On arrival in Wellington it was raining.. Our first proper day rain since we have been in NZ, which was sad as I think Wellington is a fab place, just with just a short space of time when your running between building to stay dry you don’t see it as much.. The other thing to hit you is how big it is.. The South Island despite being larger has only a quarter of NZ population.. Another quarter live in Auckland and its suburbs so the rest are amongst the rest of the North Island.. All the places you now drive through are bigger and all have the main amenities.. It is a shock to the system doing NZ this way around..!!
So after Wellington we had our longest North Island drive.. Which was a lot more simple than South Island (not lots of mountains where you are doing 25km an hour to stay alive!).. We arrived in Lake Taupo yesterday and stayed in a stunning campsite yesterday and cooked our best BBQ yet!!! Lake Taupo is the largest lake in NZ and the start of the thermal area, where volcanos are still active and where the heat in the water is actually used to generate electricity (no nuclear power here!!).. Taupo is classed as the adventure capital of the North so today we did the amazing Huka Falls on a Jet Boat, absolutely fantastic.. We then (after a muffin and cup of tea) went quad biking around the bush!!.. So much more difficult than it looks but a lot of fun.. Inner thighs get a work out, soon as you step off them feels like you have been on a horse!! We then drove up to Rotorua, the thermal capital and have just experienced a traditional Maori night.. This is the Maori capital in NZ so we went for a Maori evening of dance, singing and food cooked underground on stones... Chicken, Fish, sweet potatoes and all other stuff all cooked underground for 4 hrs, tasted amazing.. Also saw the Huka performed and had to hear about how amazing the ‘All Blacks’ are!!!
The other thing that has been a bit of a change is the weather.. As soon as we left Wellington the weather has improved we are now on about 25 degrees in the day with the sun not going down until at least 8:30 in the evening so we are now getting some colour into our cheeks!!
One snag about Rotorua.. It STINKS!!!!! Haz warned me about this but wasn’t prepared, the thermal activity in this area and the sulphur in the water makes this place smell like rotten eggs... Can’t believe the population growth in this place is second only to Auckland.. Who would want to live in a place that smells???!!!!!
Anyway going to finish beer and retire.. Plan tomorrow is to Zorb Ball!!! We then make our way to the East Coast and the Bay of Plenty where weather permitting we are going on our Dolphin trip..
Take Care..
Love Kate & Matt xxxx
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