What can we say. The weather has not been kind to us during our brief visit to New Zealand but we have had a fantastic time. Following a night at Auckland's City Garden Lodge - formerly home to the Queen of Tonga, we headed for a slightly large fry up (note the new hair do) before picking up our hire car.
We headed to Rotorua (lovingly called Rottenrua by the locals). It is an active thermal volcanic area and a bit stinky due the large amounts of sulphur in the air. We stayed in the local YHA and after tea had a dip in their thermal swimming pool with rain falling all around. An early start the following day had us heading off to Hell's Gate, a large area of thermal activity just outside Rotorua. It was fascinating to see the bubbling mud and boiling water and the steam coming out of the ground. We were planning on trying a therapeutic mud bath and hot pool dip but it was chucking it down so we had to give it a miss.
Later that day we arrived in Napier, a small town on the East coast of the North Island to catch up with Jen's uni mate Steve and his lovely Kiwi wife Krissy. As they were in the process of moving to Wellington we all stayed in a house owned by a good friend of Krissy's.
We had a riot catching up and getting acquainted. We were treated to a tour around town and up to Tamate Peak and of course we partook in some eating and drinking. Our favourite bit was a spot of wine tasting and a gorgeous lunch at Black Barn winery.
We headed to Wellington after two nights in Napier as did Steve and Krissy (and their fish). Following a spot of shopping for necessities as we were about to leave the English speaking world, we headed into town to watch some rugby with Steve, Krissy and a few of their mates. at the Westpac Stadium (also fondly called the cake tin). The game was Wellington Lions versus Hawkes Bay Magpies. After an even first half the Lions romped away to win.
The following day we met up with Sonya and her friend Annie. Sonya is an old mate of Jen's whom she originally met at the wedding of a schoolfriend in Cardiff (Sarah - who now coincidentally lives in Dubai). There was lot to catch up on and a slightly important rugby match to watch - New Zealand v Australia in the Bledisloe Cup. We both thoroughly enjoyed watching the Wallabies getting beaten by the All Blacks in a pub in NZ!
We are currently sitting writing this up having had our last "fush and chups". It's been a great week, with a lot of driving (including a 9 hour drive today) but are roads are a pleasure to drive on as they are so empty and the scenery is stunning. Next stop Tahiti!
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