Well my first couple of weeks in the Land of the Long White Cloud have again been action-packed. There's a reason New Zealand is known as the adventure capital of the world, who would have thought I would throw myself out of a plane at 15,000 ft with a complete stranger strapped to my back and a smile on my face.... there must be something in the water. Just to keep the adrenaline pumping I spent five hours black water rafting in the Waitomo Caves, one of NZ's famously invented action sports. The adventure starts with a 35m abseil through a very small hole in the pitch black, a terrifying fly down a zip wire and ends with a jump from a great height into the subterranean river of the aptly-named 'Abyss'. I think this was possibly one of the highlights of my travels so far as I let the water carry me through the caves in total darkness while all around was the amazing twinkling of thousands of glow-worms, a memory that will stay for a long time.
The Tongariro Crossing is supposedly one of the best one day hikes in the world and after 6 hours of pretty tough walking the sense of achievement was huge. I'm not a huge fan of The Lord of the Rings films but it's hard to escape the film locations as you travel around and Ngauruhoe or 'Mount Doom' was quite spectacular. The Emerald Lakes really were emerald and although the weather came in very fast, we had some fabulous views. I've heard the saying of 'four seasons in one day' on many occasions and it is so true. Unfortunately I experienced this on my way to Muriwai Beach on the north west coast, famous for its gannet colony - after driving through torrential rain, a 2 minute walk outside the car proved rather silly and resulted in the drive back to Auckland in underwear! Minutes earlier and I'm sure we would have been a hit by a number of trees that littered the road on our way back. The news that evening reported a number of deaths in the area so I think we were very lucky.
So I have covered most of the North Island now from Auckland up to the beautiful Bay of Islands and then down to Wellington (with its beehive parliamentary building) and seen some spectacular (and very diverse) scenery along the way. From the geo-thermal pools in Rotorua to the world's largest volcanic lake in Taupo. Much of the countryside reminds me of England and in particular Devon but what strikes me about the cities in this country is the lack of people, the population of 4 million seems lost on this amount of land.
I've been lucky enough to be welcomed into a local Marae - a sacred Maori meeting house treated with a huge amount of respect, and I have learned so much about the Maori culture. The welcome ritual (te powhiri) I found extremely intimidating and wondered how Captain Cook must have felt when he took his first steps on the land and experienced the strange looking inhabitants all those years ago. It all ends on a friendly note once the locals have accepted that the visitors pose no threat and the hongi (pressing of noses) is performed. Their traditional method of cooking food in the ground over hot river stones (hangi) results in an absolute feast and it's difficult not to get caught up in the Maori passion for life. I was also fortunate to be taught the poi dance by a local Maori woman which involves swinging balls tied on the end of a cord to the rhythm of music. I didn't master the haka but was surprised at how powerful the dance was when it is right in front of you and I now understand how most rugby teams feel when they play the All Blacks. I haven't caught a rugby match yet but have certainly been involved in lengthy discussions on their national team who have an almost mythical status - it's one of the favourite topics here.
Tomorrow I catch the ferry across to the South Island which I'm informed is even more spectacular than the North so I look forward to more adventures and especially visiting the Marlborough region to sample some of my favourite Sauvignon Blanc..........
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