think I would have stopped after 2! Chris after already letting Bex go for free as she originally came as a spectator but then after being pretty much walked her into a harness and then dropped off the edge with Amber had decided she would do another but only as a tandem. My first jump was forward and then dropped upside down so the last one was a simple decision, Backwards

All clipped on and Photo's taken my biggest fear after hearing Bex's last drop was my ears, the scream from her last fall with amber rang through the canyon so much that is was clear to use all even as she swung away. Fortunately my hearing is still in tact, although less worried this time when you stand on the edge and previous confidence you may have had quickly dissipates. No count this time just go. I think I may have been a little more committed with my jump but either way we both went and came back.

We went through the videos and pictures in the office although mine had been rather Photoshopped, Chris had these gifted to us for a few beers to be dropped in the office later which was rather nice and a super saving.

Back in the town and the whole bus went for a $10 all you can eat pizza night out in world bar with me being awarded my free tea pot for winning the waterfall game on the way to Wanaka, then all off to Altitude for half price drinks and then finally some sleep as it's a big day tomorrow.

Wanaka

An early morning as per usual and a few planned stops on the way, one to see a big waterfall and another to see a lake which is very black and still and would usually reflect mt cook and the rest of the range in it although the clouds meant that only part was shown. 

Competition this time one of Kane's, it was who could see the most waterfalls on the way, I think this was half to make people look at the amazing scenery and half to keep the tired ones awake.

Wanaka is a little town on the edge of a big lake and surrounded by mountains in winter it is one of the main points to head up to resorts such as snow park. There is a small cinema there that still works as old english ones did with a break in the middle for ice cream and cookies although I have been told that you can sit on sofa's arm chairs and even in a few old cars while in the cinema. The hostel was fairly standard, as with most towns there are a few walks to do, either around the town or up into the mountains, we followed one with plaques showing all of NZ's history and other important dates. 

On leaving Wanaka we first stopped in puzzle world, clearly designed for children although the maze was quite complicated and took us around 1 hour to complete. My favourite part though was a room that showed how the technique used in LOTR worked in making people larger and smaller, playing around in this room is seriously fun. (Pictures will be uploaded once we find them on Facebook)

Franz Joseph

As with most of the journeys we stopped a few times on the way, once to go to the bushman museum, a small museum that is run by a guy called bushman Pete who is a tad extrovert who loved the old ways, your are shown a short film of the history of deer, hunting and then live capture in New Zealand, with a few shots of Pete pretending to shoot things thrown in for good measure.

 The rest of the shack is filled with possums alive and dead strung up in way so that on walking through a door they might come down on your head and a café which is a lot busier than you would expect.

Unfortunately the weather finally caught up with us so not long after arriving the clouds close in and the rain comes down, our friends that had done a Heli hike were not sure if they were going to have to stay on the mountain overnight due to the hazardous conditions for the Helicopter, luckily they were just collected a little sooner before flights were grounded.

The first night in Franz Joseph and Kane our driver was celebrating his birthday, we decided to make him a cake before the big night in Monsoon bar drowned him.

Monsoon Bar has a slogan that seemed very fitting when we were there “it rains, we pour” that night we also had the results in for the fancy dress in the Poo Pub, although not winning this I did come joint second with my ginger lightning outfit and so won myself a free photo and video voucher for when I do the Nevis Bungy worth $89, definitely worth dressing up for. A few hours later and a pool tournament down in which I managed to win myself a free half day mountain biking pass for the gondola in Queenstown and Kane was really starting to feel the effect of a birthday. By the time it reached 12 and his actual birthday there were barely more than 10 people left but it was a great night.

The next day with everything still postponed due to the weather we used some vouchers and all went to the hot natural spa pools and did lazying around for a few hours, the rain actually became a blessing as the pools were so warm you could use the trickle of rain water coming off the covers to cool down. After quite a while in the pool and discussing plans for food we went off to put these into practice ending with a huge sausage in mash dinner with all the trimmings followed by melted chocolate with biscuits and banana for everyone to dip in like a fondue.

That night and another competition, this was a rock paper scissors knock out tournament, this clearly shows theirs views on the mentality of backpackers although it was quite fun, no winnings for me although Bex and Jamie both won something for themselves. With such good prizes on the table in most of the stops it is definitely worth taking part even if you are useless at whatever they are doing as you could even end up with something for being the worst.

Lake Mahinapua / The Poo pub

The Kiwi Experience map and booklet states that this place is called Lake Mahinapua and it speaks about the area and the local wildlife, touching on only briefly about the owner and the true activities they have planned here, which is usually then the things they most concentrate on when you arrive and expect something such as a walk around a lake and possibly a hostel that concentrates on the wildlife or the local Green stone. So you are not quite ready to leave Westport to find that you have stepped back into uni life and it's fancy dress time, Kane tells us that the theme will be “Tight & Bright”, a theme which I am extremely familiar with from my life in Snowsports and that all the rules are:

No cotton wool and no body paint....there goes one of my ideas.

We are dropped in Greymouth, the chief commercial centre of the west coast but still on a Sunday afternoon there are only a few shops open, but with years of training it didn't take too long to find some inappropriate garments that could be worn. A quick drive further down this remarkable coastline and we arrive at the accommodation known as pu pub,  we are met by Les the 87 year old man that runs the place before heading to our room for some fancy dress making time.

I think we ended up most proud of our room mate that spent the first few hours endlessly blowing up a balloon to try and get a head torch in it to finally give up and almost struggle through dinner due to lack of oxygen. With everyone finally ready and with outfits fully coloured in it was time to head to the bar for a night of free beer for doing the washing up and Kane's drinking game, rather simple but completely lethal; six shots, 1 dice if you roll the same number twice you are out, if you roll all six numbers with no repeats you win and Kane buys them all.

Only Lucy won the game but we all had a fair go at the shots. 10.30 arrives and we all have to pose for countless photos so that everyone's camera can have the same photo of the group, overall it was a great night.

Up early and a jog down to the lake to see what we had missed while we were making fancy dress, a small lane led down through the woods to a quiet opening where a few people camped overlooking the lake. Lake Mahinapua large and after putting my feet in also cold, surrounded by trees with the southern alps visible behind.

Westport

A couple of short walks on the way and with the weather now good after the storms the idea of some outdoor activities sounded pretty appealing, on offer there is a range of things from jet boating to quad biking which is what we decided on, these were rear wheel drive quads so lots of fun and liked to do doughnuts.

Now incredibly muddy we continued to the hostel to find our bags waiting there, we were staying at Basils hostel which isn't like any other I have stayed in; the bedrooms and showers are pretty standard however the kitchen looks like a house kitchen, with herbs & spices by the oven and with all wooden side and hanging pans you wouldn't be shocked to find a Rayburn in the corner. That night Kane (our driver) had organised a 3 legged pub crawl, not to a lot of pubs just 3 but it was a great way to meet new people and be led into different friend groups. The next day a large group from the bus stayed behind to spend an extra night so that they might go surfing or mountain biking which were available as long as that is what the owner wanted to do that day.

We headed south stopping at a few places on the way where we could look over a cliff down to a small fur seal colony, from a distance they could often be almost impossible to determine from the rocks until they moved. Then further down the cost we stopped at the Pancake rocks (Punakaiki) where the sea has worn away at the layers of rocks to create some spectacular shapes

We were then given our fancy theme for the night and were told we would soon be stopping in Greymouth to collect supplies.

Kaitiritiri

The translation of this would be Food Plenty Plenty, being on the coast this was originally a Maori fishing village however it is now a holiday area with mini golf and boat rides. It is a short stop from the abel tasman national park with boat taxi's taking you right into the heart, however we arrived just as a large storm was approaching the north island as was on it's way south, with all activities postponed or cancelled the bus decided to leave earlier the next morning to try and outrun the storm as we headed south. We had time for a short walk in the evening along the coast passing through a small woodland that had trees with trunks black as though burnt and wasps roving all over them, we didn't stick around long.

The plan of our coach driver paid off and as we drove south towards Westport the weather cleared although we heard the news about the country to the north and it didn't sound like fun, ferries cancelled, 12m swell and trees being blown over.

Wellington

We only stopped over a night, arriving late and leaving early however the short time there was good, on going to make dinner a lady walked in to the kitchen with with two large parcels, she was with a school and these were left over fish and chips and it was tasty. Some pool with a few of the guys I had met up in Taupo before off to bed for an early start, there were a few things that looked good to do in Wellington, however we head north in a couple of weeks so will see these again when we return.

We wake early and go on the ferry to Picton passing through areas that looked like Norweigian fjords before continuing our journey on coach and off to Kaitiritiri.

River Valley

We continued our drive south passing by hills that looked remarkably like the ones near Hobbiton and in the movies, Kane our driver said it was one of his top drives in NZ, it was super windy, especially for a coach to be going down, ending in a steep valley at the foot of a mountain.
Here you can go white water rafting, horse trekking, yoga or swimming in the river which I can tell you is rather chilly, they have a device that you use to go across the river which is pretty much a hanging platform on a pulley.


We had pretty bad weather when we were there so most activities were off and you can't trek too far up the mountains without getting to signed telling you to stop as your entering hunting area. The cheaper option for beds are in dorms of 16 although it's nearer to one big bunk bed than anything else, this would be a good place to come back to with nice weather but you would quickly run out of activities if you stayed for more than a few days.

Hobbiton

We are collected by a mini bus and driven to MataMata by a big Maori man telling us all about the history of the area and then went on to tell us about farming over the years. He does eventually start to tell us about Lord of the rings, the hobbit and what they did where as we near the shires rest.

The Shires rest looks like a pub but is just the staging point before you are taken to the village, the coach passes by the areas where the equipment and people stayed while filming was taking place before turning the corner and Hobbition is in sight.

The tour is just over an hour however the guide is far less enthusiastic about the whole thing than you might expect, the village looks amazing, just how it does on screen. The main thing that does not look quite the same is the doors, some are large and others are small depending on if they need people to look big next to them, even the vegetables are out of size.

Unfortunately we saw no Hobbits, Orks, Elves or Wizards although our guide did tell us that quite often people do come in costume although not always from LOTR. We are told a little more about the village and up by Bag End they let us know that to film the sunset scene it was done at sunrise as the village faces a different way to the books, also for the Hobbit movie the tree above is entirely metal as they needed it to be the same as in LOTR but looking 60 years younger, this youthing effect we are told they have done to some of the village although nothing needs to look much different in the two movies.

We are dragged away but not before I film as much as possible from entering the village as Gandalf does to the green dragon pub from over the lake.

A quick look in the souvenir shop but before we even think of buying anything they come rushing in saying that the bus will have to leave early and we had to leave right now, we weren't massively impressed by the organisation of the whole thing however this is the only way to see Hobbition without doing some serious sneaking.  

Waitomo

On our way, the bus stops, we all jump out and are led through some old gold mines, criss-crossing it's way over a river on some rather wobbly bridges. We see a few glow worms on the roofs of the tunnels before a big group photo with the bus and on our way, Waitomo is a small village with only a few houses a pub and a restaurant. We had nothing planned but there is quite a lot available such as black water rafting through the caves which a few people did. We walked up a track to a viewpoint, on the return to the village we met Johanson, our German room mate from Wake up Hostel in Sydney. The hostel there is good, all the standard facilities done well and rooms of only a few rooms, however they do have the standard global gossip pay per minute internet that all the hostels seem rather fond of.

In the morning the coach left the village of Waitomo but stopped for us all to go on a walk just outside the village, here we saw a few more caves, streams and it all lies in the woods. Adam, Miles (the two Americans) and I ended up shuffling along a ledge above a stream to find ouselves at the entrance to a large cave however we could go no further as the we had to catch up with the group which involved a lot of running, arriving at the coach just as we head it's engine start up readying to go.

Kiwi Experience + Hot Water Beach

On the bus and loads of new people and one over excitable bus driver, she describes the plans for the next few days and we are on our way to Hot water beach. Everyone on the bus is around our ages and have a lot in common, we walk about 5 minutes from our hostel down to the beach, here hot springs rise up through the sand. If you dig a hole it quickly fills with water than can be as hot as 60 degrees so on a cold say like the one we had it feels almost burning hot. We find a pit pre-dug by others so enlarge that and all hop it, some parts are hotter than others so it's all about finding a good spot, fortunately for me I had a place of equilibrium however many in the group had burning feet and goose pimples on their arms. The beach faced to the east and had quite good surf however with nowhere to hire boards there was just one local out there shredding.

Back at the hostel and everyone decides that the best way to get to know each other is with a big game of ring of fire, before off to bed for an early start.