h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

well I have finally done it

NZ was gorgeous. Chilly, wet, but very,very,pretty

We nearly missed the flight over due to a train delay, and, on the way home, nearly missed the train due to a plane delay.

We spent xmas with my parents and my sister, and her family. It was really nice, of course we all ate to much and some of us tippled very merrily

On boxing day we left for our tour in my parents campervan, which, although small, was very comfy.

First up we went to Otorohanga, to see some kiwis, and other native birds and wildlife,it has one of the largest enclosed avairies, then on to Wiatomo caves, where we spent our first night,
The glowworms were really spectacular, and the walk to the top of the lookout was a killer, but the view was worth it, we even went into the haunted hotel for a drink!,
which due to a change in the way public holidays are now paid, was horrendously expensive.

Day two was a big drive, we went down one side of the mountains, along the bottom, then around and up the other side, with just a short side trip up the side of Mt Ruapehu,to the bottom of the ski lifts, the weather was absoballylutely clear,but with a freezing wind, so we got some loverly shots of the mountains.
We also stopped at the War Museum, so Gray could play on all the tanks and stuff.

Day two was Taupo,Lake Taupo is the biggest lake in NZ, it was created over 1500 years ago, by a huge volcanic eruption,the chinese have records of it, it turned the sky pinkish for a while. We saw the Huka falls and a dam,where water is released every 2 hours during the day, it was awesome. We visited a place called Craters of the Moon, a large area full of sulpher wents and steam vents.It was quite eerie, very hot and smelly.

Day 3 was on to Napier, a city rebuilt in the 1920s after an earthquake, so the whole city is done in art deco, very different, it was full of holiday makers, so we kept going onto Wiaroa,just a small seaside town, but it had a caravan park, with the poshest showerblock I have ever seen,piped music, beautiful showers, sparkling toilets, and fresh cut flowers!
The drive from Napier to Wiaroa, gave us just a glimpse of the twisty, windy skinny, roads that were coming up.

Day four was drizzly from the start, and this was the day we were going to take state highway 38, a gravel road through Eruwera National Park, and Lake Wiakarimoana, a volcanic crater lake. This drive was very,very hairy.
Steep windy roads going up and over 4 ranges, with huge drops on one side of the road, and sheer cliffs on rising on the other,
and even through the drizzle, the views were breathtaking
Our ears were constantly popping, with the up and down of the road.
It took us 4 hrs to cover 160kms!!!!Thank the stars the van was an automatic, but Grays shoulders were sore for days afterward.

We finally reached Rotoua in the late afternoon, booked in an had an early night.
We shopped a bit the next day, but spent most of it driving around, I checked out my old houses and the schools I used to go to
And got a Kebab for new years dinner. Day 5 we went to Hells Gate, a thermal activity area, and saw boiling mud,and other smelly things, with a hot water lake, and waterfall, then after lunch we went to Rainbow springs, a trout sanctuary, and did a tour, that told about the trout,and other native wild life and plants. The trees here in NZ are huge.

Day six saw us leaving Rotorua, in the rain again, but on the way we went to the Buried Village, the weather cleared just as we got there,
This was a village that got covered in volcanic ash and mud, during the volcanic eruption of Mt Tarawera in 1886, this explosion also destroyed the Pink and White Terraces, sometimes called the eighth wonder of the world.
There was a beautiful but steep walk down to the bottom of a waterfall, (yep another one.(oh, and it started to rain again, just as we left)

We arrived back in Mt Muanganui, about lunch time, very tired but very happy.

We spent another couple of days here, swam in hot water pools one day, and walked around the mountain the next.
I spent a loverly afternoon doing a jigsaw puzzle, which, when I was 3/4 of the way through got bumped, and fell to pieces,

My sister came down from Auckland I took the puzzle with me to Auckland, and began it again there, where it again got bumped before
it was finished, but on the 3rd attempt I managed to finish it!
It was very relaxing at my sisters place, we just sat around and talked, did a bit of shopping and what not, we went out for Grays birthday The food was wonderful,Then we went clubbing, although at one bit we ended up in a really bad bar, which we exited in a hurry

It was nice to get home, lots of brown flat land, and a dog that had grown heaps while we were away!
NZ was nice (I have run out of superlatives) but now we need a holiday to get over our holiday!

here is the link to a photo album of some of the pictures we took ==> http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/1174384

sounds like you have wonderfull time...

did you see any hobbits?

nope, but did see a possible hobbit home in the side of the hill going up to the Wiatomo look out

could be good for nature...very natural heating!

The maoris did use vents and pools for steaming food, and for soaking in, and the mud is supposed to be very theraputic

Wow, those photo's are great!

I would one day love to visit your side of the hemisphere, our timing is always a little off......



Looks like you had a lovely time

oh we did, but was glad to come home

sounds like you had a cool time tell me more on this 'bad bar' you ended up in kebab for new years day? my plan is that the first year I spend Christmas in my own house rather than going back to my Dads, I plan on having either a chinese meal for Christmas day, or a Tai curry

The bad bar was full of huge kiwi biker type dudes, playin techno crap music, very dark, but not smoky, cos smokin in pubs an clubs is now illegal, just felt very odd, we was the only white skinny people in sight

we want to go to a hangi(hun- ghee) traditional and very yummy moari meal, but everywhere was booked out, so we wandered about town and the smell of kebab was nice so we got them

the bar does indeed sound awful, techno music there is a certain something about kebabs

I feel sorry for that giant bird that's had its legs cemented into the ground outside the kiwi house. All just to attract the attention of passers by. Poor thing.

I'm just generally jealous - apart from the bit about the bar full of enormous bikers and techno. That I don't regret at all...

Oooh, lovely pictures, sounds like a great trip as well

just a few other things I found different.......

shopping trolleys are called 'trundles' and must be returned to the trundle park.......

thongs are 'jandels'.......

bathers are 'togs'.....

and speed bumps are 'judder bars'....

beer come in 'handles' a pint glass, or a 'ladies handle', which I think is a schooner glass with a handle.....

at the working mans clubs,(cosompolitan clubs, or cosi club) you get your own glass from the fridge which will be the same glass for your visit, there are cloths on each table, which you are expected to wipe down when you leave....

and the kebabs were nice, but not as nice as our local sunshine kebabs, which used to home deliver till their poor delivery boy got hit by a car thankfully he wasn't to hurt, but his scooter was a write off