On to Japan!
On the morning of the 3rd, we left Kaikoura bright an early and drove to Picton to get our ferry over to Wellington. It was an 'exciting' journey... It ended up taking seven or eight hours instead of three as there was a huge storm and we had to take a long way around to avoid being hit too much. Some of the swells were 10-12m high so we still got bashed around a lot. Neither of us got seasick but there were people everywhere looking very green! At one point we heard a huge crash and looked up to see the cafe waitress being chased across the boat by a load of coffee cups! Apparently on the floor above, all the chairs and tables went flying, everyone ended up in a pile and one man was knocked unconcious. It was all in the newspaper the next day. We survived though and picked up our new hire car on the other side. Unfortunately, as we were so late, we then had to scour Wellington for some accomodation which took quite a while and was not fun in the wind and rain. We finally found the last two beds in town.
The next day was still rainy and windy so we went to the free museum of New Zealand - Te Papa. We learnt about earthquakes and New Zealand wildlife and about how possums are pests. Then we met an old friend of mine (that would be Anna West to those of you who know her!) and we went to an Irish pub for some lunch. She's been living in Wellington for the last 6 months so she knews where to take us. After lunch we walked up a very steep hill to look for the tree which the hobbits hide under in the Lord of the Rings. We didn't find the specific one but it was all very Middle Earth and when we got to the top we had a great view over Wellington. There was absolutely no accomodation in Wellington that night as the Fringe Festival and the WWF (or whatever it's called now) Wrestling were both in town. So we ended up moving on to a town called Palmerston North for the night. Lovely hostel - full of crazy people! There was a man there who had a gadget for absolutely everything including one for stopping him falling asleep on the sofa!
In the morning we drove on to Napier. It is an Art Deco town because after the earthquake in 1931, they rebuilt everything in the few years following so most of the buildings are beautifully Art Deco. We stayed in the Criterion Hotel which is now a hostel but used to be a beautiful old hotel and it still has the fireplaces and dining room and glasswork.
We left early the next day to get to Taupo from where we explored the Tongariro National Park. It was made into a national park in the 1880s when the Maori gifted it to the people of New Zealand to make sure no one would be able to log it. They filmed a lot of Lord of the Rings in this area and we found Mordor and MOUNT DOOM! It was really cool to walk around locations we recognised!
On our last day in New Zealand we left Taupo and first of all stopped off at a place called Craters of the Moon. It is a thermal area which sprung up when they put a geothermal power station in the area. The power station takes some of the hot water from under the earth so the rest boils much quicker and in place like Craters of the Moon it turns into steam as it nears the surface and comes out of vents in the earth. Sometimes if the vents get clogged there is an explosion. It was a very cool place to walk around, you have to stay on the board walks as some areas of the ground are really hot. We saw some mud pools where the earth gets all churned up from the steam and turns into bubbling mud. The vents were really hot and made whistling noises which made you think they were going to erupt in front of you.
On our way up to Auckland we stopped for lunch at a big pretend castle. We saw it from the roaad and went to have a look and it turned out to be a castle that this guy and his wife had built themselves to display their toy collection in. When we were eating, a train came round into the cafe every few minutes and tooted it's horn. Very odd but fun.
We got to Auckland and had a little time to wander around but we had to get up at 6am for our flight to Sydney. We are now in Sydney airport waiting for our flight to Osaka I'm very excited! Also a bit scared..
The next day was still rainy and windy so we went to the free museum of New Zealand - Te Papa. We learnt about earthquakes and New Zealand wildlife and about how possums are pests. Then we met an old friend of mine (that would be Anna West to those of you who know her!) and we went to an Irish pub for some lunch. She's been living in Wellington for the last 6 months so she knews where to take us. After lunch we walked up a very steep hill to look for the tree which the hobbits hide under in the Lord of the Rings. We didn't find the specific one but it was all very Middle Earth and when we got to the top we had a great view over Wellington. There was absolutely no accomodation in Wellington that night as the Fringe Festival and the WWF (or whatever it's called now) Wrestling were both in town. So we ended up moving on to a town called Palmerston North for the night. Lovely hostel - full of crazy people! There was a man there who had a gadget for absolutely everything including one for stopping him falling asleep on the sofa!
In the morning we drove on to Napier. It is an Art Deco town because after the earthquake in 1931, they rebuilt everything in the few years following so most of the buildings are beautifully Art Deco. We stayed in the Criterion Hotel which is now a hostel but used to be a beautiful old hotel and it still has the fireplaces and dining room and glasswork.
We left early the next day to get to Taupo from where we explored the Tongariro National Park. It was made into a national park in the 1880s when the Maori gifted it to the people of New Zealand to make sure no one would be able to log it. They filmed a lot of Lord of the Rings in this area and we found Mordor and MOUNT DOOM! It was really cool to walk around locations we recognised!
On our last day in New Zealand we left Taupo and first of all stopped off at a place called Craters of the Moon. It is a thermal area which sprung up when they put a geothermal power station in the area. The power station takes some of the hot water from under the earth so the rest boils much quicker and in place like Craters of the Moon it turns into steam as it nears the surface and comes out of vents in the earth. Sometimes if the vents get clogged there is an explosion. It was a very cool place to walk around, you have to stay on the board walks as some areas of the ground are really hot. We saw some mud pools where the earth gets all churned up from the steam and turns into bubbling mud. The vents were really hot and made whistling noises which made you think they were going to erupt in front of you.
On our way up to Auckland we stopped for lunch at a big pretend castle. We saw it from the roaad and went to have a look and it turned out to be a castle that this guy and his wife had built themselves to display their toy collection in. When we were eating, a train came round into the cafe every few minutes and tooted it's horn. Very odd but fun.
We got to Auckland and had a little time to wander around but we had to get up at 6am for our flight to Sydney. We are now in Sydney airport waiting for our flight to Osaka I'm very excited! Also a bit scared..
posted by alicestronaut at 12:03 am
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