Week 3: Waitomo Caves and Taupo

Tina, a Lucida colleague of Jem’s, recommended we go to a place called Waitomo Caves, aka the Glowworm Caves, as one of the ‘must-do’ activities of NZ. This is an area of the central North Island, which on the surface is normal pasture land, but is actually riddled with caves, caverns and tunnels – 307 at last count. They are populated by a species of glowworm native to the dark, shady and damp places of New Zealand and Australia. The caves themselves are filled with stalagmites, stalactites and all manner of rock formations created from water and acid erosion. We book our accommodation (Big Bird B&B, home of Ostriches!) and a tour of the caves. Looking at the choices of activities abseiling, black water rafting, caving and climbing and not being able to choose we decide on a tour that does them all. Arriving at the tour operators we meet our tour guide Mike, and tour companions four young Irish people, two of whom live in Auckland.

Kitted out in (smelly) wetsuits and wellies (with drain hole in the soles) we head for the caves. First there is an abseil of 30 meters into a limestone cavern then we spend 3.5 hours exploring the tunnel system trying our hand at caving and climbing in the dark, and wading through the underground river that has formed this cave system (6.5 Kilometres end-to-end). Additional company is provided by eels and water spiders and the ubiquitous glowworms overhead. There are so many glowworms in the caves that the place never seems properly dark. This is no exaggeration – looking up in the dark cavern the roof looks like a night sky of eerily blue/green stars. It all looks amazing and other worldly. This opinion is not shared by one of the Irish girls, however, it’s way too dark if you don’t like the dark, and that’s not to mention eels, spiders and the thought of whatever else might be in the darkness. Truly enough to scare yourself if you have a mind to. Indeed the fact that the glowworms are not worms but a large maggots does little to add to the glamour of the experience or the comfort of the young Irish lady. Funny they don’t mention this in the marketing! We finish our experience with a 30-metre rock climb back out of the cavern to daylight and the sheep grazing all around. A truly awesome and really fun afternoon. Thanks Tina – an excellent recommendation and definitely our highlight this week.

Other than the caves, Waitomo doesn’t have too much to offer. However, there are two things worth mentioning. We visit a bird park and get our first glance of the New Zealand Kiwi! This is actually a great experience. The Kiwi is a pretty big bird (the size of a very large chicken) and is of course flightless, with no wings visisble at all. This makes it look extremely odd as it struts around with its long beak poking into the ground looking for grubs. The population has hit dangerously low levels (mainly because it can’t fly away from anything) and there is a significant campaign of protection underway to get this native bird’s levels back up. The second activity worth mentioning was our visit to an ‘angora rabbit shearing shed’! This was hilarious. As the pics show they string up the poor rabbits, front and rear, in what looks like a medieval torture rack before shearing off its fur. In reality, they have to shear them every three months or the rabbit would die of heat exhaustion, it’s conducted by a member of the SPCA (equiv. to RSPCA) and they seem to be very relaxed and almost enjoy the experience. At the end, we understand why. When the male rabbits have been clipped, they are allowed to go off and do bunny things with the girls, which they’re not allowed to do when they’re hairy!!

On returning to Taupo, the weather was a little better and we managed to get in a number of lake-based activities that had eluded us previously. It’s a truly stunning lake and well worth a visit.

Week 2: Bay of Islands and Bay of Plenty

Waitangi and Paihia

Having already been caught up in Anniversary weekend in Auckland we’re excited to hear that there is another celebration on the way – Waitangi Day. Waitangi is a few kilometres down the coast at the Bay of Islands, exactly where we’re heading. We arrive in Paihia – the centre of the bay of Islands and a 20-minute walk to Waitangi – just as the celebrations are revving up. Waitangi Day commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi – the founding document of New Zealand. Signed in 1840 between the British Crown and the United Tribes of New Zealand and other Maori leaders (50 in total) it is a treaty setting out the rights of all parties and was meant to help protect the Maori from land-grabbing by the settlers, and the settlers being allowed to settle in peace. However, with one treaty in English and a Maori translation there has often been discontent and upset over the way the treaty has been implemented as a result of the different interpretations. As a consequence Waitangi Day has often been marred by protests and unruly behaviour, with many people choosing to stay clear of the area. However, relations between Maori and Pakeha (non Maori) are currently better than ever and this day is a fantastic celebration.

There’s a real party atmosphere around the bay with children jumping into the sea from the bridge, families playing in the water and multiple displays of local culture, signing and dancing. The Maori waka’s (war canoes) are out on the sea for us to admire, many of which have recently been restored and are out for the first time in 50 years.

We also have the opportunity to see the largest, which can hold 130 people. We watch the guys do the Haka, which is great fun and for once is when being ugly is the ultimate aim. There’s act after act on the main stage and we get to watch and listen to lots of traditional Maori dancing and singing as well as more contemporary acts such as a fantastic young hip hop dance group.

Later on in the day we make our way over to the Treaty Grounds to watch the NZ Navy perform the ‘Beat Retreat’ Sunset Ceremony’ and the ‘Lowering of the Flag’. It was an eclectic and fun day where we were truly submerged into New Zealand culture.

Kauri Forest

On our way to our next destination we take a drive through the Kauri forest on the west coast of Northland. There’s not much to note from our drive down this way with the exception of the Kauri trees themselves. The Kauri is an ancient tree which can live up to 2000 years and can measure up to 50 meters in height and 20 meters in girth. We visit Tane Mahuta (Lord of the Forest), which has a girth of 16 meters and is approximately 50 meters tall. The photos do not do it justice…this tree is immense.

Whitianga (pronounced Fitianga)

Next on our route down is the Coromandel Peninsular where we stop at a small little harbour town called Whitianga on Mercury Bay. This is a lovely area with lots of beautiful coves and walks but the fun highlight is certainly ‘Hot Water Beach’.

For two hours either side of low tide (just gone noon when we visit) the activity is to dig your own hole in the sand and create your own hot water spa pool. You walk along the beach testing the sand which your feet to see where the hot water brewing and then start digging, being careful not to choose a spot that feels like the kettle’s just boiled. Having found what we believe is an appropriate spot, we start digging, working against the waves that seem set on destroying our hard work. Typical of us, we end up with a major engineering feat, big enough for guests, which is just perfect, given that’s what we have!! As we settle in to our new spa pool home we bump into Sue and Graham Bennett, one of our best mates from home Lou - ’s Mum and Dad! Yep…small world.

It’s brilliant. We invite them into our warm little pool and have a good old catch up about what’s going on at home as well as exchanging hints, tips and good places to visit in NZ. What a way to spend an afternoon. This is definitely a must-do activity!!

Lake Taupo

After Whitianga we drive on to Taupo which is in the centre. The main thing about Taupo, and impossible to miss at any distance, is the lake – all 616 square kilometres of it! The largest lake in New Zealand and the largest fresh water lake in Oceania it was formed by a series of volcanic eruptions of epic proportions, the lake sits in the crater of the volcano – a Caldera. The latest eruption – dated at 186AD – threw 100 cubic kilometres of material into the atmosphere and was so significant that the Chinese noted a blackening of the sky and the Romans talked of the heavens turning red. However this eruption is tiny compared to the one that made the lake originally which ejected 1,170 cubic kilometres of molten rock, ash and other material. Today the lake and lakeside are very tranquil and we spend two days relaxing in and around the town. We have planned an excursion to Waitomo Caves for later this week but intend to return here as we feel we have not seen many of the ‘must-do’ activities, watch for the next updates.

Week 1: Auckland and Doubtless Bay

Auckland. City of sails!

We arrive in Auckland after almost 30 hours door to door of travelling. Yes, it’s long, but when we arrive in Auckland it feels great. There’s a buzz in the air, the sun is shining and it’s fresh and green and feels really welcoming. We arrive on Auckland anniversary celebration weekend and get stuck in to acclimatising as best we can. As usual this means walking miles and miles whilst exploring, stopping every now and then for coffee or to stock-up on the things we need but didn’t want to carry from England. Auckland is a beautiful, young, lively city right on the harbour and we walk though parks and suburbs, with steep hills reminiscent of San Fransico (not that we’ve been). Last time we were here we had failed to notice the influence of the Japanese community on the city and its restaurants. Not this time. We seem to be in the heart of the Japanese community, and get stuck in with some Sushi and Sashimi, yum. (Good practice for our next country!)

Monday morning and whilst the weather is not being quite as kind to us today (windy and raining) we have a trip already organised to watch some of the celebratory boating activities from a boat in the harbour. The finer points of yacht racing are lost on us but we are transfixed by the tug boat race that happens annually and features a restored steam powered tug run by enthusiasts. The newer boats really race; this is serious stuff with pride at stake. As you can see by the pictures three extremely powerful tugs are really pulling out all the stops, going pretty fast, but literally four feet apart!

The age of chivalry is not dead, however, and with the ‘Daldy’ or ‘dawdley’ as we named her lagging behind, the newer boats stop and allow this very old steam tug to catch up, overtake and take the gun. All very cute.

Doubtless Bay

Tuesday morning we pick up our hire car and hit the open road. In many ways this freedom to escape into New Zealand in a vehicle feels like gaining control of our destiny and marks the beginning of the next nine months. We have decided, with reference to a wholly inadequate ‘touring’ map that we will head straight to the top of New Zealand and then wind our way back down. So we drive from down-town Auckland to Mangonui. Not quite right at the top, but the start of ‘right at the top’ and a picturesque village on the coast to use as a base to then explore the pretty beaches and deserted peninsula that make up the far north of ‘Northland’.

Mangonui is at the top of Doubtless Bay and is an easy drive to a collection of beautiful and secluded bays and beaches on the Karikari Peninsula which we spend the best part of the day exploring before heading back home to fill ourselves up on freshly caught fish and chips.

Next on our agenda is a coach tour of Ninety Mile Beach and Cape Reinga the ‘tipper most top’ of the North Island. 90 Mile Beach is a driveable beach which as the name may gives away, is mile upon mile of beautiful white sand (though it’s only 60 miles long – con). However, the best bit is yet to come. We drive off the beach through a quick sand river (no stopping here folks!) and arrive at some immense sand dunes. These really are ridiculously high…but all the better for what we have in mind. Sand dune sledging! Walking up sand dunes that high is pretty exhausting but sledging down them so much fun.

A drive further up to Cape Reinga produces some beautiful views of the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean meeting each other just in front of a beautiful little lighthouse.

Week 0: The Plan

So here we are; our much anticipated tour of the Asia Pacific.

Our first job is to tell everyone the schedule as it stands right now so you can think of meeting us in exotic locations when you are planning your own holidays. We promise, if you do come out and meet us along our journey, you will not find us with dreadlocks or wearing Ali Baba pants!!

Feb and March

First stop is New Zealand arriving 30^th Jan 2010 and spending approximately a month in North Island and a month in South Island. We leave New Zealand from Auckland on the 27^th March.

April

Next we have 3 weeks in Japan spending our time roughly split between Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto with some bits in between e.g. Mount Fuji San. We arrive in Tokyo 27^th March and leave on the 19^th April.

April, May and June

Bangkok is next arriving on 19^th April but setting off immediately for a 30-day tour of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam then back to Bangkok.

We have given ourselves about five weeks to travel from Bangkok to Singapore and then to Australia at the beginning of July. These five weeks are currently pretty free format and what we want to do will depend to a great extent on how we are feeling following the tour of Indochina.

July, August and September

Three months are budgeted for Australia. We are landing in the North-East of Australia during the southern hemisphere winter. This will hopefully be a perfect time to travel, as it will be dry and warm but not too hot or humid. As we did some of the west coast for our honeymoon last August we wanted to see other parts of this vast country. We’re thinking of travelling clockwise so, North, East and South – plus some middle and then probably back West.

October

2^nd October has us in Beijing to start a three-week overland to Hong Kong, taking in many of the famous sights along the way. We are due to arrive in Hong Kong with a couple of days to spare before jumping aboard our flight to Heathrow on the 28^th October.

So now nobody has any excuse. See you somewhere cool later this year.