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The Kiwi Experience - North Island

Posted by Jonny

Posted on July 19, 2008

Joe & I landed in Auckland on a Friday night. A swift taxi ride & a few beers led us through to our first full day in New Zealand. Auckland was freezing on the Saturday & we lasted a half hour before buying two of the biggest jackets we could find on the high street. We went to the aquarium and took the Link bus around town. Auckland is a nice spot, good for a night out but not much in the line of tourist attractions.

On the Monday we got up nice and early to jump on the Kiwi Experience bus, which would take us down the north island & in a full circle of the south island. Now, the Kiwi bus has a wrap of being a bit of a party bus but in fact it's a good blend of activities, culture & sight seeing with some nocturnal socialising in between. We drove from Auckland, a quick photo opportunity at the top of the hill on the way out, to Mercury Bay. We stopped at the beautiful Catheral Bay & Hot Water Beach on this, the first day. Both sights are well worth it, and the hot water really is hot! Dig a hole & you'll find out how hot.

The next day we were on the bus at 7.30 for the journey to Rotorua, with a stop off at Hobbiton where the town was built for the Lord of the Rings movie. Rotorua is a nice little town situated around a heap of thermal vents and geysers. The place smells of sulphur dioxide (i.e. eggy fart!) due to all the geothermal activity. During the day ww did some Zorbing & some luging. The zorbing was a novelty but we much preferred the luging. That night we booked into the Maori experience. A great night, where we saw a Haka and heard stories of how the Maori came to New Zealand, finishing the night with a feast of food.

The Wednesday brought some much needed adrenaline action with Black Water Rafting in Waitomo. This isn't so much rafting as it is cave exploring and waterfall climbing. The only issue is the water is absolutely freezing as well as fast moving. The caves will test your threshold for cold while showing you beautiful caverns and labyrinths, with some glow worms thrown in. Off to bed that night knowing the big one was the next day... A skydive, but could Jonny go through with it?

Obviously I did because I KNOW everyone looks at the pictures before reading this but it turned out to be pretty funny. I was nervous most of the day, people taking the opportunity to poke fun and tease me. When I got to Taupo I felt calm and ready after a few deep breaths. It was Joe who was the more nervous of the two of us, as he was more concerned about the tiny plane bringing us up. I went first shouting "Slan Abhaile" at Joe as I disappeared out of the plane door. It was truly amazing! I can't explain the feeling, the scariest part was the parachuting when it all feels more real as you near the ground. Video is below in 3 parts. It's of us and the girls total, they don't do individual ones in Taupo.

After a huge party for the next two nights in Taupo we hit the road for River Valley. A lovely spot that allows visitors to do some white water rafting. The weather had been pretty bad so the river was 4 metres higher than it would normally be safe to raft it so we ended up with a hot chocolate and a night watching the rugby. The next day would be Wellington and the last stop on our north island trip.

Wellington is a quality place, nicer than Auckland with some nice people around town. We had a nice last evening out with Alan and Rob, the boys from Belfast that we traveled down the island with. The second day we even managed to catch up with the one and only Robbie O'Connell. He was in great form, settled and happy with family and work there was a smile painted across his face all night. The only thing he misses? The cricket of course. All the lads were mentioned with a warmth and he said he may one day return to hit a ball in anger for the Garda again.

New Zealand is all I hoped, and to be honest knew, it would be... A class act! The south island brings more adventure and culture. Sweet as, sweet as!