I saw very little of Auckland, except for the inside of my dorm room and a couple of outdoor clothes shops. I knew it was going to be cold here in New Zealand, but, arriving directly from Darwin, where the average temperature I had was about 35, it was a huge shock! This was the first time I had encountered any cold weather since leaving London in September (just wanted to rub it in!) and I was extremely under prepared! So I bought a few essential items to keep me going here and in South America, where I think it will be colder still!
I met up with Liz for lunch and we chatted away about everything we have done since Melbourne. It was great to see her again and we decided to hire a car and head up to the very top of North Island for a few days.
We left fairly early in the morning and soon realised that the Kiwis are crazy drivers! None of the stick to the speed limit and we felt like complete grandmas not wanting to risk a fine! The other thing we quickly realised was that, despite the short distances in this country, the roads are extremely windy and maintaining a quick speed is pretty much impossible (unless you are a kiwi!) so our trip was going to involve much more driving than we had anticipated.
The traffic was quite heavy in and around Auckland, but as soon as we got about 20km away it died down to pretty much nothing. It stayed this way for the entire trip, which made the driving pretty stress free. We spent the first day driving up towards the Bay of Islands, stopping off en route to stroll along the beautiful beaches and admire the countryside. The beaches here remind me of Scotland - totally untamed and empty, with the waves crashing down onto the white sandy beaches. The first word I would use to describe this part of the country is stunning - very few people or human development, dramatic coastlines and fields with lots of sheep! It reminded both of us of 'Postman Pat country' - although I'm not sure I know exactly why!
We spent the first night in the Bay of Islands and booked ourselves onto a dolphin spotting and swimming tour for the morning. This turned out to be one of the most amazing experiences of my life. There were about 20 of us on the boat and we headed off first thing, very excited about the prospect of seeing bottle-nosed and maybe other types of dolphins. They live in the Bay of Islands all year long and are apparently seen by 96% of groups. They didn't disappoint us - after about 15 minutes we saw a group of about 10 of them and a few came round the boat, playfully circling us and jumping about. The guides deemed that they were in the right mood for us to swim with them so we jumped in with our mask and snorkles and swam as quickly as we could. We were told to make noises (like singing) so that the dolphins would approach us and this I did! I was singing away under water whilst swimming my little heart out and was rewarded by their undivided attention for what seemed like hours! They are naturally playful creatures and copy what you did - I therefore dived down under the water and swam round and round in circles! To my amazement they really did copy me - it was so incredible!
After such an amazing experience we were on a huge high - neither of us stopped smiling all day! The Bay of Islands themselves were also pretty spectacular and they reminded me a little of Halong Bay in Vietnam. Once we got off the boat we went for a walk along the beach, chatting away the whole time.
The afternoon was spent driving up towards the North Cape - Cape Reinga, the Northern most point of New Zealand. Again we stopped on way to look round different areas and were extremely impressed. The thing that hits you the most here is the space and the lack of people. I think New Zealand has a population of around 4 million people, and the vast majority of them live in the major cities - Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington and Queenstown. This means that everywhere else is sparsely populated and the North is definitely so. We ended up sleeping in a pretty hideous hostel not far from Cape Reinga. It looked as if it was stuck in the 1950s - everything was old and we didn't dare cook any food in the kitchen! We therefore ate some food in the restaurant and watched the television until it was time for bed.
The next morning we got up at around 6am and drove to Cape Reinga for sunrise. We were both very tired but extremely glad that we bothered to get up. The sunrise istelf was virtually inexistant, but the place is amazing. It is the point where the Tasman sea and the Ocean meet and you can actually see the line where this occurs. It is incredible - they are both going in opposite directions so the line at which they meet is very pronounced. Cape Reinga itself was deserted except for us and it has a real 'end of the earth' feel to it.
We spent the rest of the day driving down the West Coast. It is just as spectacular as the East and even less populated. We then hurried for the last couple of hours as I had to catch a plane to Christchurch in the evening. I would have liked to have more time to spend here but am very glad I had to chance to visit this part of the country. Many people don't go there as it isn't on any of the bus routes but I think they would definitely be missing out.
I arrived at the airport just before the check-in closed and caught my plane to Christchurch where I was meeting up with Becky (who I met in Brisbane) to explore the South Island.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
J'ai eu que tres peu de temps pour decouvrir le nord de l'ile du nord, mais ce que j'ai vu m'a donne envie de revenir. J'ai retrouve Liz, une fille que j'ai rencontre a Melbourne, et on a decide de louer une voiture et partir a la decouverte des Northlands. On n'avait que 3 jours, et ils etaient bien remplis!
Des qu'on a quitte Auckland on s'est rendu compte que les routes ici ne sont pas faciles - ca tourne dans tous les sens, mais vu le nombre faible de voitures sur les routes, la conduite etait tres facile et tres agreable. En plus les paysages sont magnifiques et il y a enormement d'espace ici. La nouvelle zelande n'a que environ 4 million d'habitants et le pays est a peu pres la meme taille que l'angleterre, ou la population est environ 60 million - et j'ai senti la difference immediatement.
On a pris la route touristique afin de conduire sur la cote, et les plages ici sont magnifiques - du sable blanc, de l'eau turquoise, mais completement sauvage et, a cette periode, vide. On s'est ballade sur les plages et on a picniquer a bord de l'eau - trop beau.
La premiere nuit on est arrive au Bay of Islands, ou on a reserver un voyage en bateau pour le lendemain. Ce bateau part tous les jours a la decouverte des dauphins et, s'ils en voient, et les dauphins sont de bonne humeur, on a le droit de nager avec eux. Nous avons eu de la chance et j'ai pu nager avec deux dauphins - une experience vraiment inoubliable. Ils sont tres joueurs de nature et ils aiment bien les chants - donc des que je me suis mis dans l'eau j'ai commence a chanter (en ageant en meme temps!) et ils se sont approche! Ensuite ils aiment bien jouer, et ils copient ce que l'on fait, donc j'ai plonge et nage comme une folle et ils ont copie tout ce que j'ai fait! C'etait incroyable, surtout que j'etais dans la mer, pas dans un centre touristique et ces animaux sont sauvages.
On a passe toute la journee a sourire et on a conduit jusqu'au Cape Reinga, le point le plus nord en Nouvelle Zelande. On a passe la nuit dans une auberge bien degoutant, et on s'est levee tres tot le lendemain pour partir voir la levee de soleil au Cape. Le soleil s'est cache et ne s'est jamais levee, mais l'endroit est assez magique. Et fait ici c'est le point ou deux mers different se rencontrent et on peut voir la ligne (vraiment!) ou les deux se rejoignent - c'est vraiment impressionant.
On a passe la reste de la journee a descendre sur le cote ouest, ou il y a encore de plages magnifiques et encore moins de monde que dans l'est - c'est vraiment cool! On est arrive toute juste a temps pour prendre mon avion pour Christchurch - et les quelques jours dans le nord se sont passe trop vite.
J'ai pris l'avion et Liz est retourne a Auckland. Moi, je suis partie retrouve Becky (anglaise que j'ai rencontre a Brisbane) avec qui j'ai loue un campingcar pour decouvrir l'ile du sud. |
Photos Nouvelle-Zélande
Carnets de voyage Nouvelle-Zélande
Vidéos Nouvelle-Zélande
Carte Nouvelle-Zélande
Guide de voyage Nouvelle-Zélande
Santé Nouvelle-Zélande
Billets d'avion Nouvelle-Zélande
