Travel Blogs by Travellerspoint

New Zealand

Back to Auckland - Goodbye New Zealand

sunny 10 °C

We had a lot to sort out and after doing all our jobs, checking passports and tickets etc we were about ready for a drink! We visited Auckland's Skytower which is 382m high. We were wisked up to the dizzying heights courtesy of an elevator that had a see through floor! The eventual view over the night-time skyline was fantastic and a great way to end our stay in New Zealand.

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Posted by nicdavid 04:12 Archived in New Zealand Comments (1)

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Raglan and Coromandel Peninsula

9 °C

Wow! Did we hurt the next day or what! Still our adventure must go on! We jumped in the car and ended up in Raglan for lunch. This is world famous for its surfing. It did nothing but piss it down hard and was just incredibly windy as you can see....

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There were no surfers to be spotted....

We then drove to the Coromandel Peninsula the following day and explored. We had fantastic weather for this - A lovely crisp sunny day and we made the most of it. Off to the beach we went.....OH...but this wasn't any old beach this was Hot Water Beach! You can dig a hole in the sand and enjoy an thermal treatment! Even though the tide was on its way in, we could still bury our feet in the sand and in doing so nearly burning our soles...

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The beach has other powers toooo

We also took a stroll to Cathredral Cove a huge archway on a beach.

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David with a little energy

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David liked jumping that day...!?

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Posted by nicdavid 04:06 Archived in New Zealand Comments (0)

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Waitomo Caves

sunny 11 °C

After trying to do a skydive for the second time we realised it just wasn't meant to be and decided if we couldn't have fun thousands of feet above ground we go hundreds of metres underground.

Well 100m to be precise. We opted for a full days caving and it was awesome! The entrance to the cave was called "Lost World" which was a jaw dropping abseil down. We were greated by eels in the river and a hot brew - we were going to be underground scambling through the nooks and crannies for the next 5 hours..!

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The view from the abseil platform

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Nervous smiles!

We clambered over huge boulders and waded through ankle deep water. It gradually became knee deep and before we knew it our feet couldn't touch the floor. We were clinging onto the jagged rock edges to keep our heads above the water. The current was getting extremely strong and the water levels high, especially when the cave narrowed down to shoulder width (it was touch and go as to whether the trip would go ahead due to the amount of water). There were water ripping waterfalls to climb up and naturally, eventually jump off, but all the time trying not to get sucked under by the current.

Nic was mostly dragged though the river with her harness by one of our guides so she wouldn't get washed down stream!! In the meantime David stayed close behind just in case the guides let go!!!

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The big finale was seeing glowworms. Just before daylight crept into the cave we took a breather on a huge boulder, switched our head lamps off and were gobsmacked. All above us, on the ceiling for as far as the eye could see were a galaxy of glowworms. It was just a magnificent site and the perfect way to finish our underground adventure.

That night, feeling battered and bruised we stayed in a plane. A Bristol Freighter to be exact! We stayed in the cockpit and it was really comfy if not a little odd....

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Our room for the night!

Posted by nicdavid 03:53 Archived in New Zealand Comments (0)

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Bayview Chateau, Whakapapa Village

snow 9 °C

We were feeling a little sorry for ourselves and decided we need a little tlc - off to the Chateau it was! This place was niiiice and as it was raining heavily we spent the first day playing snooker on a full sized table before filling ourselves with a 3 course meal!

The following day brought more heavy rain so we decided to head down to an indoor climbing wall. We spent half the time laughing as Nic would end up half way in the air when trying to anchor David. We also took a quick drive further up Mount Ruapehu to find a snow blizzard - ah well, we would have to spend the evening playing more snooker!

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We awoke to silence - the rain had stopped........it was now snowing!

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This place was 1250m up and at the base of an active volcano!

Posted by nicdavid 03:47 Archived in New Zealand Comments (0)

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Mount Taranaki

rain 14 °C

We left sunny but chilly Wellington after a stroll up Mount Victoria.

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View of Wellington from the summit of Mount Victoria

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Early morning stroll....

and drove up to New Plymouth, home to Mount Taranaki. We arrived just in time to see the sun set behind the Mountain.

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We decided not to go mad taking photos as there would be plenty of oppportunity the following day. Oh! But there wasn't! We had rain for the rest of our time here which meant no walking, no sightseeing and absolutely no more views of the magnificent snow capped volcano!

Posted by nicdavid 03:44 Archived in New Zealand Comments (0)

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