New Zealand - South Island - Motueka - Day 9
December 25, 2005

Christmas morning we enjoyed a late sleep in, encouraged by the overcast sky outside. Regardless of the weather we finally set off for a day of sight seeing. Our first stop was the lookout at Takaka Hill, after taking a few snapshots of the foggy hillside we were about to leave when I accidentally dropped the lens cap to my camera and it bounced and slipped between the slats of the platform we were perched on. We peeked through cracks to try and eye the fugitive cap, Fiona finally spotted it between the jagged rocks underneath the platform and climbed under to collect it off of its cliff side perch.


Fiona
To the Rescue
Heroics aside we set our sights on Harwoods Hole, a 50 meter wide hole in the ground that drops down 176 meters into Starlight Cave making it New Zealand's deepest vertical shaft (must... not... make... joke). We turned off the main road onto a 11km long gravel track weaving along precarious cliff sides, through forests, up hills and past many, many sheep. Arriving at the parking area for Harwoods Hole we got out and bush walked for45 minutes through forest and over some craggy rocks.

We took a slight detour on the way to go up to a lookout which overlooked the surrounding valley, the final 20 meters of which requires you to climb up a 45 degree angle collection of sharp and jagged rocks before clinging to the edge of said rocks and peering sheepishly over the edge. I left Fiona behind as I crawled my way to the top and snapped a few shots before climbing back down to solid ground.


Careful
I literally just stuck my hand out over the edge for this shot.
Another 10 minutes walk and we arrived at Harwoods Hole, with no fencing or barriers it was difficult to tell where the hole actually started and again I journeyed in closer alone to have a better look. I climbed in through a narrow crack in the rock, jamming my back against the rock behind me and my legs pushed forward, hard. I peered over the edge into the abyss and all I could see was darkness below. We grabbed a few shots where we could, but the size of the hole and the collection of rocks around made it hard to see the hole itself.


Harwoods Hole
It's there if you look closely.
We made the long walk back to the car and as we headed back along the gravel road, we decided to stop on a nice patch of grass under a tree and have a picnic lunch which we had packed, a box of Shapes and all. We finished our gourmet Christmas lunch and packed up, just before the rain set in.


Christmas Lunch
Picnic at craggy rocks.
We set off again, this time for Te Waikoropupu Springs, which produces some of the purest water on the planet, producing about 14,000 litres of water per second. It also holds the world record for horizontal visibility in fresh water at 63 meters which "approaches the theoretical maximum for optically pure water". I filled up a couple of bottles for the road and had a taste, it was icy cold and beautiful. Fiona of course refused to try it "you don't know what could be in it!"


Te Waikoropupu Springs
World Record Owning
With no petrol stations open on Christmas Day and our fuel running low we decided to head home rather than risk continuing on. Back at the White Elephant we had a Christmas dinner of spaghetti bolognese, garlic bread and a bottle of champagne and some pudding for dessert, then sleep.

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New Zealand - North Island to South Island - Wellington to Motueka - Day 8
December 24, 2005

Out the door bright and early to make our way to the ferry which was to take us from Wellington in the North Island to Picton in the South Island. We said goodbye to Dale on our way out and gave her a small gift we picked up at the Te Papa Museum for providing us with free accommodation. Then we made our way to the ferry terminal, dropping off our new but gutless little car to the rental company on the way. We had notched up just over 1330 kilometers during our time in the North Island.

We boarded the Interislander ferry and being Christmas Eve, it was packed to near capacity (which is 1600 passengers and 600 vehicles). We found ourselves a seat at the front of the ferry looking out the front windows, making sure that the horizon was well in view so we didn't get sick. We decided not to grab breakfast at the huge buffet style cafe on board and instead settled for a soft drink each for the trip.

The ferry started the journey out of Wellington Harbour and a while later the captain of the ship came on the intercom, saying something along the lines of "This is your captain speaking, today's crossing isn't going to be good, can I suggest everyone just find a seat and stay in it until we get through the worst of it. The upper deck will be closed due to the strong seas". The "worst of it" came about one hour into the trip as the ferry came out of the calm protected waters and into the open sea between the two islands, the dreaded Cook Strait.


South Island
I'm never going on that ferry again.
For the next 45 minutes I was in hell, it started with a gallon of sweat pouring down my face. Looking out the windows didn't help as all we could see was either a spray of water on the glass or the ocean itself as the boat dipped back down again at a 45 degree angle, no horizon. Luckily I was one of the first to go and I didn't have to witness other people throwing up and trying to hold it back myself. A few kids beat me to opening the sick bags, but after filling mine with pretty much pure orange Fanta I was feeling much better and laid down for a nap. Fiona managed to survive the ordeal unscathed.

Roughly three hours after we left Wellinginton we disembarked in Picton on the South Island. As we waited at the carousel for our luggage we watched as at least five identical Eskys passed by, one of which we knew must be ours. Luckily everyone else had the good sense to label their Eskys so all we had to do was find the one without a name on it. We had to hit the road almost immediately to make it to Motueka that evening, so we picked up our rental car which was to become our second home for the next two weeks, a Honda Logo.


"The" Honda Logo
Bathe in it's glory.
It was an older car, and one of the car speakers didn't work, but as we hit the road it was obvious that it shat all over the Hyundai Getz we had in the North Island, going up hills like they weren't there... comparatively anyway. Our only real stops on the way to Motueka were just outside Nelson where I had to run into a strange colonial style fun park to use their amenities before my bladder exploded, and then in Nelson itself to use the internet, grab some late lunch and get food supplies for Christmas Day.


The White Elephant
Formally the Pink Elephant.
We checked into our accomodation at the White Elephant Backpackers at around 5pm. Although the place itself was nice, with our own separate cabin at the back of the property and the German owners were fairly friendly, we felt quite alienated during our stay there as most of the other occupants spoke foreign languages and congregated together in the evenings. We went for a quick drive around the town and down to the beach at sunset, before having dinner and hitting the sack for the night, waiting for Santa to come.


Motueka Beach
Gilligan not shown.

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New Zealand - North Island - Wellington - Day 7
December 23, 2005

We awoke and had breakfast at the motel, and since it was Fiona's birthday, it was decided by Dale that she was to go and visit her 96 year old Great Auntie Lal at a nursing home on the way to Wellington. After arriving and waiting for her to come out, we sat around talking about people I've never heard of or met for about 30 minutes or so, and upon announcing that we were leaving, we had to pry Auntie Lal's hand from Fiona's and have Dale distract her while we made a hasty escape in another car. "She won't let you leave, just go" she whispered to us while she kept Auntie Lal busy.


Wellington
Raining one day, Raining the next.
We left clear skies at the nursing home to be greeted with a torrent of rain as we reached the Wellington CBD, which was a mere 20 minutes away. We bought some cookies to snack on and took the cable car to the top of the Botanic Gardens overlooking the city and harbour. We wandered through the small cable car museum, hoping the rain would clear enough to get some decent photos, before finally giving up and taking the cable car back down. We headed out to Oriental Bay for lunch to celebrate Fiona's birthday and ended up at a dodgy restaurant overlooking a fountain several hundred metres out in the water.


Cable Car Museum
Really, I'm not drunk.
With little hope of any nice views I decided we'd drive out to the suburb of Karori and try and find the house where Fiona spent the first 3 years of her life, given that she was born in Wellington. A phone call to Fiona's mum back home in Oz provided us with some basic directions to follow, we found the address, but after following the driveway we found two houses at the end. With some guesswork Fiona decided she knew which house was number 14, and we took a couple of photos...hoping it was the right house.


Rain
Get used to it.
It turns out it was the right house, but regardless we drove back into the city and wandered in the rain checking out the various landmarks like "The Beehive", New Zealand's Parliment House, Old St Pauls Catherdal (the oldest woodwork church...or something) and the Parlimentary Library. Many years ago both of Fiona's parents worked at the library and it is the site where they met and fell in love.


New Zealand's Parlimentary Library
Wellington's Hot Spot for Love
The rain was clearing slightly so after our sightseeing we drove back up to the top of the Botanical Gardens to get some less obscured views of the city. It was getting late so we quickly stopped back at the Te Papa museum to get a gift for Dale to thank her for our free accomodation before buying some fried rice and champagne and retiring to our room for the night to enjoy a relaxing dinner in our big room and take advantage of the spa.

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New Zealand - North Island - Tongariro National Park to Wellington - Day 6
December 22, 2005

We set the alarm for 5:30am hoping the weather would be clear for us to see the volcanoes, but after peeking out the window to a view of white fog we went back to sleep. A few hours later and the weather hadn't gotten any better so disappointed we decided to move on, but not before bestowing onto Tongariro National Park the "Most Spectacular View We Didn't See" award.


Tongariro National Park Volcanoes
It didn't look like this for us.

Before we left the area we took a short detour up the side of Mount Ruapehu just outside the ski town of Ohakune. Mangawhero Falls was the destination, a location where a scene from Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was filmed. The waterfall itself wasn't shown in the movie, but the stream above that feeds it was - in the scene Frodo and Sam walk along the stream while Gollum splashes about in the water trying to catch a fish. It was freezing cold when we were up there, and apparently when they filmed the scene it had snowed the day before and firemen with hoses had to wash away the snow before they could shoot. So I can't imagine how cold it was for actor Andy Serkis in the water at that temperature.


Gollum's Stream
How it looked in the movie.


Mangawhero Falls
How it looks in real life.

Back in the warm car, it was off to Wellington, with the only real stop on the 300km trip south at Levin for lunch. At 3:30pm we arrived at Fiona's father's cousin Dale's place at Paremata, a suburb north of the Wellington CBD. Dale runs the Marina Motor Lodge and she was kind enough to give us a free room while we were in Wellington. Not just any room though, the largest room we had on the entire trip, complete with a spa bath! For that I give it "The Best Room We Didn't Pay For" Award.


Marina Motor Lodge
Enough Room To Swing A Cat.

With a few hours to kill before dinner we threw some clothes in the wash and headed into the city. After getting lost and making our way through the winding streets and crazy local traffic (who don't slow down on one lane streets when they see you coming, they just scrape your mirrors and climb up the gutters on the way past) we were greeted with 360 degree views of Wellington from the top of Mount Victoria.


Wellington
Viewed from Mt Victoria.

After dodging death again on the way back into town we stopped at Te Papa, Wellington's huge museum. We wandered through the various exhibits on New Zealand's volcanic activity, fauna and maori culture before heading back to the motel for dinner and many drinks with Dale, her husband and her brother. We finally stumbled back to our room around 11pm.

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New Zealand - North Island - Rotorua to Tongariro National Park - Day 5
December 21, 2005

Setting off at a comparatively late 9am, we decided to check out a few of the attractions around Rotorua that we had missed the day before due to my flu, which while still present was slightly more bearable than the day before. Passing the green and blue lakes (which weren't anywhere near as impressive as we were led to believe due to the overcast and rainy weather) we made our way to the Buried Village of Te Wairoa.


Buried Village
One of the many waterfalls.

The Buried Village is the buried remains of a town destroyed by the eruption of Mt Tarawera in 1846. With a timetable to stick to we rushed through the museum showing artifacts excavated after the eruption and information on the eruption and the Maori prophecy which foretold the disaster before making our way to the buried buildings themselves. We wandered through the partially buried and some partially excavated buildings before coming to a stream which passed through the village, we could have grabbed the big rainbow trout swimming in it with our bare hands from the shore, but we didn't. We took the lookout path past a series of waterfalls to a spot overlooking Lake Tarawera before making our way back to the main building and back on the road again.


Wai-O-Tapo Mud Pools
One of my flu symptoms.

We drove back towards the Lady Knox Geyser and Wai-O-Tapu to see the Mud pools which are apparently one of the largest mud pools in the world. After grabbing a few happy snaps of erupting mud globs it was back into the car and south towards our next destination - Tongariro National Park. We stopped a couple of times on the way, first at Huka Falls to see the vibrant blue colour of the waters and then briefly at The Craters of the Moon thermal area. With the rain getting heavier we decided that we'd already seen similar things at Rotorua and figured it would be better to stay dry, so we moved on.


Huka Falls
It's really blue 'n stuff.

As we drove along the road to National Park we could barely make out the base of the volcanic mountains of Tongariro, Ngaruhoe and Ruapehu as they rose up through the thick cloud above us. Disappointed that we couldn't see the supposedly stunning views of the mountains, we dropped the luggage at our accommodation and drove up to Whakapapa Village on the slopes of Mt Ruapehu. After stopping briefly at the visitors center we drove up to the ski field at the very top, being summer there was no snow (even though it was bloody freezing), but the barren rocky landscape surrounded by thick fog was quite eerie, and you could see why they filmed some of the scenes for Mordor in the Lord of the Rings movies there.


The Slopes of Mt Doom.
It's really rocky 'n stuff.

On the way down the mountain we decided to attempt one of the shorter walks (1 hour return) up the slopes as the weather seemed to be clearing up a little. We must have made it about half way before the rain and cold set in again and we had to admit defeat and turn around. Cold, wet, sick and miserable we went back to our accommodation and made use of the hot spa. We spent the rest of the night relaxing in the lounge of our accommodation before having an early night, hoping the weather would be clear in the morning so we could catch a glimpse of the volcanoes.

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New Zealand - North Island - Waitomo to Rotorua - Day 4
December 20, 2005

After much protesting I was awoken to hit the road to Rotorua (or "The Big Stink" as it's known), feeling thoroughly shitty as my flu was getting worse. We left Waitomo on our two and a half hour drive east to Rotorua through the pouring rain and sheep blocking the highway.


Rush hour at Waitomo.
A classic example of a kiwi and his harem.
We reached our first stop at Wai-O-Tapu "Thermal Wonderland" which is a group of natural thermal formations with a fence around it and an entry fee to get in. We paid for our tickets and grabbed a dodgy umbrella (it kept opening of its own accord) from the gift shop to protect us for the torrential downpour outside. However, then we discovered that the Lady Knox Geyser which was due to erupt in about 10 minutes was back on the road we just came from on an unlabeled side road, so we could have basically gotten in there to see that without paying, had we known it was there.


Fiona with the Lady Knox Geyser
Something in this photo smells.
We jumped back in the car and raced to the geyser, stepped out of the car with our umbrella ready and the rain stopped. This would be the first of many times the weather fairy would bless us as we developed a bit of a pattern with rain stopping as we opened the car door and starting again as soon as we got back in. We enjoyed our first taste of the sickly sulfur smell as the geyser erupted in front of us before we drove back to the main area of Wai-O-Tapu to see the rest of the formations.

We wandered the "wonderland" for a good hour or two with much complaining and taking rest stops for my failing body, witnessing various sights like bubbling mud pools, strange coloured lakes and hot pools belching stinky steam, hot waterfalls and a small lake of water which was literally neon green in colour along with many steaming craters and vents. We eventually made our way back to the entrance and set off again for our accomodation at "The Funky Green Voyager" in Rotorua.


Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland
Take a deep breath before you enter.
We reached our hostel around lunch time and made sandwiches before I took a few cold and flu tablets we'd picked up in town and had a brief nap. It didn't last long as Fiona dragged me back into the car as I muttered between breaths "I'm dying". We made our way to Kuirau Park which is a free public park in the town itself with several active hot pools and mud pools dotted between trees and naturally fed hot spas for your feet. Though not as varied and large as Wai-O-Tapu, Kuirau Park was actually quite good and some of the hot pools and mudpools were more impressive and active than the paid entry park.

We drove through a few back streets and witnessed the many thermal vents dotted around people's yards on our way to St Faith's Church and the Tamatekapua Maori Meeting House which overlooks Lake Rotorua. We headed back to our hostel after briefly checking out the Government Gardens surrounding the Rotorua Museum. There we waited for our bus to take us to the Mitai Maori Village, an "authentic" maori dinner and show night. The show is run by the Mitai Maori family and consisted of a demonstration of maori culture, dance and costume, minus the tattoos (they're all painted on) in a show and a Hangi meal (buried food with hot coals) afterwards.


Matai Maori Village
Caution, rehearsed bad jokes await you.
We were seated with a couple of Victorian kids (one that blinked a lot) and a friendly backpacking pom while we ate, after which we were taken on a short tour to a small spring on the property, passing some glowworms through the forest on the way. With our bellies full and very tired we jumped back on our bus to take us home to bed at the Funky Green Voyager.

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New Zealand - North Island - Auckland to Waitomo - Day 3
December 19, 2005

Up bright and early to hit the road to Waitomo, roughly a 2 hour and 45 minute drive south of Auckland. We stopped on the way at Otorohanga to visit the Kiwi House, a bird sanctuary which should be renamed "A crap load of other birds and 2 Kiwi's House". Rain started setting in as we progressed to Waitomo and by the time we reached our accommodation at Juno Hall Backpackers it was well and truly pouring. We had a quick look at our first room with an ensuite on the trip and put on the slicks as we took off again for our cave tours.

We had a bit of time to kill so we stopped in at the Angora Rabbit Shearing Shed. Here we met a strange over informative Kiwi woman who told us that the buildings and facilities for the glowworm caves had burnt down completely just 3 days prior, and that the caves had only just been reopened for tours that day. "They think it was arson" she half whispered to us.


Otorohanga Kiwi House
Kiwis are much larger than I thought they were
The conversation eventually moved on to the angora rabbits and it was then she told us about the possum problem in New Zealand after I pointed out some of the possum fur and hybrid rabbit/sheep/possum wool items for sale in the shed's shop. The native Australian possums were introduced years ago and now are a huge problem in New Zealand with an estimated 70 million over both islands causing major problems for the native vegetation and fauna. We saw hundreds of them squished on the road during the trip ourselves.

We actually walked in as they were just finishing shearing one of the rabbits and saw it stretched out length ways on something resembling a torture rack. Shaved ("not shaved, they're actually sheared" this woman would say) they don't look much different to a regular rabbit, it wasn't until they brought out a before specimen that we saw what they really looked like...a big ball of fluff.


An Angora Rabbit
Satan comes in many forms.
We managed to escape from the shearing shed by distracting the woman with an elaborate plan which I won't go into, let's just say it involved duct tape, flashing lights, loud sounds and a bottle of chloroform. Upon arriving at the Aranui Caves we met our tour guide and discovered that we were to be the only 2 people on the tour. With our own private tour guide we wandered the caves at our own pace and took a ton of photos which didn't turn out and generally admired the stalagmites, stalactites and various strange formations as we chatted to the tour guide about real estate prices in Brisbane.

Moving on we arrived at the Glowworm Caves and saw the big black patch of ground where the office, cafe and souvenir shop once stood. We entered the cave with our large Maori tour guide with a strange over-pronunciated way of talking and had a brief tour on foot through the caves which appeared much larger in height and width in some places than the Aranui Caves. Working our way down, we jumped in a little boat and slowly cruised through the underground river to see the thousands of glowworms (which are actually fly larvae) above us, the river exited the caves back near where the now burnt down buildings once stood and we made a mad dash through the rain back to the car.

With the rain showing no sign of easing we went to a local cafe at another hostel for pizza before heading back for a lazy evening in our room at the hostel and early to bed as I felt more symptoms of a flu setting in.


Aranui Caves
Natural habitat of the Angora Rabbit

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