Nov 2005

Jills birthday today so at least we had something to do tonight and that was enjoy a few beers. After walking around the shops for 30 minutes Simon headed back to the hostel as he wasn’t feeling well so Jill and I spent several more hours walking around the town and then into a bar for a meal before meeting back up with Simon later so we could all arrange what we were going to do tonight. Before that though as Jill wanted a rest before heading out Simon and I went off for yet another round of golf although this time the course was nowhere near as good as the one in Taupo. As for food first we had decided on going for tapas but once looking at the menu there wasn’t any options for Jill seeings as shes vegetarian so we just had a few beers there before finding an Indian restaurant around the corner which in fact turned out to be very nice indeed.

Napier

Time to leave Taupo and to be honest it felt like we had probably spent 2 days to long here although the worst thing was we were now heading to Napier which I had no plans for at all. Once we arrived at the hostel I got the impression from the outside of it that it was probably the worst one we had found so far in New Zealand. The outside seemed very old and dirty and the inside wasn’t any better with the kitchen area being the worst (very very small and very unclean). A lot of people here just tend to come here for work like fruit picking and nearly everyone seems very cliquey and if you don’t actually live and work here then you don’t really seem to fit in.
As for Napier itself its not the worst place ive come to but its not a place I would probably visit again. A lot of the buildings are decorated in Art Deco and it has abit of a Texas feel to it. There isn’t really a beach here as well as most of it is covered in stones and rocks but having said that it was still nice to just walk along the sea front while I was here.

There were 2 things I considered doing today and I ended up doing neither of them.
First was going to visit Orakei Korako which is another thermal area although after going to one a few days ago I guessed once you’ve seen one then you’ve seen them all. The other thing I was interested in doing was going out on a kayak to see some Maori carvings but I missed the first outing and they were not doing 2 trips per day until the day we left. So it looked like it was going to be another uneventful day until Simon asked if I was interested in going for a round of golf. At first I wasn’t really to bothered but thought anything would be better than sitting around the hostel for another day.
We drove to the golf course and it was absolutely packed with people, and of the 2 courses they have one of them had a competition on it. We spoke to some people working at the golf course if it would be a problem seeings as we haven’t ever played properly before and they didn’t seem bothered at all so after hiring some clubs and buying some balls we were on our way. Some 3 hours later we finally finished to mine and probably everyone elses amazement we hadn’t managed to upset anyone and had somewhat of a good time. The even better thing was that we only ended up paying for 9 holes of golf instead of 18 and soon made a quick getaway before anybody noticed.

Woke up without feeling one ache or pain which was suprising considering the amount of times I fell over while snowboarding yesterday. Didn’t have any plans at all today and im surprised with Taupo because I was really expecting this place to be full of life and really busy with lots of things to do but unless your willing to spend money on activities like bungy jumping and sky diving theres not a lot here, and neither of those appeals to me at all.
Anyway after such a hectic day yesterday I was quite happy to put my feet up and relax.

An absolute crazy day. After waking up luckily with no hangover I knocked on Susan’s door and to my amazement she was still buzzing with excitement about joining us.
After the 90 minute drive to the Whakapapa Ski Resort I had initially decided I was going to ski as
1) Ive already done it before
2) Snowboarding didn’t interest me and
3) Skiing is much easier than snowboarding.
Simon decided he was only going to go snowboarding though and told Susan it was easier so she decided to snowboard as well. I eventually decided to join them as Susan wanted everyone to stick together and we arranged a lesson together, although once on the lesson as Simon had already taken lessons before he was moved to another group.
The lesson the 2 of us had was a complete laugh and we spent most of the time either on our backsides or laughing and joking with the instructor, although I have to admit I was right that skiing is so much easier and it would have been better to try that instead of boarding.
After the lesson we were both exhausted so we sat in the café for some food which was pretty much wasted as I was so tired by now I didn’t even have the energy to eat.
Time was getting on now so we thought we better make fools of ourselves again and try and put into practice the things we had learned or not as the case maybe. After 2 more runs down the beginners slope and yet more time on my backside and likewise for Susan we both then decided to call it a day.
At the end we both decided skiing would have been the better option although both of us had a really great time and it was a complete laugh.
So when you read this Susan thanks for joining us on a fantastic day and it was great to meet you. Safe travels for the rest of your trip and I look forward to seeing the 3 of you again sometime.

Whakapapa Ski Resort

Susan the slightly mad but delightful woman

Whakapapa Ski Resort

Me snowboarding in middle of photo

Two snowboarding pro's

Whakapapa Ski Resort

The WHA is pronounced FU haha

Still alive after a hard days snowboarding

Not sure on where to go today but then luckily Fiona had emailed me and suggested some places worth visiting. First was Cherry Island which although closed there was still a nice area where you could sit down by Waikato River and watch people bungy jump from the cliff above, and then over to Acacia Bay.
I had then planned on reading up on things to do in the South Island seeings it wouldn’t be long before we were then but then got talking to 3 Irish girls after opening their bottle of wine for them. So the rest of the night was spent drinking wine, talking and then persuading Susan one of the girls to join us tomorrow when we were either going skiing or snowboarding. Although after finally getting to bed at 1am and having a few glasses of wine I wasn’t sure whether I really wanted to get up early tomorrow and didn’t know whether Susan would realize if she had made a mistake in wanting to join us. Although she did seem very keen and even gave me her phone number to ring her if I couldn’t wake her up. Anyway it was still a very good night and a great laugh no matter what was happening tomorrow.

Cherry Island & Waikato River

It was only a short drive to the next destination although we got up fairly early so we could get to Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland in time to see the Lady Knox Geyser go off. At 10.15am every day somebody pours soap crystals in the geyser and within usually a few minutes it the spouts water up to 20 metres into the air. After watching this we then walked around seeing the many pools and craters before finally heading over to the mud pools.
Just before we got to Taupo we stopped off at Huka Falls which is very spectacular and the water here is a fabulous colour.
We got to the hostel around 3pm and as soon as we got there I got the impression it was nowhere near as nice as the ones we had stayed in before, especially the hostel in Rotorua. People here just didn’t seem as friendly and the whole hostel set up seemed a complete mess and here we were for the next 5 nights. Luckily though later that night 3 people from the hostel in Rotorua turned up and one of these was Adam the guy from Yugoslavia so things were certainly looking better. It wasn’t long though before the owner had upset Adam and he and a german girl had decided they would only be spending one night here. So to try and forget about that the 3 others from the last hostel (Adam,Chris and the german girl whos name ive forgotten) and myself all went out on the town for a few beers while Jill and Simon stayed in. We soon forgot about the hostel we were in and had a great laugh playing pool,drinking and then heading over to the karaoke bar to try and get Adam to sing.

Lady Knox Geyser

Lady Knox Geyser

Wai-O-Tapu

Wai-O-Tapu

Wai-O-Tapu

Wai-O-Tapu

Wai-O-Tapu

Wai-O-Tapu Boiling Mud Pools

Wai-O-Tapu Boiling Mud Pools

Huka Falls

Huka Falls

A relaxing day spent looking for places to visit when we get to Taupo and then an hour or so at the golf driving range.

Kuirau Park

Kuirau Park

St Faiths Anglican Maori Church

Maori Carvings

Maori Building

Government Gardens

Rotorua Museum of Art & History

Statue in Government Gardens

Blue Pool Rooms

With the others not bothering to get out of bed till the afternoon I went off for a pleasant and peaceful walk on my own. After walking through the Kuirau
Park again I then made my way down to St Faiths Anglican Church which is covered in traditional Maori emblems and situated in a quiet peaceful area right beside Lake Rotorua. After looking around the small church I then made my way along the lake front and Memorial Park and down to the Princes Gate Arches where you can then enter the Government Gardens. The sun was still shining and I enjoyed a few hours walking around the gardens and past the Rotorua Museum of Art and History and the Blue Pool which is a refurbished 1930’s swimming pool complex. While standing outside I then noticed several people playing bowls so spent some time seeing if they were any good. Even though it was around 15 years ago since I last played the competition looked pretty poor but unfortunately I wasn’t offered the chance to pit my skills against them.
After the walk I drove over to Lake Tikitapu (Blue Lake) and Lake Rotokakahi (Green Lake) and past Whakarewarewa Forest before heading back to the hostel.

Kuirau Park

Kuirau Park

Kuirau Park

Luge Track

Cable Cars

At last the sun was shining and the forecast was the next 3 days were going to be fairly warm and sunny. Most of the day was spent at Skyline Skyrides where a gondola or cable car takes you up at mountain and here we had a great laugh racing down the 3 luge tracks they have on 3 wheeled carts. After 5 runs down the luge tracks and then the cable car back to the car park we went for a walk around Kuirau Park which is an area of volcanic activity. The most recent eruption here was in 2003 and hot mud covered most of the park and trees. It has a crater lake, pools of boiling mud, steam and mineral baths and also the rotten egg smells that go with it.

Rotorua was next on the list of places to stay or Sulphur City as it could be called with its volcanic landscape of thermal springs, geysers, bubbling mud pools, lakes and the smell that goes with it. Once there every so often you get a smell of rotten eggs that after awhile hits the back of your throat and makes you feel like you want to vomit. How anyone would want to live here is beyond me and if people ever get used to the smell I know I certainly couldn’t.
The hostel we were staying in was called The Funky Green Voyager and if you ever want a peaceful and relaxing place to stay in Rotorua then I recommend this is the place to stay. Its definitely in the Top 5 of all the hostels ive stayed in so far and it was all the more enjoyable with all the friendly people who were staying there to. Here I met Adam a guy from Yugoslavia who on arrival in New Zealand wasn’t sure what he wanted to do so came up with the idea he would buy a bike a cycle around from place to place. It amazed me how little luggage he was carrying on his trip. I swear he had less than half the amount of luggage compared to what I was carrying. He would only ever book one night at a time and then either move on or if he liked the place he would just book another night. There was us arranging accommodation nearly a week in advance thinking places may be completely booked and he didn’t have a care in the world.
There was also a lot of Germans in the hostel including 2 who turned up and after one noticed I was reading a Lance Armstrong book turned out to be a cycling fanatic as well. Oh what fun I had laughing and joking with them about the German cyclist Jan (fat boy) Ullrich. I think they were quite possibly the 2 crazyiest Germans ive ever met. I asked them why they had come to New Zealand and their reason was to meet a friend for a cup of coffee. After laughing for several minutes wondering whether these guys were insane they told me it was true. Apparently an ex work collegue of theirs had left Germany for New Zealand to open a coffee shop and they had said the day it opens they would come over and visit him. So here they were in New Zealand to meet a friend just for a cup of coffee.

Hot Water Beach

Hot Water Beach

Simon and Me

Simon and Me

Cathedral Cove

Cathedral Cove

Cathedral Cove

Cathedral Cove

Though the rain was still coming down it had eased off by the time we decided to go out.
We drove over to Hahei first and had a 15 minute walk down to Cathedral Cove which is famous for its giant limestone arch and was well worth taking a look at.
After this was a short drive to Hot Water Beach where thermal waters brew just below the sand in front of some rocks. All you have to do is wait 2 hours either side of low tide and then start digging a hole where you then sit it in and relax in the hot thermal water. Well it sounds fairly easy but with the weather being as bad as it was it turned into a serious onslaught to try and dig a hole before the sea kept on crashing in and freezing everyone to death. Eventually after persuading a few people to join us we planned on making a barrier of sand around the hole we had dug to stop the cold sea water from entering the whole we had dug. By this time we had a crowd of people around us of which most preferred to stand and watch as we dug like crazy in the rain. Even though most people doubted whether we could do it we did in the end succeed in digging the hole and barricading the sea. Typically then everyone who seemed to be standing around watching then wanted to join us in our own little natural pool.
The funny thing was the area of sand in front of the barricade we had made was absolutely boiling hot when the tide went out and all these people were jumping about like lunatics wondering why it was so hot, didn’t they actually realize this place was called Hot Water Beach.
Some 60 minutes later it was then starting to get very cold so with a few thank you’s from people for digging the hole for them we headed back to the car, and not bothering to dry off to much we just sat on our towels and had the heaters on full blast all the way back.

Today I didn’t really feel like going out and within 20 minutes of Simon and Jill going out the rain started pouring so I was glad I didn’t join them. Instead I just relaxed by putting my feet up and read a few magazines to pass the time, wondering if the rain would ever stop.

We were heading back down south today and going through Auckland again so on the way we swopped the car over hoping this time we would get one that wouldn’t break down within the first day. Although they gave us a newer car this one had no air con and it was about as powerful as a 50cc moped, anyway at least this one looks like it will last us till the end of the trip.
When the car eventually managed to pull itself up the small hills we finally made it to Whitianga and then bang on cue the rain started and it wouldn’t stop for the whole time we were staying here. The hostel we were staying in had around 4 separate buildings and each had 2 floors which meant that there would only ever be a maximum of 8 people in each building which made it feel less cramped and more like your own home, although the owners when we saw them were nowhere near as nice as the guy from Pahia.

Didn’t do to much today except take Simon out on the bike ride I went out on Sunday and laughed as he struggled up the small hills knowing full well that there were even bigger hills to come. Apart from that the only other thing I did was play him again at tennis and spent the rest of the day doing nothing.