Last days around North Island…

… And on my own! Now there were no excuses, I was beginning a completely different trip, travelling alone is a something that I’ve been looking forward to experimenting and I was finally going to do it! Don’t take me wrong, it's great to travel with people, it’s fun but it can also be complicated, being more people there are more opinions… hihihihi

The truth is that the beginning of my trip alone wasn’t perfect... now I know that perfection does not exist, but I had never made "guiri" mistakes before and I was surprised with myself! I started my journey from Paihia (Bay of Islands) via Auckland to Cambridge where, fortunately for me, I arrived before 1730, time that the i–Site (tourist information offices, any town/city willing to be one of a kind has one) closes. I walked towards the lady behind the counter which greeted me with a big smile and a "good afternoon how can I help?" (the kindness in this country, it’s not absent at any times!) I asked her if she could tell me the way to my hotel, the Cambridge Hotel. She smiled at me and said: "you mean the one in Wellington, right?" Nooooo, I mean the one in Cambridge! That’s when her smile disappeared and she said: "do you have a brochure?” Of course, here you are, once more she looked at me with that big smile and said: "dear, here says welcome to Wellington! Don’t worry, it’s not the first time that happens, at least you didn’t book yourself into Cambridge UK!"

I know, I know… you can laugh all that you want! Just like all those people who in the past 3 years we have had night after night coming to the airport for the flight to Madrid, I felt so stupid! And what is worse, I had read it, but I just thought of a reasonable explanation, it could be that Cambridge belonged to Wellingtons county! Aaaaaaaggggghhhhhhhhhrrrrrrrrrr

Anyway, what could I do? I wanted to be there, but I didn’t have accommodation and I had just got off the bus, which I almost lost thanks to the "surfer/receptionist" at Paihias hotel. So, after 6 hours travelling, the last thing I wanted was to get on another bus. So I asked the lady if she could help me find accommodation for one night, the cheapest and closest for me to walk was more than double the price I’ve paid for the hotel in Wellington. But from that moment I’ve been able to experience the kindness of kiwis, totally selfless people who help you in all they can. The lady of the big smile, called a hotel, she explained my situation and they agreed to give me a twin room for myself for only $40!

It was still a long walk to the hotel, but totally worth it as soon as I saw the Victorian house. The new owners are rebuilding it and has become a motel after being a retirement home for a few years. A very nice couple, I enjoyed a good conversation with her and the next morning her husband drove me to the bus stop as I had too much gear with me…

Next stop, New Pleymouth. This time everything was going to be ok, or not… well, not really! I had booked my backpackers the night before; I ensured that it was in the destination city, the correct date, etc... I read all the Hostel information and I saw they offered free pick-ups and drop offs from the bus station and back to the hostel, so I send them a message requesting a pick up at the time of my arrival with the bus, but I never got any answer and of course they were not there when I arrived! I actually didn’t mind so much as I had requested it with a short notice. So once more I went to the i-Site and again asked for help to the lady behind the counter which very kindly called the hostel. She only got an answering machine that gave her another phone… this time it was the "manager", wh0 was in Queenstown (South of the South Island) he gave her another number, this wasn’t very good either! She seemed very unsatisfied with the situation so she asked her boss if she knew who was in charge of the hostel as no one was picking up the phone and the guy in charged was on holidays. Few minutes later, they told me the hostel was a 20 minutes’ walk away, then a lady offered to take me. It was so surreal, this time I had it wright, I swear, but it seemed that fate had decided to play against me… So Mary, who so kindly offered to take me, around 65 years old lady was not on her own, she was with 2 friends of the same age, one Australian and the other, kiwi, which could not stop asking her where we were going and why? Mary replied that she would not let me go alone with all the baggage when they were driving pass my hostel. Approaching the hostel we saw a board saying “mortgage for sale”, no good news! Mary, got off the car when she hadn’t even finished parking it, and headed towards the reception where there was nobody! The building was modern, but it was quite careless, in the kitchen we found an old gentleman who seemed a bit disorientated, on the first floor there were four guys drinking beer and it appeared that there was no one else. Suddenly we bumped into the gardener and Mary, who took the reins of the conversation, told him that no one had gone to pick me up and that I had a booking with them! The poor man could just apologize, even though it was obvious that he knew nothing about it. He had my reservation, but did not know anything about the pick-up. When I went back to Mary’s car to pick up my things, she told me that she was not happy leaving me there, that I could stay at another backpackers in town. If I have to be honest I didn’t feel like staying there either. So she insisted on me calling her back if I changed my mind as she would be in the area and could take me back into town. She gave me her business card and, almost, demanded to write her a text message keeping her informed!!!

Soon after the "housekeeper" arrived, so I asked him to show me the room, I asked him about the place and for what he told me I decided to be honest and tell him that I didn't wanted to stay there and I rather be in town as I already had a raft day. They turned to be very nice and helpful people, fully understood my situation and even helped me find another accommodation where they dropped me off later! Once at my new hostel I text Mary, she was very pleased to know I wasn’t staying there anymore... wow what an experience! I went back to the i-Site to see which were the activities that I could do while in New Pleymouth and, on this occasion, the supervisor asked me how have things finished with the other backpackers as Mary had called them to tell them she was not happy leaving me there! Can you imagine? Just like in Europe, eh!?

Taranaki

Finally, after so much "misfortune" it was time for some adventure. Climb the Taranaki! No, no, don’t worry, I haven’t suddenly turned onto a mountaineer or anything like that, or at least that wasn’t my intention!

The following morning I decided to climb one of the highest in the country and the highest in North Island (2850 meters), but by bus, hehehehe! I booked a space on the shuttle bus that takes you up to 960m, where the information center is. I could do several tracks of an hour, 3 hours, 30 minutes and of course the great one of 8 hours (all these are return times). I was only going to do the shorter tracks from where you can also enjoy the views of the mountain. I was shearing the bus with an Austrian (Julia), a Czech and a Slovenian, all 3 from my same hostel; they were going to climb Taranakis summit; the bus normally would come back at 1630 to pick people up, but we managed to arrange a later pick up at 1730 just in case. On our way to the mountain, the bus driver started giving us much information, so I already started to feel tempted by the idea of trying to climb to the top. He told me that I could give it a try and if by one pm I hadn’t reached the summit I should began to descent so I could make it on time for our pick up. I had a book with me, because if I was only going to do short tracks I would be ready long before pick up time! But by the time we arrived at the information Centre it was only 0815, so I thought it was plenty of time for me to try the summit. So, in the end, I decided I would give it a try and by 0830 Julia and I started our walk just after the Slovenian, who was very well equipped. We left behind the “strange” Czech and 10 minutes after we have started the climb, I had to stop! It had only been 10 minutes and I could not even cope with my boots… I made the terrible mistake of trying to keep up with Julia and talking all the way, so that didn’t help me at all, I know! I told Julia to go on without me as I doubted that I could do it, so I sat down on a bench looking back to what I had walked and looking up to what I still had to walk. I couldn’t stop feeling silly for being close to quit after 10 minutes! Then I thought I should try again but this time at my own pace and then perhaps I could arrive further. So off I went, stopping every time I needed it and after a while I managed to stabilize my breading and therefore my heart rate. I decided to set myself small goals, like ”if I get to that curve or if I get to that point in the distance” I’d be very satisfied. I knew that at a certain height there was a telecommunications tower and a shelter, you can do the walk in 3 days spending the night in them, but I never thought I would manage to get even near it. Suddenly it appeared on the distance and step by step it became my next goal.

I remembered that the supervisor of the i - Site had told me there was a part of the walk which was very steep, so when I came across the final slope to the tower and saw how steep it was I thought that my climb had come to its end... Once more, I sat down and looked behind to what I have already accomplished and then I looked up to the top and, although I know they say it’s better to not look back, this time it felt good, so I said to myself, look what you’ve done so far and look how little to go, so don’t be stupid and go ahead! When I finally reached "my top", I could not believe it, the views were amazing. I sat down to eat my sandwich and enjoy the scenery, allowing my knees to recover from such an effort. Because of them I decided I would not continue climbing, physically I felt capable to continue and I had enough time, but my knees couldn’t. I also thought that I still had to go down and that would be a great challenge for them too. I know now that it was the best decision to make as that was a month ago and my knees, even now, hurt with a small slope. The descent was hard, but I was so proud of myself that I could barely feel it. Once down I still had many hours until pick up time, so I enjoyed a well-deserved piece of brownie and a coffee, the Sun and my book.

By 1630, none of my colleagues had yet appeared. The “strange” Czech had passed me 40 minutes away from the Tower, by then I thought he had given up, so I knew he would be the last one to be back. I expected the Slovenian to be the first one down, but for my surprise the first to appear was Julia! She told me I had done the right decision by going back when I did, as from the tower the climbing got lot worse. She had to climb the first part, then continued an endless stairs and more climbing. Julia had reached the top before one pm and stayed there for an hour and a half to enjoy the views. The top is a crater and was snow-covered, she met a kiwi who climbs every day if weather permitted, he has already climbed it 400 times and the record is 1000 times! I suppose there are people who have nothing better to do! More than half an hour later the Slovenian arrived and when we were about to leave after waiting for nearly an hour for the Czech, he appeared form nowhere...

Anyway, the following days Julia and I could hardly walk. So the few days we had in Wellington help us recover!

Wellington, the windy city!

By the sea, slightly smaller than Auckland, blows the wind with insistence. It was my last destination in the North Island, the city in which you can enjoy its great Museum, visit its botanical garden, strolling through the port or go up the mountains behind the city in the cable car as if you were in San Francisco! I spent my last nights in a Nomads hostel, my first and last time. Not for lack of comfort, we had the dinner included, which is good, but the noise coming out of the pub every night made unbearable the stay! It was like being in San Antonio… In Wellington I met with Fiona and her friend Fabienne who had come to see Fiona and visit the NZ.

The South Island was my next destination!

Bay of Island & Cape Rienga

Back on the road, but this time by bus after an extra week in Auckland arranging all the paperwork so my parents could get my redundancy for me, but at last everything worked out perfectly and on the 13^th of January Cris and I went to Bay of Islands for the weekend. Our last trip together and thanks to the nice weather we enjoyed it much more!

We left on Friday at noon with the nakedbus, one of the cheapest ways to travel in NZ and no, you don't have to be naked to go on it! The backpackers we reserved was near the sea and the town center, the truth is that the entire street was filled with hostels. We had a 4 bed dorm, the first night we shared it with a German (of course, NZ it’s full of Germans) and a Canadian. The hostel was great, a good kitchen, a large living room with TV, movies and very good tourist information board. Next day we did an excursion to Cape Rienga, top North of the country, there’s a lighthouse and you can see how the Tasman Sea meets with the Pacific, a great experience! We had a great day, long but fun and very interesting, in which we could also enjoy stunning views of beaches, cliffs, dunes and crazy comments from our guide.

After picking us up in our hostel and spend the next 2 hours on the bus, we had our first stop, at a bakery where we could buy the water and food we would need for the entire day. From there we went to the 90 Mile Beach, a beach considered road but which you can only use when weather permitted and in the morning when the tide is low. The beach is so called because they thought that was its length, but was actually measured down to 68 miles. Why change it? Because then they can compete with the Australians for the longest Beach/Road in the southern hemisphere. Here everything works like that, the longest beach, the only tower, the only place that… and a non ending etc... that, of course, always in the southern hemisphere!

After driving a while on the Beach we arrived at the dunes where we could do sand boarding, I was tempted to do it, but the sand mountain was too high, too fast and the greatest crash! So, better to leave it for another day, as trip had just re-started.

To be able to enjoy one of the natures phenomenon’s, see how two seas meet and battle against each other, is one of those small luxuries and delights of a traveler and on this occasion, I can assure you that it was a pleasure.

The next day we did a half-day tour to the Hole on the Rock, it’s basically that, a hole on the rock! A rock that doubles in size our Es Vedra and with a big hole, if weather permitted, the boats go through it so you can experience what it’s like to go through such a giant!

Shortly after Cris had to go, our paths were to separate and who knows if they'll ever meet again, but it was a plesure meeting her and to travel together part of the North Island!

Road trip North Island!

After spending Christmas in Auckland a Brazilian, a Russian and myself started to travel around the North Island and the first stop was to be on the peninsula of Coromandel and then to Gisborne to celebrate the New Year where we would get together with more of my friends and at last continue to Wellington! Those were the plans, but as many of you know, there’s a person named Murphy whose laws are always interfering with your plans! On this occasion the law became real, 2 days after having started the trip, the Russian decided to give up, she said she was unable to continue with the trip (because it was too cold, but you are from Siberia!) That she couldn’t fit in the campervan (what?! you are half a meter high!) Anyway, honestly, it was something that I imagined it would happen sooner or later, but still I could not help the surprise and the consequent anger! The entire trip had been scheduled for 3 people and not 2, it’s true that, in the end, this was better for Cris and I, the truth’s that we would have more room to sleep, but we were, still, annoyed as it had caught us by surprise!

Finally, after a few minutes of discussion she ask me to drop her off at the nearest town, there was a McDonald's, it was raining, there was no sight of a bus stop, train or anything alike. But we know she got back to Auckland safe! In the end it was the best thing that could have happened to us. Cris and I work well as a team and for a city girl as her, without experience in camping, campervan, etc. I think she did pretty well. Besides, we were on our way to Gisborne to meet with Eloïse (Belgium) and Marco (German Switzerland) which I already knew from Auckland, so the extra space was also great! On the way there we picked up a couple of hitchhikers from Germany, who were going to the music festival. I had never done it before, not even at home, but they were a couple and it was raining a lot!

Gisborne’s situated on the eastern cost, actually of the furthest point, so it would be the first place to seen the Sunrise of the New Year and that was our main reason to go there. A great idea if it had stopped raining at some point! Anyway, the city was too busy because the Festival, so we were grateful to get out of there. We spent the night of the 30^th and 31^st of December at a wonderful lake called Waikaremoana, in one of the best campsites we could’ve stayed during those special days. Although it didn’t stop raining we had a good dinner and celebrated the entry of 2012 the traditional Spanish way, with the grapes!

The day of our arrival to the lake was the same day as the Russian left, we drove 7 hours and just 10 km away from the campsite we had a flat tire! Fortunately a nice man stopped to help us and we could arrive before dusk, what a day! On New Year's Eve we met with other friends of mine before going back to get dinner ready. We had stuffed aubergine with rice and apple crumble with custard for dessert, all of this with a great NZ white wine and champagne with the grapes! We had dinner at the campsites kitchen along with an English couple, who has been living in Auckland for almost 2 years now, and a group of elderlies. The truth’s that it was fun as we all celebrated the new arrival kissing and hugging as if we knew each other for a lifetime! Kiwis are very friendly and approachable; the always say hello or smile at you, especially if you are walking along the streets of one of their small towns. On New Year’s we finally had a bit of Sunshine, not for a long time but it was enough to be able to appreciate the wonderful scenery of the lake!

January the 1^st, we got back on the road, this time to Napier, a city which it’s entirely Art Deco! The city council had decided many years ago that any new business in town or any new building should be of no more than 3 floors and with an Art Deco style, something that I personally think’s a great idea! I mean, if the city already had several buildings on this line, why not keep it that way! We did a tour around Napier, Hastings, Cape Kidnappers and Te Mata Peak. Hastings’s near Napier, but it’s not an Art Deco city, what's more, it used to be a very poor area, but now it’s very rich in vineyards and farms. Hastings has become a place for wealthy farmers, the houses are stunning and their prices are outrageous, but not those which are right in front of the sea. In 1931, Napier and the surrounding area suffered an earthquake of 7.9 on the Richter scale, there were only left intact a couple of buildings, those who the fire brigade chief thought were more important. The "good” thing is that the earthquake made the land emerged, expanding the area and alienating the urban core of the sea. But in a grey area between Napier and Hastings, the sea’s now claiming what it once belonged to it. There are 2 houses which have disappeared because the sea and many other which are in great danger of disappearing swollen by the waters of Cape Kidnapper!

Cape Kidnapper is the name given to the beach where Cook and the Māori fought for the life of a Polynesian "slave". The story tells that he was aboard Cook’s ship and when he saw the Māori was so thrilled to see people like him that he fell into the sea. The Maori rescued him but that Cook thought they have kidnapped him so he began a battle. The other version, that clearly differs, is that the slave was trying to escape from Cook!

From there we went to Te Mata Peak, which also has its own story. They say that Te Mata was a giant who intended to marry the kings daughter, but she didn't want to marry with whom her father decided, but with someone whom she’d love, instead. But on the other hand, she didn’t want to offend her father, which had already reached an agreement with Te Mata. So the princess decided she would give Te Mata 3 different trials to do, if he passed them all 3 she would marry him, but if not he would leave and forget the agreement with her father. Te Mata agreed to it, so she tried to think of the most difficult ones so he would give up. Te Mata managed to overcome the 2 first, which toked him a long time so by the time he had to do the third one the Princess had fallen in love with the giant, so she decided that the last test had to be an easy one, so she would be able to marry him. Te Mata had to help the Princess to cross a river, the giant thought it was so easy and he was so excited thinking that he was going to finish it and marry the princess, that he wasted all his energy on the first part that he wasn’t able with to cross the river and so he drowned. The Princess felt so alone, sad and guilty that decided to commit suicide so she coul spend eternity with his giant, now the Princess rests forever next to his beloved!

We also had the opportunity to make a winetasting in one of the most known vineyards in the area and of course we bought a bottle! Then we had the opportunity to enjoy a performance with songs from the 1920’s, what else could be more Art Deco than that?!

Our next destination was Lake Taupo, Marco and Eloïse had not been yet, although Cris and I had been before, we had only been there for 2 hours that we couldn’t enjoy because it was raining non-stop. We spent the first night in a free campsite, those are public campsites, supervised by the Government and you pay very little money, which goes for its maintenance. We spent nearly 2 hours trying to make fire, we cooked Chinese for dinner and we went to sleep, it started to rain again!

The next morning the rain gave us a truce and we were able to enjoy a radiant Sun, ideal for a boat tour on the lake, where we could see the figures craved on the rock, they call them the gift of Matahi, he’s the Maori who made them. We decided to look for another campsite for the following 2 nights and we found a great one, very close to the lake and with all kinds of comforts. The trip was coming to an end, many things had happened in 10 days, the Russian had "left" us on the third day of travel, we picked our first hitchhikers, we met with Marco and Eloïse and later with other friends, they fired me from my company 2 days before the end of the year making me the best gift for my life, the possibility to change it and enjoy it and the rain gave us a truce at least once!

We went back to Auckland together, Marco was off the next day to Wellington, then Eloïse to Australia, I (in theory) was going to stay just for 2 nights but in the end I had to stay a whole week getting all my papers sorted, but at least, I got to see what I hadn’t had time to see before.

And Xmas arrived!!!

These are not the first Xmas I spend away from home and, although I was specting heat and many Xmas decorations, there was not such a thing! The truth is that it has been raining pretty much all the time since I’ve been in New Zealand, so I honestly believe New Zealand should be the owner of the topic, instead of UK! Anyway, still a great country.

For Xmas Eve, a very international group got together for a BBQ (national sport!) at the beach… A German, a Swiss (German side), a Brazilian (originally from Japan), a Czech, a Russian and myself! We had a great time and it was sunny and warm pretty much all day, but of course by the time we were doing the BBQ it got windy and a bit cold, but in the end we managed to cope with it. We had presents for each other, an invisible friend game (don’t know how you call it in English) much fun! Afterwards we, the Europeans, went to the pub. I can now say that in Germany, Switzerland and Czechoslovakia it’s also common to go out for drinks after having dinner at home with your family but in New Zealand not so much. There were just a few pubs opened and the streets were empty, apparently it’s not so common for kiwis to celebrate Xmas Eve and they go early to bed so they can really enjoy Xmas Day all together. Anyway, we got to the pub and they told us we only had 20 minutes left, so just time to have a beer and dance few songs… Then goodbye time arrived, everyone was starting a new trip but eventually we would all meet again!!!

We spent Xmas Day at Cris’s homestay (the Brazilian girl) it was just the 3 of us this time. She’s very lucky, cause, Marilyn, her homestay “mother” is great, she let us use her home to celebrate our Xmas. We had a sunny day so we got to enjoy a Russian picnic lunch in her backyard and for dinner I cooked roast chicken (turkey was more expensive) as we would have it at home! We had a great time! On Boxing Day we went on an excursion to One Tree Hill, a suburb and a park, but there’s no One Tree on the Hill, just an obelisk that we couldn’t see because there was a long cue of cars to get closer, so we had to leave it… Then we went to the beach, nothing to envy Ibiza’s, but you can’t expect much of them when is windy and sea’s raft, but that didn’t stop people of taking a swim…

The 27^th & 28^th we went to Waiheke, an island 40 minutes away from Auckland by ferry. There are many vineyards and the coast and the inland are incredible! It’s really worth it to spend there a couple of days, we were there only for one night and we were lucky with the weather so we managed to see a lot, although we couldn’t enjoy it in depth. It’s very easy to travel around the island. You have the Hop On & Off Bus for only 8 NZ Dollars, it’s a great way to see its beaches, little towns, the thousand beautiful houses on their hills… We spend the night at the Bio shelter Backpackers, organic WC, solar energy, rain water… With a very interesting design , integrates the external elements as earth and vegetation. We had a great night with some of the other backpackers. One of them, a German guy, plays the guitar and sings very nicely, so we spend the night listening to his songs.