Meeja travels

Well I am currently in lovely Taupo in an internet cafe round the corner from where I am staying and I am now officially on to the "travels" vs "holiday" part of my trip as I am now all on my ownsome.

However, that is a new thing as we were a happy gang of 5 meeja luvvies until yesterday. So to start where I finished off before, should go to the Sunday (19th) after the wedding. It was another glorious day, although I did feel a little the worse for wear, as previously mentioned, it was a great wedding! oh yeah!

Sunday was bbq day with Glynis (the mother of the groom) hosting it in the house that they had rented in Napier. Jo, Max, Pierre & I popped over there early afternoon following trip to supermarket to buy booze and meat! Lots of lovely meat. Our timing was great though as the barbie was just about heated up when we arrived and the cooking commenced (it really was a meat fest - but boy was it good). Andy, Kristina and Sylvain (the rest of the "club") turned up much later, what can I say I didn't stay out as last as they did the night before!

It was a lovely relaxing day of food, chat and supping some wine!

That evening was our last night with Sam & Tom as they were heading off to Auckland the next morning to pack and head off on honeymoon. We went for a fantastic meal at a restaurant down on the West Quay. It was great to have a mellow evening with them and it was strange to say good bye, even for me and I know that I will see them again in 3-4 weeks. For the others it must have been really strange.

By the end of the night we were the only ones left in the restaurant and from the look of things the whole of West Quay (Sunday night being completely different to Friday & Saturday night, when that whole area is heaving). Kris tried to negotiate us some champagne to finish off the evening, but as they had closed up it was no go (despite some pretty hardcore negotiations on her part), so we grabbed a taxi and made it to the supermarket with minutes to spare where we bought a couple of bottles so that we could still end that fantastic weekend with some bubbles.

The next morning Andy and Sylvain went with me to pick up my rental care in Hastings. It is official, Ressort now has wheels! Ahhh! Sylvain sat in the car with me as we headed back to Napier to pick up Jo, Kristina and the rest of our luggage as the 5 of us were heading off to Taupo together for a night there followed by a night in Rotorua.

I needed to pop in to town quickly, so rather than going in convoy Jo & I said we would call the others when we hit Taupo. This was going to be my first big car trip as someone with a licence. It was great having Jo with me as she kept reassuring me that I was doing find, as well as trying to find a radio signal when we went through mountainous bits (I have since bought some cheap CDs so that I don't risk life and limb trying to find tunes when I am driving alone).

We got in to Taupo only 25 minutes after the others, so I was quite proud that obviously I don't drive like a granny! Yeah! Andy had found a place for us to stay AND they had booked a para sailing session on the lake (Lake Taupo is huge, you would think it was the sea but you can see the mountains in the distance). It was great fun, even I went up (I was a maybe when we got on the boat, but after I saw how much fun the boys had, I decided to ignore my fear of heights and go for it!). It was great, although I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little scared. You get a great view from up there as you go up so high. It was amazing and definitely cleared the cobwebs. Seemed to be a day of me doing things for the first time that frighten me.

Lake Taupo has thermal streams running in to it, with several near our motel. We headed off to swim in the lake, although Kristina did have to ignore the ducks & the accompanying duck poo that was floating around, although the water is very clean if you can get past the "nature" element! My problem was how rocky it was and I was making a real hash of getting out to deeper water as I was slipping and almost falling all other the place. In the end I gave up and sat in the hot water by where a thermal stream was feeding in to the lake. I did learn to be careful about where I sat after I accidentally scorched my bottom as there was a fissure in a rock that I went to sit on that was seeping very hot water! I did manage to get a swim though as the motel had a pool, so all was not lost.

As it was getting close to sunset we pulled our stuff together (we had stocked up on bbq stuff after the para sailing) and headed to one of the bbq spots on the beach. Unfortunately our bbq wasn't working very well, so it turned in to a late night was we waited to ensure that we had well and truly cremated the chicken. The steak sandwiches were great though! There is something really mellow about eating by the water's edge, drinking wine and looking up at the stars. We could even see the Milky Way!

The next morning we headed to Rotorua in convoy, Steph at the wheel. Oh yeah! We stopped off en route (loads of warning for that right turn, NOT!- well at least I proved I was paying attention) to look at Huka falls which was beautiful, although wouldn't want to fall in the water, would end up mangled.

We could tell when we were getting close to Rotorua as the lovely sulphur smells started. Oh boy, I don't think I'll be eating egg for a while!. We once again found a place to stay (wonderfully kitch motel, felt like we had gone back in time to the 50s), changed in to our swim suits and headed to Hell's Gate to walk round the thermal park (amazing but very smelly) and bathe in mud (or in the case of Andy & Sylvain, fight in mud, they looks hilarious they were absolutely covered in the stuff). Fortunately you do get to rinse off before sitting in nice warm mineral spa waters afterwards. I am assuming that this was all very good for me!

The Hell's Gate sulphur experience was followed by a Maori Village and dinner experience. A coach picked us up outside of the Motel that Sylvain & Kristina were staying. Our driver Mark (sorry still can not even come close to pronouncing the last name) was a character and taught us all what Kia Ore (which is Mauri for hello, how are you, how's it hanging etc..) meant in about 48 different languages (well both his French and Polish were good, can't vouch for the other languages though). On the journey we were told that we needed a chief for our tribe (which was our bus load of people), needed to be a man, strong, tall, wise and who could play rugby... so of course we decided that that had to be Andy (other than the wise bit, pretty accurate description of you Andy, wouldn't you say?)

As a result he had to go forward when we arrived, and wait for the Maouri warriers who would come out to greet him (threaten him with spears, pull faces at him and generally try to intimidate him) and put down a peace offering. Fortunately Andy picked up the peace offering rather than starting a war (I wasn't up for a fight, some of those warriors looked like they could look after themselves, whereas we were a coachload of tourists! Didn't fancy our chances).

Once the peace offering was taken the signal was given and we were all welcome to come in to the village. It was great how they have re-created everything there, and the people running it were really informative about their culture etc.. I really enjoyed it. The sang, danced, fought, wove etc.. it really did make you feel like you had gone back in time (theme for the day following our 50s motel moment). Andy carried on in his chiefly duties (mainly involved pressing his nose against other peoples a lot - he was very good at it!) and we eventually went through for a nice buffet dinner and a look round the shops. It was good fun!

After that we headed back to town on the coach, this time singing as per Mark the drivers request. Andy wasn't allowed to sing 'Swing low' but we did get the wheels of the bus in, the Marseillaise, God save the Queen and Waltzing Matilda, so it was a giggle.

As it was still relatively early we headed off to sample the Rotorua nightlife. It was going to be our last night together as the Meeja traveller gang as Jo, Andy, Kristina and Sylvain were all heading to Auckland the next morning. It turned in to a late one, talking to some mad Tasmanians (well I have somewhere to stay now if I make it to Tassie) and drinking champagne, wine, sambuca and cc & dry.

It will come as no surprise to you that I felt HORRIBLE the next day. My first day alone, needing to drive and I had a storming hangover. After I said goodbye to everyone I spent some quality time with my guide and decided to head back to Taupo. It is a good place to do lots of different things and it doesn't smell of rotten eggs. I made it to Taupo unscathed and here I am. I spend most of yesterday pottering round the town and by the lake. Today I was supposed to be kayaking but it was too windy (1m high waves, apparently are a bad thing for kayaking) so that was cancelled and has given me lots of blog updating time. I may even write some postcards (yes mum, I know, I will send one to Mamy as soon as).

I am getting up tomorrow at 5am as I am going to hike for the day.. so early night for tonight. The day after that (Saturday) I am heading to Waitomo to check out the caves before going further north to Raglan to check out the town and beach there (good horse riding trip to a waterfall I hear, I am to check that out!).

So all is good with me. I have until the 4 March pottering round the North Island before I need to be on a ferry to South Island (sadly I have to change cars I will miss my Peugeot! have one with a cheaper company, so bring on my Nissan!). Ferry trip back North is booked for 20th March. I may well just coach it up from there to save a bit of money, rather than getting a car again. I am going to push back trip to Australia from 22nd March to abouth the 28th March so that I can see some of the country North of Auckland, as that is supposed to be amazing! Sadly even with the time that I have here, still isn't enough to do everything. But I am having a great time, I love the country and the people. I recommend it to everyone!

I had better head as need to buy provisions for my hike tomorrow. Love to all