We’re leaving on a jet plane…….

12th July 2006

Following our amazing day at the glowworm caves in Waitomo (we didn’t really do this justice in our last blog, as we were running out of time!  It was a fantastic day, mixing the adrenaline inducing absailing and caving with the spectacular glowworm, fossil and stalectite / mite formations – incredible!) we headed east to the ‘sulphur city’ Rotorua (or Roto-vegas as it is known by the locals as it is the major tourist hub on the North Island!).

Rotorua is known as the ‘sulphur city’ as it is built upon an area of the Earth’s crust that is so thin, loads of natural thermal areas exist.  The upside of this is that there are excellent thermal springs, bizzarre bubbling mud pools, and massive geysers everywhere, the downside is the whole place constantly stinks of eggy farts!

The first night in town we went out for a curry (when in Rome?), thinking that no matter what we ate, our spaceship couldn’t smell any worse than it already did!  On our second day we took in a walk of the city, sampling the thermal park in the city centre and a Moari village on the outskirts.  The Moari village was really cool, with it’s focal point being the local meeting hall (with amazing wood carvings) and a Christian church, with a stained glass window of Christ, in Moari dress, which when viewed sitting down, appeared to be walking on water.

Well, after an action packed, exciting day like that (!!!!) we thought we best take it easy in the evening, so booked ourselves onto a ‘cultural show’.  Rotorua seems to exist on the back of its strong Moari cultural links, although most of the shows take place in the city centre hotels.  We opted to take in our concert and Hangi (typical Moari buffet cooked in the ground – certainly beat the pot noodle cooked in the spaceship!) at a Moari village on the outskirts of town.

Although clearly designed for the tourists our trip to the Te-Maki village was great fun.  Upon our arrival, our ‘chief’ (elected on the bus on the way out there – incredibly both Charlotte and myslef were overlooked for this role, apparantley the criteria were; male, strong, intelligent and handsome, i’ll leave it to you to try to comprehend were we fell down!) was challenged by the village ‘warriors’ to deduce wether we came in peace or war.  This involved the ‘warriors’ performing a traditional kind of cross between a Haka and face gurning competiton to try to intimidate us!  Thankfully our chief accepted the peace offering placed on the ground in front of us, and we were welcomed into the village as friends!

The village itself was set in an fantstic forrest area, and built to replicate how the Moaris existed prior to the Europeans landing in the early 1800s.  We took in various demonstrations of how the moaris entertained themsleves in the evenings (face pulling, stick throwing, spear waving – i’m sure you get the picture) before we settled down for our ‘concert’.  The concert involved traditional Moari songs and love stories, but the highlight was deifinitley the Haka – as you will see in the pictures, these guys look intimidating and ridiculous in equal measure at times!

After the concert, we settled down to our Hangi, all cooked over the previous 4 hours or so in the ground on hot rocks in the village (or so we were told anyway!).  The buffet consisted of various potatoes, vegetables, and chicken and beef, definitely the best food we had had for some time.  After the meal we were treated to the formal closing ceremonies before being whisked on our bus back to the centre of Rotorua, and our humble spaceship.  An excellent evening, far exceeding both our expectations!

On our final day in Rotorua, we headed out to ‘Hells gate’ thermal park (the Maori name is something like Wai oro, but it was given its European name following a visit by George Bernard Shaw in the early 1900s.).  Hells gate is a thermal park with loads of bubbling pools of differing colours, you can quickly understand why good old George christened it Hells Gate.

Half way round our trip it began to rain (the first bad weather of our whole trip so far!), so we hurried back to our van, and headed off to Taupo, where I’m writing this. 

9th July 2006

Well where did we leave you all last….think it was just before England got knocked out of the world cup!

Hangovers in tow we picked up our spaceship…the company’s name for our campervan….which is really no more than a bright orange converted people carrier called ‘Krissy’ (think the motorised sowing machine of campervans!) but has been doing us a treat until it broke last night.  The second battery has gone and we have no lights and more importantly no DVD player which up to now has been our evenings entertainment.

First stop in Krissy was a little place called Whangerai which has a lovely waterfall.  From there we headed up the east coast to Bay of Islands (will let you work out why it is so called).  At the bay we took a boat tour out to the hole in the rock and to dolphin watch ….number of dolphins spotted….nil! So we treated ourselves to an ice cream each with extra whipped cream and sauce …purely to lift the spirits and liven the soul!

The following day saw our first real bit of culture with a visit to Watangai which is the place the treaty between the Maoris and the British was signed.  Basically the British came in with their guns and the Maoris didnt have a lot of choice.  Here we visited a Maori meeting house which was carved out of wood…very beautiful (check the pictures when they are posted) and saw a 30ft long Maori war canoe.

From the Bay we headed North to Cape Reinga which is NZs most northern point.  We arrived as the sun was setting and had the whole place to ourselves….it was breathtaking….on oneside the sea was crashing and you could see many whitehorses and on the other it was peacefully calm.  At the cape it is possible to see the two colours of the of the Tasman sea and the Pacific mixing.  To top it all ….a mist set in whilst we were there and teh most vivid rainbow appeared ….(have taken pictures for Maxwell….as I know he loves a “Bo”).

The next day we returned to the cape as we loved it so much and once again had the place to ourselves before we headed off in search for the dunes.   A place called Te Paki just south of the Cape has massive sand dunes so we hired a board and partook in a spot of sand- duning. We reckon the largest dune was somewhere in the region of 50-100ft ….so we picked up a fair bit of speed coming down.  Now instinct told me that the only way to slow down at the bottom was to stick a leg out….wrong….I only managed to flip myself up and land face first in the sand….been picking grains out of my teeth all week!

Chris was in his element on the dunes and had to be dragged away (not unlike a small child kicking and screaming!).

From the Cape we headed south of Auckland to the Cormandel Penninsula visiting Cathedral Cove …so named for the limestone arch formation in the bay.  The next morning saw an early start dictated by the tide.  We headed to “hot water beach” where you can dig your own spa pool 2 hours either side of low tide.  In places the sand is too hot to stand on but if you dig close by the water is just right for sitting in. Chris built our waterside palace with a shovel we bought from the shop in the bay and proceeded to remove the skin on his hand whilst doing so. Hot water beach was alao the bikinis first outing in NZ.

From the beach we travelled inland to the Cormandel Forrest park and climbed the pinnacles.  The pinnicle was originally a rock formation which formed the plug inside a volcano crater but as time has gone on the volcano has worn away and the plug is all that’s left.

We are now in a place called Waitomo (Maori for water hole) which is famous for its caves and glow-worms which are actually maggots that live in snot-like surroundings …but I digress.  Here we have seen a bunny rabbit get sheared with sheep shears …..(once again wait for the photos) to shear the bunny rabbit they get placed in a rack like device…but each bunny has a long and fun packed life and get a proper burial when it dies from natural causes in the pet cemetery (that last sentence was for you Nic). Chris being extremely fond of Bunny Rabbits once again had to be dragged away! ….and more recently been on the “Black Abyss”.

The Black Abyss run by ‘The black water rafting company’ started with a 30m abseil down a hole  through a narrow space called the throat into an underground cave.  The experience involved a pitch black zip wire underneath the glow worms which looked like lots of tiny little stars and then a 5m jump into a black river landing on an inner tube.  From there we paddled /waded upstream taking in rock formations and to travel back downstream in a chain in the dark once again taking in the glow worms. The river in which you could spot eels and the occassional river rate was extremely narrow in parts (one particular spot called the birthing canal was extremely tight and we had to pull ourselves through on our stomachs).  The exit involved a little rock climbing through two waterfalls. The day has been pure adventure and probably our best yet whilst in NZ. 

This afternoon we travel to Rotorua…..will keep you posted of what is has in store!

1st July 2006 We arrived in Auckland 3 days ago on the 28th June, having left Santiago on the 26th. Our flight was only ... [Continue reading this entry]