Hello all!
We have been terrible at keeping up to date with this! We're sorry! It’s been so manic these past three months but here follows a bumper-blog update...
New Zealand
We flew to Auckland from Melbourne on February 15th. We spent a few days in Auckland, getting to see lots of the lovely sights of the city. We took the ferry to Rangitoto Island which is a volcano formed in Auckland's bay only six hundred years ago, we hiked an hour to the top and saw incredible views over Auckland. The coolest part of it was that the volcano was so young that the ground was still quite hot from the lava underfoot!!
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| This is the lush view of Auckland from the top of Rangitoto |
We saw the QE2 cruise ship docked in Auckland harbour which was massive, and really pretty to watch over cocktails in the night! We spotted the USA edition of 'Biggest Loser' being filmed in the bay too which was really funny! We visited the museums and botanical gardens which overlooked the city.
We had a couple of nice nights out in the bay and on K Street. Then it was time to pick up our CAMPERVAN!!! :) We'd so wanted to buy one when we first got to Australia and though we love our station wagon Brucie, we were super excited!
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| Getting creative in the sands of Pakiri |
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| Our home for our Kiwi Adventure! |
We headed north out of Auckland and into the Northland. It was absolutely beautiful as soon as you drove out of the city. We headed to Goat Island Marine reserve where we borrowed snorkels and got in the sea! We were some of the only ones without wetsuits, but it wasn't too cold! The kelp and the waves interrupted our sea-viewing and as it was Bex's first time snorkeling it wasn't the longest trip out, but felt great to not have to worry about sharks for once!! We then went to Pikiri beach where we saw yet another film being shot which was cool, a German Romeo and Juliet!
We headed to The Bay of Islands next which was super pretty but didn't have much nightlife! We tried (and failed) to have a night out and treated ourselves to a bed for the night!
We then headed even further north visiting lots of beautiful beaches and eventually coming to the northern most point of New Zealand: Cape Reinga. This beautiful place felt really spiritual; the Maori believe that this is the site where spirits enter the afterlife. We sat and watched the Tasman Sea merging with the Pacific Ocean and the views (see pics) were incredible!
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| Cape Reinga |
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| A long way from home.... |
Next we travelled south and visited the Waitomo Caves where we saw millions of glow-worms illuminating the ceilings of the caves like a beautiful cathedral. We couldn't take pictures unfortunately. Then we headed to Rotorua. This was a completely incredible place. It was like something on the moon! Bubbling sulphurous geysers dotted everywhere, and thermal baths, unfortunately the place absolutely stunk!! This was the day of the earthquake in Christchurch; it was unreal to see the devastation unfold on the news.
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| Cave Stalagtites(check us geographers out!) |
We went zorbing here which was so much fun! We then headed to Lake Taupo where we again enjoyed the thermal baths. We then headed to Napier which was a pretty but boring place. We did get to visit the wineries which were amazing and we found the world’s longest place name! (See pic)
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| Epic longest place name in the world! |
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| Geyser at Rotorua |
We then headed south to catch our ferry! We spent a couple of days in Picton and Blenheim visiting about 9 wineries including Cloudy Bay and Villa Maria! Carla was in her element with all the free Pinot Noir on offer but even the best Sauv Blanc in the world couldn't convince her to enjoy it!
We then drove to Nelson which was a really nice town and on towards the Abel Tasman National park. We did a 26km hike along the coast of the national park. It was incredibly beautiful, though we did get a peppering of rain at times!
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| View from our 26km trek along Abel Tasman |
We then travelled along the west coast of the South Island stopping off at Greymouth and arrived at Franz Josef the day before Carla's Birthday. We had a hilarious night out here where we played a game called ' Three Pegs'. Though we had misunderstood the Kiwi accent and had originally thought we were playing 'Three pigs'!!
Carla celebrated her birthday with a pancake breakfast followed by a day of hiking on the Franz Josef glacier. It was such an incredible day and veritable geographical porn for us two geographers! We had a lovely dinner and night in the pub too to console Carla for getting very old indeed!!
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| Carla's 24th spent on the Franz Josef Glacier! |
We then travelled across the thawed ski-fields to Wanaka and Queenstown. The journey was absolutely beautiful and we had the best burgers in the world at Red Star in Wanaka. We had a really great time in Queenstown. It was a beautiful little town, though it was really cold!!
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| Milford Sounds |
We took a trip to see Milford Sound. The fiords with hanging glaciers, waterfalls, basking seals and soaring albatrosses were incredible.
We saw Top Gear being filmed on the way home! We also took the Skyline Gondola for awesome views of Queenstown and the mountains we had the most incredible buffet lunch at the top which set us back around $60 each! It was incredibly opulent!!
We then headed up past Christchurch and towards Kaikoura where we spent the day whale watching! (See pics) we spotted four Sperm Whales, lots of seals and albatrosses.
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| One of the four sperm (chuckle) Whales we saw at Kaikoura showing off! |
We headed back up to Blenheim and to Queen Charlotte Sound, in the Marlborough sounds. We had a lovely couple of peaceful days exploring the sounds. We then had a manic trip back up north to get our flight back home!
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| View of Queen Charlotte Sound |
We stopped off at the Coromandel Peninsula and visited the famous Hot water beach where you dig a hole in the sand and can sit in warm spring water! We spent a very confortable night in the Grand Chancellor (flash packing!) Before heading back to Australia!
