And so the Adventure begins

And so we are sat in our campervan at a campsite just outside Lake Taupo, sipping local Sauvignon Blanc from tumblers – how classy is that picture? ;o) But hey, it suits us!

Our journey to New Zealand actually started on Thursday night. We had a 6am flight from Bradley Airport so, rather than trying to convince someone to do us a favour and give us a lift to the airport at about 4am, we decided to spend the night at the airport hotel. One of the many benefits of Annalie’s frequent trips is the loyalty points on hotels as well as flights, so she cashed in some points for a free night.

We had just enough time for some dinner before hitting the hay. Annalie in particular was knackered as she’d had some fairly manic days at work in the run up to the holiday.

The alarm rang at 4am and we were in the airport having breakfast by 5. At that point we worked out how many hours it would be until we touched down in Auckland…a whole 30 hours later! Our first flight (6am from Bradley) took us to Dallas Fort Worth. We then had a 3.5 hour layover before our onward journey to Los Angeles, arriving in LAX at around 1.45pm local time. Because we’d also cashed in miles for these flights, we didn’t have as much choice as we’d have if we were buying tickets, so this meant an 8.5 hour layover in LAX. Luckily, by the time we reached the Air New Zealand terminal, check in was already open for one of their flights to London. This meant that we could ditch our bags and make our way to the lounge – the benefits of travelling Business Class ;o)

We managed to pass the time fine, but by the time our 10.30pm flight was ready for boarding, we were both about ready for bed – after all, we’d been up since 1am LA time anyway! However, just as we were getting ready to depart, Ian suddenly got excited by the fact that a person that seemed to resemble Harry Connick Jr was sat just four rows back. It turns out that it was a certain warbler, verified by the friendly cabin crew later on.

On board we were treated to some great hospitality and a lovely meal before setting up the beds to get some sleep. Both of us slept quite soundly – quite unusual for Ian to sleep at all on a flight – getting a good six hours each. But then the flat beds are very comfortable – much more so than the BA Club Class we’re used to (or at least Annalie is!). The service was also impeccable, and quite refreshing following some stale BA flights recently. If only we had more cause to travel this way!

Upon arrival in Auckland, we faced a mammoth Customs and Immigration experience as three long haul flights had landed almost together, with ours being at the back! Eventually we got through and headed straight to the campervan rental place to pick up our home for the next two weeks.

Although we say home, we managed to retain the luxuries of a real home for two more nights as we stayed with Sarah and Paul. Annalie went to university with Sarah and she’s married a kiwi, so it was a good opportunity to catch up. They were away for the weekend so we busied ourselves with getting familiar with Auckland. The weather wasn’t great and we weren’t feeling up to much, so we just drove around the city a bit, before getting back to Sarah and Paul’s in time for dinner.

The next day’s weather was just as poor, but we braved the wind and the rain to have a look around the city. This culminated in a very quick and brave/stupid* (delete as appropriate!) decision to do the Sky Jump off the city’s main landmark, the Sky Tower. It is billed as a 192m base jump ‘by wire’ so it differed from the bungy we did in South Africa, but it was equally scary, if not more. Ian did the gentlemanly thing and let Annalie go first (of course!). At the top of the Tower the wind was howling and was registering at -10 Celsius. However, the adrenalin pumping through us meant it didn’t feel that cold.

Annalie decided that the only way she would manage the jump would be to shut her eyes as you have to do a kind of crucifix to prepare for the jump – which is more of a ‘step off’ at 192m! ;o) Once she’d stepped off the platform it was time for the eyes to open and watch the ground get closer!

Ian had to wait a few minutes as the video camera batteries had run out before Annalie’s jump (thankfully for her!) so he had more time for the nerves to build. When it came to his ‘step off’ there was some hesitation but he finally jumped on his own free will.

Once at the bottom we decided against buying the video of Ian and just purchased photos of us both as proof we did something so stupid so quickly!

The next morning required an early departure from Auckland as we started our real NZ adventure. We had booked ourselves on the Black Abyss tour with the Legendary Black Water Rafting Company in Waitomo and thankfully the weather had cleared up to a beautiful sunny day. Here there are around 387 (mapped) caves fed by a fresh spring, but the real reason to go underground is to see the glow worms lighting up the caves like the night sky.

After getting decked out in enough gear to resemble beached whales, we headed to the cave opening for a 35m abseil, this was followed by a short walk and then a flying fox in the dark, which was amazing when you enter a pitch black cavern that is covered in glow worms! Then we sat and had a hot drink and flapjack, before jumping into the cold water about 10 feet below while attempted to land on our bums – which were conveniently positioned inside an inner tube! It felt like doing a belly flop on your bum though – and we can both testify to this as we both landed it perfectly!

Then we had to pull ourselves upstream to look at a bigger cavern of glow worms and get a close up view, before a gentle ride back downstream. Once out of the tubes, we walked through a labyrinth of caves to our final destination, climbing three waterfalls to get out. Now, for this you have to consider that it rains a lot in NZ. And the previous few days it had really rained. A lot. Well, it is Spring after all. So the water level was high and the waterfalls were heavy. Still, we all worked hard and got out in one piece. An exhausting but exhilarating day.

Back at the company HQ, we had warm showers and hot soup and a bagel waiting for us. And boy was it needed. We’d been lucky that we had only been a group of four as well as usually they take 8-10 people out, so we got to do more than many others would have. The other couple bought the pictures that they were selling and told us they’d copy them and mail us a CD ;o)

And so to the first night in the camper. We have booked into many campsites ahead of time, mainly using the New Zealand Top 10 campsites, which come highly recommended. So this was our first taste in Waitomo. A cute little campsite in the centre of the “village” (population 47!) and pretty much right by everything else in the town.

As we hadn’t had a chance to stock up on provisions, we decided to eat out at the local pub, befriending the local Doyle lookalike at the same time (only it was much fluffier!). Then we rented one of the free DVDs from reception to play on our laptop. Unusual choice of film though, a road trip thriller…while we’re on a road trip! Nothing too scary though (thankfully).

The following morning we hit the road to Rotorua, famed for its volcanic hot springs so it stinks of sulphur. We didn’t have anything planned so we headed to the equivalent of Tourist Information (I-site) because Annalie wanted to do a traditional Maori hangi evening and we didn’t know which would be best. As it happened we got a deal to include a late night guided tour of the neighbouring wildlife park to see the nocturnal kiwi. What we could see of the shy little buggers anyway!

The Maori hangi is basically a roast dinner cooked underground. For our meal we had chicken and lamb (naturally!) with some other native dishes such as stuffing! ;o) It was a lovely meal with plenty to go around – which is a necessity when Ian’s around! This feast was laid on after a show of traditional Maori culture, including the local Haka. The Haka that is displayed by the New Zealand Rugby team actually belongs to Wellington, but each tribe has its own ‘war dance’ that really is to show respect to your enemy, not simply intimidation.

While in Rotorua we also travelled up the town gondola to get a good view over the lake, but also to play around on the luge. This is a cross between a bobsleigh and a go kart – that’s the best way to describe it, and was very similar to the toboggan on the Great Wall at Mutianyu.

After a night at the Rotorua Top 10 campsite, we headed south to the Wai-o-Tapu “thermal wonderland”. The first port of call was the Lady Knox Geyser, a 10-15m eruption that is induced each morning through ‘soaping’. They claim that it would erupt naturally anyway, but they aid nature to relieve some of the built-up pressure. We also explored some of the other amazing pools created by the unique volcanic activity below the surface.

Then it was time to make our way further south to Lake Taupo – which isn’t exactly a lake, but the world’s largest volcano crater. Here we stayed two nights to stop rushing around so much and there is a fair amount to do in Taupo, especially when the weather is good. Unfortunately for us, the rain and wind set in again and put a dampener on some of the things we’d potentially planned to do. Still, we did some practical stuff, like laundry, getting some money out of the bank and some more shopping. We even cooked our first evening meal – lamb seemed like an appropriate option! Each of the campsites provides kitchens and BBQ facilities so we made the most of those to save our own gas.

Our second day in Taupo proved to be no better than the first. But despite the rain, we figured we’d head out for a good walk along the Waikato River to view the Huka Falls. After walking for what seemed like an age, we didn’t feel any closer so decided to walk back to the campsite to pick up the van and drive around to the viewpoint! On our walk, we had encountered a natural thermal stream that was hot enough to bathe in, even down by its merge with the Waikato. Annalie decided to go paddling on our return leg, and was welcomed by bath-like temperatures.

We headed over to the Huka Falls viewpoint on the other side of the river, about 10 minutes’ drive away and discovered it would have been an hour’s walk in total just to get to the Falls, let alone the walk back. Still, the view would have been worth it. Not that it’s spectacular like Niagara, but the water is so clear that the river is coloured the richest, deepest blue/green you have ever seen. It is an amazing sight.

As we were on that side of the river, and seeing as Annalie was playing Long Distance Clara at the wheel of the van, we headed to the Huka Prawn Park to go prawn fishing – and what you catch you can boil there and then and eat. After a fruitless 20 or 30 minutes, Annalie moved to a spot that had been recommended – not for the biggest prawns, but for the “young and stupid” ones! After losing bait a couple of times, she hooked a decent-sized fella, but it took her a while to get up the courage to figure out how to de-hook him!

A few more pieces of lost bait (who said they were stupid?!) and she bagged another one. Much smaller than the first, but it was most definitely a female as she was carrying a belly full of bright orange eggs. Although considered a delicacy in some parts of Asia, Annalie didn’t fancy trying to eat it! A bit of a waste but you’d have to see it to believe it. The camera didn’t like taking photos of her though, but you should make out all the orange eggs on the photo. Ian failed to hook anything, despite following in Annalie’s footsteps. Maybe the prawns knew who liked them? ;o)