I think its about time I blogged part three of the February NZ trip!!
Day 6 - Drove out of Rotorua to the Buried Village, a real village that was covered in metres of ash when the volcano erupted over 100 yrs ago!!
It was the first day of rain, and it absolutely poured!! It was beautiful though, so we had some scones and tea in their undercover outdoor cafe!! Lovely!!
We drove past the Blue Lake on the way, but didnt get out cos of the weather.
After the Buried Village, we drove back north until we reached Off-Road NZ and decided to stop. It cost us $38 each to ride in their 4WD which was awesome. I remember going there with my dad about 7 years ago, and it was still just as cool - the truck goes almost sideways and youre practically falling out of your seat! Since there was no one there that day he took us for a little extra spin :) Awesome.
We drove through Hamilton and found a campsite advertised called Waingaro Hot Springs which was about 25kms off the main road. It had 3 large natural hot pools and water slides but there were only SIX guests in the entire park so they didnt open the slides. It was the creepiest place we stayed, and also the most expensive and it was a shame it was so run down. We spent a while in the pools, had ravioli for dinner in the camp kitchen, showered and then went to watch TV in the common room. It was so bad we didnt even take any photos!!
Day 7 - We did take pics on the drive towards Tuakau - it was the back road rather than the highway, so it was even more scenic. Its so weird to see animals wandering around outside of their fences!
We passed through Tuakau and headed to my Uncle and Auntys home in Pukekohe. After a quick drive around town we went to a tapas restaurant called Poco Loco - it was soooo yummy and we had so much to eat!!
Day 8 - Linda drove us to the train station and we were amazed at how clean and new their trains are!! You buy the tickets on the train from someone who comes around selling them! Incredible!
We caught the train into Auckland - I think it was about a 1 hour ride. We walked to the SjyTower but decided it was too expensive to go up. You can do the "SkyWalk" for $195pp, where you are harnessed in and you freefall from the top!!
We wandered over to the wharf and paid $33ea to catch the ferry around Auckland Harbour. We had a short stop at an island volcano then came back again.
Had a quick look around the "Downtown Westfield" where Johnny had a tshirt made that says 'balancer' on it. Then we caught the train back to Sylvia Park - a huge shopping centre that has traffic lights in the car park!! After that we went back to Pukekohe where Uncle Dave picked us up then we had dinner and chatted until bedtime :)
I left my camera at the house and didnt take a single photo all day!! *gasp*
Day 9 - FRIDAY 13TH!!
We drove into Syliva Park to have 2 tshirts made (one for Roland "Rosti King" and one for Rhia's baby "Hendrix") We had some yummy lunch and hot chocolates at a chocolate shop!!
We drove into Auckland and parked near the SkyTower which we hadnt realised was a casino! We played a few games and watched someone jump off the top, then drove back to Tuakau where my parents grew up.
We drove around the tiny little town and then looked up the address of my mums best friend from high school. I'd never met her, but thought we'd pop in and say hi - they were so surprised!!
We went back to my Uncles house for dinner then he shouted us tickets to see a comedy show at the local club - it was really funny!!
Day 10 - Dave and Linda took us on a bit of a tour past my dads old school and where they used to live.
We then drove to Manukau Heads to see the old lighthouse! It was fairly overcast and miserable but was a beautiful view!!
The beach had black sand which was really bizarre!!
We stopped in Waiuku for some yummy meat pies, then went to a bird sanctuary which had an amazing amount of birds!
This cockatoo spoke to us and asked us our names! His name was Charlie :)
Day 11 - our last day!!
We had to return the van by 11am and had to fill the tank. We reached $9 worth of diesel when an announcement came over to tell everyone to hang up their pumps! We waited for ages until the guy explained their new computer system had frozen and he couldnt take any payments!! We left him the $9 and tried to put the fuel cap back on but none of us could do it!! We FINALLY got it back on and another announcement came over saying the machines were working again!! Gah!! So we filled up with $40 and left! lol!!
We returned the car and did all the required paperwork and after half an hour we went to Subway for lunch where we had the most hopeless trainee ever, then Uncle Dave shouted us a game of mini golf!!
They dropped us at the airport at 3:45pm and we checked in and waited for our 6:30pm flight home!!
It was an awesome holiday and quite relaxed even though we did quite alot! The hardest part is just choosing my favourites from the 900 photos we took!!! Hehehe!!!
