Day 54 – Rotorua, Taupo, Waitomo and Wellington
The day after the rafting we packed up and left Rotorua. On our way we visitied Te Puia, the Maori centre for culture. It was good but was a bit of a rip off for what we actually saw and learnt. Saw some guysers (the biggest in the southern hemisphere I think) and some mudpools (more smells of shitty sulphor everywhere!) and loads of stuff about Maoris. They do a show at that place that can pay extra for and see traditional Maori dancing and things like that, we decided against that as we’ve seen the All Blacks do the Hakka before rugby games. Met the German girls from the rafting trip the day before, spoke to them for about 2 mins, realised that they really couldn’t understand our accents and quickly left!
Went to ‘Kerosine Creek’ after lunch – a stream in the back of beyond that’s a warm as a hot bath because of all the geothermal springs in the area, amazing! Sat under a waterfall for ages, just like a jacuzzi. Met the American girls from the rafting trip there by chance – they laughed quite a lot at our van, but convinced them to race us to the next town, Taupo, where the vanette was obviously victorious over their camper. Stopped at Hukka Falls (another waterfall to add to the list) then found a campsite. Had a BBQ for dinner then got horrifically drunk with the Americans, as usual taking the piss out of their accent. Called it quits when it was getting light outside.
Spent the next morning at the waterfront on Lake Taupo nursing sore heads. The girls were heading South to Wellington, whilst we were going West to Waitomo, so parted ways. Had a couple of hours drive, I really struggled with, although we found a Burger King which helped. Had a drive around Waitomo (took about 3 minutes, there’s basically nothing there) and picked a campsite (took about 1 minute, there wasn’t much choice). Had a dip in the pool at the campsite then went to bed ridiculously early, not for the first time on this trip.
The next day we went to the nearest town to do some shopping, then back to Waitomo to go caving and black water rafting - Waitomo is famous for having loads of huge limestone caves all over the place. Our trip started with a 30m abseil into the cave, then we went climbing through all these caves, with no light bar a head torch, then get in car inner tubes and float through the streams that run through the caves. Best part of the trip was when you turned off the head torch and did it in the almost dark – above you were thousands of glowworms in the roof of the cave – it was like looking up at a sky full of stars. The rest of the trip was all about caving, some ridiculously squeezes and tight fits, then a rock climb back out of the cave. Got some good photos from the trip here. The day knackered us out, another quiet night.
Up early and went on a walk in the Ruakuri Bush, short walk through the forest but was really good and took us to another huge natural cave/tunnel. The rest of the day was the 6 hour drive south to Wellington. Got there and got a campsite on the outskirts of town – basically a carpark at the back of a motel, then drove into Wellington for a scout about, get some wifi at the library and plan out the next few days. Had dinner back at the campsite, G spilt pasta sauce all over himself and had to do a washing, I mainly laughed.
Next day we moved to a campsite right in the middle of Wellington we had found. The previous night had been a lot like a car park, but this genuinely was, the council had just built some toilets, showers and power supplies in a car park and made it into a motor home park! However it was everything we were after and was cheap. Went to Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand, which was pretty good, saw more Maori stuff then we had in Rotorua at the Maori Institute, plus the museum was free which is always good.
Wellington’s nicknamed ‘windy Wellington’, and it was easy to see why – when we came out of the museum there was an absolute gale blowing, and it was pouring with rain.
Did some wandering around the city centre/got soaked. Bought a couple of new books as I’ve read more in the past month of two than I have in years. Was looking for a new hoody as well, but all the shops seemed to be like the Officers Club back home, so I gave it a miss.
At night we had dinner and some drinks in a hostel near to the motor home park, then headed into town. Think it was underagers night as we seemed to be the oldest people everywhere. After substantial research we found out the a double in NZ is basically a single back home, and they give you it was standard unless you ask for a single. Strange. Home via McDonalds at who knows what time.
Woke up to more ridiculous wind and rain and spent the morning reading and being hungover inside Annette the Vannette. By late morning the weather had totally changed and there were clear blue skies and it was roasting hot. Spent the afternoon catching up on life and what not online at the library and not doing very much at all. Went to the cinema at night, on the way there Grant described himself as “like Clooney, I’m getting better looking with age”. I’m making note of this so he can never live that down.
Met some Irish girls back at the campsite and had a few drinks with them then went out, but everywhere was shut as it was the middle of the week and pretty late.
Ferry to the South Island in the morning, early early start.
Woke up to bright sunlight and people outside, thought we had missed our alarms and the ferry, but turns out that’s what its like at 6.45am when you sleep in a car park in the middle of Wellington. Made the boat, 3 and a half hour sail to Picton, decided we would just stay there for the night and catch up on sleep, lazy day.
