For photos, check out the ones on Flickr.
Leaving London was relaxed and easy. We had the whole day to muck around and pack (even though ONE of us had already packed the day before :), have a nice walk and some food before catching a taxi to Heathrow.
The day was sunny and about 14˚c so was a good day for flying out. Getting through customs and getting our bags out was easy.
Our first flight was to Singapore. A 14 hour flight on an Airbus 380 fitted with lots of space, entertainment and a power supply for the laptop. This took a variety of plugs, and the Australian plug fit fine. So i had unlimited power for the flight. They say that you can’t charge your laptop, but my Macbook charged fine. No one came around and checked or told me to take out the battery, so i guess that would only happen if the pilot found that there was too much power being drained (if everyone was charging laptops etc).
One thing i would advise is that you get an audio converter plug for the plane as they still only have the dual mono plugs for headphones. So if you want to watch or listen to their media, you have to use their headphones. The media interface also had a Video-in plug (RCA), a USB port and Ethernet plug. These plugs are designed to watch photos or listen to audio rather than watch videos. None of the videos i had (MP4/AVI) were supported.
Arriving in Singapore at at goodness knows what time, we had about an hour to muck around. We bought a couple bottles of water from inside the security area to bring on the plane. Then flew off to Auckland.
When we got to sunny Auckland the weather was good, a comfortable 20˚c but with a bit of wind. We had about 5 hours to kill, walking around to stretch our legs and get something to eat, then make our way to the domestic terminal to fly to Wellington.
We slept on the flight down to Wellington, so only felt like a couple of mins fly time (actual was 50mins).
Arriving at Wellington’s airport was a classic bumpy landing, and to our surprise Mum and Dad were there waiting for us. We thought that we’d see them outside the terminal but they came right up to the gangway. Also my good friend Mark was there too, hanging about. He didn’t know what flight we were on or what exact time so just turned up and as luck would have it he was just on time. You’ll hear about him later on. He’s a good friend.
Windy Wellington certainly put on a show for us. Gusts of up to 100km/h blew us from one way to the next so getting back inside to Mum and Dads house was an effort as we were both wanting to sleep, rest and relax. Dad opened a bottle of bubbles which was well deserved, some snacks then off to bed for a good sleep.
Our jet lag only lasted a day or two, wasn’t too bad. For the rest of the week, was just chilling out in Wellington. We met up with Mark and Justin for drinks on the Wednesday which was nice, although they couldn’t make up their minds on where to go for dinner. We ended up going to a Japanese place in town which was okay. Nothing like the Katsu’s of London.
While in Wellington we visited the Karori Wildlife Centre and saw some native birds, went for walks through the botanical gardens & Otari Bush, saw my old mate Andrew, his wife and lovely little baby. We had a walk around Lyall Bay and then said our goodbyes.
After Wellington, we traveled over to Mum and Dad’s farm in Martinborough. Maz loved it there. We drank lots of bubbly wine and had heaps of prawns. Went for a big walk over our next door neighbours farm, chased some cows and were chased by the Pukekos.
From Martinborough, we drove up to Napier, along all the narrow and windy backroads. Keeping the speed under 100 as the roads were a bit unpredictable and bumpy. We arrived in Napier at about 3pm to find the weather wasn’t a normal sunny and hot. We walked around to find most places closing for the evening. Had a little snack before going back to the motel, rest, shower then out to a nice dinner where we had a huge meal of NZ green lipped mussels for starters and fish for mains. It was Maz’s first experience with the NZ mussels, and boy was she impressed. Just look at these guys?!
Next was Taupo. A two hour drive from Napier, through narrow and windy roads, passing native bush and forests. The weather in Taupo was not too bad. A bit cloudy but when the sn came out, it was really hot. So we went up to Woolies to get some food and drinks for the evening, and stayed at a lovely motel on the beach front. We cracked open a bottle or two of Lindaur’s finest Blanc de Blanc avec strawberries!
The next day we went for a walk around, and had a lovely walk along side the mighty Waikato River up to Huka Falls. This was a beautiful day, and got a wee bit of colour on my cheeks too. I recommend going on this walk. It was so pleasant and satisfying.
Then next morning we headed for Mt Manganui, but first stopped at Craters of the Moon. A thermal area with bubbling mud pools, geysers and steam. Unfortunately the Government has turned this once free park into a $6 entry toll park. I suppose they need to be constantly maintaining the walk ways as they rot and melt in the immense heat produced by the thermal heat, coming off the process of convection currents which buckle and strain the tectonic plates… Geography 1999, thanks Mr Hashim & Mr Hayes. See, I was listening.
We initially decided to stay in Rotorua, but our landlord guy at Taupo told us it’d be better to stay in the Mount as Rotovegas is a bit touristy and not nice. And since it was only an hour drive from the Mount Down to Rottenrua it seemed ideal.
We took the newly developed toll road, which we thought was going to be faster than the back roads (this is normally the case with toll roads, right?) but ended up taking about three times longer, as there were severe delays on the bridge.
We got to the Mount and found a nice little place right near the Mountain. Had a brief walk around and went out for dinner. The next day we got up early and went down to Rotorua for Luging. They’re sort of like skateboard thing. You sit down on this plastic thing with four wheels, and a lever in between your legs to pull back for the brakes. It was awesome going early as there were no queues. Maz loved it and we went up and down about 5 times. Was a beauty of a day too, so were rocking out the suncream big time.
Afterwards we had a little lunch then decided to go for a walk in the Redwood forests of Rotorua. Not many people have heard of these, but are so amazing. Words cannot describe how beautiful these trees are. Although, i can say “think of the forest moon of Endor – StarWars, like, when Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia are racing through the trees, making hast from those Stormtroopers when they fall off and Leia befriends the Ewoks”. Maz didn’t understand, nor did she appreciate my sweet lightsabre moves with a stick that was just laying there on the ground. I was shooshed, and yet she’s never seen the great space saga that is known as “Le Star Wars” in France.
We travelled back to our motel in the Mount and were woken up at about 4am by the landladies drunken daughter having a massive argument with her boyfriend, right outside our window. I was annoyed and yelled at them from the comfort of my bed, under the covers, snuggly and warm. However after an hour or so they went off to bed. But then suddenly at about 7am we heard the thudding of someone running down the stairs and then an all mighty SMASH. The boyfriend punched the glass door right next to our room. This was like some sort of reality show, disgusting. I yelled out “let him bleed to death” as the girl was crying out “he’s going to die, his arm is all cut and bleeding”. I know, it’s a bit dark – but it would really help the gene pool. I’m just looking out for future generations, you know.
We were glad to leave the Mount and go back down south to Taupo again and then make our way back to Wellington, to meet up with our friends Tim and Madeline. We stayed another night over in Martinborough at the farm and then hurried over to Kapiti to meet up with Toolbox and Princess. It was lovely to see them again, if only for a brief couple of hours.
Then it was back to Welly to see the family for Christmas. We had a great Christmas. Woke up at about 9am, with Bob already in the kitchen making savouries and sweets. We went downstairs and opened our presents next to the tree which was fun. We all got lovely presents. Mum and dad France spoiled us all with lovely gifts in such a big box sent priority all the way from France which was very kind. For dinner it was Seafood for Maz and chicken and prawns for me. Bob had some Lobster prepared for us too which was delicious. They’re just like huge prawns!
For New Years, we headed back up north to Taupo to spend time with Mark, Jess, Lee and Justin. Was great seeing them and having a drink with them, and seeing Mark’s generous and lovely parents. We went out on Mark’s Dad’s boat and played on the Ski Biscuit (an inner tube tied to the back of a boat). Check out the videos of us splashing around. New Years night was a beauty. Crystal clear sky with the brightest moon i’ve seen in such a long time. The light seemed to echo off the lake’s ever so small ripple, with firework lit up the sky and we counted down the new year in the usual delayed manner.
The following day we had to travel back down to Wellington again (lots of driving done this holiday, probably over 3000 kms) to fly down to Christchurch on the 2nd for a road trip around the top end of the South Island for swimming with dolphins on the 5th (which was Maz’s Christmas present).
We hired a dodgy rental car from this chinese bloke in CHCH, which later we found out didn’t
have any wiper blades. So i had to go to a Shell and get some more. And did you know that Shell doesn’t help people with their cars. It’s against their policy. So i asked for some pliers but the dude said that it was also against Shell’s policy. Who the hell does Shell think they are? I helped build their website. Surely that counts for something.
We drove from Christchurch to Murchison, stopping off in Hanmer for a walk, lunch then a dip in the thermal hot pools. We also did a bit of a shopping spree at a Surf and Ski shop, where we bought about $500 worth of clothes. I bought a nice thick black jacket which was discounted as it was a winter style and they were starting their summer. I also haggled the price down another $5 because it had a dodgy button. So the guy also knocked off $20 for Maz’s jacket as we bought a lot of things. NZ has good clothing and shoe styles. Good if you’re into surf/skate/snow clothing.
We got to murky Murchison which is in the middle of nowhere. This little village, we stayed in a very cheap motel at $70 a night. It was basic, but comfortable and clean. The shower was basic as, a PVC pipe with holes cut out of it. None of this fancy North Island shower heads for them, thank you.
From murky, we travelled through to Blenheim which was lovely and sunny, but the windiest we had encountered. Consistant 120km/h winds, peaking at probably 200. It was really difficult to walk from our nice motel (with king size bed, biggest bed i’ve ever slept in) to town for lunch and dinner supplies. The next day was up early and traveling down to Kaikoura to swim with the dolphins at 12.30pm. It was a stunning day in Kaikoura. We went out on the boat, with about 30 other people. The sea was pretty rough considering the weather. The east coast of the South Island can be very unpredictable as there is a huge trench right of the coast, with warm and cold currents that affect the surface. However, after holding down my light lunch, we soon spotted the dolphins. A huge pod of over 300! We wetsuited up and jumped in. They didn’t really fuss much, a little bit curious, but continued to do their own things.
Dolphins are a friendly wild animal and curious of humans. They seem to understand us to a point, and appear to have conscientiousness (sic?). The spiral around in the water, eyeballing you and wanting you to keep up with them. I was stuck in a stampede of dolphins, a little bit frightened, but being so close to them, so close to reach out and touch them (i didn’t try though as i didn’t want them to think i was trying to get them). We stayed a night in Kaikoura, and had a good walk the next day – brilliant bright day again.
Finally back to Christchurch to fly out to Wellington, for a farewell dinner with the family before flying back to wintery and snowcovered London.
Writing this, it’s 0˚c outside. We left New Zealand behind us in the middle of summer at around 24˚c, such a good holiday that even 5 weeks seem too short. Next time we go back, we’ll go to all the places we wanted that didn’t have time for. It’s good to be back. Good to have broadband internet, be stuck in queues, and be back in the hustle and bustle of this Londontown.
Maz can now say “been there” when watching Lord of the Rings.
