Greymouth-Franz Josef

Once again, I stayed one night in greymouth and the next morning we set off for Franz Josef. We made a stop half an hour away to get any last minute things before heading to franz josef where we wouldn’t have any shops. I managed to fall asleep in that half an hour trip even though I assured the others that I wouldn’t! A quick stop to do some gold panning and find our fortunes before heading to Franz Josef for midday in time to do the half day glacier hike. We quickly checked into the hostel and grabbed something to eat before running down to the meeting point. There we were given out boots and rain jackets, spikes for the ice-they do have a special name but I cant exactly remember it! – hats and gloves and we were on our way. Before we even got to the glacier, we had to go for a 2km walk through the valley and up ladders and rocks and around and down to the bottom of the glacier. I was exhausted before we even started up the glacier and was really wishing I had gotten more sleep the night before. From there we put our spikes on and started the hike up the glacier being extremely careful as not to fall. We roamed around the ice for a while exploring different nooks and crannies before heading back down for the eagerly awaited trip back… I was glad that I had chosen to do a half-day hike because I would hate to think what I would be like at the end of a full day!! We got back to the hostel at about half 5 where Andre was on the tv! It really reminded me of my childhood and I sat and enjoyed every moment of it. It was off to bed early that night exhausted but extremely happy.

Wellington-Picton-Nelson-Greymouth

A flying visit to Wellington and the next morning we made our way to the South Island. The ferry left at 9 am and took just over three hours. Apparently there was lots of beautiful scenery and dolphins along he way but I missed it all as I fell asleep soon after we left Wellington. Our bus collected us from Picton and we left for Nelson. The views along the way were stunning, lots of green and hardly any clouds in the sky. We did make a stop to do some wine tasting but we also got the opportunity to do some olive oil tasting. It was quite delicious, and we filled our stomachs with the free bread and for dessert, we got to try the homemade dessert toppings. It was all quite delicious. We arrived in Nelson around 4PM and managed to get lost in the town even though it isn’t that big! At six o’clock, we were given free soup in the hostel and we spent the evening watching TV. This was my last night with some of the friends that I made along the way and I was quite sad to be leaving them and having to go the through the process of making new friends once again.
One night in Nelson and I was off to greymouth. This trip was full of stops to visit seal colonies and places known as pancake rocks. We arrived in Greymouth at about quarter past 5 where I was completelyt embarrassed by the owner who made a big show of me because I was the only person on my own. He put me in a room with 2 people who adopted me into their family for the night. That night we went to the brewery in Greaymouth where we got a tour of the brewery and got to practice pulling our own pints. I got 10 out of 10 for the pint and I pulled which revealed the irish in me! The brewery was full of locals who just went up behind the bar and pulled their own pints and who were all extremely friendly and delighted to talk to us all. From their we were taking to an all you can eat BBQ in the local hotel-which basically consisted of sausages and salad! We stayed their for the night all getting to know each other and having great fun dancing away and getting to know the locals from the exciting town of Greymouth.

Taupo-Wellington

The morning we were due to leave Taupo I decided to get up early and go for a swim in the largest lake in New Zealand… ha! As if! It was a beautiful morning as the bus left heading south for Wellington. We made a quick stop on the way to take a photo of Mt Doom- one of the many mountains featured in the Lord of the Rings. From there we continued the long journey to Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. One thing I did notice on this journey-apart from the minimal amount of stops- was that the bus driver waved at every large vehicle he passed by. For trucks or Lorries it was a small wave only lifting his hand a small bit off the wheel. For other buses, there was a bit effort put into the wave and the arm was waved into the air. I couldn’t help but imagine if car drivers were to wave at every similar sized vehicle they saw, they would have extremely sore arms! Before we arrived into Wellington, the bus driver spoke over the pa and said that he had a song, which he plays all the time before arriving at a destination and we all would know the actions and he would keep putting it back to the beginning if he didn’t see the whole bus doing the actions… Everyone was confused and, later hugely embarrassed when “the Wheels on the bus” came on. We all did the actions and after three attempts we got the whole song through and we were, all laughing and now excited to arrive in Wellington. We arrived mid afternoon, which gave me enough time to drop my things and make my way to the Te Papa Museum and learn about the Maori culture and the history of New Zealand. I experienced another beautiful sunset on my way back from the Museum as the sun set over the harbour. I sat and soaked it all in before heading back to the hostel. Oh, the simple pleasures in life

Taupo

I decided to stay in Taupo for 3 nights to catch up on some sleep and to catch up with some old friends. I took it easy the afternoon I arrived finding out all the news I missed while gone and was greatly entertained by a hip-hop group who were staying in the hostel. They had taken over the lounge room playing a game which one of them had invented which involved paper, scissors, rock and a lot of dancing around and laughing. It was extremely entertaining and became very popular over my time there. For the evening, I sat and watched them rehearse for there show the following evening. It was amazing to see the amount of dedication and energy they had. They spent hours dancing, but at the same time, they had fun and seemed to be enjoying every minute of it. The next day, we went and bought tickets to go see their show that night. It was truly amazing. I had seen the full show the night before but not once did I stop smiling or being amazed by these talented people. It was such an enjoyable evening and was finished off with a cooked meal for 5-one of them, a girl from Cork, I’m finding them everywhere! - And a relaxed evening by the TV. The next day we went and got ice cream and walked along the lakefront as the sun set, it was truly beautiful. I have seen so many sunsets in the time that I have been away but they never cease to amaze me. My final evening was spent as it was the last time I was in Taupo- Mulligan’s Pub Quiz! Although this time, we managed to win, although whether we did it truthfully or not I cannot say! It was good to be back again and sad to say goodbye once more but I have very fond memories and lots of pictures!!

Rotorua - Taupo

I stayed one night in Rotorua and when I arrived enjoyed a nice swim in a naturally heated swimming pool. It was really lovely although after sometime you did heat up quite a bit!!

The next morning we had an early start, not to good after a late night! This journey was to Taupo. A journey, which normally takes about an hour, took us 5 and a half hours. This included many stops along the way-sometimes too many stops. Our first stop was to see the mud pools located just outside of Rotorua. It was a quick stop to definitely look and not touch otherwise it would have been a very painful experience. After that, we made our way to the ‘Lady Knox Geyser’. This erupted daily-something which I thought was all natural, and was very disappointed to discover that this process involved a man placing something inside the geyser to make it erupt-at 10.30AM. While I was standing waiting for the process to begin, I turned around and saw the people who brought me to Auckland on the Friday night standing right beside me! It was pretty amazing watching the geyser erupt and it was quite pretty too, especially as there was a rainbow in the background.

From there it was on to the geothermal park, which is not a place for those who have very sensitive smell. Leaving the bus, you are greeted with a very strong smell of sulphur-almost as if someone had major wind problems (yes, it did remind me of Shrek!). Once inside there are hundred of different areas of green coloured sulphur pools and red coloured sulphur pools, although I did not walk around all of the pools! It was quite a beautiful and powerful-I’m talking about the smell here- experience!

From there we did the longest part of the journey to Taupo, which lasted about half an hour before those of us who weren’t doing skydiving, were dropped off at a honey centre and left to wait for an hour before our bus driver returned to bring us on again. After tasting all the different types of honey and putting on as much hand crème as is possible there was nothing really left to do and we were left outside longing for the bus to return. Eventually it did and before we were dropped off at our hostels; we paid a visit to the Huka Falls just outside of Taupo, which although very pretty, are nothing compared to what I saw in South America and to the location of where I had my moment of madness the last time I was in Taupo: Taupo Bungy! It was fun being back as a visitor and actually having a chance to look properly at what I had done without worrying if the rope will break or not. From there, we finally were brought to our hostels. I returned to Tiki Lodge to be greeted by some old faces and it felt good to be back there again.

Back To New Zealand- Auckland Rotorua

Once again I was returning to New Zealand although this time it wasnt at some ridiculous hour and I knew what I was doing. I was sad to leave Sydney but excited to be returning to do more exploring in New Zealand.I left on a Friday afternoon and on the plane over I started talking to the lady sitting beside me. Turns out that we had a lot of similarities and we talked a bit. And when the plane was landing she asked how i was getting from the airport to the city. I told her that I was planning on getting the bus in and she said that her husband was collecting her and asked if i wanted a lift that it would be no problem. I being the backpacker and taking any opportunity to save money accepted and I was dropped to my location of need and very greatful to these wonderfully friendly and kind people that i met (if your reading this- Thanks Louise and Simon!. I was back in Auckland but this time i was all by myself. I didnt have anywhere to stay, I had to many bags but i was glad to be back. I checked myself into a hostel and got to my room at the same time as a lovely german girl and we also met our other room mate- from Cork!! Within minutes we were dumping our things and going out to get something to eat and drink. We spent the evening chatting and laughing and opening our hearts up. Its funny how open you are with strangers!!

The next morning I was on the beginning of my trip around New Zealand starting in Auckland and finishing in Queenstown in the South Island. We left Auckland at around 8 and made our way down to Rotorua stopping at various places for views of Auckland and a big stop at the Waitomo Caves to doBlack Water Rafting. This involved extremely tight wetsuits, hideous "gum boots", a big hard hat and a light on the hat... which mine didnt work! After a lot of breathing in deeply and wondering what we got ourselves into we made our way to the gaves and got ourselves a black round tube. From there we walked into the caves and jumped into freezing cold water ramped our legs around the person in front of us and floated through the cave feeling eels at our bums and looking at glow worms above us. We did at one stage have to stand at the edge of a wall with our back to the water and get pushed back into the water. That was great fun. After an hour and a bit, out water filled boots were pulled to the top of too many steps and we struggled to get our boots off and get rid of the water. The trip was finished with a hot shower and some hot soup before we had to jump on the bus and continue our journey down to Rotorua.