Firstly I am sorry that this post has taken an age to arrive! Our last few days in New Zealand were so busy as we desperately tried to squeeze everything into our last few days.
My last post finished up in Rotorua. From Rotorua we got a bus and headed down to Taupo. It took just over an hour to get there, so it was a quick journey and we arrived at our hostel in time for lunch time, with the afternoon ahead of us!
The hostel was the local YHA and situated a good 15 minute walk from the city centre (and my goodness is that one hell of a walk when you have your massive backpack on)...
Being the keen and dedicated travellers we have become (ha!) we dumped our bags, scoffed some wotsits (New Zealand wotsits are where it's at - they are called 'twisties' if you ever get a chance to get some) and headed out to walk to the Huka Falls which are situated in a local park, not too far from the hostel. It was quite a long walk, taking about 90 minutes each way. The falls themselves are definitely worth a visit if you are in Taupo.
Day Two saw us embark on one of our biggest adventures so far. We left our hostel at 6am and headed to the Tongariro Crossing, which passes over the volcanic terrain of the active Mount Tongariro volcano. It is situated about an hour away from Taupo and is 19.4 kilometres in length.
The Tongariro Crossing is part of a world heritage site, the Tongariro National Park and was used in the famous Lord of the Ring films as the setting for Mordor.
The alarm went off at 4.45am and it is safe to say I immediately questioned what I was thinking doing anything that involved me being alive at that hour. At 6am, this tiny little bus pulled up to the hostel and despite its 8 seats, we were only joined by two others, which again led me to question what on earth I was doing. We set off for the drive which would eventually drop us at the gate of the start of the crossing and pick us up 12 hours later on the other side. It cost us $55 return which was the best price we could find. We just popped into the local information site the day before we climbed and booked it.
As if I needed anything else to discourage me from the climb ahead, our bus driver proceeded to hand out information sheets which informed us that part of the crossing was in fact an active volcano and had last erupted on the 21st of November 2012... it is safe to say by this point we were nervous.
Arriving at the crossing after a pretty bumpy end to the bus journey, via an off road track leading to the gate, we jumped out of the bus to begin our trek. Considering it was only 7.15am there were a reassuringly large number of people around and although the majority of them looked incredibly professional in their branded hiking gear, it was nice to know we weren't completely alone.
The first hour and a half was a steady climb up towards the mountain itself, it was surprisingly cold and worringly tiring (but I like to blame it on the early morning, not my fitness levels). A few hours in and the real ascent began, steps and steep pathways; everyone slowed down and the breaks became a bit more frequent.
The higher we climbed, the more rocky and uneven the paths became until eventually there were no paths and you were basically navigating around these rocks, hoping that the one you decided to push up on was secure. (Honestly, it's a miracle I survived - in fact a special thanks to the man I basically stalked up the mountain, following his every step!).
After about 3 hours, some blood, a lot of sweat and definitely a few tears, we reached the top and it was worth every stitch, wobble, near death fall and moments of doubt. The views were beyond beautiful and the sense of achievement was massive. I personally couldn't have done it without my chocolate spread sandwiches, twisties and fizzy haribo-like sweets... so special thanks to them.
The descent down and back to the bus actually took the longest amount of time and was not as easy as we had hoped. It was a very long climb down and I am not ashamed to admit I was basically limping by the end of it. We completed the crossing in 7.5 hours which we were very happy with and we were able to collapse in the sun with our fellow climbers with half an hour to spare until our bus came back.
From Taupo we travelled to Wellington. It was a long coach trip, taking about 6 hours. Wellington is a beautiful city, I actually really liked it. It has elements of London, with the hustle and bustle, trendy bars, cafes and shops, but unlike London, you can get away from the madness.
We walked up Mount Victoria to a lookout which gives you a great 360 view of the whole city. You can see the harbour as well as the city and it's a beautiful viewpoint wherever you look.
We then explored the city and ended up walking along the coast to the Te Papa museum. It was free admission and actually a really impressive museum. It has a lot of interactive displays and ranges in content from Australian animals and wildlife to science. The walk along the coast was beautiful and a far cry from the busy city centre. It has many quirky coffee shops and retro shops as well as places to hire kayaks and partake in water sports from the harbour. We also took a cable car up to the botanical gardens. It cost $4 for a one way ticket and to be honest if you don't mind the walk then don't get the cable car - it was a very short journey and wasn't very scenic. The botanical gardens, however, are well worth the walk down if you have time.
Unfortunately due to time restrictions, we had to spend our last few days in New Zealand doing a fair amount of travelling around. Having only 3 weeks for our trip, we didn't have enough time to explore much of the South Island which was a real shame - but it does just mean we will have to come back! I think if you are wanting a fast paced trip like we've done, 4 weeks would actually be a great amount of time to see enough of the South Island too.
We caught a ferry from Wellington to Picton. It was an interislander ferry and included within out intercity flexipass which made it very easy to organise and we were able to catch a shuttle bus from the YHA hostel to the ferry port for just $3. When we got to Picton we got straight on a bus to Nelson, where we would spend our last two full days before flying to Australia.
Nelson is a city that lies on the eastern side of the Tasman Bay and is the geographical centre of New Zealand. It is a beautiful place and we stayed in the most amazing hostel called Tasman Bay Backpackers. It was friendly, welcoming and included free chocolate pudding every evening (that's what sold us in the first place) and although it was slightly out of the centre, they came and picked us up on a bus from our arrival location and organised our intercity bus out of Nelson to pick us up from outside the hostel which was brilliant.
For our main day in Nelson we ventured into the city and explored around, we caught a bus from the city centre to Tahunanua Beach which cost $3 for a single and in the heat of midday was well worth it! We arrived at this beautiful sandy beach and set up camp there for the rest of the afternoon. We treated ourselves to a lunch to celebrate the end of our time in New Zealand, we went to a really nice pub-like restaurant just off the beach and had fish and chips and it was delicious!
After our time in Nelson we had to travel to Christchurch which was another big journey. We did however stop en route in Kaikoura and got to see the seals out on the rocks which was awesome.
Arriving in Christchurch late afternoon, we only had a few hours to explore due to an awfully early flight the next day (3am wake up - I want to cry again at the thought of it).
The city itself was a strange place - although the earthquake was a few years ago I felt it still holds a strong presence within the city. Where some of the damaged buildings stand empty and derelict, there is an element of sadness and without knowing a great deal about the city, it was still easy to understand the devastation. However, in contrast, there is some really quirky and amazing things to see. All the landmarks lost are now projects which are constructed as temporary replacements whilst the city is rebuilt.
We visited the cardboard Cathedral and it was just beautiful. Wondering around and seeing these sorts of things is pretty inspiring and it's so great to see that in the face of disaster, they are making these things for people to enjoy and it does emit positivity and show great resilience. We also explored the botanical gardens which were beautiful, situated up by the museum.
New Zealand has been an amazing starting point for our trip and I am very excited to get blogging about our next destination... Australia baby!
Standby for my first Aussie post, coming soon! X
No comments:
Post a Comment