It is REALLY difficault keeping track of which day of the week it is, and what date or month it is when youre just going from place to place. It doesnt make it better that all stores here are open every day! Even Sundays. At least that gives you an idea of where you are in the week in Norway. Cant buy beer cause its 6 o'clock? That means its Saturday. Nothing open, and no people in the street, and all you want is a hamburger after your big nite out? That means its Sunday. More about the reason for my whining later, first Ill tell you what I did yesterday.
I think it was a Tuesday, but cant be too sure about that one. Anyways, after a good breakfast and a walk in town to spend some money, I booked a ferry from Picton to Wellington, and a hostel near Picton for the next night. Didnt want to make the long drive on the morning before catching the ferry. I drove north until I got to a carpark, and I started walking. (see picture above;)
After some more walking, I got to a beach! :) Wharariki Beach actually! A very sandy beach, AND extremely windy yesterday. I got sand everywhere, and had some problems standing still.
I got a nice couple to take a photo of me, and we all almost fell off our feet in a strong punch from the wind! :)
After that, I drove up to see Farewell Spit. Sorry, forgot to take a photo. Can I get one of yours clarky? hehe :P
Since I was pretty tired of wind now, I started driving back, but stopped at a nice quiet beach to relax! Looks tempting?
It was when I got back to the hostel that my problems started. I was just doing some laundry, buying some food, writing in my diary, when I realised it was Tuesday, and tomorrow would be Wednesday, the 17th. I had managed to book my ferry for the wrong day! And trying to save money - I had booked the cheapest ticket - with no option to change date or time. If I wanted to avoid paying the 220$ again, I had to be at Picton Ferryterminal at 9o'clock the next morning. WELL DONE NINA!
Everything got a little hectic from that. I had to pack in a rush, find out how long it would take me to drive there, and prepare some lunch for the next day. And go to sleep - wakeuptime next morning: 4:30am! I was in the car by 5 - it was jetblack outside!
After some hours driving I started to smell something burnt. I got kind of worried. Could my car be tired of all the uphill? After a while it got really foggy, and then I got to a hill - completely lit up in flames! There was firefighters and helicopters there, and I think they were starting to get it under control, because it had started to piss down with rain as well. Heard later that day that the fire had started last night, and a whole town had been evacuated because they were worried it might spread really quickly.
But everything ended well, and soon I was on the ferry! :) Really nice weather, calm sea. Took some photos and then I went inside. Plugged my phone in to charge it up, and fell asleep in a chair. When I woke up, the sea wasnt calm anymore. Cool, Nina thought. I went outside and had a look. The waves were so big that when I walked up the stairs, I didnt have to push myself up - the boat went down, so I just had to hold on to the handrail! Very strange feeling!
I ran around for a while, loving the cool rollercoaster ride. I had a look from inside, and stood at the front of the boat and looked at the waves crushing into the boat and splashing the windows with so much water it was impossible to see for a while.
Around me, people were getting seasick. Very many were getting seasick. But I wanted to look at the cool waves some more. Holding on to the wall all the time though, the boat were going everywhere! And as I started to go to another end of the boat, I felt like sitting down. So I sat down. And I sat there for the rest of the trip. I didnt get sick, but Im pretty sure that if I had stood up for two more minutes I would have. So I just sat in my seat and watched the waves as the boat went uuuuuup and doooooooown and uuuuuup and dooooown. I was pretty close to throwing up when a lady came walking in zigzag past me, sat down, and filled her seasickbag just two meters behind me.. Nice to be out on the ocean, huh?
Yay, got up to North Island - Paraparaumu was my first stop. Felt colder than Norway, but it was a really beautiful beach right next to my hostel. Had a walk on the beach and got to see the sunset! Always smart to camp on the Westcoast if youre not one to get early out of bed!
After two days in Paraparaumu and one night in Wanganui I sat off too TAUPO! As soon as I got there I understood that this was more my kind of town. Just like Queenstown and Voss. I had heard that they had a really exciting high ropes course, so I thought I'd drive up there and check it out. Only to arrive at the spot and be extremeyl dissappointet at what I saw. Looked like a kiddy one. Would take half an hour to do all the challenges, and that was when you went back to the ground between each of them! BUMMER.. But drove ten minutes up the road and found this sign!
Craters of the Moon - it has nothing to do with stuff falling from the sky, they just call it that because it kind of look like it could belong on the moon. Smoke coming up from the ground - a horrible smell all over the place, and mud boiling down in the craters!
Next day was a day I had been looking forward too.! It started by this car coming to my hostel and picking me up!
After getting the limoride, I signed some papers agreeing my friends wouldnt sue the company if I died, and put on these sexy clothes!
And then I climbed into this cool plane, attached a big guy named Peter to my back and jumped up when we got to 15 000 feet! I can highly recommend it to everyone! SOOO much fun! Had 60seconds of freefall - just enjoying the view of Taupo. It was a perfectly clear day - no skies to fall through, so I got to see the town all way down. At 5000 feet, Peter pulled out the parachute and we had 7mins of flying before we were back on the ground. I was kind of dissappointed that it was over that fast! Wanted to go back up straight after!So if anyone is interested in giving me a LOT of many - I'd be happy to get my skydiving lisence! :)
Relaxed after the skydive by walking up this mountain. Wasnt very relaxing though - 45 mins of sweating uphill. But well worth in when I got to the top. And could eat a huge dinner afterwards! Even had a drink to celebrate my first ever skydive!
View of Taupo
Monday was all about driving from Taupo to Raglan, but I decided to make a pitstop in Hobbiton. Hanging out by the partytree! ;)
Baggend on top, and some more hobbitholes scattered around. The had originally 37 holes, but only 18 remains now. But, theyve starting rebuilding the others for the filming of "The Hobbit". The guide did not know when the shoots would start, but my best guess would be next summer. Anyone keen to fly to New Zealand, and try to sneak into the area? I know where it is! .... ;)
Nice view from Bilbo and Frodo's home! You can see the Partytree and the lake. On the other side of the lake was the pubs and shops of the Hobbiton village. They even had a mill and a bridge made of fake rocks!
Tuesday: my birthday! I drove to Waitomo, and decided to treat myself with some blackwater caving. So I got this funny costume on and abseiled down into a cave!
The guide kept telling us to squeeze through these cracks. This one was actually the more spacious one. I actually got stuck in one of them. I was sure They'd have to find some dynamite to get me loose, but after some time I was able to wiggle my bum out of there. Not my proudest moment!
It was after all a GLOW WORM cave, so we had a good look at all the glowworms! Just like stars. And like our guide told us: "If its raining and you want to camp under the stars, just come down here! You even get shooting stars - glowworms are clumsy sometimes!"
