Dec 2006

Alright so as much as I like Auckland (right)I am so glad to be out of it. I picked up Sarah on the 4th at the Auckland international Airport and we stopped briefly in the city to get groceries and then we got outa there. The city is ok, has nice parks and that sort of thing, but it lacks that special something that makes a big city more than just a big city so I am glad to be away. We camped to first night in Orewa a small little beach town about an hour north of Auckland and got a special treat the next day and got to visit the ship yards of New Zealand Yachts. Its a custom building and refit shop for big boats and it was really cool. They didn't have any of their signature series yachts there but they were working on the worlds biggest sailing catamaran the France Douce (or something like that) and had a couple other big cool boats we got to see.
After that we decided we wanted to get to the south island as soon as possible and drove back to Auckland to restock and get some tickets for Sarah so that we could start heading south. This was a huge mistake, going back to the big city. While we were in the grocery store the van was broken into (either with a jimmy or we stupidly left a door open) and a ton of stuff was stolen, including my passport and airline tickets but I'm handling it and I don't think it'll be that big a deal. The police put a border alert on my passport and the Embassy in wellington will be reissuing me one and the tickets can be reissued and the fee is normally waved in the event of theft. In short I'm handling it so don't worry mom. Sarah had much more irreplaceable stuff stolen like her Journal that she'd been working on her whole travels and the cds that had all her trips pictures on it. it sucks cause the things they took mostly have no value to them, only my ipod and her mp3 player really. The other stuff will just end up in the garbage and that sucks cause its such a pain in the ass for me and heart ache for her. Thieves suck.
Anyway, I'm pretty over that, Sarah's having a bit more difficult a time and the following parts of the trip up till now have been incredible. We stayed the night in Waitomo at these glow worm caves that were so cool. You do a tour of these underground caverns that had been carved out by the river that still runs through them. the largest room in the complex is 15 meters tall and is 45 meters underground. At the very bottom is the river still and the last part of the tour is by boat and thats how you exit the complex. In the river part of the caverns are these glow worms that stick to the ceiling. They're the larva of these flies that only live for a couple of days and it looks like a night sky, its so cool.
After that this morning we've driven to Rotorua which is one of the most active geothermic areas in the world. The central park of the city has a bunch of bubbling mud pits and sulfur spitting boiling hot pools. Rotorua is also famous for its Maori villages, they're several in the area and they have cultural shows and museums and that sort of thing which we're doin tomorrow. after that its onto one of the big geothermal parks south of the city and then down further south to lake Taupo and the Tongariro National forest which is were (dorkily enough) a lot of the Lord of the Rings was filmed. I bought this road atlas for us to use and was reading it the other day and found out that it actually points out filming location along the whole country the same as it would actual places (they take it pretty seriously apparently since the release of the films tourism in New Zealand has increased about 3%) So for example there might be a mountain marked out in the atlas and under it in yellow writing (which denotes a middle earth location) will be writen "Mt. Doom". I only used that as an example cause its one that most people will recognize but the atlas gets as detailed as "plains of golgotha" and "gondor beacons" and "river anduin" Anyway I know its dorky but at least some of you will think its pretty cool.

here's a middle earth looking scene no, straight outa the shire?

one of Auckland's prettier parks. Sky city in the background.

same park, different view

one of the geothermal rock vents in Rotorua, i think this one is mad made

one of the natural ones, its stinks


just some cool rivers in the north island

the much envied but slightly embarrassing van.

another view at the Waitomo Caves

closeup of the crazy leprechaun man that they've painted on our van. Kinda scary no?

I've made it to Auckland. Got here pretty late at night and was tired so I haven't explored much but I am about to set out to do just that. So far it seems pretty cool. The hostel is nice, but I'm having some trouble with the camper van company but i think I'll be able to work them out. Its cold here, about 57 when I got in last night. I might need to get some warmer clothes! I'll get you updated about the city tonight, just wanted to let you know I'm safe and sound.