New Zealand Part One - North Island

Day 1 – Arrive in Auckland 27.04.07

Auckland was, I must admit, a bit of a disappointment. No offence to people who live in Auckland, but the city just didn’t do anything for me. It was ok but it felt like I could be anywhere, it had no real personality. It probably didn’t help that on the first night we ate at a place called The Loaded Hog down by the waterfront. I’d previously seen the menu and the food sounded good but I should have realised why no one else was eating there. The food was the worst I’ve ever experienced in my entire life, no word of a lie! We both ordered steak at about $28NZ each with wasn’t cheap. It looked very fancy when it came out but the test was in the tasting. The amount of meat you got was quite a chunk but then you realise that most of it is fat and gristle, and for a medium to well steak it was looking closer to being medium to rare. In short, the meat was terrible so I decided to just eat the pumpkin and kumara mash and the wilted spinach. OMG! I can someone fuck up that as well! All I could taste was oil. I love pumpkin, it’s probably my favourite veg along with fresh broad beans and I’ve enjoyed sweet potato before as well as spinach, yet it all tasted so revolting. I couldn’t eat it. Mr M managed to swallow some of it down but he clearly didn’t enjoy it either. I ended up at Burger King having large fries – Yum!
However, although the food was bad the people can be very friendly. After an afternoon walk and getting our bearings, we called into a pub which I think was called The Red Lion. It was Friday after work so it was a bit busy but we managed to get a small table that was big enough for just the two of us. It wasn’t too long before a strapping guy in what I remember was an All Blacks top, came and parked his beer on our table. After a while we made eye contact and exchanged pleasantries before nattering away about our trip and where we were going. He was a lovely and friendly young man who happened to work in the travel industry and gave us a few suggestions on things to see and more importantly taught me how to pronounce Rotorua. I do like to be able to pronounce names correctly, particularly when in a foreign land.


Day 2 – Auckland 28.04.07

It was my birthday and after the disaster of the night before with food, we wondered what was best to have for a birthday meal. In the end we opted for an Italian, it has been known that you can fuck up a good Italian meal but it is very rare. We went back to the waterfront to a lovely restaurant which had good food and excellent wine. In all a good night.
During the day we went to the Sky Tower to gaze upon Auckland. It’s quite cool as the clouds in NZ are amazing so as well as good views you get to see some lovely cloud formations. We saw the Museum from the tower and decided to head for that next.
What a walk! The Museum is a fair trek out from the City centre and there are probably easier ways to walk there instead of the very steep street that we chose to hike up. We finally reached The Domain, grounds which the museum is in and headed towards a map to figure out where we had to walk to now. The map looked to be taking us a long way round so we opted to go over the grass hill. There are the two of us hiking up this hill and when we reach the top, we see the Museum straight ahead – hoorah! Then comes the part of getting down the hill, fortunately it wasn’t to steep and the grass wasn’t too damp so I didn’t end up falling on my behind even though I thought it would happen. Across another field, and there is our goal of the Museum. The field was a little muddy and it wasn’t until we reached the other side that we saw the notice that said they had sprayed Round-Up on there. Oh well, not going get any weeds growing on our shoes then!
The Museum was very good and I could have spent much longer in there but time was running short. They had a lovely section on Maori history along with artefacts as well as a beautiful memorial for the soldiers on the top floor and when the sun hit the glass stained windows the pictures on them jumped in to life with glorious colour. It really is a fantastic Museum and with hindsight, there must have been a bus service going out there. It is well worth a visit if you are in Auckland.
We walked back down to the City, stopping at a pub to refresh ourselves with a well earned beer. Which reminds me to look and see if I can get Tui here in Sydney as that was a lovely drop of ale.


Day 3 – Travel to Rotorua 29.04.07

The drive from Auckland to Rotorua was very picturesque even though it wasn’t a particularly nice day. We made good time and got to Rotorua around 1pm. The main thing we wanted to see was the thermal waters and the nice young chap who we met at the pub in Auckland told us to go to Hells Gate! Intriguing!
But first we headed to the thermal waters of Waimangu. A lovely park area where you could spend hours walking around. The steam coming off the waters was very impressing as was their warmth when I put my fingers into a little stream. The one section has a body of water that looked like a bright blue lagoon. It made you want to go in but the fear of knowing you’d burn you skin off was enough to banish that notion at first thought. We had hoped to walk to the 3rd and final bus stop but time was against us again so we headed back early so that we could also get to Hells Gate.
So why go to two parks offering the same thing I hear you ask? Well, there is actually quite a big difference in these to parks. Waimangu is government owned and operated and is very much like walking around a national park, only there are bodies of lovely thermal waters everywhere that you just can’t help but be amazed by. Hells Gate on the other hand is Maori owned and has more Maori traditions involved, every day at about 1pm they give a demonstration of cooking with the thermal waters where you can actually eat the food. I would have adored to have tried some traditionally cooked Maori food but unfortunately we didn’t get to the park until about 4.30pm. Hells Gate was given its name by George Bernard Shaw although the real name for the area is Tikitere. After visiting Hells Gate, I can see why Shaw named it so. Maybe it was the fact that it was very overcast and late in the afternoon but it did seem eerie and yet peaceful. I still wouldn’t fancy walking around there on my own though. But we were happy with our Hells Gate experience plus we got to see some boiling mud! If you are into Spa’s and getting pampered and happen to be in Rotorua, you could pop into Hells for a nice mud spa. Something I would have loved to have tried but sadly didn’t have the time L At least I managed bring a face pack of Mud back with me, although I haven’t tried it yet.


Day 4 – Travel to Wellington 30.04.07

We got up very early as we had a 6 hour drive to the Windy City of Wellies, sorry, Wellington. The drive was surprisingly nice and we were making excellent time. We went over or through Lindis Pass, past Lake Taupo and we had hoped to see Ruapehu but the weather wasn’t nice. We were heading down hill on State Highway 1 towards the little village of Waiouru, then Mr M notices flashing lights in the mirror. Should we be like Thelma and Louise and try to out run him? We were in a rented Daihatsu Sirion, I don’t think we would have got very far. We did the proper thing you should do in such a scenario and pulled over. And then I realise why we have been making such good time, we had been speeding! 125Kph in a 100Kph zone – Busted! Please sign here, please deposit $230NZ to the nearest Westpac within x amount of days. What made me chuckle though, was when the policeman realised we were Brits he said “I had a feeling you would be, it’s usually you guys who we do for speeding here, I think your speed limits are higher than ours”. Mr Plod was actually very nice and pleasant and we first thought that the fine was to be paid on the spot. I delved into my bag for my purse so Mr M and I could put funds together and pay it, when the nice Mr Plod said that we could pay it at the bank as they weren’t allowed to take cash. To which I said that it was a shame as it would have made good beer money. Then thought I probably shouldn’t have said that but he had a sense of humour, laughed and sent us on our merry way reminding us to keep to the speed limits as we had a lot more driving to be doing in NZ. We stopped at the petrol station in the town when Mr M said to look behind. It thought it was going to be the policeman again but instead the clouds had lifted just enough to see a snow capped mountain that looked remarkably like Ruapehu! Turns out it was.
After a few more hours of driving, we made it into Wellington for early afternoon and spent the rest of the day getting our bearings for the next day and having a general look around. Unfortunately, it was raining but we found an Indian restaurant and decided to go there for dinner as it wasn’t very far.


Day 5 – Wellington 01.05.07

One of the main things I wanted to see in the lovely City of Wellington was the Fur Seal reserve. We drove to the Quarry which was by the beach front and took a look around to find out what the score was here. Hmmm, a sign that says it’s a 3 hour walk there and back and that there was no cars allowed beyond that point. Ok, so we should take water. There is nothing near the start of this walk apart from sea and houses so trying to find a shop was out and I didn’t want to waste time in heading back. Luckily we had several water bottles in the car of which some still had water in. After pouring it all into one bottle we had almost 500ml of water. That should do us. We pulled our fleece jackets on, grabbed the camera bags and set off. It was looking doubtful that we would see and seals as the season is May – September if I remember rightly, and it was literally just the beginning of May. I had hope that I would see a seal but also had the realisation that I wouldn’t. Nevertheless, it was a lovely walk around the shoreline and very quiet, We finally saw two other people who were heading towards us, they had already made it to the reserve area and told us that there were two out there. I was so excited! We headed up the hill and stopped at the crest to look out and see if we could spot them. It wasn’t long before Mr M said that he’d seen one and pointed me in the right direction. There on a rock was a wild fur seal sunbaking! It was such a thrill to see and I eagerly snapped away with the camera. After walking around and awing at the natural beauty we were witnessing, we headed back up the crest of the hill we were stopped to see of we could see any that side. At first Mr M was sure that there wasn’t any there and started walking down, I kept looking and sure enough spotted another one! I showed Mr M where it was and again the cameras started clicking away. I’m sure I don’t need 30+ images of seals but I just couldn’t resist it.
We walked back around the shoreline to the car satisfied that we had came and seen what we wanted.
We still had the afternoon and went into the City to look for the cable car. As we had walked a fair distance we stopped for a bite to eat to keep us going before arriving at the Cable Car. It’s kind of like a funicular railway that stops at the University before carrying up the hill to the Botanic Gardens. It’s not a long journey but it is very pleasant but it was getting late and the light was fading so we headed back down to the City.
We walked back to the hotel and noticed that the Welsh Bar, which we had seen the night before but was closed, had lights on and appeared to be open. We, couldn’t not go in could we. It was incredible! It turned out that they are closed on Mondays so it was lucky that we had two nights in Wellington. I noticed the food menu and drooled at the thought of Faggots & Peas and then I saw it, never before I have I seen it on a menu this side of the world – Curry & Chips! The Welsh Bar must be heaven on the other side of the world. That was it, food was sorted for that night. Unfortunately, the lad behind the bar wasn’t too keen on cooking so I was left gutted that I couldn’t have my taste of home L We had no choice but to go elsewhere for food but we decided that we’d go back for one last drink later and to sign the guest book. We headed for a Chinese restaurant across the road, but by the time I ordered I was feeling awful with major stomach cramps. I’m still not sure what caused me to be ill but I hardly touched my food, even though it was nice, and ended up in bed my 10.30pm. And then I was gutted again as I really wanted to go back to the Welsh bar, but it was pretty obvious to look at me that I wasn’t going anywhere.


Day 6 – Wellington to Christchurch 02.05.07

We had an early evening flight to Christchurch and I still wasn’t feeling very well. Mr M suggested that we fly back to Sydney but I was adamant that we weren’t going to miss our holiday. I headed for the chemist and after popping a tablet, started to feel a little better. Due to my illness, I didn’t want to do anything strenuous, actually all I wanted to do was sleep, so we spent the day driving around the outskirts of the City and making sure we knew our way to the airport. We stumbled across a reserve park and parked up to go for a walk, we saw a nice winding road on the bottom of the hill where we where and decided to try and find it. After driving through a lot of housing estates we decided to head back towards the City and just drive about. Sure enough we stumbled on to the lovely windy ocean road that we had seen and drove along that twice, taken in the beauty and splendour of the outskirts of Wellington before we had to head for the airport.
Our flight to Christchurch was delayed and by the time we reached the hotel we had enough time for a quick snack and a glass of wine before heading to bed. Tomorrow we had to be back on the road!