For this trip I will bring 3 main travel components, the 3 T’s:
- Travel bag: on wheels of course, a bag pack is sooo 1990
- Travel companion: Ward, my loud friend from Amsterdam
- Travel transport: a Nissan rental car, a model categorized as ‘El Cheapo’ by our rental company.
It’s good to see Ward after such a long time, we meet up in Auckland for a uniting beer.
Brugklas mates Ward and me catching up
I’ve got a busy schedule lined up for racing through the amazing nature of New Zealand in the timeframe we have, and I picture myself screaming along the way while jumping from planes, bridges and cliffs.
Ward, however, is yet-lagged, overworked (haha) and very tired. His über-priority is sleep, rest and slumber. We agree to first spend a few days on Waiheke, a small island off Auckland’s coast, to chill out and relax before we jump on the rollercoaster of Nouvau Pays de Marine magnifique.Auckland by boat
Waiheke is a small boring island mainly known for its wine. While I do the necessary nose picking and ball scratching, Ward keeps up his promise and sleeps on every possible occasion.
But then it’s time we hit the road in our lovely Nissan El Cheapo. We pick up our vehicle in Auckland and the trip will take us all across both main islands that make up New Zealand and hopefully we will end up in Queenstown, from where we fly back to Auckland.
Destination numero uno is Rotorua, an area known for its numerous hot springs and geysers, as well as its Maori villages. As a bonus there are various sporty activities along the rivers and forests.
When you go Sledging you swim on a sort of body-board with flippers on your feet and you speed down a powerful streaming river. The highest rapids in this sledge are grade 3 (the highest being grade 5, grade 6 means 'not raftable').
Back in the days Sledging was considered one of the most extreme activities for visitors, because any participant is completely in control and responsible for his own actions. After a few accident, it got more regulated.
We get thorough safety instructions and we hit the cool river along with 3 instructors. Although I understand how this can be very dangerous, it is so well organized it feels comfortably safe all the time.
Sledging action on the lower part of Kaituna river
Then the main dish follows, a white water raft is on the menu. In this raft on the upper part of the Kaituna river we go down the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world, a heart stopping drop of 7 meters… obviously a grade 5 rapid. Chances are 50-50 the raft will flip over at this part of the raft, instructions we get are mainly about what one should do in case we flip over…
Some fools in a rubber raft going down the fall (sound: ‘AAAAAAAA…’ to be continued in the next pic)
Will we make it without flipping over? Enlarge picture by clicking on the photo, the facial expressions are fantastic. (Sound continued: ‘…AAARRRGGGHHH’)
Made it! Again, our ecstatic expressions say it all.
A Cultural visit to Maori village Whakarewarewa (que?) is easily digested. All modern Maori are as Western as any of you reading this blog. Still to keep in touch with their history and for tourism purposes I reckon villages like these are kept alive.
Masters lodge
Maori performance
We see the necessary exploding Geysers around the area.
Mysterious boiling mud, that stinks of rotten eggs. The whole area has this smell btw hmmm
The day ends in action when we hire mountain bikes and speed through tracks in the Whakarewarewa forest. This is sometimes more challenging than we thought, but perhaps our daily 10km bike ride to school from back in the days gave us enough experience to return the bicycles without any damage done.
Ward awake (!) and in action.
Ward will update you in the next post, if all his bones are still in tact, that is :-)
