NEW ZEALAND 2004

NEW ZEALAND 2004

We left Perth at around 11pm on the 27^th and pm on the 27th and arrived in Melbourne around 5am the next morning when very little was open.  The airport sort of woke up around us!  Four and a half hours is a long time to wait netween flights!

Liam had a window seat again – this time with something to see.  The coastline of NZ when you first see it out of the clouds is very rugged and spectacular.  As Liam said, it’s really Lord of the Rings stuff.  Unfortunately it was 14C and raining in Wellington – some summer!

The cinema where the world premiere of “Lord of the Rings” was held is just around the corner from the YHA and it has a huge dragon draped over the roof.  Definitely eye-catching.

The couple of weeks preceding our arrival there had been floods all up and down the North Island.  At one point, Wellington was totally cut off from the rest of the country.  I thought about going straight on to the South Island, but as there were things we really wanted to do in the North, I decided to chance it.  When we picked the car up, the AA told us what major roads were still closed and told us we’d just have to watch for local road signs along the way.  There were lots of places where you could see land slides (land slups in Kiwi), washaways and the aftermath of flooding.  We headed north for Waitomo Caves.  We got to Waiouru, where we had to chuck a rightie to Rangataua, then head up to Taumarunui.  This was a real problem (and still is) as neither of us could pronounce any of them.  Just out of Taumaruni we had to drive through flooding over the highway.  It was manned by road crews but I was desperate not to stall in the middle!  We got through and breathed a sigh of relief and moseyed on through the unpronounceable town.  Waitomo here we come!  Not to be – just the other side of town was another road closure.  Says the man on the barrier, “go back through town and go to Turangi.”  At least we could pronounce that.  YES……I had to drive BACK through the flooded section!  We got to Whakameru and found the road closed yet again.  Another detour.  We finally got to the road into Waitomo (the ONLY road into Waitomo) only to find it flooded.  There was a motor home parked at the flooded section so I pulled up next to it and asked if he knew how deep it was.  “Don’t know” came the reply, “but four or five cars have gone through.”  “How about you going first then?  You’re bigger than me.”  “Oh no, we’re going to Otorohanga.”  He sounded like an American so I didn’t tell him he was facing the wrong direction!  He stayed there anyway while we drove through – only to find the caves were closed because they were flooded and everything else was closed too.

The only main road in or out of Waitomo Caves

We must have been two of about six people staying at the YHA!  By the next morning things had started to open but the caves were still shut (and stayed shut until after we’d well and truly moved on!).  It’s a shame the weather was so bad.  We did a lot of driving through mountains around the edges of Tongariro National Park, but because the cloud was so low, we were driving through it and not able to see what must have been magnificent views. 

We still spent our two nights at Waitomo.  There were other things to do and see apart from the waterlogged caves and we saw our first kiwis (the feathered variety) in the excellent Kiwi House in Otorohanga, although it meant driving out and then back in again through the flooded road!

Liam is the one in the red jacket

By the next day, the water had gone down a fair bit and it appeared that we’d be able to drive to Rotorua without having to detour through Fiji after all.  Along the way we did the obligatory detour to Matamata, home of Hobbiton and “Lord of the Rings”.  Considering that I’m not a LOTR fan (I yawned all the way through the first one and haven’t seen the others), I really enjoyed the tour (which was just as well as it cost $50!).  The guide was a veritable mine of information about the movie and how it was made, the “tricks” of the set and where the various features had been placed.  The set doesn’t really exist anymore.  They started to demolish the hobbit holes but were stopped by rain.  In the meantime, people started coming to the farm asking to see the site.  The farmer eventually asked permission to start tours and was allowed to retain the hobbit holes that hadn’t been demolished.  They aren’t allowed to display them as they were in the movie due to legalities, which is a pity, but Liam assured me HE could still imagine the site as it was and, apparently, so have thousands of other visitors.  Me – I’ll have to get the movie out again!  The incredible things that Peter Jackson did to set it all up are just amazing.  I hesitate to relate it here in case it spoils it for any LOTR fans – ask me about it if you really would like to know!

From Hobbiton we headed into Rotorua.  There seemed to be steam rising from all over the place, even back yards!  Liam thought there were a lot of bush fires!  The hostel that we stayed in had its own thermal pools and Liam had a great time in them.  The next morning we went to a thermal region called Wau-O-Tapu.  It has a geyser that very obligingly erupts at 10.15am every morning!  Actually, they put pure soap into it, which causes it to erupt on cue – otherwise it would be totally unpredictable and not good for tourist trade! 

Although Liam insisted on walking around holding his nose, after about 10 minutes, the smell didn’t seem so bad.  The various boiling water and mud pools are really something. 

From there we headed out to Te Whakarewarewa, which is a Maori Cultural Centre.  All the guides are Maori and the one we had was really interesting.  There were more hot springs, mud pools and geysers, which I think were more spectacular than Wai-O-Tapu, and didn’t need a helping hand to erupt!

From there we went to the Sky Park.  This was Liam’s favourite!  It’s an incredible place.  The car park is at the bottom of an enormous hill, overlooking Rotorua.  The only way to the top is in the gondola.  There’s bungy jumping, a sky swing and THE LUGE.  There are three luge tracks winding their way to the bottom of the hill.  Two are suitable for children and one is for older kids/adults.  You use a type of go-kart rather than a real luge and they bring you and your luge back up with a chairlift.  Liam would never have come off given half the chance.  He loved it!

The only way up to the top of the hill unless you've gone down on the luge

Liam on his way down the first time

We had the long drive back to Wellington the next day.  At least all the roads were now open and we could pretty well stay on Highway 1 for most of the way.  We were able to use some of the roads that had been closed and the damage, which was being repaired, was really quite bad, particularly on the “Desert Road” between Wairouru and Turangi.  It’s a great stretch of road, running alongside Tongariro National Park and within easy sight of Mt Ruapahu and two other mountains whose names I can’t spell, let alone pronounce, all snow covered and shrouded in cloud.  Such a difference from West Australian scenery!

   

We went through Taupo.  Lake Taupo is huge but the town seems very touristy.  More so than Rotorua I thought.  The lake is lined with hotels and motels.  We only stopped for petrol.  We got ourselves onto the Motorway just outside Wellington and it suddenly dawned on me that I’d forgotten to ask anyone which exit to come off at!  I was so pleased with myself for guessing the right one.  Actually, it wasn’t so much a good guess as more “geeze, we’d better get off here before we end up at the airport…..”  We went down a couple of streets and there was the dragon on top of the cinema and we knew the YHA was just around the corner.

We took the hire car back the next morning after driving 1,588km in the four days, and caught the ferry to South Island. 

The ferry was late but the train to Christchurch at the other end just waits!  There’s only two trains in and two trains out of Christchurch a day so most of its passengers are off the ferry anyway.  It was a five-hour train journey but an experience for Liam, who had only been on a suburban train.  We spent a lot of time on the open-air observation platform at the rear of the train.  It’s a bit like a covered cattle car with sides you can see out of!  The scenery was terrific and you go through heaps of tunnels.  Most of the time there’s mountains on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other.  There were a couple of Poms with rather loud voices in our carriage who spent most of their time name-dropping all the places around the world they’d been.  I was quite relieved they weren’t sitting opposite us or we’d have had to spend ALL our time out on the observation thingy!

A TrainWith a View

The next morning we went out to the Antarctic Centre.  This was the sole reason for coming to Christchurch.  We went in the Hagglund vehicle first.  They use them to transport personnel over the snow and ice and it’s the bumpiest ride I’ve ever had, including Derek’s 4WD!  They go over a circuit outside the Centre, which includes a 10m deep pool.  It floats through it.  It’s so strange sitting there with the water outside about level with your armpits!  It was great fun. 

Liam got kitted up (so did I) to go in the snow room.  He lasted all about two minutes.  Didn’t even wait for the blizzard.  Reckoned it was too cold and came out!  A true son of Aussie is that one!  I couldn’t believe it.  Maybe the fact that he insisted on wearing shorts didn’t help!

They have a “room” which is set up as a re-enactment of the Scott expedition, holographs etc, howling wind that gets worse and the room gets colder.  It’s very well done.  I should have twigged Liam’s reaction to the snow room when he wanted to move on from that one as it got colder!  It’s an excellent exhibition and well worth visiting…unless you’re a wimp with the cold!

Willowbank Wildlife Reserve and the Gondola to the top of Mt Cavendish were our next stops then back to the city and a trip round on the tram.



We flew back to Wellington the next morning.  It’s only a 35 minute flight but flying over the mountains is awesome.  They look so great just poking through the clouds

Quite a change from the eight hours or so that the ferry and train took to get us to Christchurch.  I think the long journey was well worth it though. 

We did a bit of sight seeing in Wellington and went up on the cable car to the top of Mt Victoria, where you get a great view out over the city and harbour. 

Then it was back to the YHA for Liam to do the homework that he’s been dodging all week!  We weren’t going anywhere else as we had a very early flight back to Sydney and I was all souvenir shopped out (and McDonalded out too!).  I hadn’t been able to use an ATM all the time we’d been there (and there’s only so much you can use your credit card for) and we hit Wellington Airport with $9.25 NZ between us!  I was hanging out for an ATM in Sydney!

We had to be at the Airport at 4.30am and in just on three and a half hours we were back in Australia in Sydney.  Headed straight for a Cash Point machine and shock, horror – it told me my bank wasn’t available and try later!  Luckily the train tickets could be bought on a credit card and we “trained” it into the City.  Of course it was morning rush hour and we were packed in like sardines. Thank goodness I live in Perth!  First stop a REAL bank with an ATM.  Thank goodness it worked this time and we got some real money. Liam made a beeline for McDonalds again!  He should have been in seventh heaven.  Two bacon and egg McMuffins and a hash brown later and he was ready for the Sky Tower.  It’s improved since Michelle and I were there.  There’s now the Sky Tour – a virtual tour through Australian history.  We’d heard about it in New Zealand!  Firstly you go into a room where there are cinema-like seats with headphones and there’s an outline of Australian early history.  The sound is really good.  From there it’s into another room.  Cinema seats again with head phones.  There are four large rectangular screens.  The first one lights up and there’s a holograph of a guy talking as the “host”.  He talks you through things like beaches, leisure etc.  The light goes out and the whole floor upon which you are sitting revolves to the next screen.  It’s very well done.  You revolve round all the screens in turn covering all facets of life in Oz.  The highlight is the third room.  The chairs are high-backed and there’s a bar that swings down in front of you like a sideshow ride.  This is the really neat part of the tour.  There is a curved screen and you’re “in” the scenes.  The beginning is a breakneck speed down canyons and your chair moves in accordance to whatever is showing so that you feel that you’re really there.  There’s white water rafting down the Tully River in Queensland, mustering cattle from a helicopter, underwater on the Great Barrier Reef, going through mangroves at Cape Tribulation and ending up in the jaws of a croc.  You find yourself in the middle of SCG in a game between Sydney Swans and Essendon and being shirt-fronted by a Sydney player, aboard the Bounty and being hoisted up the main mast then dropped, driving through Ballarat in the gold rush days in a Cobb & Co carriage and careering off down a gold mine at high speed.  We were both rapt!  The view from the top of the tower paled into insignificance after that!

From there we went on the monorail.  Liam opted to go to the Maritime Museum instead a boat ride round the harbour so we got off the monorail at Darling Harbour.  The Maritime Museum is excellent, probably because it’s the National one – and it’s free.  You pay $10 adult and $5 child to go over the HMAS Vampire and the submarine, HMAS Onlsow which are moored outside. 

There was even a model of the Orcades, the sister ship to the Oronsay on which we came to Australia.  I took Liam’s photo in front of it so that he can prove to his mother and Uncle Ian that I DIDN’T arrive on a sailing ship.



We had a good look over the Vampire and Onslow and still had time to go on a harbour cruise.  Liam didn’t want to go, surprisingly.  He said his legs hurt and he really wanted to go back to the airport so we took the train back.  it was a long wait, something like five hours, but he was just anxious to get home by that stage.All in all, it was a good holiday, although I’d like to go back either with an adult or even on my own and do some of the things that really aren’t practicable with a child – like NEVER have to eat at McDonalds!  I think Liam enjoyed himself, at least I hope he did.  He said his favourite thing was the Luge, followed by the Sky Tour.  I’m sure the Hagglund vehicle ride fits in the top three too!  I think we were both happy when the plane touched down in Perth though.  It’s always nice to come home again!