North Island Part 1 (Auckland and Wellington)

In last last week or two, me and Clare have been on a whistle-stop tour of the North Island. We had just 2 days each in Auckland, the biggest city in NZ, and the capital itself, Wellington.

Auckland seems like a nice place, with hundreds of sailing ships in the harbour, an impressive 300-odd metre tall 'Sky Tower' and loads of extinct volcanoes dotted about the place. We took in a Maori cultural show in the city museum, culminating, of course in the Haka. We also met up with Clare's mate Joe, who took us to his local, a damn fine microbrewery pub. Here's a few pics of the place...














































After a short 45 min flight, we arrived in Wellington. Wellington is a good little city, very hilly and apparently very windy, although it was pretty still while we were there, if a little overcast. Clare and I did separate walking tours, bumping into each other at the 'Beehive', NZ's parliament building, which I liked and Clare disliked. Each to their own I guess. We also took in the cable car, Botanic Gardens and Te Papa museum, all of which are excellent. That night, we met up with one of my old Entec buddies, Kate, back on her native turf. Kate took us out to a couple of her favourite bars, and we all had a great beery night talking about this and that.






























































The next day, after a quick tour of the NZ Parliament, we set off back towards Auckland on a 10-day roadtrip. First stop was Palmerston North, only a brief overnighter, during which we met Mike, a travelling rug salesman (honestly!) who very kindly gave us a lift in his bus the next day to National Park, gateway to Tongariro National Park, home to the mighty volcanoes Tongariro, Ngauruhoe (pronounced narra-ho-ee) and Ruapehu. On the way, we stopped in Ohakune, NZ's 'carrot capital, apparently. Cue more comedy oversize fibreglass vegetables. Here's a picture of the might Ruapehu from the 'Desert Road' on the way to National Park, and the vegetable in question:































More soon

-Si