And so it begins. Today I watched my dad, sister and cousin drive away in our snail shell of a campervan as I stood on the side of the street with my hand luggage sized backpack and some washing machine powder they had kindly donated to me. I am in New Zealnd, the furthest land mass from home, alone. Well not quite, but we'll get to that.
First of all I have a lot of catching up to do. These last few days have been pretty hectic and it's been impossible for me to dedicate enough time to write anything. This is mainly due to the fact that last week marked a huge turning point in our trip, both physically and metaphorically. We reached our most southernly point and turned back on ourselves. After Oamaru we started heading back north steadily towards the unescapable end. We also hit a turning point with the way we acted, we became a lot more reflective and nostalgic, discussing what our favourite part of the holiday WAS, what we would miss about New Zealand and whether we would come back (ummm....yes.) So you can see why I haven't been able to write for a while, we've been too busy cramming as much in as possible.
The last time I write we were in a DOC camping site in between Christchurch and Kaikoura. After ravelling in the dark up and down winding trails to the site that evening we woke up to find that it was actually quite a beautiful place. We spent the morning walking along the stoney beach, discussing what we thought was the cause of the tiny holes in the rocks, which as you can imagine got quite heated. After agreeing to disagree we packed the van and heading up the coast yo Kaikoura where the clouds and also decided to go. We booked to go swimming with the local seal colony the next day then rebelliously set up camp on the side of the road before going to the local irish bar for a drink. The bar had a live irish/kiwi band playing which was very surreal and we met a group of travellers from Birmingham who had been living in Melbourne for the past 3 years. We talked excitedly about the joy of skydiving for a long time, seriously, you should do it!
The next day the seal swim was cancelled due to the conditions so we decided to reschedule it for the next day and walk to see another colony nearby. When we got the there there were lazy seals slumped over rocks in every direction, they were so well camoflaged that I nearly walked into one.
We walked along the rock pools and coastal tracks to the edge of the reserve where Oli climbed a very steep hill (because Bonnie said he couldn't) and Bonnie, dad and I took the longer more scenic route up. That evening dad treated us to the local dish of freshly caught crayfish which me and Bonnie devoured, getting every last piece of meat out of every corner. We then had three games of pool in the pub which went progressively from very enjoyable to slightly stressful, anyone who has witnessed me playing competitive team games recently will understand.
On the 9th we finally managed to swim with the seals. The weather was beautiful when we woke up and we walked to the seal centre to get changed into our attractive and very flattering wetsuits. The seal colomy was a short minibus ride away and when we got there we were lead onto a bright yellow speed boat with a skipper who had been taking out seal tours for 28 years. We zoomed over to a group of seals and jumped overboard. There weren't huge numbers of seals in the water but when I did spot them I was amazed with how easily they glided through the water and howfast they could swim away. I had a great couple of minutes with one seal who swam underneath me, did a some corkscrew turns and looked at me with wide puppy-dog eyes. It was great to see the lazy lumps we had seen the day before tarnsformed into slick, beautiful swimmers.
After lunch we had to leave Kaikoura and head further north as we were booked onto the ferry to the north island the next evening. We drove up some familiar roads, including the dust mountain tracks that we had broken down on all those weeks ago and camped at Robin Hood bay, the bay we had stopped off at on our first day on the south island.
The next morning I woke up sweating as the sun had transformed our van into a sauner. We sat outside in the sun and soon got talking to our neighbour who was an American who was living with his British wife nearby and every so often brought their spacious caravan to the bay, and I couldn't blame them. He asked my dad 'so, when are you emmigrating?' which, just in case you didn't know dad, is an idea I am completely happy with, I will be happy to come a visit you here any time. We walked along the beach, enjoying the warm sand under our toes and then had to leave this little paradise to get to Picton in time for our ferry. Oh, and have time to sample some of the local wine of course!
We passed through Marlborough on our way to the ferry port, an area famed for it's brilliant wine. It wouldbe rude not to stop really. So Oli, Bonnie and I decided to go for a quick wine tasting around a couple of vineyards. The whole affair started pretty distinguished, discussing the fruity undertones or dryness, but by the end it all tasted pretty good. I don't fully remember the journey to the port but there was a lot of giggling and loud singing and at one point I said 'In wines defense, it does taste really good.' The ferry crossing was nice and calm but I did not enkoy it at all. Do not go on a ferry after drinking lots of wine. We arrived in Wellington late and Oli's friend Shaun kindly let us crash at his house again.
During the day in Wellington we decided to visit the WETA studio workshops, which is where films are made, including of course Lord Of The Rings. After looking around what was essentially a LOTR gift shop we went for lunch at a local cafe called The Larder and had a delicious brunch (if you are ever in Wellington, I seriously recommend it). We left Wellington and heading back up to Lake Taupo, this time greeted by a beautiful sunny day and a stunning sunset over the lake. Dad also got interviewed by the lical newspaper, The Taupo Times, so keep an eye on their website for the story about the hairy british guy.
The following day we were treated with more scorching weather and we drive further north to Rotarua. We stopped at a place called The Thermal Wonderland which is a strange, almost alien place with high levels of natural thermal activity which results in bubbling mud, plumes of steam, huge pools of bright colours and the overwhelming smell of egg (sulphur).
At points, the mixture of strange surroundings and extremely hot weather, I felt like I could have been walking in the surface of Mars. As if this wasn't enough heat for one day we then decided to visit a place called Kerosene Creek, a natural hot water river which had been recommended to us. We arrived there and I was desperate to get into the water to cool down but when we got to to the water we soon realised that this was not a place to cool down. The water was so hot, it was painful to get in and I only managed to get up to my shins before I bottled out. Dad however, fully submerged and pretended that it didn't hurt.
That evening, at my request, we found a cool lake to camp by and I had a much needed evening swim, I felt so hot that steam could have come off my skin when I got into the water. We had fish and chips and watched the sun set by the lake. We sat outside until the sandflies got too much of a nuisance then went to bed.
The morning of the 13th was a luxiourious one for me and Bonnie. We spent it in one of Rotaruas many spas and had a 'relaxation massage' which was heaven after sleeping in the van for a month. Although I could have laid on the massage table forever the next activity was well worth getting up for. We were going to Hobbiton! After ajourney through rolling green pastours we got to the set and were taken on a tour around by a British lad called James. We saw masterfully detailed hobbit holes and learnt some crazy facts like the fact that it was two people jobs and couple of weeks before filming to walk from a hobbit hole to the washing line and back again every day in order to make a natural path in the grass and that the tree above Bilbo's house is fake and each leaf was painted and stuck on individually by students. However, they got the shade wrong for the season they were meant to be filming in so Peter Jackson made one woman repaint every single one! Throughout the tour Oli and dad were churning out the lord of the rings themed puns with the tour guide to the point that it just got ridiculous, you really can't take a male Naef anywhere! The magical tour ended in The Green Dragon, the shires pub where we were given one free pint of proper cider (which my dad greatly appreciated).
After geeking out at Hobbiton we headed to The Coromandel Penisula, the arean of New Zealand that is where kiwis go for holidays. Our first stop was the Hot Water Beach, a beach where you can dig a hole in the sand and instantly have a natural hot tub. When we arrived it was evening time and the beach was full of people so there was nowhere to dug a hole that would be hot or the only areas that were left were where it was too hot to dig. We ate our dinner and watched like hawks for people to leave the their hot tubs. Oli began trying to dig in the boiling hot areas and ended up burning his feet and me and dad decided to go and battle against the gigantic waves in the sea. Finally we got a spot as the sun was going down, next to a large group of brits on the Kiwi Experience and a small group of locals who we ended up talking to. We left in the dark and headed to the nearest Top 10 camping site. Naturally at the end of a holiday, funds are running low, so dad aksed me and Bonnie to sit on the floor of the camper and hide under a towel so that he didn't have to pay for us. This was nerve racking to say the least, especially when dad started a full conversation about the campervan to the man in the gate and oli kept doing the most suspicious smile possible. We were smuggled in sucessfully and our prize was a lovely hot shower.
We explored The Coromandel more the next day, going to Cathedral Bay. A strenuous 40 minutes walk lead us to a beautiful bay with a cave that lead to anothe beautiful bay. We rested in the shade of the tress and listened to the waves crashing until the temptation to get into the sea was too much. The waves here, just like at Hot Water Beach were huge and you had to fight your way past them. We then lay around some more and relaxed in preparation for the walk back.
After this relaxing day our goal now was to find somewhere for me to stay before my flight to Sydney, somewhere for my family to leave me. We went to Coromandel Town but it was far too quiet and so we looked on the map and saw a place called Thames which looked quite big, surely there must be stuff to do there, when we artived at Thames we quickly realised it was a ghost town. Even the barman at the bar we visited admitted it was dead. However, by this point it was far to late to go anywhere else so we parked in a car park and slept.
We were woken VERY early by a knock in the window. A man from the council had recieved a call and was comi g to give us a fine for camping in the wrong place. Damn. To top it off we then accidently ran over and left one of our camp chairs, not a good start to the last day together.
Thanks to my facebook friends recommendations we decided to drive to The Bay Of Plenty and that I should be left in Tauranga, a sea side town that is the commercial centre of the bay. We arrived here quite early and had lunch, but I couldn't fully relax because I knew what was soon to happen. I checked in at a hostel called Habourside Hostel but before we went our seperate ways we went for a stroll along the beach in the sunshine and had an ice-cream. And then it was time to say goodbye. After lots of tears and hugs and sentimentality I watched my family drive away. I walked to a bench by the habour and tried to de-puff my eyes and get my head round my situation. Now, at the beginning of this post I spoke about not really being alone. That is because I have met the people I am staying with in my hostel and there are so many people travelling alone! I am alone, but not alone! Everyone so far has been very welcoming and friendly and that's all it takes for me to not feel scared anymore but excited, very bloody excited! I am at this hostel for 4 nights and I hope to climb the nearby 'mountain' and enjoy the beach before my flight on the 19th.
Thank you again for reading :)
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