We got to Napier with a little confusion towards the end thanks to Google maps. Driving has been really testing out here, as there is a severe lack of road signs! Phil has been driving mostly, which is nice for me to be able to relax. The place we were staying at was very nice, I thought it was another hostel but it was actually a ’serviced apartment’ with our own kitchen, dishwasher and all. It felt like being back in Las Vegas again! It was so nice to lap up some luxury before camping and going back to hostels. We were only staying one night in Napier, so we headed straight out. We pretty much just walked the whole of the coastal walkway. It had black pebbles but the sea was turquoise blue like it was in Gisborne. We went into a strange place called ’Opossum World’ which was like someone had just made up their own museum about possums. We got tempted by the aquarium, but decided against it. There was another sea life place just up the road which was closed, but round the back there were holes in the fences where we looked in and could see seal lions playing around, so that was good enough for us! I stopped for an ice cream, couldn’t resist. And we just carried on and saw the rest of the sights that there were to see; gardens, sculptures, etc. We wandered back through the middle of town, which was pretty quiet, got back to our room, ate and then watched New Zealand beat Australia. I had a bit of a rough night through out the night but I was almost back to normal.
We left at checkout for Taupo, our first time camping! It was a pretty smooth drive up. We stayed in a nice little campsite not far from anything, and with views over the lake. The tent didn’t take long to put up! Unfortunately the weather remained grim as it has most part of our time in New Zealand so far! I was beginning to feel quite flu like again once we’d set up, it was like I’d just done a full circle and the process was starting again. If I was to fall ill again I figured we ought to get out while we can! So we went out and drove to Huka Falls, which was more of a rapids than a falls, but that was really cool to see. There were some people jet boating at the base of it, we’ll be doing that when we get to Queenstown. Then we stopped at a place called ‘Honey Hive’ which was a free place to go and learn about honey, taste samples, see the bees, etc. It was pretty handy as I was feeling pretty run down so we had some tasters of Manuka and other honies high in anti oxidants! Then we tried some boysenberry wine which was delicious, and then some honey, lemon and ginger syrup stuff, we both felt like we’d had a bit of a health boost after being there! They sold loads of great stuff, I could’ve bought the shop! After that we drove to a dam/rapids, where they release the water every few hours, it’s all to do with hydroelectricity I think, but that was really fascinating to watch as it filled up the channels in the rocks and turned into rapids until the water was blocked off again and it drained away.
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| Huka Falls |
We were pretty much done after this, so we went via our favourite supermarket Pak N Save on the way home and I stocked up on some vegetables to warm me up and help my immune system get back on it‘s way. I felt a whole lot better afterwards and we just sat in the lounge watching TV for the evening before bed. It was nice and cosy in our tent, but it rained all night! Luckily we didn’t get wet but it always makes it a less enjoyable experience when you’re camping and it rains. We had a reasonable nights sleep anyway and I felt 100% by the morning, it felt so good! Definitely needed a little health boost I think. So we left for Tongariro National Park for our second nights camping.
We had a bit of a nightmare trying to find our campsite, again thanks to Google maps failing us! An hour journey pretty much took us 2 hours, but we got there eventually. The campsite was literally in the middle of nowhere! Closest village was about 20km away. Clouds were looming again and it was pretty chilly, so we got the tent up sharpish, had some lunch and then headed out. We went on a 2 hour walk to Taranaki Falls, which, despite the rain and hail, was really good. We haven’t really come here prepared for much in the way of outdoorsy things, but it felt nice to go on a hike and do what you should do in a place like New Zealand! The Alpine Crossing was meant to be THE walk to go on, but it was a 5 hour hike and the guy at reception said people shouldn’t be going out there with the current weather conditions. You can’t see, or be seen, and he said you’re likely to make the news for the wrong reasons. We were done in after our walk anyway so got back and settled into the lounge again. The campsite was pretty dead, there was only really us and one other group of guys, so it was a little creepy! We had dinner and stayed in the lounge until about 10ish. The weather was dreadful, it was just torrential rain and hail. The tent took a real bashing. It was absolutely freezing that night, the car was almost frozen. So it was pretty uncomfortable and very cold sleeping directly on the ground, my feet didn’t warm up the slightest all night. Not a nice camping experience, so we pretty much left as soon as we got up the next morning, we had a long drive and just wanted a nice hot shower and a bed!
The drive to New Plymouth seemed to go on forever. It took us along steep, narrow, unsealed roads, but it was a nice, very scenic drive all the same, despite the weather. The hostel we stayed at was really nice and homely like. That afternoon we just wandered through town to the coast and walked along the coastal walkway for a bit, and then just went to the i-Site/library and caught up with internet. The next day we went to the library again, Puke Ariki is a museum located within the same building. It had New Plymouth through the ages which was really cool, information on the wildlife and Mount Taranaki, and a big section on the history of rugby, and best of all it was free. After that we went to Pukekura Park which is a huge park that has sports grounds, racing track, gardens, lakes, theatre, all sorts wih in it. It was absolutely massive and took us the rest of the day to get round it. There was loads of different things to see, it was so nice. It even had a little zoo in the middle with monkeys, otters and various farm animals, and again, it was all for free. That was a massively well spent day and we didn’t have to spend a penny. Later on we attempted to walk to Paritutu which is a big hill that has great views over the city, but we got half way there and turned back because my legs just couldn’t carry on! We had a long drive the next day so we just had a nice relaxing evening.
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| The outside stage in the middle of Pukekura Park |
The next morning we just got up, checked out, and set on our way to Wellington. I had put down to stop at Egmont National Park/Mount Taranaki, but we had incredible views of it whilst in the city and for the first part of the journey which was satisfying enough for us. It took us 5 hours to get to Wellington, but it was a smooth drive. The hostel we stayed in was absolutely massive, really old fashioned and a bit creepy at the same time, but cool, it was in a big art deco building. Parking was a bit of a pain being in a city but we sorted it out. We went out wandering to find the library late in the afternoon, saw the parliament buildings, found the library was closed for reconstruction and went to the New Zealand Archives which closed shortly after we got there. We ended up having McDonalds for dinner and staying in there for a while as they have free WiFi over here! After that we just showered and then got ready for the Wales v Australia game. We watched it in the hostel lounge which was like a cinema lounge. Shame about the result. We had to get up early the next morning to move the car to a car park, so we got up and had breakfast, and I discovered my freshly opened orange juice carton had been stolen from the fridge. I was so annoyed. The fridge was huge and I only had 3 items in it, so very frustrating something of mine got taken, and I was just pretty gutted that someone thought it would be OK in the first place to take someone else’s food. Neither of us are in the financial position to have to replace food like that so it has better not happen again. Once we’d sorted the car and been to the supermarket, we walked into the city centre which was nice, although very quiet for a Saturday! And then went on the cable car to the top of the hill, looked in the cable car museum and wandered around the botanic gardens. After that we took the cable car back down and went to the Museum of Wellington City and Sea. It was really interesting looking at Wellington’s history and learning about the Wahine disaster in the 60‘s. Later in the day we drove up to the peak of Mount Victoria (after going on a wild goose chase to get there) and saw some amazing views over Wellington and the harbour. That evening we got our stuff sorted and had early night again as we had to be at the ferry terminal for 7.25am the next morning. Goodbye North Island!
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| View over Wellington from the top of Mount Victoria |
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