Blimey, I'm behind with my blog. Hard to catch up in Milford with dial up connection, I have to wait until Im back in Queenstown to use the fast computers.
So, thinking back 2.5 months to when this happened...
I got up early and dumped my bag at the hotel before heading over to Epsom to meet my old work colleagues at the University. Fortunately for me, it was 'birthday thursday' which meant tea and cake! Good timing there! It was lovely to see everyone again and I had a good catch up, before catching the bus out to the airport to meet mum and dad, it was lovely to see them again. They must have been shattered when they got here! I made them stay up until 8 or 9 in the evening as I hoped it would make the jet lag less. We had a nice walk around auckland, down the main street and round Victoria park and went for some tea on the waterfront.
The next day I took mum and dad out to breakfast at cafe cezanne in Ponsonby, one of my old haunts. We had a very nice breakfast and then headed out to catch the ferry to devonport for our segway ride!! Mum and dad picked up segwaying really quickly and we all had a great time going along the waterfront and upthe hills of North Point and Mt Victoria that are around devonport and had some lovely views of Rangitoto island, the volcanic island out to sea, as well as Waiheke island and the Coromandel peninsular. Its so easy on a segway! They are brilliant inventions, everyone should own one!! The next day we went to Parnell for breakkfast at the organic cafe I'd gone to before with Anna and Clare and Vikki. Then we headed over to the domain for a bit of a walk round, look at the museum and general wondering. That afternoon was our harbour bridge climb. We got picked up from the viaduct and taken round to the AJ Hackett HQ close to the bridge. We all had to don some very attractive jump suits to wear. Unfortunately, we couldnt take our cameras up which was annoying, but it was interesting. The brige was built in 3 parts, the first main middle bit, then the 2 side bits that were made in Japan (called the Nippon clip-ons) Anways, we walked along underneath the road and saw the bungy site, then we felt the movement of the bridge and the side clip on bits. Its worrying how much they move, I know they're supposed to, but it was scary how much they move! They we climbed up the top and had nice views of the auckland skylines.
The next day was the start of the bus tour so we met all our coach group, our driver, Mike and our tour guide, Glynis. On the way up to the Bay of islands, we stopped off at a Kauri museum (Kauri is a type of tree) and went to see Tane Mahuta, one of the tallest Kauri tree in New Zealand. It's pretty awe inspiring to see a tree that big, it was massive! 51m high and a 16m circumference. From there we headed up to Paihia and to Waitangi, where the treaty was signed. Lovely grounds and a lovely Marae. Our tea that night was a lovely steak cooked on volcanic rock - it was delicious!
We had the next day in the Bay of islands and me, mum and dad decided to go on a sail boat. It was a lovely yacht we went out on for the day and there was a group of about 7 of us. We had a welcome drink of hot chocolate and set sail out to the sea. We went to see the black rocks that were volcanic and looked a bit like the giants causeway in Ireland. From there we headed onto an island and climbed the hill to the lookout across the sea and the bays, had a nice lunch with a beer on the boat and helped weigh anchor to set off again (well, mum and dad helped, I took pictures). It was really windy on the way back so we got dropped off in Russell and caught the ferry back rather than being dropped in Paihia. That evening we went to a cultural evening at the Waitangi marae.
The next day we went on a boat trip out to the hole in the rock. We couldnt sail the boat through it as it was too windy, but it was cool watching the waves crash through it. We headed back to auckland down the wast coast and saw some pretty impressive volcanic islands out to sea. That evening we had dinner up the sky tower in Auckland. It was lovely to see the sunset over Auckland, but a bit unsettling feeling the tower moving in the wind! After dinner, we headed down a floor to the observation deck, and then up another 9 floors to the sky deck.
The next day we went to the glowworm caves in Waitomo, that was pretty magical actually, seeing them all. We got taken through some caves, saw the glowworms and the threads they dangle down to catch their prey, then we went on a boat to see them all aglow. From there we headed to Rotorua. It was chucking it down with rain and the hotel was a good 3k walk from the centre of town... needless to say we got a bit soggy going there! But it was cool to have a little look at some of the thermal activity there.
The next morning, me and dad went on a geothermal tour of the region (mum went to the brilliant agrodome show!!), stopping at a couple of parks, including Wai-o-tapu (means sacred waters) and Waimangu which is apparantly the youngest of the thermal parks around the region. We saw lots of bubbling mud, the lady knox geyser and lots of interestingly coloured pools, one that was so green, it looked like radioactive waste! There was also a champagne pool with bubbling water. The Waimangu park was much greener that the first one, just lots of steam everywhere! There used to be a big geyser there before a landslide covered it. Now, you can just see small bits of steam emerging from the ground that didnt used to be there so I guess that pressure's working its way back up to the surface and will erupt again sometime.
That afternoonwe met our hosts for the night as we went to do a farmstay. They were a lovely couple called Judy and Norm who lived 10 minutes or so out of Rotorua. The farm was big to me (even though it was apparantly a small one) with calves, sheep and some horses. We got taken round the paddocks by Norm and saw him feeding the calves which was nice. We had a lovely home cooked roast dinner with a make your own pavlova that was delicious! That evening was very relaxed, just having a chat to our hosts.
I've put a seperate entry about the Maori legend of lake Rotorua.
The next day was a very long drive from Rotorua to Wellington. We stopped off in Taupo though for 45 minutes which I was happy about as I really like it there. IT was also sunny and you could see the tongariro park across the lake which I was glad mum and dad got to see. We got to wellington late afternoon and had a lovely meal in the hotel and went to see my friends from Rosemere at the Alice bar. But I was so shattered from the massive tea and all the driving, I could only stay out for one and then had to go to bed!
The next day we went on a tour round wellington including a trip up Mt Victoria and then into te papa for a bit. Then we got on the ferry across to the north island. It was pretty cloudy when we left, but as soon as we left wellington, the sun came out. It was so windy though! The ferry was constantly tipping to one side because of the power of the wind! It was a lovely crossing though and it was beautiful through the marlborough sounds. But that's in the south island and I'll save that for the next post!
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