Friday 25th April 2008 I woke up early again and had packed up, checked out and was on the road just after nine. I kept going for two hours and stopped for a break just south of Auckland. I then ploughed on straight through the city stopping near Waipu to eat my lunch. I arrived…
Thursday 24th April 2008 I was up early again to get breakfast. Once the car was packed I headed off towards Taupo. Of course today it is completely clear and the views of Mount Tongariro were amazing. I stopped at a few viewpoints along the way, including a lookout down to Lake Taupo. I stopped…
Wednesday 23rd April 2008 We were up at half six for breakfast, which wasn’t really worth the money, but filled us up. Despite the weather looking mediochre we decided to go ahead with the walk and the guy from the hostel gave us a lift to the starting point at Mangetepopo. We headed off in…
Tuesday 22nd April 2008 I ended up in a single room last night, which made a welcome change. In the morning I spent a while chatting to Ady and Kate online before having breakfast. I walked down to the sea front just by the hostel before hitting the road. My first stop was in Wanganui…
I woke up to a hard frost this morning, but then that’s not surprising given that St Arnaud is in a skiing area. Once I’d packed up I drove up to the DOC visitor centre and did the peninsula walk around part of lake Rotoiti. The majority of the walk was through silver beech forests.…
I checked out of the hostel and went for a walk along the beach before heading over to the whale watch office. I got my ticket and went back out to sit on the beach until we got confirmation the tour was going ahead and to wait for the briefing at eleven. After a short…
I woke up to rain and strong winds, but decided I’d better get ready for the whale watching trip in case it was on. I phoned them at half eight and the 7:15 tour had been cancelled; however the skipper wasn’t going out until just before nine to check conditions for the next tour. I…
It was tipping down with rain when I got up this morning. I had a shower in what felt like a very makeshift arrangement outside the main hostel building, but was probably the best shower I’ve had yet on my travels! By the time I’d checked out and got back down to the town the…
Thursday 17th April 2008 It was cloudy again this morning and a call to Air Safaris confirmed that they weren’t flying. They did say again they were expecting it to clear, but I decided to get on my way towards Kaikoura. I’m breaking the journey with an overnight stop near Akaroa. Geraldine falls about half…
Wednesday 16th April 2008 There’s not a lot to write about today as I’ve decided I need to take it easy for a while! I have been gradually uploading photos, but the connection in the hostel is pretty slow. I also got some washing done today. It’s been overcast all day, but thankfully I’ve escaped…