We started the day being picked up by the Rotorua Canopy Tour minibus. The canopy tour was a relatively new addition to the line up of things to do in Rotorua but it wasn’t hard to see why it had been so well received. After we arrived at the head office we got briefed, kitted out and introduced to each other.
The canopy tour involves exploring a section of forest near Rotorua by six zipwires and three swing bridges. Whilst that might sound fairly sedate we needed all those ropes and harnesses because the zip wires range in length from 40 metres to 220 metres at heights of up to 22 metres off the ground! Think Go Ape, but better!
The town is situated on the banks of Lake Rotorua, a volcanic caldera and although the volcano is dormant there is plenty of geothermal activity in the area. The most obvious of which was the incredibly strong smell of sulphur that hit us as we arrived.
We were staying at the Crash Palace Hostel, right in the heart of Rotorua and so we were well placed to get used to the smell (eventually). Our stay at Crash Palace didn’t get off to the smoothest of starts – we were charged for the room despite having already paid via Booking.com. At the same time we were told that because we were staying several nights we could have one night free. Brilliant we thought, everybody loves free nights. Except that we had to make it an additional night on top of our booking. So we rearranged our plans and ended up staying in Rotorua for five nights.
Most importantly however was internet access . The 2012/13 season was remarkable for our beloved football club – one trip to Wembley had already been the stuff of history and when we’d booked our trip we’d done so knowing that we might miss the playoffs. We hadn’t thought it likely, even less so after watching us lose the first leg from our hotel room in Tokyo and had been flying into Auckland when we’d overcome the deficit to book that second trip to Wembley. And so, in the middle of the New Zealand night we watched Bradford City make a winning return to Wembley and promotion to League One.
Happiness is…when being up at 3am is worth it #whereswelby #bcafc
After a day of rest on Friday with rellies in Hamilton we were back on the road today. We started at a football match where Connor was goalkeeper (it finished 1-1) and then joined in with the post-game bakery run. We said goodbye to the Shands for now and headed off towards Rotorua.
But first, the little Waikato town of Matamata.
Matamata used to be a rural farming town that wouldn’t have been on anyone’s itinerary. It’s still a rural farming town but since the Lord of the Rings films it has become an integral part of any trip to New Zealand, because it’s home to the set of Hobbiton. Ben and I love the books and films, but it’s not the main reason we came to NZ. We came for the beautiful landscapes that the films showcase! There are a number of different ‘Lord of the Rings’ themed activities you can do in NZ, and this seemed to be one that we should definitely do.
Of all those activities this was the one we feared might be the most disappointing: it wasn’t cheap ($80 each) and there’s too much scope for gimmicks and merchandise. But we were delighted to find that far from having costumed hobbits or any other tacky gimmicks the whole Matamata experience was absolutely wonderful. Continue reading Matamata – here be Hobbits→
Tonight we were going to spend our first night with relatives in Hamilton, Waikato but before descending on Christine’s cousin John and his family we added a significant detour to our journey. We hadn’t set aside any time to visit the Coromandel Peninsula and so our only option was to do a driving tour round it in one day.
After an absolutely superb breakfast at the Palm House we set off and managed to get to Thames (at the base of the Peninsula) in about 3 hours. After stopping for some supplies we set off on State Highway 25, a wonderful road that hugs the coast all the way round. A gorgeous sunny morning made for perfect driving weather.
We set off from Opononi to drive down to our next destination – Pahi. As we wound our way along the coast south of Opononi we spotted an inviting sign saying ‘Scenic Lookout’. With time on our side, and plenty of curiosity we followed it and came across the Arai te Uru Reserve with beautiful views out to sea.
We’d discovered on the previous day that New Zealand had once been covered in majestic Kauri trees and our route south took us through the heart of the Waipoua forest, home to some Kauri trees that had survived everything New Zealand’s settlers had thrown at them. Continue reading The Lord of Waipoua Forest and his fellow Kauri→
Today was another early start as we needed to travel from Mangonui to Kaitaia (30 minutes away) by 0830 to join Harrison’s Cape Runner for a day out to Cape Reinga/Te Rerenga Wairuathe not-quite-northern-most point of New Zealand (that distinction belongs to Surville Cliffs 30 miles east of the Cape).
We had originally planned to drive ourselves up to the Cape and whilst doing all of this in the day under our own steam was definitely doable it would have meant missing out 90 mile beach, a stretch of New Zealand coastline that is not in fact 90 miles long but is a state highway in its own right (our car hire insurance was explicit about not driving on sand). So instead we plumped for this very reasonably priced ($50 pp) trip. Continue reading On top of New Zealand at Cape Reinga | Te Rerenga Wairua→
We checked out of our motel in Paihia and drove a little way down the road to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. It was on this site that the Treaty of Waitangi (Tiriti o Waitangi) was signed between the Maori iwi (tribes) of the North Island and Queen Victoria’s representatives. Although the treaty is seen to be the founding document for New Zealand and 6th February 1840 to be the nation’s birthday it is not a straightforward chapter of history.
The Treaty
This was the first time we encountered some of the specifics of how New Zealand came to be part of the British Empire. Whilst I had studied some aspects of the Empire’s rise and decline what happened in these two islands on the other side of the world had never featured. It’s impossible to do justice to the complexity and the tensions without making this blog post far too long but it came out of a desire in both Britain, and New Zealand from both Maori and pakeha to establish some more formalised structure in relation to land ownership and security. Continue reading The Waitangi Treaty Grounds→
After our toilet stop in Kawakawa we drove to Paihia and left the car at the motel we’d be staying at on Sunday. We took our backpacks and packed lunch, then booked our Cape Reinga tour for Tuesday at the i-Site.
All morning the sun had been shining and it had been a glorious day. As we walked into the town the rain began to fall, and fell heavily for a number of hours. We took shelter in a covered mall to eat our lunch and then walked to the end of the pier to wait for the crew of the Rock to collect us.
As we waited we wondered if the trip might be called off – the rain was only getting heavier. But 1545 rolled around and we found ourselves waiting with a group of similarly excited yet apprehensive guests. Captain Ben and Norm arrived promptly to collect us and to our relief had brought proper fisherman-style raincoats for us to wear for the trip over to the Rock.
We packed up our things but before we could say goodbye to Auckland we needed to pick up the car we were trusting to get us around for the next two months. We’d got a fantastic deal from Ace Rental Cars that worked out at less than £500 (and a great deal on car hire excess insurance) so we were a little dubious about the quality of car we’d have.
We needn’t have worried – the car was pretty new and certainly had enough room for our baggage even if it was a petrol based automatic. I’d never heard of a Nissan Tiida though.
Our original plan for today had been to visit Waiheke Island and enjoy its beaches and wineries. There were two problems with this. First, the weather had taken a turn for the British and was absolutely chucking it down. Second, I came down with a horrid cold. So instead of braving the wind and the rain we had a nice lie in, went to the cinema, got introduced to Burgerfuel and took advantage of the New Zealand International Comedy Festival.
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