Hahei:
After leaving Auckland, we travelled south easterly to the Coromandel region to stay at Hahei, a small coastal town, taking in some quite lovely scenary and a bit of natural hot water pool bathing along the way. A two hour walk to the beach coves here and back got the muscles warmed up - great going down, a bit tough on the legs coming back up!
After leaving Auckland, we travelled south easterly to the Coromandel region to stay at Hahei, a small coastal town, taking in some quite lovely scenary and a bit of natural hot water pool bathing along the way. A two hour walk to the beach coves here and back got the muscles warmed up - great going down, a bit tough on the legs coming back up!
Rotorua:
Rotorua is geo thermal and the town and area is littered with boiling springs, bubbling mud, geysers and sulphuric steam venting from thermal pools. Its name means two lakes in Maori and the town famously smells of rotton eggs due to the sulphur escaping. The locals are used to it apparently. Strangely though, when you bathe in the pools the smell of sulphur is really strong but it doesn't linger on your skin afterwards.
Rotorua is geo thermal and the town and area is littered with boiling springs, bubbling mud, geysers and sulphuric steam venting from thermal pools. Its name means two lakes in Maori and the town famously smells of rotton eggs due to the sulphur escaping. The locals are used to it apparently. Strangely though, when you bathe in the pools the smell of sulphur is really strong but it doesn't linger on your skin afterwards.
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/PocketGem/NewZealandRotorua02#
Waitomo:
Waitomo Caves are situated about 2.5 hours south west of Auckland. There are over 300 underground caves scattered about the area. As they take along time to open up at ground level, there is little danger to Joe Public but I believe that local farmers have lost the odd cow here and there!
Now as you have probably gathered by now, I have some bouyancy to dealing with heights. But I have never understood why peope want to go caving. To do the same under water, is my idea of a complete nightmare. It's the whole enclosed space thing I suppose that freaks me out a bit. That's why, when the opportunity arose to go caving here which included a 100m abseil into the cave - twice the height of my bungee jump - well, I just had to do it or at least try. Going down was huge fun! The hour and a half getting back up and out was a lot tougher, espcially the 30ft vertical ladder at the end! Superb experience though and we even got to see glow worms breaking up the darkness when we turned off our helmet lights to see them.
Waitomo:
Waitomo Caves are situated about 2.5 hours south west of Auckland. There are over 300 underground caves scattered about the area. As they take along time to open up at ground level, there is little danger to Joe Public but I believe that local farmers have lost the odd cow here and there!
Now as you have probably gathered by now, I have some bouyancy to dealing with heights. But I have never understood why peope want to go caving. To do the same under water, is my idea of a complete nightmare. It's the whole enclosed space thing I suppose that freaks me out a bit. That's why, when the opportunity arose to go caving here which included a 100m abseil into the cave - twice the height of my bungee jump - well, I just had to do it or at least try. Going down was huge fun! The hour and a half getting back up and out was a lot tougher, espcially the 30ft vertical ladder at the end! Superb experience though and we even got to see glow worms breaking up the darkness when we turned off our helmet lights to see them.
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/PocketGem/NewZealandWaitomoCaves#
Tongariro National Park:
The Tongariro National Park is one of a handful of sites in the world that has dual heritage status for both natural and cultural values. It also sits on a major fault line and has 3 volcanoes, only one of which is classified as dormant. This hasn't stopped the Kiwis building a ski and activity resport on and around them! And a lot of sites were used in this area for filming the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Tongariro National Park:
The Tongariro National Park is one of a handful of sites in the world that has dual heritage status for both natural and cultural values. It also sits on a major fault line and has 3 volcanoes, only one of which is classified as dormant. This hasn't stopped the Kiwis building a ski and activity resport on and around them! And a lot of sites were used in this area for filming the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Wellington, capital of New Zealand:
There is a pub in Wellington that's called the Welsh Pub and is dedicated to all things Welsh. Hurrah! A must see for me. Our tour leader spoilt the moment somewhat by telling me the building used to be a block of toilets!
What can I say about Wellington? Nice city with a lovely harbour, not spectacular, fairly small with a population of just 320k people, can get round it in a day easily. Oh, and as I discovered, some of the pubs and bars are open until 6am!
No comments:
Post a Comment