So the land of the long white cloud… not so cloudy when we got here though. Lovely weather, and a lovely city – Wellington. Strikes us both as very British, clean, and a nice atmosphere. Amazing hostel in comparison to all others we’ve stayed in, again very clean, good facilities etc. Wellington has the most amazing pub with micro-brewery serving the best beer we’ve both ever tasted - Macks brewery, if you ever see any of their beers - buy them!
We weren’t sure weather to hire a car or buy one. That decision was made for us due to the lack of cars available to buy, or to hire!!! We couldn’t do either – Wellington was clean out of hire cars, and any decent backpacker cars to buy. Oh bugger!
We had no choice but to move cities – all the way to Auckland 10 hours on the bus, where they had a hire car available at a bargain £9/day.
Another city that could be anywhere in the world, but still good. The good weather didn’t last… on came a week of rain which isn’t the most fun when you’re staying in a tent. But hey it’s New Zealand it rains all the time right?
Took a few days exploring the North of the North Island. This was interesting as the weather was so bad, and couple that with the fact that any road in New Zealand which isn’t a highway is a crappy unsealed gravel track, and a crappy little hire car, makes for some crazy driving. We managed to bottom the car out on the gravel, which then started to make a horrendous grinding noise from the wheel. Hmmm, not good for the first few days in the hire car! Anyway, the noise soon went as did our concerns. We made it to Cape Reigna – the most northerly point in NZ.
Other stops heading south on the Island included Rotorua, Lake Taupo, Waitomo Caves, Parmiston North, and Pahiatua.
Rotorua stunk like rotten eggs, but strangely enough was a pleasant place to visit; lots of thermal activity in the form of mud pools, and hot creeks – all natural. We also met some cool friends here Kat and Lee – good old northerners from Manchester. We sat in a few hot spas and creeks, and then headed off to Lake Taupo with our new friends. Lots of free camping here… great spot right on the river. We tried our hand at fly fishing which resulted in no fish, so resigned to a night of poker and beer instead.
We said our goodbye’s to Kat and Lee, then off to see the glow-worms at Waitomo Caves, then back down south to Wellington to catch the ferry over to the South Island.
However, just as we were about to get sea sick over the Cook Straight, we checked our emails and the Kiwi girls we met in Canada had lined us up a nice comfy bed at their parents dairy farm in Pahiatua. This was without doubt the highlight of our trip. Lyn and Toka are very accommodating hosts, and soon had us hands on at the farm; rounding up lost cows, moving them across fields on the Quad bike, feeding the pigs. All a very worthwhile experience for the both of us. We also got to witness the cows getting pregnancy tested, and the sheep dogs at the neighboring farm rounding up those sheep – fascinating stuff.
Caught the ferry over to Picton on the south island, we were due to get there for midday, but there was a 4hr delay on the ferry. There’s always a bloody delay somewhere isn’t there? So we stayed a night in Picton – quite a neat little place to say it’s a ferry port, with a pub called the flying haggis serving some good local ale, and by a Scottish barmaid would you believe! We drove down the west side first, stopping at a few wildlife points of interest where we saw some sea-lions with their pups and also some yellow eyed penguins – so small and cute, but really shy. First thing that we noticed though, was how bad the bloody sand flies are. Jesus. New Zealand’s best kept secret I think. These savage little b**tards will bite the living hell out of you… they even put the mozzies to shame!
Anyway, enough of the moaning this one gorgeous jaw dropping mother of a country… a real good place to drive around if you know what I mean. Around every corner there’s a new mountain gorge or valley with amazing views, without taking away from the North Island, the South island is far spectacular. We drove over Authors pass which took us from the West coast over to the East where we ended up in Christchurch, sneaked in the YHA hostel for a shower, and then met up with Kat n Lee again for some more poker and beer (Lee is now a poker addict!). South after that through the Catlins region – abusing as much free camping as we could – New Zealand is quality for free camping, even if it is sometimes in the car!!
We drove past the amazing Milford Sounds then back north through Queenstown, headed west again and took a walk up to Fox Glacier. This is one huge glacier – it’s amazing how much they have advanced down the valley and then retreated over the years. After that we drove to Lake Wanaka, then Twizel, then Mt Cook (which sells the most amazing smoked salmon in the world), Lake Tekapo, and finally arrived back in Christchurch. New Zealand is by far the most beautiful country either of us have seen. Well worth the visit
)
Jean.