Round the World trip - New Zealand, August 2008

 

Kia Ora! I started this email on 19 July, taking advantage of Auckland library's free internet (gold dust to the cash strapped backpacker), and I am finally finishing it 4 weeks later! Since my last update I visited South Island with its remote, untouched and rugged beauty. I spent about 6 weeks travelling round by a mixture of hitch-hiking which totalled 18 different random lifts, and campervanning with a friend for 11 days. Then I spent a week on Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, and 3 weeks on North Island NZ travelling on the Stray backpacker bus. 

 

I loved the unpredictablily of hitch-hiking and the random people I met through it. Most folk were chatty and outgoing, and were glad of the company on a long journey or just having a good chin-wag with an overseas traveller. I got picked up by lorry drivers, an army guy, 3 Aussie girls into Christchurch woohoo, 4 Aussie girls out of Christchurch woohoo, and many other friendly locals and travellers.

 

I got invited back for lunch by one kind and friendly lady who had a fascinating house full of the furs of a wide range of animals, as her husband organises hunting trips for many wealthy clientele, which included Michael Flatley and Sylvester Stallone! Another lift from Christchurch to the beautiful Banks Peninsula resulted in the guy inviting me sailing for the day, an offer I couldn't pass up!

 

I sampled skiing for the first time at Mt Hutt near Christchurch and loved the exhilarating feeling of flying down from the top of the mountain by the second day's afternoon! My budget didn't allow me any more than 2 days, so my skiing career is put on hold for now.

 

I hired an excellent campervan for 11 days (which was surprisingly cheap during the off season) with my Canadian friend Lauri to tour round South Island, with our own indoor kitchen, toilet and shower, though we never braved the cramped shower! NZ's winter time was a little chilly so we stayed at powered campsites mostly, but we survived one night with no heater, for the experience! Thankfully we didn't have to fit our snow chains or fix any punctures, and our dump station trips weren't too smelly!

 

I couldn't resist adding the Cook Islands (which I booked in January) to my world tour, and a visit to Rarotonga (the main and largest island of the group, 32km in circumference) was well worth the 3 hour plane journey from Auckland. It was surrounded by stunning shallow turquoise waters with a mountainous and forested interior. I entertained myself with a good range of low budget activities - snorkelling, hiking, local markets, church service in Maori with famous islander singing and feast afterwards, traditional island night with music, dance and audience participation (yes I got dragged up to dance island style!), and much more. I had plenty of time to lounge on the beach and work on my tan, before heading back to the NZ winter in the North Island. 

 

July produced the wettest month in NZ's history with storm after storm rolling in, producing landslides and flooding everywhere! This didn't dampen my spirits and I fitted in almost all that I wanted. I toured round on the hop-on-hop-off backpacker bus Stray and met good bunches of folk. We went caving at Waitomo, abseiling down waterfalls, squeezing on our hands and knees through holes up to our necks in water, and checking out the glow worms in complete darkness!

 

We experienced local Maori culture staying a night at a ‘marae’ (meeting house), feasting on a ‘hangi’ meal, watching performances and best of all... learning and performing the Haka, exactly as the All Blacks do prior to their rugby matches! 

 

I visited some crazy geothermal activity at Rotorua, which at times smelt like rotten eggs, and I relaxed at the Polynesian Spa and some of the free natural hot springs. I was lucky to hike one of NZ's finest treks on one of the few good days, which was a unique alpine adventure using crampons and ice axe! The 17km walk took 8 hours, and the clouds cleared beautifully as we approached the highest point to reveal some incredible views.

 

To celebrate my 25th birthday on the 9th, I decided to make it one to remember by jumping out of an aeroplane! My wonderful sister and brothers treated me to that as a present, so all I had to worry about was smiling for the camera as I hurtled towards the ground at 200km/hr! It was a thrilling experience.

 

As if that wasn't enough, in the afternoon I did the Rock n Ropes activity, which was a circus-like adventure playground, testing any lingering fears of heights. I climbed poles 20-30 feet high, jumped from the top to catch trapezes, walked beams and wobbly bridges, got launched on giant swings, and much more!

 

That pretty much brings me up to present day; of course there were loads of other cool stories to tell but that'll have to wait until I get home in November (arrive Edinburgh 1st Nov and Belfast 4th Nov, so come to Edinburgh for that weekend if you can!). Next I fly to Fiji tomorrow for 3 weeks, followed by Hawaii for 12 days, and the west coast of America from LA to Vancouver for 6 weeks; I can't wait!