Rachel and Matt’s World Tour

Hello all

Before we arrived in Lake Taupo we paid a visit to more caves, in a place called Waitomo. I think we have had our fill of caves now but the gloworms in these ones were very cool, as were the streams rushing along below us. The gloworms appeared as tens of thousands of little luminous specks on the ceiling of the pitch black caves so it looked like a night sky.

From Lake Taupo we managed the trek known as Tongariro Crossing in about 6.5hrs. It wasn’t all that bad effort wise, although my legs were aching for a while after! The clouds remained stubbornly in place for most of the morning, so we didn’t see much of the Red Crater or Mt Doom but the Emerald Lakes lived up to their name. After that it was full sunshine on the way down past the hot springs and more egg-smelling thermal vents. The last hour was through a really pretty forest following a rocky stream. We both really enjoyed it.

After our walk we headed south on the desert road and got our great views of Mount Doom at last.

We stayed the night in Palmerston North. We only stayed long enough to sleep and eat, and suffered the worst chinese meal we have had in our lives – chowmein with no noodles?! and tons of cauliflower?! – yuck. Apparently, (Lonely Planet)John Cleese said that Palmerston North is somewhere you go if you want to die but don’t have the nerve to commit suicide. The town responded by naming the dump after him!

So we moved swiftly on to Upper Hutt, near Wellington, to meet Matt’s Aunt Maureen, her husband Wayne and their numerous wonderful animals! We have had a fantastic last couple of days there, including a day trip to Wellington and our first NZ BBQ. We were spoiled rotten with great food and a very cosy bed (which was a very welcome respite from the campervan ‘mattresses’).

Today we tore ourselves away from their great hospitality and took the ferry to the South Island. We are in Nelson, planning a day at the market and on the beach tomorrow and then on to Abel Tasman for some more walking, maybe some kayaking, maybe some boat trips.

I’m making Matt buy a lotto ticket tomorrow because he was the luckiest bugger today! His hat blew up, off and away out of sight on the deck of the ferry, and so he was in a bit of a grump. An hour later I stepped out the door on the other side of the ferry and instantly heard a guy say ‘there’s a hat there too’. So I looked up and a guy was climbing up on the roof to retrieve a
broken beer bottle – and this hat, which I swiftly recovered. What are the odds?!. ‘Matt the hat’ was best pleased.

Anyway I’ve written too much – sorry. Laters x

Hello!

After our last post we have had a busy few days.

After leaving Auckland we drove down to the Coromandel Peninsula, spending the night in a very nice campsite by the sea.
The pensinsula is full of more gorgeous beaches and coves as seems the norm on the north island.

The next day we stopped off at Driving Creek Railway & Potteries.
Basically a potter who owned the surrounding land built a small section of track to the clay beds in the hills, but never stopped!
Nearly 30 years later the track is 3km in length and ever growing.
Some great views were to be had from the highest point of the track.

We then carried on down the coast to Cathedral Cove, a stunning beach with super clear water, great for snorkeling.
Another beach we stopped at on the journey south was the famous Hot Water Beach.
Here, during low tide, water rises from the hot springs below the sand.
Simply dig a hole and you have your own private spa.
The water really is hot (ie burns your feet) and the beach had great waves, which the dolphins seemed to enjoy surfing!!

We had another long drive to get to Rotorua where were were looking forward to seeing a Maori show.
As part of our ticket we had access to Hells Gate thermal park, full of hot pools, bubbling mud and steaming vents, all very smelly, as Rach will testify (though not near the smells of Atlantic Close!).

The same evening we got a shuttle bus to Tamaki Maori Village. Our driver, Sonny, was great, getting everyone on the bus up to sing.
The show itself was very good and the Hangi (food cooked in an earth oven) was excellent. One for the meat lovers!

The next day we had our day trip to the White Island, New Zealands most active sub-marine volcano.
Situated 30 odd miles off coast from Whakatani, it took a 1.5 hour boat trip to reach, though it was far from boring as a school of dolphins came to say hello!

Aside from the dolphins we saw offshore at Hot Water Beach, these were the first myself and Rach had seen in the wild.
They really are elegant, keeping up with the boat with seeming ease.It definately wetted our appetite for seeing more sealife when on the south island.
Once we reached the island we were given hard hats and gas masks, which looked very stylish!
The main crater area is full of toxic streams, more mud pools and the main crater lake.
People actually lived on the island to mine the sulphur, but it is now  nature reserve.
The trip is definately worth it, if you are ever in the area. It’s like being on another planet.

We are now in Taupo preparing for an 8 hr trek around Mount Doom, from Lord of the Rings tomorrow.
We have to get a bus at 5.50am to the trail head, so it had better be worth it!

Hello everyone.

Apologies for the lack of decent updates. The internet in this part of the world is either very slow, very expensive, or both!

After collecting the Batmobile we headed to a small campsite at Waiwera.
Our pitch was right on the beach. A pretty cool way to start the trip.

Over the next few days we headed north to Cape Reinga via Whangarei and the Bay of Islands.

The Bay of Islands is one of NZ’s most popular destinations for Kiwi’s and the stunning beaches and coves lived up to expectations.

Unfortunately Rachels leg was a bit manky, following the Fijian insect bite, so we didn’t do much except take in the views, which was no bad thing.
You will be pleased to know she is on the mend, after a course of antibiotics.

At Cape Reinga, the top of NZ, where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman Sea, we soaked up the Vista.

Just down the road we stopped for a walk on 90 Mile beach, which apparently is only actually 60 miles or so long. Hope you like the pictures.

We drove back down south via the Kauri Coast. You thought you’d seen enough snaps of big trees from our USA posts – well, apologies, but here is just one more.

On our second brief visit to Auckland we took a trip up the Skytower – the tallest building in the southern hemisphere. Enjoyed some caffeine and more views.

We have also visited the Coromandel Peninsula and are currently in Roturua but we will save that for the next post as we have no photos uploaded yet.

Batman! Not overly impressive but to Matt’s relief not embarassing or offensive either! Most attention at campsites comes from inquisitive kids, which is quite cute.

We are already huge fans of NZ and drive by houses planning which one we are going to live in one day. It really is stunning and so immaculate! All roads, gardens houses etc look like some proud owner is really looking after them!

We have been driving up North toward Cape Reinga since we arrived. Not much to report except amazing scenery so far, as a bite (courtesy of a Fijian bug or spider) has turned nasty on my leg so I’m a bit incapacitated. Booooo.

Hopefully by my next post I will have lots to report.

Laters x

We arrived very uninformed to Fiji 12 days ago and soon discovered that the Islands were suffering from the effects of 2 cyclones in the area. We could not get to the port from which we were to head to the Yasawa Islands as the town of Nadi was suffering from the worst flooding they have seen in many years.

We were therefore stranded for 3 days in the torrential rain at a guesthouse near the airport. Very depressing, cheap and nasty place, often without power and running water. The only redeeming feature was the wonderful landlady Amelia. She was so friendly and a great cook. Luckily the people we were stranded with were great too, but by day 4 we were pulling our hair out.

Thankfully 24 hours of sunshine (which I didn’t see, having been confined to the room with the first attack of jelly belly of the trip) had reduced the flooding enough to get to the port, and the boat to the Yasawas was running again. So after a last minute dash, we arrived 30 mins late but luckily the boat was runnng on Fiji time and left 45 mins late! We made our way to a resort called Safe Landing on Nacula. The location was stunning. On a peninsula overlooking 2 bays, and our bure was right on the beach. Again we had great company from the Netherlands, Norway, Italy and Sweden. The problem was that cyclone number 3 was on its way – so again we were stranded for a further 4 days in torrential rain. We have however learnded lots of new card games from our companions as this was pretty much all the entertainment we had. Power was on for only a couple of hours each evening.

As soon as the sun came out again and the boat was running we escaped to Waya Lai Lai and discovered Fiji as it should be! A beautiful beach, super friendly staff, amazing food, great sunsets, and lots of activities. We snorkelled off the beach and we think we saw a small reef shark! We walked to the island summit at sunrise for the awesome view down to the village below and of the other yasawas around us. We have already met so many cool people on long travels and are getting lots of advice and lists of places we must visit.

We had 4 great days at Waya Lai Lai and I really did not want to leave. Of course being British and having spent the last month and a half in either snow or rain, at the first sight of sun we both got burned. And before you say anything Mums, we were smothered in factor 30 and 50! But its not enough and you really have to stay in the shade for most of the day.

Matt somehow managed to drag me away from Waya Lai Lai and back on the boat to Nadi ready for our flight tomorrow. We are staying in a bit of luxury (read air con and hot water!) at a small hotel called Smugglers Cove. We are really excited about New zealand and collecting our WICKED campervan (the whole fleet are spray painted with graffiti type designs) although Matt is panicking because we spoke to a couple who had a WICKED van in Oz that was painted with naughty naked ladies!
We will post a pic of the van we get in the next couple of days – keep your fingers crossed for us!!