Diving Drama

It's been a busy couple of days. We arrived in Auckland on Saturday, and from there had to research and book a trip up North, so we could dive the 'Poor Knights Islands', off Tutukaka. Everything that could go wrong, did, starting off with leaving our shopping on the Stray Bus (Ok George, free rolls for you guys). Then we checked into the YHA that we'd pre-booked, only for the French chap on the desk to look at us blankly, "No, there is nothing on the system".... long pause... no apology for the messup... no attempt to find us another room. Sigh. In the end we managed to get him to do his job, but it was all annoying. Lots of other stuff went wrong apart from that but I won't go into it because it all gets very tedious, but its all along the same lines as that.


"No, we don't a have no rooms!"

So... Got to Whangarei, and got picked up by the owner of the hostel. We stayed at the Little Earth Lodge, which was a great place. Onsite DVD room, kitchen, chickens and cows! Also, free eggs from the chickens (not allowed to eat the chickens) and miniture horses! All miles away from everywhere. Can't recommend this hostel enough. Rather than packing in backpackers to the roof, they only have a few beds and make an effort to ensure the place is nice. It's like the opposite end of the hostel scale to Base hostels.


Stock Photo

Yesterday morning we were up pretty early for some Scuba Diving at the Poor Knights Islands, rated by Jaques Cousteau (who would know) as one of the Top 10 diving destinations in the World. First time we've dived in these, cold, temperatures. Even with 7mm wetsuits and hoods you can still tell the water is bloody freezing. The first dive of the day was not the best, we followed the guide as well we could in low visibility, and with 6 of us following him we were often bumping into each other, or getting a fin in the face.


Saw some of these.

The second dive was much better - I headed out just with Jodie, and first in the water we had a decent search around without the crowds. Followed along one end, saw a lot of kelp, other vegetation, a few nudibranches, but then as we headed to the opposite wall I spotted a turtle. A massive one! I signalled to Jodie, but couldn't remember what the turtle signal was and so it ended up like that bit in Team America! As soon as the turtle spotted us he started to leg it / float away, so we followed for a bit, then left him to it. When we got back to the boat, we explained our findings to the other divers. No one else spotted him, and the guide who had worked there for 2 years told us he'd never seen turtles here. So, we were either very jammy... or we saw a radio controlled turtle. I think jammy.


REMEMBER THE SIGNAL!

We're off to Fiji on Thursday, for a two week holiday. All this travel is getting to us now, so we need a bit of time off :)

Hee hee. Oh, then it's off to the States for a bit.

Skydiving Footage

They film these things with handicam's on the end of their arms now! Better than having the camera bloke along for the ride. Video evidence can be found here....

Jodie's Skydive (Moon-face)
Darren's Skydive (Flappy-face)

Great fun! Isn't Google Video & Youtube top stuff.

Auckland to Taupo

It's the 16th November, and since leaving Auckland in the Stray Bus we have already seen and done so much. New Zealand is fantastic!

We headed for the Hahei coast, a beautiful beach and the awesome Cathedral Cave. In the evening we headed off to Hot Water Beach, so called due to geothermal activity which causes the water to heat up. So you dig a hole and sit in a nice warm bath. Bizarre!

From NZ - Hahei

That night our driver Nads (or Go-Nads) cooked us up a fab BBQ introducing us to the Kumara, the Kiwi sweet potato, very yummy. We then headed west to Raglan, for you surfers out there you'll know this is a wicked place to surf. Darren decided against it due to his only one lesson and thought best not risk the 10ft waves and rocky coastline!!! So we had a go at the Flying Fox instead - in pitch black I might add. A Flying Fox is like a zip wire. Very cool, especially as your only light is from the resident Glow Worms.

From NZ - Raglan

After chilling out there for an extra day, we caught the next bus to come along and headed for Rotorua via the Waitamo Caves. This is where Darren and I ventured on the 'Tuma Tuma Toobing'. AWESOME! Geared up in wet-suits, helmets and welly boots we trudged across a farmers field getting very odd looks from the sheep and climbed into a teeny tiny hole in the ground. Not sure what lay ahead off us, we gingerly staggered over rocky paths avoiding the million year old stalactites and waded through the icy cold under ground rivers. Our guide decided we should be safer from the legend deep-cave monster by pasting mud all over our faces and sliding down a mud hill, it was like being six years old again it was great fun. The fun didn't end there, we then were given rubber tubes to lie back on and slip quietly through the caves on the river with no lights to see the thousands of glow worms lighting up the cave ceiling, it was incredible. Very magical.

From NZ - Rotorua

Three hours later we climbed out back into the field to then make our way to Rotorua. Blimey, you know when you reach Rotorua 'cause it stinks of eggs! This is because of the geothermal activity in the area. With bubbly mud pools and geysers (not the dodgy kind) the Maori people still to this day use the geothermal activity to cook, bath and do their laundry. We visited a village that shows just this. We were also shown the Maori traditional dances and songs and the infamous Haka. Great stuff.

From NZ - Rotorua

After Rotorua we then headed to Taupo, where the lake is so big they say it can fit Singapore into it! And guess what? Both Darren and I saw it from 12,000ft above it whilst jumping out of a plane!!!!!! I'll let that sink in parents..............................................

From NZ - Lake Tau...

YEE HAA we dived out of a plane over Lake Taupo at 12,000ft altitude, free-falling for 7000ft of that and then gracefully parachuting down to earth. How very cool, in fact too cool for school. We'll post the videos of it soon... (On a more important note, check out this video of japanese t-shirt folding which is a new skill we've learnt from 'Rich' of the Stray West Coast Crew; It's borderline witchcraft!).

So after coming back down from such a high we are now chilling out in Taupo for a few days before we head back north to Auckland to hook up with a few people and then catch our flights to Fiji. Go get yourselves a coffee now as I know you all need to relax after reading such extreme adventures!

The LOTR Roadtrip

After travelling back up the East coast leaving the South behind us (not much to see down there anyway) oh except Speights Brewery, most excellent! Very interesting, especially the guide telling us that Gales Brewery has been bought out by a French company and they have closed it down!!!! Shock horror, we had to go the other side of the world to hear this! We then had to console ourselves with five different types of beers Speights produce and they're so lazy out here in NZ we had to serve it ourselves... what a pity...

From NZ - Dunedin ...

We all then decided Pizza was on the menu for the night so we went in search of Hells Pizza - the best in town. Half an hour later, having walked into an Industrial Estate with the rain lashing our faces and soaking our jeans to our legs we spy the Hells Pizza signboard like a mirage out of the desert. Only to find it to be a TAKE AWAY! Who's flippin' idea was it to go for pizza???? As usual us girlies were desperate for a pee and now hungry and very soggy! We ordered our pizzas waited for taxis only to be then deserted and forgotten. 25 mins later with cold pizza in hand we stumble into the hotel order beers and head to bed. What an afternoon!

From NZ - Dunedin ...

Once we got back to Christchurch this is where the West Coast Crew went their separate ways. A very sad occasion, but with great memories and some corking photos! We had such a giggle and met some great new friends - it's ok to be Stray! : )

We are now in Auckland, we do get around a bit ay! We had an offer from one of the lasses on board the bus, Bonnie (aka Badonna) to deliver a car up to Auckland. But it was not going to be just any old road trip, we were to go on a quest, in search of the LOTR locations! Ok for those not geeky enough LOTR = Lord of the Rings!!!

Setting off in Shadowfax our strong and loyal steed (a mitsabushi lancer) we headed North to the ferry to cross to the North Island. On our way we stopped off at a seal colony where baby seals were playing in the pool under a waterfall, it was so cool. Then headed to Picton. Caught the ferry, and found a nice little couch in the Club Class lounge. An hour later, two cups of free tea and biccies we were busted and sent on our way to the commoners bar to spend the rest of the journey eating ham sarnies washed down with a few bottles of Speights. (Darren's official sponsor)

11.30pm we rock into Windy Wellington and kip for the night to head North in the morning.

From NZ - Road Trip

Our first destination led us to Scorching Bay, to a little cafe called Chocolate Fish Cafe. Noted as a regular to Peter Jackson, Orlando Bloom, Liv Tyler etc for morning brekkie. They did awesome scrambled eggs and bacon.

From NZ - Road Trip

After leaving there at 12 we consider our journey ahead and decide we have left it far too late to go exploring and head straight for Auckland via beautiful hills and scenery. We had a very intense moment when the fuel light glowed and we were in the middle of well, Middle-Earth, it went very quiet for about 50km when a Shell came to our rescue and we refueled. Exciting stuff!

From NZ - Road Trip

We eventually arrived at our hostel at 8.30pm very tired. The plan was to drop Bonnie off at the airport tomorrow and we drop the car off.

That is where we are now, back in Auckland, our fellowship broken up and now sitting in the Internet cafe hiding from the rain. The quest was semi successful, well we got the car back in one piece and we found Auckland.

More adventures from us two soon...

Very South

We left Queenstown yesterday morning, and the bus took us to Milford Sound, which is not a gig, but a fjord surrounded by mountains. The way there was as awesome as bus trips get, with huge mountains either side of us, and we passed through 'The Valley of 1000 Waterfalls', which was accurately named. When we arrived at Milford Sound, rather than taking the cruise like all the sensible people, we headed instead to check out Milford town... less of a town, more of a rubbishy little cafe. We made the most of it by eating our own food and playing snap with Strays, Tom and Eve, which was far too entertaining. Also played 'pairs' with Jodie's cards for kids (thanks Lara), testing our memory to the max, which appears to have gone downhill suddenly for some reason.

From NZ - Tuatapere

After that we ran into extreme danger at the Homer Tunnel. It's a 1200 metre long tunnel which you can just about get a big bus through, traffic lights at each end, that kind of thing. The problem was that as we headed through it, there was another bus coming the other way! Panic! James The Driver tried reversing, but that was no good, so we headed further in forcing the other guy to fall back to where the tunnel gets slightly wider, inched past, and then had to get out the other end before a load of traffic started at the far end! Extreme bus driving. This is why James The Driver keeps a crash helmet up the front with him at all times.

From NZ - Tuatapere

From there was another great trip through the South of New Zealand to Tuatapere, where we were able to get a few drinks and have a bit of an early night, on a Friday too (makes no difference when your big night ends up on a Tuesday or Wednesday night). This morning was an early start, as we headed off to Ray and Dorothy's Farm to have a look around, watch the dogs organising sheep and then into the shearing pen for some sheep shearing! And before Nathan emails me, that's shearing, not sharing (the Kiwi's don't share their sheep with anyone).

From NZ - Tuatapere

More fun you might think, especially when you get to see dogs running ON TOP of the sheep(!?). And then there was one sheep trying to get away from the dogs, which leapt on top of another sheep, and both of them getting trapped in the sheep run, leaving the sheep underneath with no clue about what's going on, and another sheeps bits in its face. I haven't laughed so much all week. This farm stuff is excellent. Jodie was able to hold a baby sheep born yesterday, which she was very happy about, and we both had a go with the farm motorbikes with trailers on. Which I was very happy about.

From NZ - Tuatapere

We're now in Invercargill, went down the road to 'Bluff' which is about the most south you can get in New Zealand in a bus, hence the silly signpost which has been ideally located by the AA - Alcoholics Anonymous? Could be...

From NZ - Tuatapere

Going South

A busy couple of days on the Stray Bus... We've lost the ability to tell which day is which, because with all the planning taken care of we just wake up, shower (optional), and get on the bus if that's what was agreed in the bar the night before. Easy! I only know it's Thursday today because the computer tells me it is.

From NZ - McDonald...

Anyway, between Barrytown and Franz Joseph we stopped off in Bushman Pete's place. Pete's a very interesting individual, who was able to explain to us how the Kiwi's used to hunt deer using helicopters and net-guns. I'm not making this up. We've seen a video of it, including men jumping from helicopters onto deer below! Shockingly only 80 people died as a result of this sillyness. Great place though, and totally devoid of political correct nonsense.

From NZ - Franz Jo...

Then we went onto Franz Joseph, famous for its glacier, and very near Fox Glacier which is of course where the mints come from. After getting togged up for extreme conditions of rain and ice, we embarked on an expedition to the glacier, with our guide 'AJ' - nuts fella, who did the trip with us in shorts and with a 20Kg backpack on. Really good, really cold and really wet. Standing on the glacier you get a great view into the valley below and even though it was a rainy day it was top fun. The highlight of the trip though was when AJ found a cave and got us to crawl through it, which involved lying on our backs and shuffling through. Then up. And then along a bit. Brilliant fun!

From NZ - Franz Jo...

Our next stop was Makorora, where the men are hairy and so are the women. Our hostel for the night was a pub again, with little dorms out the back, surrounded by cool looking mountains. With little to do apart from drink, the Stray team established ourselves in the bar and cast some magic, in the form of.... Karaoke! After a small warm up drinks, myself and Jodie treated the crowd (Stray team and three locals, yep, just the three) to an outstanding rendition of Kylie and Jason's 'Especially For You'. No-one was violently ill, and nothing was thrown at us, so basically pretty successful. The rest of the gang also stepped up with such classics as 'La Bamba' from Team Brazil, 'I Will Survive' from Bonnie, and the Stray Women doing 'Wannabe'. Awesome.

From NZ - Makorora

Just when you think a night's over and you can go to sleep, sometimes, and only sometimes, the rest of the Stray Bus and the three locals from the pub you were in wander into your dorm with beer and sandwiches for an after-party. Bizarre but good fun.

From NZ - Makorora

Out nice and early the next morning, we stopped at a scenic little place called the Blue Pools for quick walking and stone skimming. Further into the journey, we passed some amazing lake and mountain landscapes which were absolutely awesome. We stopped off at Wanaka for a while, which gave us an excuse to set up a quick picnic while some of the guys jumped out of planes over Lake Wanaka. Tony, a chap in our bus, was having an extreme-a-thon day, so after picking him up from the airfield from the chute jump we stopped off at the original AJ Hackett Bungy site so he could get that out of his system too.

From NZ - Queenstown

Which leaves us here in Queenstown. It's well out of season for snowboarding at the moment, but there's plenty of mad stuff you can do here, so we're having a mooch around before heading down south and continuing our tour of New Zealand. Hey, loads of new photos are up, here. Hey, it's November already!? When did that happen!? We continue ...

From NZ - Queenstown