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I continued to travel North, the very scenic road hugging the Western coastline where possible. I stopped off at the largest town on the West coast, Greymouth, for a couple of days. It’s an old gold mining town and there is still a hint of a gold-town about it today. There are some good walks from Greymouth, including the three hour round trip Point Elizabeth Track, a decent little museum and the not to be missed, Westland Breweries tour. Not only was the tour free but you also got a free beer too.
It was soon time to make my way East to Kaikoura via the Lewis Pass, probably one of the most spectacular roads I have driven in my life. If you get the opportunity, you must also experience it. Once at Kaikoura I headed straight down to the old train station to book my ticket with Whale Watch Kaikoura to get a close up view of Sperm Whales. Orcas, Minke, humpback and Southern Right Whales cam also be spotted on this trip, not forgetting the massive pod of Dusky Dolphin that are usually spotted in the bay. Due to persistent inclement weather, I exchanged my boat trip ticket for a flight in a four seater Cessna and the views over this part of South Island simply took my breath away.
After a weeks stay in Kaikoura I headed back up to Picton and decided to stay here for a couple of days, just to chill out, fish a little and walk some of the Marlborough Sounds area. Yet again, the views from any high point here are stunning, the seascapes simply magnificent. I felt a twinge of sorrow as I drove on to the ferry, I had really enjoyed my time in the South Island and new that I would not be able to return here for quite some time.
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So here I was, back onto North Island again, but this time I had a lot more time to play with because I still had nearly a month before my flight back to Brisbane. I headed out West so that I could follow the coast as much as possible. I had found that I was constantly being drawn to the sea, in this case, the Tasman Sea. My first stop was at Wanganui where I stayed in the National Park for a couple of days. The walking here is excellent as is the fishing. The peace is only disturbed by the screeching alarm call of the Pukeko, a bird commonly found in the rushes of the Whanganui River which runs through the park, one of the last areas of great wilderness left in New Zealand.
It was then on to New Plymouth, a large town that sits in an area where there are many Maori and European historical sites. I then headed out East to Lake Taupo, staying in a wonderful mountainside backpackers hostel in Turangi. This area has the highest Mountains on North Island, therefore, the views were pretty much unlimited. Carrying on Eastwards I hit the coast again at Napier, one of the worlds best examples of an Art Deco city. After a brief detour to drive down to Hastings, I slowly carried on North to Gisborne, New Zealand’s most Easterly city. It was here that Captain Cook made his first landfall in New Zealand on 9th October 1769.
My next stop was at probably the most visited place in New Zealand, Rotorua. This is where the famous hot mud pools and gushing geysers are. The smell has to be experienced to be believed. It is a little like very, very rotten eggs that have been mixed with stinking sulphur.
Eventually, I find myself back in Auckland. I managed to catch up with my mate Jilly, while she was visiting her sister. It was here that Jilly agreed to buy the Toyota off me for not much less than I paid for it originally. She also offered to drive me to the airport on the day of my departure. It was with this in mind that I knew I could relax and get on and enjoy the time I had remaining here. So I crossed the harbour and my way into what is called Northland.
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As can be seen from this selection of photo’s that were taken at Ninety Mile Beach, Bay of Islands and Paihia, this part of New Zealand is visually stunning.The fishing here is excellent too, getting on to a chartered fishing trip is pretty much a guarantee of returning with a decent catch. The area is well known for it’s game fish, namely Snapper and Kingfish. The Bay of Islands is also a good spot to swim with Dolphins.I stayed for about a week at a backpackers hostel in Matakohe, the main thing I remember about this place was how bloody cold it was, the bedrooms in particular were absolutely freezing. You need not worry about being a little dozy in the morning, a trip to the freezing cold bathroom soon sorted that out. On the plus side, it was from here that I had some excellent fishing on a nearby jetty. I also drove to the Kauri Forest and visited the exhibition of goods all made out of the now very rare Kauri wood. Kauri trees grow to 30m and attain an age of about 2000 years.
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Before I knew it, I was back in Auckland again with just a couple of hours to sort out selling the Toyota to Jilly, saying goodbye to friends and preparing for the flight back to Australia. The two months that I spent touring the North and South Islands will never be forgotten.Time flew by so quickly, proving to me what a good time I had in New Zealand, as if I needed any evidence of that fact. Goodbye beautiful country, I hope to visit you again as soon as is possible.
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