Here’s a map of our NZ travels, tagged with activities, places we’ve stayed and so on, in case anybody wants to follow in our footsteps.

I’ll start writing about our time in Iceland as soon as I can, promise!

This morning we wake up to what will be our last full day of the trip (flight time excluded). Since A still isn’t a 100% well, me, Karin and Göran start the day with going to a food hall nearby to get stuff for tonights barbecue dinner. We get lots of beautiful veg, some seafood, lamb and steak. My camera catches a lot of the rest:

Once back home, we unpack our foodstuffs, have lunch and then bring Andreas along for our next little trip. We head for downtown Melbourne, and aim for the 89th floor of the Eureka Tower to see the city from above.

Arriving at the tower:

We then proceed to go up, up and away, finally looking at the birds eye view of the city:

For some reason one side of the tower was clad in a thin layer of gold at this level, making some of the view shots appear yellowish; I don’t know why it’s there, maybe it’s just to make it look cool?!

Taking pictures of ourselves taking pictures..:

This is a part of the tower where the floor was actually sloping downwards some… it was really scary walking out there!

Our lovely hosts:
…yes, me and A are in the pic too – it was hard not catching yourself shooting in this place full of mirrors…

After leaving Eureka Tower, we walked for a bit around town:

Once we felt we’d had enough of the walking (and shopping) we got back in the car and headed for Port Melbourne again for our barbie. On the way there Melbourne introduced us to something new to us in traffic: the hook turn..:
What you do is you go left instead of right lanewise, and then wait through the green light for people going straight ahead until they get a red light again and the hook turn says go instead, which is when you actually make the turn passing all the lanes you could’ve been in instead to take the turn from the start… Weird!

Food and wine awaits! We have a superb barbecue on the balcony sipping drinks and wine and just enjoying being there. This is the last night spent on the ground on the other side of the world…

Day 22 of our trip dawns sunny and warm. While Göran goes to work and A stays in bed, still not recovered, me and Karin head for Melbourne Zoo! Karin and I instantly fall in love with the meerkats, and hang out there for quite a while before gracing the other animals with our presence. Here are some pics:

…starting to wonder about the lack of kangas yet? Well, I’ve got some pics, but they need music to be viewed! Why don’t you start the YouTube vid below first and then take a look at the kangaroo boys underneath while Barry White gets through his intro. At least it makes ME laugh; hopefully someone else will see what I see too!

That’s that with the macho men, you may stop listening to mr White now!

After spending quite a few hours in the sweltering heat, we decide it’s time for ice cream and cool drinks at a zoo café. Incidentally there’s a zoo shop right next to that, so we have some fun there too:

We get home at about the same time as Göran and have a great linguine carbonara for dinner. A is satisfied with some yoghurt, a banana and some bread, but at least he’s eating! After dinner me and Göran drive east along the coastline to see some of the sights. First we stop at St Kilda marina:

Then we drive a bit further to see Brighton’s multitude of colourful beach huts. First from afar:

Then up close:

We watch a beautiful sunset:

The black swans are watching too:

Before going home we made a short stop at Luna Park, the local tivoli:

After just walking around for a bit, looking at the (really) old rollercoaster that needed manual breaking during the ride (by a guy who had to stand up between the two carts to do just that for every ride) we head home to sleep. Tomorrow’s a new day!

Surveying the damages from Bridal Veil Falls three days later (look at those beautiful hues!):

Goodnight!

Time to leave NZ and Auckland. At first it seems A’s gonna be as bad off this morning as he was the night before, but after having me pack everything, get A and the bags downstairs, get the car, and manage to load everything in (including A) , I actually find that we are on the way to the airport pretty much on time and with A feeling if not well, then at least well enough to think he’ll be able to fly. To make a long story short, after utilizing a parking spot for disabled, having me unpack the car, leaving A with the luggage while I’m returning the car to Hertz, standing in the disabled persons queue at the check in, wrapping the copper stingray in extra layers of pricey bubblewrap, checking me and A in at the last minute with a brief conversation about airport doctors with the Qantas personnel, hastily checking the stingray in at the other end of the airport (at least that what it felt like), writing our little “leaving the country”-sheets of paper, passing the security check, waiting for a late passenger and leaving Auckland about 40 mins late, we arrive in Melbourne where Karin has to wait for us for an additional hour while we get through the horrendous queue at the passport control and get our luggage. While we wait for Karin to get the car from where she parked it (she realizes A won’t be able to get there on foot), A makes good use of an outdoor bench:

We ride to Port Melbourne in style in Karin & Göran’s dark, dark blue Ford Falcon (not the XR6 though – this is the adult version) and once in the apartment A goes to bed while me and Karin catches up on things and have lunch (a yummy pasta with avocado and tomato). When Göran gets home from work, me and G&K have ginger marinated chicken drumsticks with rice (yum!) while A downs a yoghurt. Progress!

We decide to start our Auckland visit with viewing the city from above (yes, despite my sprained ankle… I lace my boots on as tight as I can) and so head for Mt Eden, a volcano situated five kilometres south of the city centre. The mountain is the highest natural point in the whole of Auckland and offers a beautiful view of the city and its surroundings:

The Auckland Harbour Bridge:

I can’t say that my foot appreciates the walk, but I’m determined not to let it hamper me too much. Still, we end up with A getting the car from the top parking lot, and me stopping half way around the crater further down, waiting for him to pick me up. Once back in the car we head for a bunch of outlet stores in a suburb north of Auckland where we actually find some stuff we’ve been looking for (Icebreaker mostly) before A starts feeling ill and we make haste back to the hostel, where he heads for bed while I decide to go for a limp around town. Boot or no boot, it still hurts a lot and it’s about 30° out, so I can’t say it’s a nice walk, but at least I manage to go get myself some proper bandages and some provisions for A. Well, this is about it when it comes to our day in Auckland. A gets worse as the day progresses, and I end up spending the evening worrying about whether he’s gonna be able to make it to the airport the next morning (we need to leave the hostel at about 5:30 am). What sucks most is that we have to cancel the table we had booked at the Orbit restaurant (at the top of the Sky Tower) and that we had looked forward to since back in Sweden… oh well, I guess that just means we have to go back to NZ at some point!

To sum up our Tuesday, here’s a pic of my buddy Meindl and my aching foot:

We wake up in Raglan, the surf town on the west coast, and head for the same diner where we had dinner the night before. Gotta love the furnishing and decorations:

After checking out of the “hotel” (yes, it kinda was that bad) we decide it’s time to go see those famous surf beaches. Our trusty Falcon takes us south of Raglan towards Manu Bay where we stop for our first black beach swim:

We dry off, re-apply the sun lotion and head back for the car. The last we see of Manu Bay is this surfer:

Next we stop at a viewpoint that sure enough offers some stunning views:

And then we head for another bay (can’t remember the name) that allegedly is a little hard to get to. We park the car on a street amongst a bunch of houses and head for the water to search for the elusive bay.

We read up on the bay in question in Lonely Planet and find we have to climb a rocky part before reaching the bay. We realize we’re on track, but when we spot this sign we hesitate:

We realize that since the tide is not in we could probably reach the bay by walking over the rocks without actually trespassing just as LP said, but since the wind and waves are non-existent at this point we decide it’s just not worth the effort. Instead we get back in the car and drive a bit further south. We soon realize we’re not gonna get anywhere fast that way:

Instead we decide it’s time to head for Auckland. Since we’re in no hurry we decide to locate the Bridal Veil Falls that we saw signs pointing to on our way to Raglan the night before. Considering how bad NZ is when it comes to signs for roads and towns, it’s amazing how well they do signs for the sights! We have no trouble at all getting to the falls. We park the car and start the 10 minute hike towards the fall and pool.

Soon we can hear the sound of the fall, and suddenly we step out of the forest and out onto a platform next to where the water starts its journey downward:

The fall is 55 meters high – that’s slightly more than half the length of our abseil the day before!

Except for the platform we’ve arrived at there’s one half way down to the pool and one at the bottom. Unfortunately the bottom one is being enlarged while we are there and we can’t go there. Instead we get to see construction material being brought in with a helicopter about once every 10 minutes or so. That sure makes for some interesting photo oportunities! Pics from the falls:

After exhausting the possibilites of fun at the falls, we decide it’s time to head back to the car. Myself I decide it’s also time to check back to see what pics I got, something I often do, and so, eyes on my camera instead of on where I’m walking, manage to step outside of the (very flat) pathway and sprain my ankle… Wheeee! A turns around to see me crash to the ground, camera safety at the forefront of my mind, thus folding myself up in a weird way that has him laughing all over the place while I curse the world (mostly by going “Ouch ouch ouch!”). Had I worn my hiking boots this never would’ve happened, but since I’d decided on sandals today, I pay the price. Throwing an arm around A’s shoulders I manage to first get up and brush myself off somewhat, and then limp back to the car where we survey the damages:

As you can see my right ankle (yes, that’s the one to the left in the picture) is already quite swollen. I opt for another ouch-session, and get a pair of socks on and then my hiking boots, tightly laced. That’s the best we can do for my foot at the moment, so with that we continue towards Auckland – A at the wheel for obvious reasons.

We arrive in Auckland late afternoon and check in to YHA City near Queen St, then proceed to try and get me, limping, to a place where we can have dinner. Being impaired on the moving around front, we end up at a McD, then go back to the hostel to read ourselves to sleep. An ouchy day!

We get up to a beautiful day and start our drive to Waitomo:

Once we get there we have lunch. We both have the smoked salmon, but since my piece is about half the size of A’s I complain to the waiter and he promises me some more. After scraping the plate clean and having some of A’s fried capers as well (yum!!), we have to wait an additional 10 minutes for me to get some more salmon, and when it comes in that’s all there’s to it – just a small piece of smoked salmon all alone on a big plate. Service, yay. (Irony, yay!)

Time to head for Waitomo Adventures and the 4h Lost World Tour! Soon we find ourselves in a minivan with two local guides, three Canadians and an American, heading for the place where we are to abseil 100 m down into a cave, and then walk back out. No cameras allowed. Again! Grrrr… Here are some of the shots snapped by our guides (it irks me no end that my camera had to stay up top!!):

We walk upstream (there’s an underground river down here) and our guides take us into a smaller space where we turn off our lights and sit back to enjoy the glow worms that fill the ceiling. It’s amazing!

To get all the way back up top, we need to climb a ladder at one point. A 30m long steel ladder… I must confess that that ladder exhausts me completely, and when I get to the top my arms are just shaking. I’m not the last one to go up though, so I get some rest while i wait for the rest of the group to join us. The ladder from hell:

Once we emerge back on the surface after some more walking and easy climbing this is what greets us:

It’s beautiful! We’re both really happy we decided to go to Waitomo.

After asking our guides for tips as to where to go next, we soon find ourselves driving towards the surfer town of Raglan on the west coast. A heavenly display of clouds and lanscape joins us:

Arriving in Raglan, we check in to our room the Harbour View Hotel that staff at Waitomo Adventures helped us book, and find there’s no harbour view and that it’s old and not that well looked after. Oh well, we’ll manage for one night!

We cross the street to have dinner at a cosy diner, then get in the car to see if we can find our way to any of the famous beaches. After failing that (and since it’s dark out), we call it a night.

Thermal activity, here we come! After thinking we could do it the other way around, we end up first going to Wai-O-Tapu and then booking tickets for the Kiwi Encounter at two o’clock. I’m going to let the images from Wai-O-Tapu speak for themselves, let’s just say it was a colourful and smelly experience..:

Mudpool time!

Once we felt we’ve had enough of the bubbling mud, we get back in the car and head for Kiwi Encounter. To my disappointment I realize I’m not allowed to use my camera amongst the kiwis… Inside we see both a day old chick, exhausted and drying out in the hatching machine, and an egg that the little one inside just had managed to pip externally, before going on to the night room where three kiwis fight for our attention. Or, well… they don’t much care for us actually, and we tiptoe around in there to try and catch a glimpse of the elusive creatures without disturbing them. Once back on the outside I get my camera back out and snap some shots of stuffed kiwis and of the pics on the wall – you do what you gotta do to get that shot!

Taking care:

We also notice that Rainbow Springs (where the Kiwi Encounter is located) has some weird toilet signs. Are they sitting down already?

We now have to say goodbye to Triple K, since they are leaving for Napier and then Wellington, while we plan to spend our last few days in NZ not travelling too much by car. (K&K are leaving a few days later than us, so they’ve got time for more driving.) Once they’re on their way, we head back to Treks to see if we can book ourselves a cave adventure at Waitomo for the next morning. Unfortunately the morning trip is already full, and we book the afternoon one instead. This means we don’t need to leave for Waitomo until the next morning, and so we check into Treks again for another night, and then head out for Valentine’s day dinner in Roturoa. We end up at Lewisham’s and have a real nice dinner with scallops and venison and some good wine. A finishes off with a creme brulee, and I steal some of his strawberries and cream:

A very nice evening that we finish off by going down to the lake and then finding an amusing street name:

Tomorrow it’s cave time!

Time to move on! After spending almost a full week in the Northland, this was the day to start going south. After finishing what was left of our breakfast, we get in our trusty car and head for Whangarei and a coffee with the newlyweds and their brothers at the town basin.

During our “fika” it’s decided that Kim is going to leave with us for Roturoa. After a luggage discussion we realize we’re going to need two cars to get there the five of us! We start with going to the Craig’s to get Kim’s bags. What a house! It’s gorgeous, both on the inside and out, and what a backyard! Check it out:

There’s also a little stream passing the length of their property (to the left in the pic above) that holds a school (?) of eels. When Daniel sits down to say hi, one of them fondly tries to eat his finger (notice also the never changing sound of the cikadas):

It seems we’re visiting NZ smack dab in the middle of the cikada mating season. The sound is everywhere and quite loud. At the Craig’s we actually get to see them up close:

Daniel also finds us one of the shells from which the cikadas hatch:

Ewww, too insecty for me!

After K&K has booked a car online for them to pick up in town, we all go back to the Town Basin to have lunch together before it’s time for me, A, K&K and Kim to head for Roturoa.

While the others are still sitting back and relaxing after finishing the food, I head for a little art gallery next to the restaurant. I pop my head back out just a minute or so later to get A to join me in there since I’ve just found a beautiful decoration for our wall. A kindly joins me and believe it or not, we AGREE on that we need to buy it and bring it home! This is a smaller version of the stingray we end up buying:

After seriously abusing the bubblewrap roll in the store to make our stingray ready for transport, we say our goodbyes to M&D and Ollie and get in our cars and start out for Roturoa. Soon we’re passing Auckland:

…and find ourselves in completely new surroundings. We pass a town with some weird buildings (this is somewhere near Cambridge, between Hamilton and Roturoa):

Since we started out a bit later than we had planned, we watch the sun set from the car, and it’s really beautiful:

Driving on the wrong side:

At about nine o’clock we arrive in Roturoa in the dark. We find our way to Roturoa Treks – the hostel where we’ve got rooms for the night – and check in. It’s a really nice and quite new hostel that we instantly like. Nothing more is accomplished that night, but deciding when to meet up with Triple K next morning for our visit to the Kiwi House and Wai-O-Tapu. We fall asleep quite early with the lingering smell of fart up our noses. Someone had eggs!