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Auckland (view from Mt. Eden)

‘New Zeeland‘ as it was originally named by the Dutch settlers (or ‘Aotearoa’, it’s real name in Maori, before any colonial country-stealing took place…) has a very, very familiar look and feel to it in certain ways.  I arrived on the evening of May 11th into Auckland to be greeted by Hayley (yay! x) at Base Backpackers hostel after a supersonic-speed bus ride from the airport to the city centre.  It was a bustling Friday night, but even so, what greeted me didn’t impress me all that much: quite a hectic, not-so-pretty looking city. But you shouldn’t (as they say) judge a book by its cover of course.  After my brief stopover it was once again time to bid farewell to Hayley & co. as I boarded my ‘Magic’ bus [Magic by company name, certainly not by nature.  I mean, I was disappointed to find out it couldn’t fly] headed southwards.  Luckily, I swiftly made some friends in the form of 2 Scottish lads and a few English chums headed in the same direction as myself.

[Just so everyone has an idea how the Magic Bus works: it’s a hop-on/hop-off service, which means you can choose to spend as long or as little a time as you want at each destination.  I have chosen the Kiwi Traverse option.  You can then book any accomodation and/or activities en route with your driver from a huge list of options in their accompanying booklet.  This is a sensible idea for someone like myself who has a very limited time to spend in this fair country.]

Waitomo –  Our first destination was a small town renowned for its underground network of caves, home to beautiful glo-worms (amongst other creatures…) –  our short expedition saw us floating down freezing cold underground streams past staligmites and staligtites…

  

 

…any many glo-worms, although I have no pictures to show of these as they only come out when it’s pitch black, underground, and they are , of course, camera-shy.  Hmm.  We also witnessed one of the most disturbing practices in the world – rabbit shearing!  These furry buggers grow a coat so thick that heat exhaustion can kill them without human intervention, hence they have to be periodically ‘shaved’ for their thick white coat…

  

…funny yet also strangely disturbing!!

Rotorua –  Late afternoon and we already hurtling towards the most volcanic region in the country – famed for its volatile, eruptive past and (because of the sulphurous emmisions present in the form of steamy vents everywhere…) its distinctly ‘eggy’ smell.  We had a gloriously sunny day for our gondola/’luge’ trip – basically a cable-car-cum-bubble up to the top of a huge hill, upon where we rented what can only be described as sledges with wheels and had races shooting down a miniature track at vast speeds – great fun and highly dangerous in equal measure:

 

 

Whilst on the bus on the way to Rotorua, I’d put my name down for the Tamaki Maori experience – a visit to a Maori village which included a traditional welcoming ceremony to greet visiting ‘tribes’ (that is, ‘coach parties’). The driver of each coach (of which there were four) asked someone to volunteer to be the ‘chief’ of thier tribe. As I was sat nearest yo the driver, and because I stupidly asked what the responsibilities of the chief would be, I was immediately nominated to represent our tribe. Doh!

 

I had to stand in a circle with three other ‘chiefs’: the maori Warriors appeared in the courtyard brandishing weapons, generally swiping them in the direction of our heads and pulling faces to try to scare us and to assess whether or not we had come in peace or for a fight.

A small twig was placed on the floor near us as a peace offering: the object being that a warrior would select one chief to accept the offering, upon which everyone would be permitted into the centre of the Maori village…

…no prizes for guessing who was chosen!

 

 

The whole thing was of course staged, however we did learn all about the history, culture, practices and identity of the Maori people. The ceremony featured plenty of Maori song and dance (including a performance of the ‘Haka’) and concluded with an excellent buffet meal, cooked utilising the traditional method of a ‘Hangi’ – an underground oven made from wood and volcanic rocks.

We spent the following evening relaxing in the lush hot springs of the Polynesian Spa…

 

…Aaaaaahhhhh…

Taupo – The next day (yes – we are moving that fast throught the country…) I took part in my second ever skydive!  12,000 feet up… doors open… out you go! yYEEEAEEAEAEAEAEAEAEAE!!!!!!###@?!?

 

 

It was time for some spectacular New Zealand scenery, and the day-long trek known as the Tongariro Crossing certainly provided it in abundance. We hiked (or ‘tramped’ as it’s known in N.Z…) through the Soda Springs, then up the most ridiculously high peak to a flat plain where we took in the awsome view of Mount Ngauruhoe (used as ‘Mt. Doom’ in the Lord Of The Rings)…

  

  

  

…the walk down took nearly four hours but the incredibly stunning three pools of bright water known as the Emerald Lakes, and the vast reservoir they call Blue Lake made it worth the walk.

Wellington – I haven’t really got all that much to say about New Zealand’s capital city and parliamentary home – I honestly didn’t see that much of it, and what I did reminded me very much of any generic British city centre, complete with ‘Stagecoach’ buses. Or maybe I’m beginning to tire of cities, I just don’t know. Wellington’s port serves as a gateway to the South Island, so it was a mandatory stop on our route. For me, two days was more than enough time to kick back in our plush YHA hostel and wait for my washing to dry before catching the Interislander Ferry to Picton.

  

More tales from the much colder South Island soon!

J.

Tags: New Zealand, Random Stuff, Travel

This entry was posted on Friday, May 18th, 2007 at 1:00 am and is filed under New Zealand, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.