The Last Bit - Part 2

Hello!

I have a little secret to confess - I'm not actually in New Zealand anymore. Currently I'm sitting at my computer in the UK trying to remember where I went when I was in New Zealand so the remaining entries of this blog will be written by pulling memories out of that leaky sieve I like to call my memory.

But you can get off the edge of your seats now because I'm happy to report that our plane landed in New Zealand as planned and we didn't plummet to our doom during the flight. Whew! In fact, we landed in Auckland late that same evening and after a brief detour when they took my hiking boots away to clean them in case I'd brought some contaminated soil into the country (they apparently have a very fragile eco-system) we pulled up to our hotel, marvelling at the lovely rain and wind that we'd flown into and wondering whether our plan to hire a camper van in a New Zealand winter was going to turn out to be as stupid as it sounded. The hotel was fine apart from a few luxuries such as heating, insulation and post-1960s decor but it was cheap and handy for both the airport and the van-hire place.

The next morning we were up early to pick up our van and it was an absolute triumph of space-management and ergonomics. It was a small Toyota Hiache but it had space for 3 people sleeping (as long as the 3rd was about 2 inches tall), a cooker, fridge, sink, decent storage and things like kettles and frying pans. I was impressed and set off into the rain in a good frame of mind. My calm demeanour was tested a little bit by the noise of the cutlery crashing around whenever we went around a corner at more than 2mph and it took another dent when it took us about an hour to finally find our way out of the industrial estate to find the motorway. We were going to Hot Water Beach at Coromandel which is a beach (surprisingly enough) where you can dig a hole in the sand at low tide and if you dig it in the right place then you come across water that's been heated by a thermal spring (or something - I tuned out while Cath explained the details since my mind was busy designing the giant sand-castle I was going to construct). Finally we made it to the motorway and by thrashing the life out of our poor camper van to push it up to the NZ speed limit (62mph) we managed to get there just as the tide was coming in.

We quickly dashed down the beach and I feverishly started digging a hole with my hands but to no avail. Then we realised that we wanted to be further up the beach where there were some people milling around looking puzzled. When we got there I tried digging another hole but once again to no avail. There was an old French man in immodestly short swimming trunks wandering around trying to find the spring but the tide was coming in quickly and it looked like we weren't going to find the right spot. Suddenly, with a gallic shout of triumph our Frenchman pointed to where he was standing and beckoned us over - the tide was up to his knees but when we stood in the same spot the water almost burnt my feet because it was so hot. Showing my gratitude and keen to practice my French I thanked him ("Petit pois, jambon le maison") and we made our way back to the van with burnt feet and wet clothes.

We had lunch and then drove until it got dark when we found somewhere to park up - a place called Whakatane. We parked in a car park on the coast and started arranging the van to get the bed and cooker and everything else all sorted out. It was a tad cramped but we managed to cook a decent meal and get quite comfortable and then drifted off to sleep with the sound of the waves crashing onto the beach outside the window.

The next day we made our way to Rotorua, a spa town that has loads of thermal baths and tourist stuff for people that are into that sort of thing. The first thing that you notice is the strong smell of sulphur in the air but it does mean that there are some pretty cool sights around the town. We visited a park, much like a smaller Hyde Park but which had lots of sulphurus lakes dotted around and the odd hole filled with bubbling mud. New holes keep appearing as the ground gives way and there are lots of dead trees and plants around that have succumbed to the constant attack of boiling water and whatever else the ground decides to chuck up. In fact, the park is so active that some of the drains on the road have steam pouring out from them. If you ask me, it's not the greatest place to live with the constant stench of sulphur and the risk of your house disappearing into a boiling pit of mud at any moment, but the town has made the most of it with lots of thermal-based attractions and the park had a couple of thermal pools where you could sit on the side and soak your feet in the pleasantly warm water. I spent a pleasant 30 minutes doing just that and Cath had 30 minutes of torment as I constantly splashed her with water and threatened to chuck her in the water. Ahh, what fun!

After the park we drove to the Whakarewarewa Thermal Valley to see a few geysers and more thermal activity. It was good to see but we were a little misled because we though we would watch a hole in the ground and then at some unexpected moment - probably when I was at the toilet or looking the other way or something - the geyser would gush force in a violent display and we would all 'ooh' and 'aah' at the appropriate moment. So when we got there, we looked over a barrier at what were apparently 4 geysers - some of which were constantly throwing up water and others which were apparently going to exhibit the behaviour described previously. Since we couldn't really distinguish any of the 4 geysers from each other we stood watching waiting for the giant crash of the main geyser throwing water tens of metres into the air but after about 30 minutes of not very much happenin, one of the guided tours rolled up and the guy explained that the main geyser was running constantly at the moment and wouldn't be doing anything dramatic. I thanked him for his explanation, told him that it would have been nice to have known this before we invested 30 minutes of our time looking at the ground, threw him in a boiling mud pool and moved on.

It was time to find a home for the night and this time we chose a camp site since we needed to charge the batteries in the van and hook up to a mains supply. We found a nice campsite on the edge of Lake Rotorua that had it's own thermal pool that we took advantage of (although we had to have a shower first so that the pool remained clean - running down from the showers to the pool in the freezing cold was somewhat bracing) and it even had heated tent sites due to the thermal activity going on beneath the ground. Of course you run the risk of waking up boiled in a pool of sulphurus water but at least you'd be nice and warm.

The next day we drove to Waitomo Caves. Those David Attenborough fans amongst you might recognise it from Life in the Undergrowth because he went there to film a piece on glow worms. The caves are deep underground and have lots of stalegtites and cool rock formations and stuff. There is also a stream/river running through it and you can do a variety of different tours such as having a nice walking tour through the caves looking at glow worms and stuff or you can stick a wetsuit on, sit in a big rubber ring and float down the river. We opted for walking since we'd had enough of getting wet and plus it looked a bit manic at points on the rubber rings which would have ended no doubt ended with me drowning. It was very cool though because they'd rigged up lots of colourful lights which looked really good when they were lighting up the rock formations in the cave. When they turned all of the lights out you could walk for a bit and see the glow worms shining in the gloom. It was ruined a bit by some monstrously awful American family who frankly looked liked they all might be related in slightly unnatural ways and who managed to irritate me in every way. From the fat son who snorted loudly and frequently through his nose in an attempt to dislodge something that didn't want to be dislodged to the other brother/cousin/both who answered every rhetorical question that the guide asked. Add in the mother who liked to repeat the obvious ("That's a glow worm right there. There it is. That's a glow worm. Yep, it's right there. The glow worm.") and I would have gladly mown them down with a large gun. As it was I just stomped around at the back sighing whenever they got into my eyeline.

That night we drove for a while trying to find a nice spot to park up but there didn't appear to be anywhere so we pulled into a small town that had a camping area behind a shop. We parked up but then the smell of fish and chips and general nastiness of the place prompted us to move on and we found a much nicer caravan park next to the ocean and where they had a rather peculiar beach where the sand was black. We were the only people in the park which was nice and once again we drifted off the sleep with the sound of the ocean crashing onto the beach behind us.

The next day we were up early to drive to New Plymouth where one of Cath's friends had moved to. We were looking forward to spending the night in a house that had a shower and heating and other luxuries. We met up with Derek and drove into town where I treated myself to a new rucksack (having managed to wear out Cath's rucksack during the previous few months) and finally replace my camera. I started looking at small pocket cameras but when the shop assistant brought out a big camera with lots of buttons then she knew the sale was in the bag. I spent the rest of my day playing with my new toy and irritating Cath and Derek with flashing lights and beeps and dull statistics. They loved it really. That everning we had a huge roast dinner and I spent the rest of the evening sprawled on the sofa - not unlike a beached whale whilst Cath and Derek caught up and traded dull chemistry stories.

Saturday was my birthday but we spent most of the day in the van because we were driving to Wellington to get the ferry to the South Island. We weren't bothered about seeing the city so we just drove straight to the terminal and while we waited in the car park for the ferry Cath showed me the birthday cake she'd bought earlier when we stopped for some junk food for the van. She even had some candles and so we put 23 of them on the cake to reflect my youthful age, devoured the cake and waited for the ferry.

And that's about it for the North Island. You'll have to wait and see if we managed to reach Picton on the South Island or whether our ferry sank, taking it's passengers to the freezing murky depths of the sea.

So, from London, all the best.
Gregor