New Zealand - It's like Lord of the Rings

Hello Fans....

It seems like a disgracefully long time ago that we last updated this blog of ours...this is for good reason as it was back in February when we last sat down to share our travel experiences with our avid readers (32,000 at last count)

So you last left us as we were heading to the mystical land of New Zealand. A country made famous in recent years by the booming sales of Anchor butter in the UK. The good news is that, on the 29th January, we touched down safely at Auckland airport, picked up our trusty steed (a 2.0l Ford Focus, in Silver) and sped off up the country's only motorway North towards Whangarei (two points to mention here.... 1) when I say 'sped off' we did in fact stay within the speed limits unlike Robin's own mother a few years ago whose flagrant disregard for this fine countries laws landed her with a stern talking to and a weighty fine! 2) the use of 'Wh' in NZ place names is actually pronounced as an 'F' as such Whangarei is pronounced Fangarei and so on....this becomes amusing when visiting such places as Whakapapa....)

Whangarei was a great place to start, sunny, warm and hospitable. We spent the first few nights at a peaceful backpackers lodge in the countryside called Little Earth Lodge. A bit of exploring on the first night lead us to a cracking little fishing village, the name of which eludes us, but which had the best fish and chip shop this side of Babbacombe. The next day we borrowed helmets and torches from the guy at the lodge and headed down into Abbey Caves to look at the amazing gloworms - fab!

From Whangarei we headed North towards the Bay of Islands region where we spent a few nights. This was the first time that we had set foot inside 'Darth' (our tent, on account of it's uncanny likeness to the leader of the Dark Side) since our 'bad camping' experiences in Chile. Well, what a contrast, NZ campsites are quite simply amazing. Incredible facilities, immaculately clean in a way that no other country's campsites could be, and unbelievably friendly staff....what a great place!

The Town of Russell in the Bay of Islands was a super place to spend some time and we both loved it. Quite beautiful and the surrounding area was a delight.

From here we pushed on north towards the most northerly, northen most point in the North Island....Cape Reinga. We intended to camp up here for the night but we had made good time and decided to try and get a bit further back down the pennisula before stopping for the night near the incredible 90 mile beach. You can actually drive down the full length of this bad boy at low tide but not in a hire car apparently....this didn't stop the intrepid travellers venturing on to the sand for a quick drive through the surf though ;-) This is a really amazing and wild looking beach which stretches for miles and looked simply stunning as the sun went down.

Next stop on the way back down the Island was at a fab little campsite near the Kauri Coast (so named becasue of the enormous (trunks with 5m diameters!) Kauri trees that used to dominate the area. A few remain as they are now protected against all uses other than the odd ceremonial Mauri canoe). The campsite was run by an lovely old couple who ran night time Kiwi spotting walks in the local nature reserve. The walk was guided by Herb (like the garden!...his words, not ours) and was a wonderful experience. Kiwis proved elusive but we did manage to hear them calling to each other.....and saw an enormous eel that Herb fed with a large ball of cheese!

After a brief overnight stop in Waiwera, just north of Auckland, we headed East towards the Coromandel Penninsula. This is a delightful area, quite stunning and surrounded by wonderful turquoise seas, rocky coves and golden beaches. We spent some time exploring the town of Coromandel and then headed across to the beach resort of Hahei. This is a beautiful place and should definitely be on the list of most beautiful places in NZ - a big list admittedly. Highlights of this area included the beautiful, rocky enclave that is Cathedral Cove and the madness that is 'Hot Water Beach'. The latter is a very unusual experience. At low tide you dig a hole in the sand and hey presto, 60 degree C water comes bubbling up through the sand from the subterranean springs. How cool is this....not very actually, it was almost too hot to stand on never mind sit in...only the lapping of the waves kept things cool enough to be bearable.

We had a total of three weeks in the North Island and at this stage we needed to start heading south in the general direction of Wellington. The next major stop on this journey was Lake Taupo. On the way there we stopped in Rotorua for some bubbling mud action at 'Hell's Gate', a slightly expensive and unbelievably smelly place but strangely wonderful nevertheless.

We based ourselves for the next few nights at the town of Taupo, a lively little place right on the shores of the crystal clear and turquiose waters of the Lake. There's loads to do in this area so we got the tent up at yet another great campsite and got stuck in. Huka Falls was a real highlight here, the most unbelievable quantity of clear blue water being forced through a very narrow gorge with spectactular results....right up there in Roblanda's list of the world's best waterfalls! Just a bit further downstream from here there is another watery spectacle at Aratiatia Dam - a couple of times a day they open the gates on the dam and an awful lot of water suddenly fills the rocky gorge below....very cool indeed.

Next on the list of 'fun things to do in Taupo' was fly fishing. The area is world reknowned for the quality of fishing and we decided to find out why. As a mutual christmas pressie to ourselves we decided to hire a guide and head off into the back country with a view to catching a large trout or three. Our guide was called Marcel and looked after us well, do look him up if you are in the area - though please mention to him that it would be sensible to advise his clients to take insect repellent with them when they go fishing for the day! We had a really great time on the stunning and isolated Waipunga River, Robin rekindling an interest from his days as a boy, and Yolanda learning something new. We lost a couple of fish each (yeah, yeah - they were massive) and after some testing conditions and a battle which lasted for hours Robin finally hauled in a beauty - a nice fat 3lb Brown Trout.

After a cracking Thai meal on our last night in Taupo we headed a little further south to the aforementioned hamlet of Whakapapa - the staging post for one of the most famous walks in NZ, the Tongariro Crossing. This is a pretty testing days walk (17kms) up and over Mt Tongariro, one of a group of three large volcanoes that dominate the landscape for miles around. Neighbouring Mt Ruapehu is still active and coughs out some rocks and mud every so often, this doesn't stop the skiers and snowboarders however as it is an active ski resort as well as an active volcano! The third peak of this angry trio is the conical and enormous Mt Ngarahoe or 'Mt Doom' if you've watched those films about Hobbits from a few years back.

The Tongariro Crossing was in retrospect a fantastic walk coupled with a great sense of achievement. At the time however it was a fantastic walk interspersed with moments of abject terror. A combination of steep drops, scree slopes along with Robin's fear of steep drops and Yolanda's fear of scree slopes all combined to make this a testing experience for all concerned. The views were spectacular however and overall we did enjoy ourselves (we think :-/ ).

After resting our weary limbs for a day or two we were able to head on to our next stop which was the beautiful Art Deco town of Napier in the famous Hawke's Bay wine region. Napier was flattened by an earthquake in the early 1900's and was all rebuilt in the architectural style of the period- it's a great looking town. We spent two great nights staying with Gordon and Pia Russell where we were treated to some cracking NZ hospitality. Gordon is Chief Winemaker and GM of Esk Valley Wines so we were treated to some fabulous wines to accompany Pia's wonderful cooking and given the run of their fabulous beachside house. Gordon took some time out to show us around the winery and taste the latest wines straight from the barrels - amazing! All are available in the UK and are really well worth a try. http://www.eskvalley.co.nz/ An added bonus of staying with Gordon and Pia was that they had just got a kitten - called Flash - who was a constant source of entertainment but seemed determined to wreck the house in Gordon and Pia's absence, in a thinly veiled attempt to get Roblanda into trouble...

Our visit to Napier happened to coincide with the much publicised 'Napier Art Deco Weekend'. This is an annual celebration of all things Deco and really was a joy to behold. All of the town's residents (and we mean all....young and old) spend the weekend and preceeding week dressed in period costume and attending all manner of social events from dinner dances to vintage car rallies. The atmosphere was amazing as were some of the outfits!

We were neally at the end of our three weeks in the North Island. Our last destination was Wellington before heading across the Cook Strait to Picton. We spent a thoroughly enjoyable few days in Wellington staying with Yolanda's family (Kev and Ruth) who showed us around the area and looked after us superbly. They have a self contained garden flat which we had the run of and a very well stocked cellar, the contents of which we were encoraged to drink! We had a blast here and were priveleged to meet our first Spoodle! (Kev and Ruth's dog, Monty, a Spaniel/Poodle cross) Thanks so much guys, we had a lovely time!!

From Wellington we took the car and ourselves accross the water to begin our South Island adventure.

The trip across the Cook Strait was a nice little jaunt in it's own right. The crossing takes about 2 1/2 hours in total but most of that is taken up during the careful navigation of the Marlborough Sounds. This is a really beautiful boat trip helped in our case by the beautifully sunny and calm conditions.

We disimbarked from the 'Interislander' at Picton and from here drove straight down to Blenheim in the heart of the Marlborough wine region. The main reason to stop here was to pay a visit to one of Robin's wine contacts, the slighty insane Brian Bicknell at the recently aquired Mahi winery.

Brian was a fine host (we've been lucky in regard to fine hosts thus far!) and spent loads of time with us over the couple of days we were there. Lunch, tasting, vineyard tours...you name it, we did it. It was a cracking and highly entertaining time and we both laughed a lot. The wines that Brian makes are real hand-crafted beauties, most from single vineyard sites and all really quite amazing. They are available from Novum in the UK if should wish to purchase and we whole heartedly implore you to do so. Check out http://www.mahiwine.co.nz/ and once you tire of the lengthy content ;-) check out this American wine evangelist maniac Gary Vaynerchuk wax lyrically about Brian's 2007 Sauvignon Blanc - a highly entertaining watch! http://tv.winelibrary.com/2007/12/21/power-friday-tasting-buckle-up-episode-376/

After waving goodbye to BB we headed on down the coast to the nature fest that is Kaikoura. The drive down here is really remarkable, right along the coast with mountains on one side and wild ocean on the other, quite stunning, and with the added bonus of wild fur seals right by the road (and we mean right by the road) just as you approach Kaikoura itself. Very cool indeed especially as they were obliging in front of the camera.....work it ladies!

The town of Kaikoura is a pretty laid back kind of place and is in a really beautiful coastal setting but the real reason for being there is the abundance of marine wildlife - so abundant are the whales, seals, dolphins etc. that local rumour has it that Attenborough filmed all of the critically acclaimed Blue Planet series here on his own without having to leave the comfort of his hotel room.

As keen wildlife enthusiasts we duly purchased our whale watching tickets for the following day and after a fitful nights sleep in a noisy campsite boarded the good ship SS Frodo and headed out to sea. We were quickly rewarded by three excellent sightings of Sperm Whales two of which were thoughtful enough to perform their clever tail in the air trick as they headed down into the depths. After about an hour of whale watching we headed back to base via a pod of hugely entertaining Dusky dolphins! There were dozens of these crazy beasts all jumping out of the water and doing their trademark flips for the cameras. We defy anyone not to grin like a cheshire cat whilst watching this delightful spectacle!! That said 30 minutes later Robin was not in any shape to do any grinning as he was gripped by a sudden bout of sea sickness...not a good sailor, despite the rumours.

Next stop on our tour was to be with Rik and Sarah at the house of Cousin Sloth in Christchurch. An excellent time was had here and once again we were looked after royally. Tickets for the England one day match against NZ had been arranged so a boozy day was had here watching England get a proper shoeing...we also managed to catch up brieflywith Officers Chris and Lou of The Yard who had flown out especially to keep the Barmy Army in check(we were quite pissed so perhaps they could confirm that we did actually meet up with them??!).

After the gentle pace of life in ChCh we felt the need for a dose of Adrenalin - we are so EXTREME its unbelievable - so we set off for the amusingly named town of Geraldine and set up camp at the HQ of Rangitata Rafts http://www.rafts.co.nz/. Rik and Sarah drove down after work and joined us for a night of camping before the following day's rafting. This turned out to be a really great day and was a ambition realised for Robin. The rafting company were great and super organised. The river was awesome and had some truly incredible grade 5 rapids which were both terrying and fun at the same time! Following a swift BBQ and saying farewell to Rik and Sarah we headed west in the general direction of Queenstown.

We spent a few nights getting to Queenstown and on the way took in the spectacular lakes Tekapo (for a swift nights camping with some nosiy neighbours who Robin took issue with) and Pukaki(the bluest lake you could ever imagine) and also the wonderful Mount Cook National Park. Mount Cook is a big-ass mountain and is where Sir Edmund Hilary practised before taking on Mt Everest. We did a cracking walk up the Hooker Valley and listened to the huge chunks of glacial ice crashing down into the valleys below, an eerie and incredible experience. There was a climbers memorial near the carpark which was unfortunately rather well subscribed and illustrated just how dangerous this mountain is.

We got to Queenstown in the middle of some foul weather and found a campsite a bit out of town but conveniently situated next to a very cool hot tub spa kinda place http://www.onsen.co.nz/pools.php with great views over the Shotover gorge. This was the perfect antidote to the rubbish weather!

There's loads of things to do in Queenstown and some great places to eat, notably Fergburger http://www.fergburger.com/fullscreen.html - a fine establishment which is unequalled in our minds! We spent the morning looking out over Queenstown and the stunning Lake Wakatipu from the Gondola station above the town. Robin bought a cheapo fly fishing rod and proceeded to irritate some rainbow trout by pulling them out of the lake over the following days!

After our first visit to Queenstown we set off to drive to Milford Sound. This is probably NZ's most famous attraction and justifiably so. Words will struggle to do justice to this incredible place. It is truly incredible and we urge you to go. Just the road to get there, which takes in the Homer tunnel (dug by hand!!) is one of the most breathtaking routes we have ever seen. Towering walls of rock, crystal clear rivers, verdant forest and gushing cascades of water all combine to produce a truly humbling environment. The sound itself is a super deep inlet with gargantuan tree-clad cliffs that tower into the sky around you. We saw it on a beautifully fine day but it would be equally as spectacular in bad weather as many waterfalls erupt from the rock walls. Now you may think that the UK gets some rain....this place gets 8-9 metres (yes metres) a year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's pretty moist....

On the way back from Milford sound we stopped for a night at a great little DOC campsite (Dept of Conservation - guardians of all things nature in NZ and quite possibly the finest organisation in the world http://www.doc.govt.nz/ ) at a fine spot by a river called Deer Flat - perhaps the most perfect campsite in the world.

A brief two night soujourn back through Queenstown was long enough for us to get our previously thwarted trip on the famous Shotover Jet http://www.shotoverjet.com/ which was great fun and an excellent Christmas pressie from Robin's mum - Thank you again!! We got off the boat and then headed along the lovely Crown Range road to Wanaka.

Wanaka is a cracking little place that we both loved. Appropriately sat on the shores of Lake Wanaka this is super little town and would defo be on our list of places to live in NZ should we ever consider such a thing. Whilst here we took in a lovely agricultural show which was a highly entertaining way to spend a few hours - sheepdog trials rock! - and a great little cinema called Cinema Paradiso which was filled with old armchairs and sofas and did great homemade ice cream! Here we took in the Coen brothers latest offering 'No Country for Old Men' which was a masterpiece, if slightly dark....go and see it!

We waved a teary farewell to Wanaka and drove through the Haast pass (yet another incredible road - this country is amazing, sooo much spectacular scenery!) to the Glaciers of Fox and Franz Josef. We had a good look at the Fox glacier first (retreating at a fairly spctacular rate if the signs (and Al Gore) are to be believed) which is (sh*t running out of 'spectacular' - type adjectives) ..........a bodacious sight :-/. We were also entertained by the rather bold Keas (alpine parrots of some confidence) who were tucking into various car and bicycle parts in the car park!

As we moved on up the road towards Franz Josef a rain storm, biblical in its enthusiasm, descended from above. The prospect of camping in this was not much fun but being the brave explorers that we are we got the tent up in a brief intermission and dug in for the night. An early but very worthwhile start got us to the serene Lake Matheson in time for sunrise and the most beautiful reflections you could imagine. Then a quick peek at the equally impressive Franz Josef Glacier and we were on the road again.

We were definitley on the home leg by now, as far as NZ was concerned, and melancholy thoughts of departing this special country started to nag. We spent a few excellent nights at some lovely lakeside campsites either side of Arthur's Pass where Robin - by now an angler rivalled only by JR Hartley - bothered some more trout. Arthur's Pass, another awesome road through another dramatic glaciated valley was a venue for an overnight stop at pehaps surprisingly, the noisiest campsite in the world - right next to noisy freight railway yard, a main road and some irritatingly loud Israeli's.

Rik and Sarah, our hosts from Christchurch, had already suggested that we join them once more in Christchurch for our last night in NZ, an offer which we gladly accepted. Our return visit enhanced further by the addition to the household of two new kittens, Roxy and Ralph. A great meal at the fine establishment in Merivale known only as Tuto Bene(ke) was a fitting end to a quite wonderful chapter to our trip.

The following morning after an expensive trip to the post office to rid ourselves of excess baggage, a swift cappucino and farewells to Rik, Sarak, Roxy and Ralph we headed to Christchurch aiport and set off to the land of burning beds, Vegemite (lets face it, it's no Marmite) and many creatures of death that is Australia.

That's all for now folks....we are currently in Malaysia and will update you as to Austrlian goings on in due course. Off to Hong Kong followed by Vietnam and Japan after that so any hot tips on places to see or stay will be greatly appreciated!