Our next stop after Queenstown was Dunedin. We were in a bit of a hurry to get to the North Island now, as we wanted to see as much as possible while we were there and Ali only had just over a week left until his flight to Fiji. We therefore decided to only spent one night in each stop until we reached Wellington.
Dunedin is known as the 'Edingburgh of the South' as it was founded by Scottish settlers. All the street names are the same as they are in Edingburgh and is the site of New Zealand's only castle. It was quite a dreary day when we arrived and was a Sunday, so everything was shut. The town was really quiet and there wasn't really much to do. Ali and I walked around the town for a while, going to see the spectacular Railway Station building and the big church and statue of Robert Burns, which stands in the main square. Not really knowing what to do with ourselves we wandered into the cinema and decided to sit and watch a film. We spent the rest of our evening sheltering from the rain in our hostel.
We thankfully awoke to better weather the following day and were up early to get the bus to our next destination. On the way out of Dunedin we made a stop at the worlds steepest street. It was only short, but walking up in flip flops was extremely difficult. It was so steep that my feet kept slipping out of my shoes.
The next stop was on the beach to see the Moeraki Boulders - huge rocks scattered along the shore, famous for their perectly smooth round shape. After some pictures and a coffee we headed off on a scenic route to Lake Tekapo, where we would be spending the night. We arrived at 'Lakefront Lodge' just before 3pm, so we had the afternoon to ourselves. The surroundings were stunning. Our hostel looked out onto Lake Tekapo, which due to being filled with water from New Zealands largest Glacier, it was the most vibrant turquoise - like nothing I'd ever seen before. Our bus driver said that he'd drive us down to the small church on the edge of the lake and we could then walk back, which is what we did. Church of the Good sheppard is a tiny tiny church on the very edge of the lake, with views of the water and the surrounding mountains. It was beautiful and is apparently still used for weddings. I could see the appeal - the photo's would be amazing! After seeing the church and the statue of Collie Dog (bizarre, but apparently a dedication to the dogs that helped the farmers of the region) we walked slowly back along the side of the lake to our hostel where we ate dinner in the garden with the most amazing view.
The following day we were making our way back to Christchurch. The weather was beautiful again and we were able to enjoy the scenary and once we arrived in Christchurch, have a wander around the town without getting wet! It was good to have a look around, as I had only seen the inside of the hostel last time. For the first time I spotted some Christmas decorations on top of the police station in the main square, reminding me that it was the end of November, not August like it felt it was.
Tuesday it was back to Kaikoura. We were feeling a little despondent as we knew that there wasn't really anything to do in Kaikoura and that it was wasting a day that we could have spent somewhere new. It was a compulsory stop though, so there was nothing we could do. We arrived early and luckily it was another lovely day, so we sat on a bench on the beach reading and writing in our diaries.
The next day we were finally off to the North Island, and really looking forward to it. We were taken to Picton on the bus, which is where the ferry port is. We had a 3 hour ferry journey over to Wellington, which was nice to start off with but became a little windy sitting outside after a while. When we arrived in Wellington, we found that we had to catch the city shuttle bus, which would take us to the train station and then the tram, known locally as the 'Go Bus', which dropped us by our hostel. We didn't end up arriveing until 6pm, after having to wait for our different modes of transport, so we checked in and went straight down to the Hostel bar for our 'free-meal' (free if your only want 3 peices of pasta and a spoonfull of sauce - but you could upgrade to a decent sized meal for $4). It was mine and Ali's last night together as he had to get up to Auckland for his flight, but I had decided that I wanted to stay in Wellington for longer, so we had a few drinks in the bar and went to meet Hannah, who happened to be in town at the same time.
The following day, I was feeling at a bit of a loose end without my travel buddy. I discovered I desperately needed to do some washing and food shopping (even backpackers have to do chores!!) which is how I spent the morning, before going to meet Hannah and her friend for a look around the city. Wellington is known for being windy and it was living up to its reputation on this day. After looking around the shops and city for a while i had to head back to the hostel as I was only in shorts and flip flops, due to all my clothes being in the wash, and was feeling really cold! I bumped into a couple of guys that were in my hostel room as they were heading down for dinner so I decided to join them and ended up spending the whole evening with them. We had a really good night and it was nice to be back in a city that wasn't really quiet and where the pubs had more then 2 people in.
I woke up to torrential rain on saturday morning so decided to go to the 'Te Papa' museum. It includes exhibitions about New Zealand's history and ways of life - including their Earthquakes, (New Zealand is spread over 2 tetonic plates, so they have earthquakes everyday - the majority of which are too small to feel, but some which have been absolutely huge and destryed whole towns) Maouri traditions and the diifferent settlers that have come here. The museum was massive - spread over 6 floors, and I ended up spending nearly 4 hours in there. It was really interesting though and I learnt a lot. All for free too!!
After 3 nights in the Capital City, it was time to move on the following day. We set off at 7:45am through the Rimutaka Ranges. Passing through little towns we pulled up at 11:30am at the Tui Brewery. Magic customers got a special tasting deal - 3 pints for $2, which is less than 1pound! It was a really nice day after the constant rain on saturday, so we sat in the brewery garden entertained by a little folk band. I couldnb't quite manage 3 pints in the time that we were there, but thoroughly enjoyed sitting in the sun with a couple of pints on a sunday lunchtime.
We arrived into our overnight stop, Napier by early afternoon. It was strange to be on my own again but seeing as it was such a lovely day, I decided to make the most of it by going for a walk. The town of Napier was all but destroyed by a huge earthquake in 1931 and was rebuilt in Art Deco style - the fashion at that time, so the town centre in Napier is all flat roofs and brightly colured, patterened buildings. The owner of my hostel gave me a map and highlighted a route that would take me on a 2 hour walk around Napier. I followed the route which took me along the beach, up to a lookout point, down to the harbour, through the Botanical Gardens and finally through town. It was a really good way to see the town and by the time I got back it was dinner time and I hadn't noticed being on my own half as much as I thought I would have.
It was up early and back on the bus the next morning, heading for my next stop - Rotorua. We stopped off in the Lakeside town of Taupo to drop people off as this was an optional stop. I would have liked to have stopped here too but I was now only 4 days away from my flight date, so had to press on. After Taupo we stopped at Wai-o-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. As we were stopping here for a while, I decided to pay to go in and have a look around and I'm so pleased I did. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. Steam rising up from the ground and water and mud bubbling away in huge bowl-shapped cavities in the ground. The strong smell of rotting eggs and fertiliser was constantly evident as you walked around the pools due to the huge amount of sulpher in the earth. The water in the pools was the most amazing thing. Naturally flourescent Yellow, Orange, red, lime green caused by the different substances in the volcanic rock. I wandered around here for an hour before boarding the bus again and heading for Rotorua. The weather had changed for the worse and there was now constant rain. This meant that any sight seeing of the government gardens or the lake at Rotorua was put off for the afternoon, in the hope that it would be brighter the following day. There wasn't really much else to do in Rotorua and being by myslef in a quiet hostel, out of town I was a little bored.
Tuesday the weather wasn't any better. We weren't being picked up until lunchtime so I just sat in the hostel writing my blog and diary, until the bus arrived.
Our next destination was Mount Maunganui, which was only a couple of hours away from Rotorua. There was only one hostel option here, so everyone on the bus stayed in the same place, which made it easier to get chatting to other people from the bus. I was put in a room with a nice girl from Newcastle (Emma) and although it was still raining, we decided we should go and see 'The Mount' while we were there. The town was actually really nice and there was a lovely sandy beach down by the mount, which would have been a nice place to spend the afternoon had the weather permitted. We had a wander round and then went back to the hostel for dinner (mine were becoming more and more interesting as I tried to use up what food I had left).
Wednesday 2nd December was my final jouney on the Magic Bus to Auckland. I was pleased to have met Emma as it meant I had someone to spend my last night in New Zealand with. Still absolutely pouring with Rain we trudged down the main High Street in Auckland trying to take in as much of the sights as possible, but being a city there wasn't too much to see, especially in the rain. We decided to go out for a few drinks that evening and headed down to the hostel bar for our free meal - which consisted of a few lettace leaves and two mini spring rolls. We then moved onto a different hostel bar, where our bus driver and a few of the people from the bus had said they weere going for drinks. While we were in there Emma bumped into a girl that she met in Sydney a couple of months ago (who comes from Crowborough!) and we ended up spending the rest of the night with her and her friends. In one bar that we were in, I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around to see Chris, one half of a couple that Leanne and I had met in Mission Beach at the very beginning of our Australia trip. It was so strange that we just happened to be in the smae place at the same time, after not seeing each other for nearly 2 months. We had a really good night and it was a fun way to spend my final night in New Zealand.
I had to gert the airport shuttle bus at 10o'clock on Thursday morning. I felt my usual airport excitement - going somewhere new, meeting new people and after my constant travelling in New Zealand, just relaxing for a week before flying home. Ali was going to be going to one of the many Fijian Islands and I would have like to have met up with him but, being the end of my trip, my finances wouldn't allow it so I decided to head to a place on the mainland and see what happened from there.
The countdown to going home begins.....
