Anyway get in to Auckland and go straight into town, I didn’t want to fall asleep like I did in Hong Kong and mess up my sleep pattern for a week.
Spent the day I a walking around …really tired, bought some hiking boots for the trip and basically just wandered about in a daze…no change there then!
Went to go out for a beer with a guy from the tour but he reckoned he was too tired! What a feeble effort! So just wandered about on my own got some good night shots, then went back to the hostel with a couple of cans!
Its really expensive to do anything in the city, alienating its self from the backpackers even though it’s the gateway to many of the tours the backpackers will embark on!
Food, drink and activates are unbelievably highly priced, bottled water more expensive than petrol, and food…pasta that cost 69c in Oz is $4 over here…I’m glad my trip has food included!
Auckland is nice, but that’s all it is, plus it lacks the cutting edge other major places either the style of London, the romance of Paris, or the magic of New York, I was left slightly disappointed with my first taste of New Zealand…close but no cigar!
....Give me Huddersfield anyday !!
as we get on the bus I see to be the only bloke, the driver laughs and says "its you and the ladies this trip mate" Immediately I think cool ! but actually no that might be pretty annoying ! turns out we picked up two other guys round the corner who have girls names ! and confused the staff ! so it turns out to be 3 guys and about 10 girls ! that's more like it...some one to play beach football with !!
Just 8k today, to ease into it !!
Get to the campsite...pitch up...cook up some food ! and have a beer or two !
Start to really see some of NZ's great scenery from the ride, shame it was a bit over cast, wont make for the greatest of pictures, very green and great looking down atythe water from up the top of the hills !
Its a great start, really enjoying the trip !! great people too !
Quite a hike to the top but worth it for the ride down...this is becoming a trend in this place!!
Saw Tane Mahuta the largest tree in NZ...pretty cool forest, so green ! full of Kauri trees the same type as in Walpole in Oz.
Us boys couldnt get enough of the Black hole water slide, and kept going back for more action ! shame I couldnt get any pictures of the place..
Awesome view the following morning over the sea
I was dropped off with some others and we rode a grand total of about 30Ks to camp, not before taking a couple of stop offs at Hot water beach and cathedral cove, before eventually free wheeling 2K down a hill almost directly into our campsite...again right by the beach !
The ride was excellent, great weather, blue skies and 25C warm sunshine !! started off on a hard uphill, but got some awesome views of what was to come further along the trip.
Swam in the sea, best beach for swimming so far in NZ, went for a run with Aniss, Paddy, and Chris, did a mile down to the caves and back !
Had lunch then shot off to Rotorua, which stinks...no not like Grimsby...but because its a thermal area that has an volcano in the town, don't think its active, not sure my tent would withstand boiling lava !!
About to shoot off and ride the remaining distance about 20k to the campsite...tonight its a bush camp so no facilities at all !!bye for now
Great views at sunset !
Spent the morning driving down to Kaikora, went to the beach, not as nice as the North Island beaches as beach was stoney, and the water was extremely cold, a shock from the warmer North Island...still warm sunshine and great views of the Alps if you spun around so not all bad!
Cycled the afternoon into the beachside campsite, did some Irish Gallic Football training with Paddy...that finished me off after our biking!
Spent the evening on the beach with a campfire...!
Nice little City, has a look of York, and is the most English of all the cities in NZ so far ! has a real student vibe too as the University had just kicked off for Fresher's week !!
had a great afternoon after we left Christchurch I biked along with Paddy Aniss and a couple of others the 30k to our camp by the Rangitata river, with stunning views over the Alps !
while Biking tot he camp, we must have spooked some deer, as a heard of deer galloped over a small hill out of view then back into view as they came up the other side, amazing thing to see...think Jurassic Park... but we were the ones doing the chasing !
I woke up early doors, because of the white water rafting trip, around 6:45 and this was the view that I saw as I poked my sleepy head out of my tent !
Had breakfast, packed up my tent, and went up to the hut with the others to go Rafting !
They explained it was a two hour trip coasting down the river at first going through, grades 1-4 then climaxing with two grade 5 rapids, the highest grade rapids you can take people down on commercial trips !
the trip was awesome, and we managed to stay afloat the entire trip, at one point we were seconds from being sucked into a grade 6 which would have meant certain "flippidge" and everyone going overboard !!
We had seen grade 6 rapids at the Hukka falls the other day, and I love ferice water but I wouldn't have wanted to go though that on a boat !
after the trip down the river we went for a short hike around part of the Tekapo Lake, with amazing views of the Alps and the first look from long distance of Mt Cook...
after the Hike, a few of us biked the rest of the way in to camp, as this was a bush camp and had no showers, so we dived into the lake when we got there to cool down!
totally knackered, Rafting, Hiking, Biking and Swimming all in one day !
we topped the day off with Pancakes, a cold beer and the best sunset I have ever seen.
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