North Island highlights

So, since my last more diary-like post here's what I've been up to, in note form so you're not here all day reading about my adventures:

Bay of Islands - sunshine, beaches, blue seas, sailing, dolphins. Bliss. Leave me there for two weeks and I'd be happy. I'd wanted to catch up with my mate Tim's family in Kerikeri but didn't make it up that far, which was a shame. I also went to a Maori cultural evening at the Treaty House one evening. It was fascinating to learn more about this culture and their customs. I was surprised that this was the first Maori experience I've come across on the trip. After Bay of Islands I said a sad farewell to my closest travel mates. I was very sorry to see them go their separate ways.

The Coromandel Peninsula - rugged coastline, a lovely walk to Cathedral Cove, fresh fish Thai curry, thoughts of Laura and her family holidaying here...



 


Rotorua - NZ's geo-thermal capital. Think bubbling, stinking mud. And geysers. And lakes of all the colours of the rainbow. And steam coming out the ground in random places. And hot springs. And thermal baths. And the all-pervading stench of sulphur. Also worth a mention was my lemon and gingergrass and poached pear Helene ice cream. So good.

A visit to the Huka Falls where 200,000 litres of water plunge 9m over the rock face every second - enough to fill five Olympic swimming pools every minute. Pretty powerful. The vertical drop isn't very steep but the volume of water surging through the falls is pretty incredible. This was followed by a walk along the Waikato River to the town of Taupo with a dip in the river at the point where it was joined by a hot spring. It was hotter than bath water in parts.

Beautiful Lake Taupo as the sun set. It was smooth as glass and absolutely stunning. The shoreline was full of pumice stones. I'd never really stopped to think about where pumice stones came from. Shame I couldn't take one home for the bath.

An early start for the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, a 19.4k walk through volcanic terrain. Breathtaking scenery. Like nothing I've seen before. Hard bloody work too. But well worth it. Worthy of a mention was one of the Texan ladies in our group who sat on the minibus with her portable battery-powered make-up mirror, the sort with spotlights round it, applying a full face of make up and curling her eyelashes. At 6am. I kid you not. You may not be surprised to hear that her and her mate finished two hours later than everyone else.

So, although the North Island wasn't as much fun as the South, mainly thanks to the guides we had not really being up to scratch and the loss of my new-found friends, it was still pretty special. Looking through the photos again reminds me of just how special this country is. So varied. And so beautiful. I love it here.


I was so so happy to see Laura when she picked me up in Wellington yesterday. To be back in my second home. To have a shower. Do a wash. Two washes in fact. To have a bed. With a pillow. And a hot cross bun. Thanks to Laura my final North Island highlights have been just as good, although not as photogenic as the rest of the trip. Yesterday afternoon Laura took me to the cinema to see an awesome NZ film called Boy. You have to go see it. It made me laugh out loud. It made me cry. It was heart-warming and I'm happy I got to see it while I was in NZ. Laura's mate did the animation too:
http://www.boythemovie.co.nz

Afterwards we went for dinner at Floriditas. To continue the food porn theme I'll tell you what I had: feta and mint flat bread and warm olives to start, steak with roasted aubergine and tzatziki for main and half a warm fig and almond tart with vanilla ice cream for pud. Washed down with a delicious dessert wine. Yum. I thought a lot about Kate and Cav today as they celebrated their wedding back in Northumberland. I'm so sorry I missed it and wish I could have been there. 

Today has been very chilled. I got a chocolate bunny from Laura this morning so we demolished that with a cup of coffee. Then Steve came round and we started on the beers at noon (the clocks went back here last night so it was technically 1pm, that sounds a bit better). Laura made a delicious pasta and ragu sauce with a green salad followed by chocolate mousse for lunch. We also polished off our last bottle of Murdoch James pinot gris. A very civilised way to spend Easter Sunday. The weather has turned cold and damp, it really feels like autumn is on its way here, so it's been a good excuse to not do much this afternoon. Happy Easter to you all. I hope it's filled with lots of Cadbury's Creme Eggs.