Road-trip 'Round Aotearoa

Part 1: North Island

I've had a few people say, "Wow! New Zealand! How's that been?" Well, this post will be an attempt to answer that question.
The first thing I should is explain how I went round New Zealand, as that has had a bearing on my experiences. I'd considered getting a car or campervan, then just going wherever the mood took me, but being a solo traveller, I decided against this, as the difficulties of finding suitable travelling partner(s) would have been numerous. With retrospect, that probably would've been a more adventurous approach, but never mind... During my first week in Auckland, I heard about various companies which take independent travellers around the country in buses, namely Stray, Magic, and Kiwi Experience. The basic concept is the same for all three: you buy a pass for a route covering a certain areas of the country, and buses follow that route, taking you to all the cool places along the way, offering special deals on fun activities and recommending suitable accommodation en route. If you want to spend longer in any given place, you can jump off the bus, then get on the next one passing through. So it offers the best of both worlds: you're still independent, and you can do your own thing, but you get to meet people on the bus, so you're not a Billy No-mates all the time. Great!


In the event, I decided to go with Stray. Kiwi Experience seems to be aimed at a younger clientele (18-21), whereas Stray emphasised getting off the beaten track in its literature, and seemed to offer a longer programme than Magic. I finally got organised and booked myself onto the bus leaving Auckland at 8am on Monday 1st May, eager to get on after waiting in the city over the weekend. Having duly set my alarm, I inexplicably woke up at 8.45 in a blind panic, realising that I'd missed my first bus - not a great start! I 'phoned the office, and after reassuring me that it happens all the time (I can believe it!), the lady suggested I just got the next bus, the following day. What a good idea! I was going to spend a minimum of a week on the North Island, followed by a minimum of two weeks on the South Island, stopping at places for extra nights when the whim took me.

First stop was the summit of Mount Eden, for great views over Auckland. It is one of the few places in the world where both sides of a country can be seen which are completely unconnected seas. (Of course the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea do meet at the Northern point of NZ, but we'll brush over that for the moment.) Mission for Day 1 was to head east up to the Coromandel Peninsular for a spot of sea-kayaking at Hahei. Sea-kayaking was an excellent way to explore this beautiful stretch of coastline, which included Cathedral Cove and some impressive volcanic islands which had been spewed into the sea by a volcanic eruption several kilometres away sometime in the last few million years. Our guide even made us cappuccino on the beach as we had a break! That night our driver, a Welsh woman called "Nads" (short for Gonads) made us all a big roast dinner. Just what we needed!

Day 2: headed south and back towards the West coast to the surfing spot of Raglan. Stayed in the Karioi Lodge, set up on a mountain deep in the native bush, great for walking! After the excesses of kayaking (and drinking) the previous day, decided to give the surfing a miss and wait until I got to the warmer Australian waters. In the evening, we were served a great meal by the resident chef for a bargain $8! After chilling out watching a film in the cosy lounge, we rounded off the day by having a go on the flying fox, a kind of swing fixed to a cable going down a hill. Fun, but greater thrills were to come.

Day 3: Did underground abseiling in the caves at Waitomo. After getting kitted up in wetsuits and miners' lights, and being given basic training in abeiling, we headed down into the caves. Not for the claustrophobic, or those who aren't comfortable with water or heights, we got into some pretty tight spots! Many classic comments from Leah, my north-country friend, including "you must be fooking jokin'!" when I pointed out that the only way out after abseiling down a 10-metre waterfall was to crawl through a flooded chamber, the end of which could not be seen. Since I volunteered to help the guides by directing people when they got to the bottom of that waterfall, I was placed in the position of having to reassure Mark that the tunnel was "really not far", despite the fact that I hadn't been down it myself. We were also told about the life-cycle of the glow-worm, which isn't in fact a worm at all! All-round, a great activity. We then headed to Rotorua, where we spent the night at the Hot Rock backpackers. This was one of the Base chain of hostels which we shared with Kiwi Experience passengers, and some of our experiences there may have gone some way towards forming our prejudices about such people. Leah, Laura and JP know what I mean...

There was plenty to do at Rotorua, a site of much geothermal activity, and adventure activities also, so we decided to spend a few extra nights there. Day 4: visit to Whakarewarewa Historic Maori Thermal Village, where we were shown how they harness geothermal activity for most of their cooking and heating needs. The village prides itself on self-sufficiency, having relied on tourism for its income for well over 100 years. We were treated to a traditional Maori cultural show, including singing and dancing, and the famous tribal war-chant, known as the haka, and still performed by the All Blacks rugby team.

Day 5: White-water rafting on the Kaituna River was a good way to wake up and spur into action! After basic instruction, we assumed our positions in the bright yellow raft and prepared ourselves to face the rapids! As we approached each set of rapids, the question was always, "Will we capsize or stay upright?" Furthermore, "Will I stay with the raft or get swept away to a watery grave?" The key was just to hold on tight and hope for the best! Despite going down Tutea Falls (at 7 metres tall, the highest waterfall open for commercial rafting), we still didn't capsize, although we did manage to sabotage another craft, which was fun. The highlight for me was when the guide suggested that we jumped out and go down the rapids outside the raft, feet first - cool! After that, the rest of the day was quite easy-going. We had a wonder down to Lake Rotorua, quite a pleasant spot, spoiled only by the strange, sulphurous smell of the geothermal activity. In the evening, Laura and I went to the Polynesian Spa for a relaxing soak in the natural thermal waters, spoilt only by a Japanese coach party. We then met up with the others for a gourmet burger, and hit the Lava Bar in the evening, for some alcohol-based fun and frolicks.

Day 6: In the morning, we did Zorbing, which involves getting inside a big inflatable ball (rather reminiscent of Rover from The Prisoner) with a small amount of warm water, then being pushed down hill along a zig-zag path. Lots of fun! After this, we went to the Luge, which is essentially, a glorified go-cart which, like the Zorb, also follows a circuitous path down the side of a hill, except somewhat faster, you can steer and brake, and you can see where you're going. That, too, was a lot of fun. I'm runnning out of ways to describe that....

Well, that brings me neatly on to the sky-dive at Taupo. I certainly didn't expect to be jumping out of an aeroplane strapped to a guy with a parachute, but everyone else seemed up for it, so I thought, "why not?!" I was the last to go up, after quite a long wait, so I wasn't particularly nervous, as I'd seen everyone else come back down safely. That changed somewhat when we got to 12,000 ft. and the wind rushed in through the recently-opened door of the 'plane, while I watched the three girls I had gone up with (and their tandems, of course) fall like flies without wings through the air. Since I was jumping from 15,000 ft, I still had a few more minutes' anticipation, and the adrenalin started to flow as I realised that there was no other way to get back down to the ground. That said, I kept a fairly clear head, and remembered to do what I'd been told to do (with my limbs and head), although when it came to it, I had very little control over what was happening: Roy, my instructor simply shuffled towards the door, and then before I knew it we were gone. I at least expected some warning, or for him to even ask if I was ready, but fortunately I was blissfully unaware of what was happening until a second or so had passed, I felt the wind against my face and it occurred to me that I was in free-fall, plummeting towards the ground. Going last meant that the sun was setting, although I was hardly in a position to enjoy that, as I was too busy screaming! After a while, Roy held three fingers in front of my face. I didn't know what this meant until he put one of them down, and then the other, so only one remained. "Oh, he's going to pull the cord!" I thought, just before it happened, and suddenly, all was calm. That was one of the most peaceful experiences I remember having, just gently wafting towards the ground like a feather. After the rushing of the wind in my ears, I could also hear Roy perfectly clearly, and distinctly remembered his first words: "Welcome to my office!" After that point, I just enjoyed the view of the sunset over Lake Taupo, whilst Roy played around with the parachute a bit, so that I could experience the peculiar forces acting on my body. It was all over too quickly. Would I do it again? Definitely! But maybe when I've got a bit more money in the bank account! After the skydive, the group was driven back to the Urban Retreat in Taupo by the Skydive limousine. True style! In the evening, we eat, and we drank.

Days 7-8: After the excitement of Zorbing, Luging and Skydiving all in one day, we decided to take it easy in Taupo for an extra couple of days. Taupo is a perfectly pleasant but fairly unremarkable sort of place, sometimes described (rather extravagantly, in my opinion) as the Queenstown of the North Island. I enjoyed the opportunity to take stock of what I'd done so far, plan what I wanted to do, sort out my photos, catch up with family and friends, and all the other stuff that you don't get a chance to do when you're on the road. We discovered a few moderately entertaining night-spots, and went to the cinema (where I saw and enjoyed Bobby), and that's about it.

Day 9: A very early start to do the Tongariro Crossing, known as the best one-day hike in New Zealand. This was actually the main reason we'd decided to spend longer in Taupo, since it had been called off due to poor weather on the day we'd intended to do it, and it was hailed as a "must do" in NZ. Well, it wasn't disappointing. We embarked on the hike at about 7.30am, having hired or bought all necessary outdoor wear from Tongariro Expeditions (including a "beany"-style hat, embroidered with the letters "NZ"... upside down). It was a bit chilly at first, the sun not having emerged from behind the mountains. This was jus as well, because after an easy-going 45-minute introductory gentle slope, we faced the Devil's Staircase. This is such a descriptive name that further elaboration on the reasoning behind its nomenclature is rendered unnecessary. Having conquered the Devil's Staircase, we had a pretty good view of Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings, which was an optional extra walk up endless scree on a crazy angle for those who found Devil's Staircase easy. We didn't do it. We passed some surreal lakes, bright blue in colour, and the overall impression was one of a desolate moonscape. Once we had reached the top of the pass, the view over the valley below made it all worthwhile. A long zig-zag descent followed, during which the view change little, making it the most boring part of the walk; whilst it hardly seems fair to brandish it "boring", it faces some pretty tough competition as far as NZ scenery is concerned, and at that point, we'd started to look forward to a beer. The end of the walk was through pleasant and cool forest.

After the Tongariro Crossing, we were taken to our hostel, the beautiful (and aptly named) Park, in the heart of the Tongariro National Park. Relaxation was the name of the game here, and it was the place to do it, as they had a spa to ease the aches in our tired muscles, a beatiful lounge, complete with 52-in TV and roaring fire, and one of the best kitchens I'd ever seen in a hostel.

Days 10-11: In light of the favourable conditions at the Park Hostel, we decided to stay there for an extra couple of days. Fortunately, the weather was fairly bleak, so we didn't feel compelled to do any walking, so we had plenty of lie-ins, drunk a lot of tea, watched a lot of telly, and in the evenings, either stayed in and drank, or went out to one of the two pubs and drank, sometimes both. On this last topic, it seems timely to mention the drinking game "Ring of Fire", introduced to the assembled company by JP from Galway (the legend himself!) which we played on at least four subsequent occasions on the trip. It's fair to say that it's a very effective way of passing the time, amsusing oneself in pleasant company, and getting pissed. If you want to know the rules, ask me later.

Day 12: On tearing ourselves away from the peaceful refuge that was the Park Hostel, we were picked up by James, one of my favourite drivers - very professional, insane sense of humour, and all-round nice guy - who took us down to Wellington. On the way, we passed some spectacular scenery: lots of lakes and mountains. After checking into the clean and well-presented Wellington City YHA, we went for a wonder around the harbour front, and went around Te Papa museum, before settling down for a few pints in the Mac's Brewery, a very nice bar. After this, JP, Laura, Pauline, Rachel and I went to a nice Indian place for dinner. In the evening, we took a night-cap in Molly Malone's Irish Bar, during which we were entertained by a singing pianist, to say good-bye to Pauline and Rachel, who were heading north back to Auckland.

That will have to do for the moment, the first installment of an unforgettable trip... Photos to follow!