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| Cheers: NZ beer! |
This was Jenny and my first trip to New Zealand and we saw the event as putting the toe in the water with our neighbours over 'the ditch' as we definately want to explore the country in depth later. We had Mike n Kez in tow (or should I say they had us in tow as Mike is a Kiwi after all) and planned a look see around parts of the North Island with 5 days sking. So the usual trip on the train to Sydney airport followed by a short plane trip got us to Aukland. We stayed at the Bella Vista Hotel, near the airport and tasted a NZ beer (Stokes) before a trip into Aukland for dinner at the waterfront.
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| Aukland waterfront first night |
Next day our adventure really began as we booked two campervans. After a slight hiccup (and a very bloody expensive taxi ride trying to find the campervan shop) we picked up our vans. Jenny and I opted for the offer of an upgrade to a larger 6 seater van which came in very handy later in the trip.
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| The Tardis |
We took our time travelling south towards Rotarua, stopping occassionally to check out small towns and pick up some supplies. Rotarua turned out to be a very interesting town. The expected pong of the hot sulphur springs was quite minimal as we drove in. We stayed at the Rotarua Thermal Holiday Park which had its own hot spring baths!!! Before a soothing dip however Jenny and I headed to the Mitai Maori Village for a Hungi and cultural experience which we enjoyed emensely. Learnt a few Moari traditions, songs and different Hakkas. Kez n Mike went to the pub to watch the Rugby final as they have done this stuff many times before. We met back in the hot pools at the park and it was wonderful. Stayed there and got pickled for quite a while until we were kicked out. Next day we went to the Pohutu geyser and hot springs and enjoyed being tourists mingling with predominately Japanese, Korean and Chinese visitors. We were very fortunate to be on time for the 10am geyser eruption which was actually very impressive.
With Rotarua out of the way we headed to the mountains via Lake Tapau. Lake Tapau empties itself at a place called the Haka Falls (pronounced hooker) which is a very tight channel with loud rushing water gushing through at a pace that would fill 5 olympic swimming pools each minute. A bit Niagara fallsish but without the expansive width and height. Arrived at Discovery Lodge our main ski camp in the arvo in time for happy hour. Happy hour turned out to be a tradition each night in the dibbenmobile as we had the space. The van was a bit like the Tardis with heaps of room and we found the whole van experience fantastic. Jenny wants one.
