Abel Tasman National Park
Day 175 – Marahau, New Zealand I’m up to date with my pictures! Check out Napier, Wellington, Marahau and Abel Tasman National Park. To recapitulate, the 4-5 day walk that follows the Abel Tasman National Park’s coast is labelled a Great Walk in New Zealand, and more important for me, it is graded “easy”. That…
Four seasons in a day
Day 174 – Marahau, New Zealand I’ve not exactly had the four seasons in a day promised by the locals as being the norm on the South Island, but I’ve had scorching, rain, wind and cold. Yesterday I took the ferry to Picton, crossing the strait between both islands. I spent the journey and the…
Wellington – 2
Day 172 – Wellington, New Zealand Since the weather forecast yesterday morning announced sunshine for yesterday and rain for today, I had decided to go to the gardens yesterday and to the museum today. So of course yesterday it rained and today we had blue skies. (And wind. Don’t forget the wind, Wellington is renowned…
Wellington
Day 171 – Wellington, New Zealand So I may be a few days late in my accounts. The main reason is that my successive hostels have had difficult, out of order and limited Wi-Fi, and writing on one’s phone gets tiring fast. My last complete post was about Haku Falls Tuesday. Wednesday I went to…
Haku Falls
Day 167 – Taupo Internet isn’t cooperating tonight, so I’m writing from my phone and I haven’t been able to upload my pictures. (I’m trying an upload through my phone, it seems to be working.) The first thing to see in Taupo is Haku Falls. The river Waikato flows from Lake Taupo (threw me for…
Taupo
Day 166 – Taupo, New Zealand I left Rotorua this morning to reach Taupo today. It is not very far, and the town is on a lake, itself a caldera, I believe. The region is riddled with volcanic activity. It started raininf as I went out in the afternoon of course, and occasional violent showers…
Geyser, sulphur and mud pools
Day 165 – Rotorua, New Zealand Rotorua sits on a diagonal line crossing the North Island drawn by the meeting of two tectonic plates, giving the region particular geothermic activity. One such place is Wai-O-Tapu (Sacred Waters), where geysers, hot (boiling hot) springs, mud pools, bubbling pools can be seen. Wai-O-Tapu – The artist’s palette…
Down the Hobbit hole
Day 164 – Rotorua, New Zealand Hobbits! Actually, there wasn’t any, but I’ve seen plenty of houses, clothes, and accessories. Let’s track back a bit. Today was the day I visited Hobbiton, the place that was the set for the Hobbits’ village in both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. To be accurate,…
Waitomo caves
Day 163 – Rotorua, New Zealand Today was long in travel but short in visit. I took a bus from Auckland to Rotorua with a stop in Waitomo Caves, which are the home of glowworms. These glowworms spend their life in the caves, above the underground river, where they feed on insects that come in,…
Another dash through Auckland
Day 162 – Auckland, New Zealand I arrived yesterday in Auckland, and spent today in the War Memorial Museum, which has a large Maori culture exhibit as well as a cultural performance I went to watch. I went for a combined ticket that included a highlight tour (a guided tour giving you a highlight of…