On our way out of Rotorua the bus stops at a beautiful redwood forest were we have a little walk, then it's straight to Taupo. The famous thing here is the Alpine crossing, but our driver warns that this may be not be happening, as it's pretty cold and pretty windy. Once checked in to our hostel, I make some dinner and chat with some of the other travellers, including a Canadian girl who'd been travelling 3 years! Wish I has thought of that a few years ago.
The next day Heidi and I have some kayaking booked. During breakfast we learn that the Alpine crossing was in fact cancelled, meaning that many travellers would have to stay an extra night in Taupo. Wellington, where we will be spending a long time, is not that far from Taupo, so we can always come back for this and a few other activities. This morning, however, we're going kayaking down the river. We shoot off to the kayaking place and meet our guided, a young American guy whose been in the country for a few months. Once down by the river, he takes us and another couple through a few basic pointers, and we're on the river. At Heidi's request, we're in a two seater kayak which to my mind is a perfect recipe for arguments. With guidance we get to grips with steering and that, and even develop a system of communication that seems to work (Left! No, go left, paddle right! Etc.). The river is rather beautiful, and near the end of the stretch we stop by a hot spring. I have a little dip just to experience it, but no one else is keen so I don't get too involved. Whilst the kayaking was good, I could have happily done it for a bit longer. Still, it was a nice taster and maybe next time we can go solo!
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| The random tandem |
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| Billy no mates in the hot pool |
We wonder round Taupo for a short while, visiting amongst other place the All Blacks shop where Heidi gets very tempted by baby clothes for her nephew born earlier this year. After reminding her that he has doubled in size since we last saw him and that he would hulk out of most of the clothes on offer, we wonder round some more. We walk down the waterfront but it's so windy, even the birds are struggling (much to my amusement). We have a boat trip planned for the evening but when we arrive we find that it's been cancelled because it's too windy. Gutted.
The bus makes a handy spot to Tongariro national park. We stop for some snaps of Mount Doom (not it's real name, but whatever) then do an awesome 2 hour walk to a waterfall which is pretty stunning.
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| He was right, you can't walk it |
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| Quite high |
The next stop is in a place called River Valley. This is essentially a lodge in the middle of nowhere offering two activities: white water rafting and horse riding. We do want to do white water rafting, but we are quickly running out of money and it's a bit pricey. fortunately the activities are early in the morning the next day, so we only have to hang about for a short while before we're back on the bus and heading to Welly.
Earlier on in our NZ trip we quickly realised that if you are planning to work, most places will expect a commitment of at least 8 weeks. So we decided to enjoy our tour of the North Island, but then look for work when we get to Wellington, where we will spend approximately 3 months. This excites me. I have never lived in the middle of a big city and by all accounts Wellington sounds like a sweet place to be. We arrive at Base hostel, have a bit of macaroni and cheese and hit the hay.
We decided that for our first day in the big city, we should go our separate ways and do a bit of exploring. I can't even remember where I went other than the waterfront, but it was a good thing to get our bearings and know roughly where certain places are. I find Cuba Street, a high street populated with coffee shops, record shops, bookshops and all things hipster. I know I'm going to like it here. When I go back to the Hostel for lunch I bump into Heidi who had the same idea.
After this we start a mission that consume the next few days - getting some clothes together for an interview. The next day we head to an outlet store a bit out of town but it is pissing it down with rain all day. Luckily I do manage to get 2 fairly decent fitting shirts, but that's all. We discovered a Welsh pub in the city centre that, amazingly, shows all the Welsh rugby games at ridiculous o'clock. To get round the 24 hour drinking laws, they have to sell tickets to this. We want to see Wales play Argentina at 6 in the morning, so we plan an early night Saturday. However, we didn't get much sleep because of a large group of seriously anti-social LADS who only seemed to go out for 2 hours. It was by far the worst hostel experience yet, and I can't imagine it being topped (touch wood).
Anyway, we watched the rugby and after a day staying awake, we finally turned in for a good night's rest. Then, at around midnight, Wellington's 3rd biggest recorded earthquake began shaking our seemingly fragile hostel. It's a hard experience to describe, not least because I was understandably dazed having just woken up. It shook the hostel for about a minute, after which people began to populate the hallway. The general idea seemed to be to get out. And so a hundred or so travellers filled the streets, where we waited for a few hours for the all-clear to go back inside. We tried stealing some wi-fi from Burger King for updates, where we learnt there was a "Tsunami threat" (this is different to a warning). After we eventually were allowed back in Heidi and I packed some things just in case we would have to make a sudden departure. We stayed awake for a few more hours, keeping tabs on the tsunami threat, but around 5 went back to sleep. We later found out the earthquake had hit 7.8 on the Richter scale.
The next day the council put out a warning not to walk around the city, as loose glass could be falling. So we stayed in housebound, only to venture to Burger King for some dinner. There were aftershocks all week. As I write this, some three weeks later, we just had a large aftershock shaking our hotel.
As the city eventually opened up, I completed my interview ensemble, and pushed on getting my CV to recruitment agencies and employers. I had two interviews the following week, the second one of which opened up an interview on the Friday...for which I was awarded the job. I won't say who it's with, but it's admin support for a large charity.
This blog will undoubtedly take a different direction for the next 3-4 months as I talk about life in Wellington. As we are essentially living here, I might vary it rather than just relaying my experiences as that might get a bit boring. I'll do my best, folks, and Ill try to update once a week!
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| The beehive a.k.a Parliament |
Next time: I don't know I'll come up with something.
