Location: Fox Glaciar, South Island, New Zealand
As in "God's own country". We have been quite busy for the last month, hence no updates here. After Auckland we went to the Bay of Islands, Rotorua, Waitomo, walk the Tongariro Crossing, kayak down the Whanganui river, Hawkes Bay and down to Wellington. We have had about 10 days on the South Island so far, but details of that will have to wait for another day.
Auckland is, to the Kiwis, a large megatropolis. But of course it isn't really. Nice enough for a few days but little to hold us there. We did catch a comedy gig on a Saturday night, a change from the entertainment options available nearly everywhere else we have been. We also went to an aquarium that included an Antarctic exhibition but, frankly, it was not as good as the real thing.
Christmas was spent in Paihia, in the Bay of Islands, north of Auckland. A beautifully scenic part of the world, and the town itself was very small and picturesque. It was a slightly different Christmas but we did still manage to go to a carol concert on Xmas eve and have a few drinks on the day itself. Unfortunately, after we had gone to a nice hotel for Christmas lunch, some oysters disagreed with Phillippa which rather put a dampener on the afternoon! But she was fine by the next day. We went diving for 1 day out at Poor Knights islands. This was certainly different from the tropical places where we have done most of our previous dives, and more interesting for that. It was however very cold, with the water temperature about 13C.
Rotorua is known for the thermal waters and hot springs, as well as being one of the main centres of Maori culture. We had a couple of good days, seeing some amazing natural phenomena, most remarkable of which were some brightly coloured mineral pools.
The weather for the first couple of weeks was pretty miserable, a pattern that has only recently been broken by some sporadic sunshine. The media are speculating as to whether this is indeed the worst summer since the 1940s. It has been cold and very wet. The odd good day has sometimes coincided with us doing something, the rain being on travel days. But even so, it has been a little depressing at times.
The heavy rain in Waitomo almost prevented us from going caving so see some glow worms, all the trips that were planned for after ours were cancelled. Swimming through underground rivers was fun, certainly different, but not un-missable.
From here we travelled south to National Park, the main point of which was to walk the Tongariro Crossing, said by some to be NZ's best 1-day walk. Heavy rain stopped us going on New Year's Day, which was the original plan. When we finally did go, on Jan 2, the visibility was about 50m for the first half of the walk, meaning that we couldn't see the craters or the lakes. The wind was howling around us and with a persistent fine drizzle it was a fairly long slog up to the top. Once we started down the other side the weather lifted and we had marvellous views across to Lake Taupo. But it was too late for us to see the more spectactular views that were by now behind us.
We'd been told that kayaking down the Whanganui river was something we shouldn't miss, so that was the next stop. 3 days paddling down a river that runs through some amazing landscapes. There were quite a few other people out and about, both on the river and at the campsites, (it is high season now), but that didn't really spoil it too much for us since we were able to get away from the crowds most of the time. Kayaking was "interesting" to start with, until we changed round to better balance the weight in the boat. The last night we went beyond where most peopl;e had headed for and were rewarded with a campsite that overlooked a bend in the river and where there were no other people, (until a bloke turned up a couple of hours later). Very tranquil, only slightly marred by the presence of thousands of sandflies, and this the only time when we had forgotten to take the insect repellant. They are far, far worse than mozzies. A lesson learned there.
We didn't stop in Taupo on the way to Havelock North, in the Hawkes Bay wine region. Another day of visiting vineyards (after quite a few in South America) and sampling their wares was very enjoyable and Havelock North and Hastings are great town to relax in: good food, good wine, good countryside. We treated ourselves to lunch (a very long lunch) at the Black Barn vineyard and had a table outside overlooking the vines. Wonderful.
Then down to Wellington, which seemed like a nice enough town, I can see why some of our friends had decided to live here rather than Auckland when they lived in NZ.
Apart from the weather, which has been shocking, we have had a great time here so far. Having only been to the South Island the first time I came to NZ it has been interesting to see some of the rest of the country that I missed out on. Having said that, most people believe the South Island to be a better holiday than the North so we have a lot to look forward to.
Updates, and emails in general, seem harder to put together here than in South America. The PCs invariably have more problems and crash more frequently in NZ than they did in La Paz, or even in some tiny towns in the middle of nowhere. So that is partly the reason for the lack of communication. In addition, gone are the days when we could pay 15 pence an hour and so frivolously while away hours writing up a blog rather than doing research for the next part of the trip. But keep reading, because there will be a South Island post to follow...