Day 109 February 26th 2007, Wellington Boots - Taupo to Wellington, 380km


Another long day driving brought us to the very bottom of the North Island and to Wellington New Zealands capital. I have to admit until about a week ago I thought it was Auckland. When I was at school in Geography we were too busy learning why people lived by rivers so much so I live by one back home (the only benefit I can see being more money for the insurance company with inflated premiums)So I'm blaming my education for my stupidity.

In my defence though Auckland was once the capital before Wellington in 1865. Thinking about it that means we have been to all 3 of New Zealands capitals past and present, Russel, Auckland and now Wellington. So why did they move the capital south, to stop the South Island with all its gold mines going off and forming their own country.

We found a great little campsite by the beach just outside the city in the Hutt Valley, no sign of Jabba. After a long run on the beach we headed into town finding a great bar by the harbor, after a few local brews I was soon putting the World to rights again.

Highlights: Beers in Wellington

Day 108 February 25th 2007, Mud Packs - Rotorua to Taupo, 82km

There were two reasons why we wanted to come to New Zealand during our travels, the first to experience the amazing scenery and secondly to get in some adrenaline fueled sports. So after a day at the Maori village built on top of an area of what i would describe as high thermal activity, we headed off for some Zorbing.

A very hot pool where they cooked corn on the cob in less than 20 secs

First a little about the "Thermal area", one of the first things as a kid I associated with NZ is the bumbling mud at Rotorua, here is it this time on the web vs my Grandparents cine film 23 years ago, high five for technology.

The main attraction is the large geysers of which there are five, the one below is called the Prince of Wales as when it blows it looks like the feathers of the Prince of Wales crest.

In addition to the super fast corn on the cob cooking the Maoris also use thermal vents for cooking all their other food. There are two distinct advantages the first is the cooking time and secondly its free, however as with all modern appliances these cookers sometimes go wrong

On our way out of Rotorua I tried my hand at Zorbing, the idea being that you run down the hill in the large Hamster ball, catch they chuck a load of water in making it very slippery. The result I managed to stand up for about 5 secs.

It was great fun but I would give it a 0 in terms of its adrenaline factor. Leaving Rororua we headed South to Taupo where not content with the tame Zorbing caught the last ride of the day on the Huka Jet. This was also amazing fun.

The Jet boats with no propeller get within inches of the shore skimming across water only 10cm deep in places, the jets also allow the boats to be spun 360. The boats twin jets throw out 800 litres of water per second, I bet there are no fish left on the river. For more on jet boat technology click here. Check out Shelleys hair in the picture below during one of the spins, back row on the left.

The hair before the ride, due to the density of my hair at the moment it didn't move at all during the ride.

Highlights: The bubbling mud and the Huka Jet

Day 107 February 24th 2007, Backsides on Fire - Waitomo to Rotorua, 341km

In Waitimo there are over 1,000 cave systems, formed when the tectonic plates pushed the limestone seabed upwards millions of years ago. Since then water has slowly tricked through the rock creating the caves. Out of approx 1,000 caves 300 have been mapped out and 23 are in commercial use, leaving some of the local farmers with small gold mines on their land. Everything ranging from walking tours to whats know as Black Water Rafting (white water rafting in the dark). The other attraction of the caves are their inhabitants, Glow Worms.

Now the term Glow Worm is a pretty marketing name, the worms are in fact maggots (fly larvae) of the Fungus Gnat which due to a lack of a backside burn their waste which creates the glow.

One of the Glow Worms had a very nice smile

We took a 2 hour caving tour though one of the tunnels, at times you could walk without head torches and rely on the light from the Glow Worms. The roof of the cave looked like a brilliant nights sky. Our guide probably bored from crawling through caves everyday sought every opportunity to play practical jokes on us and make us craw through the tightest spaces in the tunnel imaginable. At one point I really wished I had gone for the salad option more often in the past.

Whilst in the caves we visited the local spa

After emerging from the caves we headed South to Rotorua where we were greeted with the smell of sulphur, generated by the thermal springs the area is famous for

Highlights: All those little crap burning maggots

Day 106 February 22nd 2007, The Journey South - Waipoua Forest to Waitomo, 439km

Today showed us just how big New Zealand is as it took us the best part of the day to drive South past Auckland and onto Waitomo. We arrived just in time to pitch up our tent and go for an evening run in the nearby hills

We have now been on the road for almost 4 months and I haven't had a haircut yet. Shelley thinks that people are giving me strange looks when talking to me so it could be time for a visit to the barbers. I'm quite happy with the mulet so I say let the public decide please vote on the poll to the right, all comments on possible haircuts welcome

Highlights: Beautiful scenery as we drove South

Day 105 February 22nd 2007, Giant Trees - Russell to Waipoua Forest, 114km

We had lunch in style today on one of Hakianga Harbors beaches, on the West Coast of the North Island. BBQ steak, a little tricky as the tide was coming in and I had to rescue our little disposable BBQ a few times.

Shelley hugging one of the smaller Kauri Trees

Continuing our journey we arrived in Waipoua Forest a large Kauri Forest home to some of the Worlds oldest and largest trees. Finding an almost abandoned campsite we quickly pitched our tent before heading off to meet some Maoris who were going to take us on a twilight tour of the forest.

Matua Ngahere

This was a truly magical experience, the trees astonishing in their size. We first visited Te Matua Ngahere the widest Kauri tree and the second largest in existence. Size is measured by the amount of timber the tree could produce. The Trees Maori name means Father of the Forest, one of the Maoria's called Dan sang a greeting as we approached the tree, a sign of respect for the tree. Te Matua Ngahere is estimated to be 2000 years old and was one of the talking trees represented in Lord of the Rings.

Tane Mahuta (not my own picture as it was dark when we met this guy)

As the light faded away we approached Tane Mahuta its name meaning Lord of the Forest, again Dan chanted a greeting and we sat in darkness and silence at the base of the tree looking up through its brances as the clear night sky started to light up with stars. Our other guide Bim then said a Maori prayer.

Highlights: Tane Mahuta

Day 104 February 21st 2007, Whales and Dolphins - Bay of Islands - Russell

Apart from some very nice Islands the bay is also home to quite a bit of marine life including several species of Whale and Dolphin. So joining a large tour ship we headed off round the various islands, after a short while coming across 3 Bottlenose Dolphins. After swimming with some wild Common Dolphins in the Azores I couldn't believe how big these guys were, well over 2m in length.

Being on a large boat I didn't fancy our chances of being able to swim with them but myself and Shelley were the only ones to actually see them under the water, more of a swim past than a swimming with dolphins experience. After stopping for lunch on one of the Islands we came across a Bryde Whale on our way back to Russell. These are the only non migratory species of Whale. We were lucky enough to catch him feeding and were able to watch him circling the shoal of fish it was feeding on for about 20 mins. It was difficult to say how large the Whale was but these guys can grow to almost 15m in length and weigh between 12 and 20 tonnes

Highlights: Seeing the Bryde Whale

Day 103 February 20th 2007, The Original Capital - Auckland to Russell, 241km

On the advice of Chris who I think is my second Cousin we headed North from Auckland towards a place called Russell in the Bay of Islands. After catching the ferry from Opua to Okiato we settled into our first campsite since Chile, luxury in comparison and just a few hundred meters from a very nice beach. In Chile we were lucky to get running water let alone hot showers, here 50 cents buys you a 5 mins hot shower.

Aside from its outstanding natural beauty Russell has an interesting past.

The Maori settlement of Kororareka
Hell hole of the Pacific when the Whaling fleets of the World called
First Capital of New Zealand
Today its the Sword Fishing Capital of the World and a friendly tourist town

One of the hotels in the town holds the oldest liquor license in New Zealand and the town also boats the oldest church in New Zealand, what does that say?

The ferry from Opua

Some of the very nice houses in Opua

The beach near our campsite

Highlights: Our luxury campsite and the beauty of the Bay of Islands

Day 102 February 18th 2007, Distant Kiwi's - Auckland

After finally picking up our hire car we started on our tour of the North Island, however on paying an unannounced visit to my Great Aunt Pat on our way out of Auckland we were stopped in our tracks. My Great Aunt Pat is my Grandmothers Brothers Wife who I have never met before but she instantly recognised me (from my Mum's photos I think) and gave us a very warm welcome, we were soon settling down for some dinner before meeting some of my distant Cousins who were able to give us some great travel advice.

I think that my first ever awareness of New Zealand came from when my Grandparents visited in 1983. I remember watching the cine film they brought back of the bubbling mud at Rotorua. My parents then visited in 2001. 24 years later I finally made it down here.

Highlights: It was great to finally meet up with my Kiwi relations

Day 101 February 18th 2007, Auckland

We managed to track down a hire car today which we can pick up tomorrow Hoooray. We spent the day in the city again today, very quiet being a Sunday. Caught the bus to Devenport and then the ferry into town. With super fast Internet cafes I was able to upload all of the videos from the trip into the blog. We took a walk round the Marina admiring all of the very nice yachts before settling down for some beers in the evening sun.

Highlights: High speed Internet

Day 100 February 17th 2007, What a view - Auckland

After a morning run along the beach (new slim version of A Filby on its way) we headed off on the bus into town, still no hire car as yet. It was probably a good thing as the main road into town was solid for miles but the bus just coasted past it all in the bus lane. The joys of public transport.
Auckland has a great relaxed atmosphere but its still busy enough to feel like the capital city (oops that wouild be Wellington). On first impressions two areas really stand out, the harbor and the Sky Tower (offical website)

The Sky Tower is the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere at 328 meters, we took the lift which has a glass floor (luckily I don't suffer from vertigo) to the observation lounge and then onto the sky deck. It looks like the Kiwi's have manged to turn the tower into an extreme sports playground and we saw a few people jumping off from the observation level. It didn't look too bad but I had just eaten lunch and thought better of it. This is the video from the Sky Tower website.

In the harbor was the Queen Mary 2 which we got a great view of

Highlights: The Sky Tower

Day 99 February 16th 2007, I hear ya - Auckland, New Zealand

In South America we were pretty good at bookings things up in advance, thinking that NZ would be nice and quiet we turned up with just our first nights hotel booked up, Uh oh everything seems to be totally booked up cars, hotels and even camper vans. Not being able to get a room in the city we had to stay across the bay in Takapuna Beach. As I have said before every cloud has a silver lining, this place is great. Very quiet but everything is soooo easy. This may partly be due to the fact that for the first time in over 3 months we can effectively communicate with people in English.

A view of Takapuna on the far side of the harbor from the Sky Tower

After a day of admin, washing and trying to hire a car we headed off to dinner still very excited about being able to hold conversations with people. This meant that at dinner we could just sit and eavesdrop other peoples conversations for entertainment. Great for Shelley as she has now heard all my stories at least 3 times.

Highlights: All of a sudden understanding what people are saying to me

Day 98 February 15th 2007, Where did the day go - Tahiti to Auckland, New Zealand, 4,020km

Our flight to New Zealand took us via the Cook Islands with a short stop over before arriving in Auckland 23 hours later. WHAT?? Tahiti is -10GMT and New Zealand is at the moment +13GMT. So crossing the date line East to West you jump forward a day so this is really the 16th

Our Air New Zealand plane in the Cook Islands

Highlights: Time travel

Day 97 February 14th 2007, Soooo bored - Arue, Tahiti

Anyone who says they want to buy a tropical island and live on it must be crazy, I would recommend trying before you buy. I'm sure a week in Moorea as a break from a stressed out career would do wonders but living somewhere like this isn't on my to do list.

The sunset from our hotel with Moorea in the background

This week in Tahiti has been the only "holiday" type week of the trip and strangely with our flight to NZ tomorrow morning we had that going back to work after holiday feeling.

Highlights: More relaxing by the pool and beach

Day 96 February 13th 2007, Round the Island - Arue,Tahiti

Unlike Moorea you cant drive all the way around the Island, there is a road but from some reason no one could explain to us its blocked off. We again escaped from the hotel again today and drove round to the south of the Island to visit yet more beaches and the Gaugin Museum. From what I could gather this guy was buddies with Van Gough and just as bonkers.


Anyway just around the corner is the Gaugin Restaurant, not quite sure what the connection is bu they served great seafood. The restaurant itself was decked out in fish tanks, tropical fish ponds and outside part of the lagoon was fenced off. This housed amongst other things the restaurant owners pet shark, not sure what type it was but it was about 6ft in length.



Highlights: The Gaugin Restaurant

Day 95 February 12th 2007, Escape from Paradise - Moorea

Very relaxed but now thoroughly bored we escaped from Tahiti and caught the ferry to its neighboring island Moorea. The ferry only takes 30-45 mins depending on which one you catch, after a few G&T's last night we caught the slow one by mistake.

A view of Papeete from the ferry

The view as we approached Moorea

Moorea from the air with Tahiti in the background

On arrival we hired a car, which strangely was cheaper than a couple of rounds of drinks in Papeete, then headed off round the island. First off all stopping off at the beach below. There were some very beautiful Marine fish but without a mask and snorkel it got a little difficult to see exactly what was lurking below us as we ventured out. As a result we ran screaming back to the beach when something large and dark started moving towards us. On reflection we think it could have been a rock as it probably wasn't moving at all.

The island is only 60km in diameter so it doesn't take long to drive around, we did stop off at Belvedere from which you can see two of the Islands bays.

A view of the bays from Belvedere

Highlights: The white sandy beaches

Day 94 February 11th 2007, Still relaxing - Arue Tahiti

Still in the mood for relaxing we spent the day by the pool and beach again today. Thoroughly fed up with the food at the hotel we headed into town with a Kiwi and a couple of Ozzie's to whats know as a Roulette, translation Polynesian version of the burger van. Luckily a lot better than in the UK with Chinese food on offer. We followed this up by braving a couple of drinks in one of the roughest looking bars I have been in for a while which featured some very dodgy ladies of the night

Highlights: Escaping the hotels food

Day 93 February 10th 2007, Another relaxing day - Arue Tahiti

Spent the day relaxing by the pool and beach again. Very nice after being on the road for 3 months my only complaint being that the food here is awful. To make myself clear the food in the Radisson in Tahiti is awful. The menu and food quality is 10 time better in the Frankfurt Radisson. Luckily we have our own supplies purchased from French Supermarket in the town.

The hotel is pretty quiet except when a cruise ship arrives from America, free entertainment is then provided at the pool for example here is a summary of two conversations I overheard, not difficult due to the volume they were held at.

1. Two women discussing during a down pour whether they should get out of the pool and go to their room, they decided to stay in the pool as they didn't want to get any wetter.

2. A guy asked reception for a dry umbrella why I have no idea as 2 secs outside and you are drenched.

Highlights: Realising that no matter how stupid you are there is always someone more stupid

Day 92 February 9th 2007, New Party Trick - Arue Tahiti

After spending sometime in the sea today being thrown about by the waves I have discovered a new party trick. I am able to somehow store seawater and later make it reappear out of my nose. Unfortunately I have no control over this and usually happens 2 hours after a swim in the sea.

For example I was dealing with one of Mrs Buckets many complaints today, house keeping were fixing the bathroom scales. Upon inspecting the finished work water gushed from my nose narrowly missing the poor housekeeper and making a puddle next to the chap on the floor.

Also found a small lizard in the bathroom today, hopefully he will eat some of the ants which seem intent on eating all my cookies

Highlights: My new party trick

Day 91 February 8th 2007, Holiday from Travelling, Arue Tahiti

Arriving at 1AM last night a little jet lagged we didn't take in the luxury of the resort. Compared to recent accommodation eg a tent our suite at the Radisson seemed very extravagant. Luckily I booked and paid for this place whilst still working, not quite sure what I was thinking at the time as in South America if we spent what it costs to stay here for one night in two days it meant that Shelley had been shopping. All I remember was having to find a hotel quickly in Tahiti so we could confirm our flights across the Pacific.

The view from our room

So anyway whats the first thing you do when you get to a 5 star hotel? Catch the shuttle into town and get your stinking laundry done. The main town on Tahiti, Papeete is a complete dump, dirty and smelly. Apart from this its also very expensive with one exception being a French territory Evian is exceptionally cheap, everyone also drives French cars.

After our laundry was finished or should I say shrunk we spent the day lounging by the pool and on the black volcanic sandy beach.


Highlights: Thankfully not booking a hotel in Papeete

Day 90 February 7th 2007, Highlights of South America - Easter Island to Papeete, Tahiti, 4,020km

As our plane rolled down the longest runway in the Pacific leaving behind one of the remote places in the World I felt a sense of sadness leaving South America but glad to have spent so much time here and seen so many amazing places in Peru, Argentina and Chile. The Air New Zealand plane was pretty old with just one big screen showing our location, a small dot on a blue screen showing again how remote this place is.

It's easy to say what the highlights have been so far but those that really stand out are those we have shared with some great people. So here it is the Adm Filby top 10 list of things to do in South America

1. Inca Trail and Machu Picchu, Peru
2. Easter Island, Chile
3. Torres del Paine, Chile
4. Cape Horn, Chile
5. Iguassu Falls, Argentina
6. Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentina
7. La China Estancia, Argentina
8. Horse riding in Concon, Chile
9. Dune buggy riding in Nasca, Peru
10. Whale Watching in Peninsula Valdes, Argentina

Todays Highlight: Catching up on some sleep during our 7 hour flight

Day 89 February 6th 2007, Costal Walk - Easter Island

In the last 2 days we have seen almost the whole island and driven on every paved road, this left just the North East side of the Island unexplored, with no roads as such the only way round is by foot. We trekked for six hours starting at Anekena and Finishing in Hanga Roa. We caught a cab to Anekena, on hearing what we planned to do the taxi driver stopped the taxi at a furniture warehouse and brought out a large bottle of water insisting that we take it. What a nice guy. This brought our quota up to nearly 6 litres and boy were we grateful for that extra water. After spending a couple of hours on the beach we started our walk around midday, because of the time zone offset the midday sun didn't get going until about 3PM and then it got going all right.

On Bill's advice we saved ourselves $8 on a map and followed his instructions, keeping the big blue thing on our right. The only person we came across was a horse farmer about half way round.
On the topic of horses many locals still use them as a form of transport on the Island.


We finished the day off at the festival and due to what I would describe as excessive exercise I treated myself to excessive meat from the BBQ

Highlights: A stunning coastal walk

Day 88 February 5th 2007, Don't loose your head - Easter Island

Now equipped with a basic understanding of what Easter Island is all about we headed off on our second tour of the Island covering the South and East coast of the Island.

Above is the largest Ahu on the Island, Ahu Tongariki with 15 Moai, this was restored at the cost of $4million by a Japanese businessman in the 90's, according to Bill the Japanese were Moai crazy in the 90's. You can see the Moai second from the right wearing his top knot.

When Easter Island is mentioned the first thing that comes to mind are the giant stone heads. These are in actual facts Moai that never made it to the Ahu's the are still at the quarry where they were carved and many have sunk into the ground leaving just the heads. There were more Moai than you could count still half carved such as the one below behind Bill which believe it or not is 7 stories high. Once the Moai were carved they were moved (how exactly is unknown) the legend says they walked) to the coast. If they were damaged in any way they were deemed not strong enough to contain the chiefs mana and abandoned. The result Moai all over the place. There are almost 700 in various states on the Island.

The quarry Rano Raraku on the side of an extinct volcano was probably the most impressive place on the Island, the half carved Moai looked like they were about to slowly emerge from the rock and march slowly towards the coast. Below is the famous shot of the stone heads, we have about 100 photos of these to share with everyone when we get back. Each Moai has a unique face which resembled the chief it belonged to, the eyes were the only part of the Moai not carved at the quarry, these were only carved once the Moai was on the Ahu. Of course we purchased a small reproduction Moai which is now on his way back to the UK.

The Islanders (Rapa Nui's) believed that the Island was the naval of the world, not hard to believe when all you can see in every direction is sea. Below is a magnetic rock called the Naval which spookily was very warm to the touch


For lunch we stopped off at Anekena, a beautiful beach where the original King Hota Matu'a from Polynesia is said to have landed, there is a restored Ahu amongst the palm trees. Interestingly though all the palms are imported, they grow on the island but wont germinate here.
Highlights: The quarry Rano Raraku

Day 87 February 4th 2007, The Discovery Channel -Easter Island

Today whilst we toured the west side of the Island some of its mysteries were revealed, much like watching the discovery channel for the day. To help everyone out here is a summary of the events which have occurred on Easter Island, more detail to follow.

1. Polynesians arrive and start to populate Island, how did they get here? Here is a good answer
2. Chief has 6 sons and each one forms a clan
3. Each clan builds Ahu (stone platform) and then places Moai (stone statues on top) to protect the clan
4. A class system forms with two classes, the long ears at the top and the short ears at the bottom.
5. Eventually a class war takes place and the short ears kick the long ears into extinction
6. The Moai are toppled in all the fighting

After the age of the Moai for want of a better expression the various clans competed each year for control of the island through the bird man competition. Below are some cave paintings depicting the birdmen. This was a ceremony where each clan sent its strongest young man to compete each year.

The young men would wait in small stone huts on the side of a volcano overlooking an Island just off the shore, waiting for the sooty terns which nest there to lay an egg, they would then climb down a jagged lava formed cliff, swim in the strong currents dodging sharks to the Island. At the same time doing their best to do each other over. The man who found the first egg was declared the winner. His Clan leader would become the leader of the Island and for his troubles he would be awarded the best looking virgin on the Island for his wife.

Below is the inside of the crater next to where the birdman competition was held, the reeds inside are the same as those found in Lake Titikaka in Peru.

Below is the Island where the Sooty Tern's nest, on the rock you can see a Petroglyph, these are carvings which can be found all over the Island So after the clan wars there were no Moai left standing, all those like the ones below have been restored. Each Moai represents a former leader of the clan whose power was contained within the Moai after death, one of the reasons why they were toppled in the war. When a clan leader died eyes made from coral would be placed in the Moai. The eyes havent been restored as the Islanders who are all descendants of the short ears are very superstitious and don't want to bring back the spirit of the long ears.

Some of the Moai would have had what look like hats, one theory is that the red boulders below represent their hair which was tied in a top knot. The Moai's although grey now originally would have been yellow in color so with the red top knots and coral eyes would have been very colorful indeed.

Being formed by volcanoes the Island has quite a few lava tubes and caves, Shelley is in the blue hat below.
Being the festival one of the events was a banana sled race, the Easter Islanders seem to very competitive with some sort of race or competition being held every day. Dressed as their ancestors would these guys hurtled down the hill on a sled made from a banana tree trunk. No one seemed to know who the winner was but with an exciting atmosphere, practically the whole Island had turned up, it was great to watch.

After feeling like I had watched the Discovery Channel all day as we travelled round the Island it was cool to meet up with and be interviewed by a camera crew from no less than the Discovery Channel, my 20 seconds of fame should qualify me for celebrity big brother next year.

Highlights: The Banana sled racing