Down the West Coast

Rich and Dunc gave me a lift to Te Kuiti, a not very interesting town, but it was on a bus route (for me) and on the way to Waitomo (for them). I booked into a single room in a hotel here, as there were no backpackers places within walking distance. I thought it would be great having a hotel room to myself, but I really missed the dorms and chatting to fellow travellers, I had forgotten how lonely and boring hotel rooms can be.

As I said, there wasn't much to see in Te Kuiti, whose only claim to fame is that it is the sheep-shearing captial of New Zealand. I headed down to Mokau, which doesn't have a lot except two excellent cafes (and more lovely fish and chips), and a nice black-sand beach. Although the sand wasn't black, it was more chocolate coloured. I don't know why they don't call it that, chocolate sand beach sounds much nicer to me. It was no-where near the jet black sand we saw in Iceland.
I'm starting to get good at finding people who can give me lifts, I met a German couple who were heading to New Plymouth. They were nice, although didn't speak a lot of English, so I got to practice my German, not that I'm any good. It's very frustrating when I can't have proper conversations with people, beyond the 'where are you from?' questions. They took me on a nice walk though, where we came across a small pond with hundreds of frogs in it - they made an incredible sound, lounder than a sheep or cow when they all 'ribbetted' together.

I stayed just for a couple of days in New Plymouth, spending time wandering down to the beach, and also to a really nice park. In the park they had a light festival, so all the trees were lit up different colours at night and they had a band playing. It was a bit surreal walking round a park so late at night, but really nice as well. Walking back through town was even weirder, there was no one about, no one in the pubs or anything. Even in the day the town was really quiet, so I didn't stay too long.

I caught a bus down the coast to Wanganui, a lovely little town set on the river. The first day I went on a paddle-steamer up the river with a girl, Lisa, who I had met in New Plymouth. We must have been the youngest on the boat by about 40 years, I think it was the local old people's home day out or something. It was ok, a bit boring and didn't really get to see any sights! The most exciting part of the two hours was shovelling coal in the engine room. The next day I borrowed a bike from the hostel and had a great day's riding, the land is pretty flat so no hills to wear me out, and I cycled down to a gorgeous beach. I actually went swimming, the first time in NZ when the water has been warm enough for me to get in (except New Year's Eve, but then I had a 'beer coat' on). I also cycled to a lake which had hundreds of fat, waddling ducks. As I walked round, they all followed me round the whole way, just because I had given them a half-eaten sandwich at the start, and they expected some more food.

The hostel I stayed at was really friendly, and both nights we all sat in the garden drinking beer and talking. I managed to find a shop that sold cheap Boddingtons, a drink I really miss - I havent found a beer sold in NZ that I like yet, so a can of Boddy's was great! I also managed to thrash a guy at pool - I potted all of my balls before he potted one!

From Wanganui I headed down to Wellington, just in time for the Rugby Sevens tournament. I didn't get tickets for the games, but the atmosphere in town was electric. I went out to the pub just to watch the final two games - England and the All Blacks - and met two nice guys, Andy & Sam, who felt a bit sorry for me as I was on my own and took me under their wing. I had a great night, we went clubbing and met loads of people, as I said the atmosphere was fantastic because nearly everyone had been at the rugby all day and were still dressed up in their weird and wacky costumes. I was a bit annoyed I couldn't stay the following night - Saturday night and the finals, but I had to catch a plane to Christchurch.

Climbing up and sliding down volcanoes in National Park

The Tongariro crossing is hailed as New Zealand's best one day walk, so I just had to do it. I started off walking alone, but I kept meeting people so after 8 hours of solid walking there was a nice group to finish with. After 8 hours you need a bit of company and laughter to make it to the end.

By far the best thing on the walk was climbing Mt Ngauruhoe - you might know it as Mt Doom from Lord of the Rings. Not many people climb it as it is a bugger to climb & isn't part of the main route. I've always wanted to climb a 'proper' volcano though, and it doesn't get much better than Mt Doom. The slopes are steep, around 45 degrees to the ground, and are laden with balck volcanic ash and rocks. The rocks themselves are pretty special, all different colours and full of holes where air got into them during the eruptions. Every step sent more and more of these rocks tumbling down the volcano. Going up was hard work, I thought my heart was going to burst out of my chest. But coming down was brilliant fun, with each step I slid about 1ft down, it was like slipping down on a snowboard but without the board. Like a snowboard, if you stop you fall over, so I had to keep going down really fast until I reached the bottom.

I met 3 guys, Tony, Dunc and Rich, on the crossing, and they all thought it would be a good idea to climb Mt Ruapehu, another volcano, the next day. Ignoring how much my legs hurt, I joined them. It wasn't quite a hard climb as Mt Ngauruhoe, and unlike the first volcano it had a lot of snow on top. There was no marked track, so we just followed our noses until amazingly we found the volcanic crater at the top. Having lunch on top of a volcano is pretty cool, but again, by far the best bit, and this could contend with the no1 highlight of my trip, was coming down.

We got out our plastic bags & waterproofs, sat on them, and sledged down the ski-slopes. I've not laughed so hard for ages as we went hurtling down the slopes, rolling over and doing cartwheels in an attempt to avoid the huge rocks. We had a snowball fight half way down for good measure, it's the first time I've done that in the middle of summer.

That afternoon we met a nice girl who writes articles for a backpacker's magazine. She wanted to interview us and took loads of photos, so next month I'll have my 15 mins of fame when I appear in the magazine!

Skydiving in Taupo

Taupo was a different story alltogether from Rotorua - I stayed in the nicest backpackers hostel yet - the staff and everyone else was extremely friendly and they pumped really good music all day throughout the whole hostel, and as my MP3 player has stopped working properly, I loved it.

The first afternoon I walked down to a stream which has a boiling hot waterfall running into it - you mix the cold water of the stream with the hot waterfall and sit there, like in a bath. It's a bit weird, as every now and again someone moves and a new current of water washes over you, and its really hard to tell if you are hot or cold, as all parts of your body are at a different temperature. It was good fun though, until a Kiwi Experience busload of 18 year olds decided to join in, so I got out!

The next morning I went skydiving. It was awesome. You get a big hunky man strapped to your back, and mine was called Freddy. He was a mad, bald, German guy who liked to mess about and was so much fun. Freefalling was incredible, not like falling at all but more like flying, and not scary at all. We jumped at 12,000 ft so I got 45 secs of freefall before the parachute opened. With the parachute open it was so relaxing and peaceful, until Freddy decided to spin us round and round until I got dizzy!

The landing was funny, as instead of the graceful landing that everyone else does, ours went slightly wrong and we went arse over tip. Just another comedy moment which was captured on video - check out my skydive photos on the website (address above), or I have a DVD which I will make you all jealous with when I get home.

I met Stacy in Taupo - the girl who I spent New Year's Eve with. It's great bumping into people all the time. I persuaded me to come to the pub with me, and there we met all of the skydivers and had a big table football competiton and a great night.

With Stacy I climbed up Mt Tauhara, a nice climb with great views of the lake from the top. Not satisfied with that, we went climbing that evening to an indoor wall. I haven't been rock climbing for ages so I was a bit out of practice, but Stacy was pretty good. She met a really nice Swedish guy at the wall, so we just had to go to the pub again so she could meet him. It's hard work all this going out.

In Taupo we visited the volcanic activity centre. We got to sit in an earthquake simulator which was fun, but I still really want to experience a real earthquake, they've had loads in NZ lately I've just not felt them. Also at the centre we saw stunning footage of Mt Ruapehu erupting 10 years ago. It was all the more spectacular to me as I went to climb this mountain a couple of days later.

As Stacy had hurt her ankle climbing, I had to leave her with her Swedish bloke and headed off to National Park to do the Tongariro crossing on my own.

Rotorua

Rotorua is a geothermal area, and reminded me a lot of Iceland. It's like someone went to Iceland, stole all of the best bits, left the weather and expensive beer, and created an Iceland theme park. Some bits were more spectacular, for example the Wai-o-Tapu park was pretty amazing, especially the lime-green lake! The geyser was pretty crap though, as it only erupts once a day, goes to half the height of the Iceland geyser and doesn't attempt to soak anyone.

In Rotorua I attended a Maori hangi - a concert and feast. I enjoyed it, but it was extremely touristy and although quite impressive, not half as nice as the intimate Kava cermony in Fiji or the Island nights in the Cook Islands. The food was good though, and as it was 'all you can eat' I stuffed my face (as did all of the backpackers).

I didn't really enjoy Rotorua, maybe because it was far too touristy, possibly the fact that it smells of sulphur (like rotten eggs) everywhere, and definitely because I had to share a room with a women who is the worst snorer I have ever heard. She woke up everyone in the dorm repeatedly and we resorted to chucking whatever we could at her. So I only stayed a couple of nights and went on to Taupo.

Coromandal - Raglan - Waitomo with the girls

Meeting Courtney, Bex & Rachel was cool as I jumped in their car as we drove to Hamilton. We didn't like the look of town too much, so continued on to a lovely surfer town called Raglan on the West coast. I ate the biggest mussells I have ever seen for tea in Raglan, mmm! The next day Bex went surfing while the rest of us sat lazily on the beach. The water is far too cold in NZ to go surfing! That night we stayed in a really cool backpackers - set on a hilltop with stunning views, the dorms were former railway carriages which had been converted.

We set out for Waitomo the following day, an there we did a great caving tour - this included abseiling down into the cave, floating in the darkness over rapids (I was the only one to fall out, again), looking at millions of gloworms in the caves, wading through the river and climbing through holes and back out of the cave. We had to wear wellies which was a bit stupid as they kept filling up to the top with water and wouldn't drain out. We also discovered a novel use for a wetsuit - fill it up with hot water and you get your own personal spa, brilliant! Probably the best thing about the caving trip was that the guide was the absolute spitting image of Tom Cruise, which was nice.

I decided to stay in Waitomo and left the girls to go on to Rotorua, they were rushing around trying to see everything in a week whereas I have more time. It turned out to be a good decision as I met a farmer in Waitomo who needed someone to ride his horses, so I got to ride lovely horses in beautiful countryside in return for free accomodation.

The 2 other girls riding the horses with me invited me to a barbeque at someone's house in Waitomo. It was a proper Young Farmer's party, set on a farm in the middle of nowhere with stunning views. The whole area reminded me of home a lot and the parties I used to go to with YFC. Walking back from the party, rather drunk, we stumbled across a load of glowworms at the side of the road, a pretty spectacular sight at 3am!

Coromandel Peninsula

I started off by getting the bus from Auckland to Thames, which is a bit of a scratty town and not that nice. It was chucking it down with rain the first day, and I couldn't see anything. I was having a crap afternoon til I randomly bumped into Paul and Amanda, the couple I met in LA. It turned out they were staying at my hostel. The hostel was actually a house, which was great as all afternoon we played cards and that evening we threw an impromtu dinner party and it felt really cosy, like being round at a mates house. Round the dinner table was 5 people and 4 different nationalities, pretty cool hey.

The next day it brightened up, so Paul, Amanda a Dutch guy, Floris and I decided to walk up to the Pinnancles. It took us a bit longer than I had expected, about 8 hours in total, 7 of those hours we spent walking. I really missed my walking boots as my feet got repeatedly soaked after tramping across the same stream several times at different points. Also I had to miss out going right to the summit as my trainers weren't up to it. All in all it was a brilliant day out though. That evening Paul & Amanda gave me a lift up to Coromandal, having even more fish and chips on the way.

I stayed in a lovely backpackers in Coromandel, had a really nice garden and best of all it was pretty quiet and I got the whole dorm to myself for 2 nights. Its the first time I've slept with no one else in the room since I came travelling, it was heaven. They also gave me free use of a bike so I did a lot of cycling, including cycling up to a water park where they had cool water machine-type things to play with. After the water park I attempted to walk up to Castle Rock - it said it was an easy walk that anyone over the age of 4 should be able to do. I'd describe it as more of a scramble, some bits I had to use my rock climbing skills. It was really hard, probably due to my crappy trainers which kept slipping the whole time. On the way down I slipped over and now have a big bruise on my bum! I really must get some walking boots.

After Coromandel I got the bus over to Whitianga. Its a nice town, with lovely beaches. The hostel I stayed at (called the Cat's Pyjamas) had owners who were completely mad! The lady was lovely, really friendly and helpful, her husband was probably the rudest person I've met but he was so rude it was funny. The second night we were there they gave us a free barbeque, great for socialising and we had a good night, despite the horrible wine we bought for $10. Whilst I was at Whitianga I went on a day trip to Hot Water Beach - where you dig a hole in the sand and sit in hot water heated from the earth. It was strange, but nice to lie in a hand-made spa. We also visited Cathedral Cove - limestone formations right on the beach, very incredible and a lovely spot.

Coromandal was the place to bump into people because in Whitianga I met Rachel, Courtney and Becks from Fiji. Its pretty weird bumping into people the whole time. That was great, as they gave me a lift all the way to Hamilton, saving me getting the bus.

Happy New Year in the Bay of Islands

I was desperate to get out of Auckland so, despite the fact all my friends were staying there I left them to it and jumped on a bus up north. I stopped in a town called Paihia (pronounced Pie-Here ironically as there were no pie shops in town). Paihia is my sort of town, its about the same size as Fleet with only a few shops and pubs, but it has a nice atmosphere to the place. It also helps that it is set around a gorgeous Bay full of small islands, hence the name.

The first couple of days I did two really long walks through the woods, so much so that half way round we had to hitch-hike back as it was too far.

I met two guys here and they looked after me over New Year. Both are called Mark which is good, less names to remember. They really looked after me, cooking me food, bringing me cups of tea & breakfast in bed, and always making sure I was having fun. It was great.

New Year's Eve didn't start off too well, I booked on a dive trip to dive the Rainbow Warrior - the Greenpeace ship the French blew up in 1985. I got up at 6a.m. and we spent ages getting all our gear together. Got on the boat, travelled out for around 40 mins with me feeling very sea sick all of the way. When we got outside of the Bay, the sea got really choppy, so much so the dive instructor threw up overboard and I nearly followed suit. It was at that point they decided to turn back because of the weather and I never got to dive :-( Probably a good thing as it didn't look safe, and it is very different to the conditions I am used to in Fiji, the water is very very cold and viz isn't as good. We did get to see some jumping dolphins and a penguin on the way back, so it wasn't a wasted journey.

New Year's Eve evening was much better, I had met a nice bunch of people and our hostel put on a party til midnight. Then we all went down to the beach and watched some fireworks, they weren't actually that great but because everyone was drunk it was great fun. I then decided it would be a good idea to go and swim in the sea fully clothed! All in all a great night and probably one of my best New Year's ever.

New Year's day we all felt a bit rough, but we managed to make it out of bed to go to the best fish and chip shop in NZ. The hoki and chips were the best I have ever had, I'm never going to be able to eat them back in England again.

After New Year I went up right to the top of NZ, drove on Ninety mile beach (which is only about 56 miles long) and did some sandboarding. At the top of NZ you can see where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman Sea, the waves crash together it's pretty amazing.

Mark and I hung round together for a couple of days, we hired some bikes and went on a 'challenging' bike ride (wasn't challenging at all, but the hire shop said it would be), and played a game of tennis where I lost 6-1, 6-1.

The last day in Paihia I went to the Waitangi treaty house, where the treaty between the British and the Maori people was signed allowing them both to live and work together. It's good to find out some history of NZ and it was a really nice place.

Merry Christmas in Auckland

Auckland is ok, nothing special and feels like any town in Britian. I wasted a lot of time here, I spent 7 days here over Christmas and every day went like this: sleep in late, do a bit of boring shopping (without buying anything, I have no space in my rucksack), laze around, have tea, go out, get drunk and start all over again.

To be fair I had a lot of good nights out, but I didn't come half way round the world to do what I can do at home. Christmas was ok, very strange not being at home with my family, but good that I got to celebrate 13 hours earlier than everyone at home!

Christmas morning we made paper chains from old magazines to decorate the room. Then 5 of us (Siobhan, Kath, Stuart, Gary and I) sat around and opened presents. Everyone had a couple of things to open from home which was really good, I really appreciate photos and letters from home here (hint hint).

I went to the cinema in the afternoon as everyone in the hostel got a bit depressed - everyone was a bit homesick. In the evening a few of us attempted to go to another hostel's party but they wouldn't let us in, even though we had tickets, so we ended up back at the cinema food court and ate Roast Beef - yum!

Auckland is a very non-chrismassy. Very few decorations in the shops, apart from a very huge very scary Santa. There was no mad rush for last minute presents, and on Christmas Day there were loads of people wandering the streets looking bored. Even some shops and cafes were open on Christmas Day.

After Christmas I spent a nice day at Devenport climbing up 2 volcanoes, and got sunburnt (again).