East As Bus - Taupo to Napier
On Monday 28th May I left Taupo to go on the East As bus. This is a four day tour starting and finishing in Taupo and covers the east coast of the North Island. I was very lucky and had a great group. There were 8 other girls and one guy - lucky him! We headed up to Rotorua for a quick morning snack break. Rotorua is a geothermal area and smells like rotten eggs at times! It was strange driving round and seeing steam coming out from the ground. Our first stop was Rotoma Lake which was lovely and the first stop for a group photo. 
The drive along the coast after this was spectacular and the photos again don't do it justice. We then stopped at a beach and got views of White Island. We also stopped at a lookout to get a lovely view back along the coast. 
Our first night was spent and Te Kaha Homestead. It was run by Maori's and was great fun. They had a hot spa on the beach and so we all enjoyed watching the sun set from the hot tub.
When we had arrived, our host had sang us a song and we had to reply so we practised our song while we sat in the hot tub. In the evening we played a number of card games and sang some songs before and after the rugby game. It was a fun evening. 
On the Tuesday we left Te Kaha and headed further along the coast to East Cape. On the way we stopped at a church, some beaches, lots of sheep on the road (a reminder that I am in NZ!) and then arriving at Eastenders Farm Stay at Rangitukia. Most of us went on a 2 hour horse ride. It has to be one of the best horse rides I have done while travelling. We got to gallop along the beach and at one point this ended up with me galloping through the sea and jumping some waves, resulting in a rather wet Louise. After riding along the beach we rode up to the top of a hill and got great views of the East Cape. It was stunning. 
We then rode back to the Homestead where we made our own bone carvings. The bone carvings took a lot longer to complete than I expected but was interesting and I now have a lovely necklace. For tea we had a Hangi meal. This is a meal which is cooked over hot rocks under the ground - a method used by the Maori's. The food was lovely. The rest of the evening passed with us playing cards again.
On Wednesday we left the East Cape and drove down to Napier. Before leaving for our long day of driving we got up to watch sunrise. We walked up to the top of the hill and watched the sun rise over the sea. The East Cape is the first place to see sun rise. It was worth getting up early for.
On our way to Napier we stopped at Tologa Bay. This is where NZ's longest Wharf is - 600m long. Some people jumped off the end and went for a swim and then Jo swam the full length back to the beach. 
We also stopped off at Gisborne for our lunch break. This was one of the places Captain James Cook found.
We arrived into Napier at 5pm and this was where I met up with my Uncle George and my cousin Blythe. It was great to see them again. We went back to their house in Havelock North where the rest of my cousins Jean, James and Moss made a quick appearance to say hi. That evening was spent catching up with each other.
The drive along the coast after this was spectacular and the photos again don't do it justice. We then stopped at a beach and got views of White Island. We also stopped at a lookout to get a lovely view back along the coast. Our first night was spent and Te Kaha Homestead. It was run by Maori's and was great fun. They had a hot spa on the beach and so we all enjoyed watching the sun set from the hot tub.When we had arrived, our host had sang us a song and we had to reply so we practised our song while we sat in the hot tub. In the evening we played a number of card games and sang some songs before and after the rugby game. It was a fun evening. On the Tuesday we left Te Kaha and headed further along the coast to East Cape. On the way we stopped at a church, some beaches, lots of sheep on the road (a reminder that I am in NZ!) and then arriving at Eastenders Farm Stay at Rangitukia. Most of us went on a 2 hour horse ride. It has to be one of the best horse rides I have done while travelling. We got to gallop along the beach and at one point this ended up with me galloping through the sea and jumping some waves, resulting in a rather wet Louise. After riding along the beach we rode up to the top of a hill and got great views of the East Cape. It was stunning. We then rode back to the Homestead where we made our own bone carvings. The bone carvings took a lot longer to complete than I expected but was interesting and I now have a lovely necklace. For tea we had a Hangi meal. This is a meal which is cooked over hot rocks under the ground - a method used by the Maori's. The food was lovely. The rest of the evening passed with us playing cards again.On Wednesday we left the East Cape and drove down to Napier. Before leaving for our long day of driving we got up to watch sunrise. We walked up to the top of the hill and watched the sun rise over the sea. The East Cape is the first place to see sun rise. It was worth getting up early for.
On our way to Napier we stopped at Tologa Bay. This is where NZ's longest Wharf is - 600m long. Some people jumped off the end and went for a swim and then Jo swam the full length back to the beach. We also stopped off at Gisborne for our lunch break. This was one of the places Captain James Cook found.We arrived into Napier at 5pm and this was where I met up with my Uncle George and my cousin Blythe. It was great to see them again. We went back to their house in Havelock North where the rest of my cousins Jean, James and Moss made a quick appearance to say hi. That evening was spent catching up with each other.
posted by Louise @ 2:35 pm
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After checking into my hostel in Taupo I went for a walk up to Huka Falls. On the way I passed the Spa Thermal Park. This is where a hot stream enters the Waikato River, NZ's longest river. You can go for a swim in here if you like but I didn't have time. I then walked along the riverside for another 30mins and came to the impressive Huka Falls. 
This is where the Waikato River is forced through a narrow chasm and then falls 10m into a surging pool. It looked really impressive. I walked back into town, arriving just before it got dark. That evening I stayed in the hostel and spoke to a number of other scots - it seemed to be the hostel for us all!!
We then went onto the sites of Isengard,
Rivendell,
Helms Deep, Minas Tirith and Fords of Isen. The quarry where Helm's Deep and Minas Tirith were filmed:
We also went past the workshop, digital editing building and the studios. The studios are just an old paint factory and there is nothing there to give away the fact that it is a studio - very different to Hollywood!! 
It was a good day and I learnt a lot about Lord of the Rings. It has even made me a bit of a fan - it has taken me a few years to read some of the books and get round to watching some of the films but I have eventually caught up with everyone else.
In the afternoon I then got the cable car up to the Botanical Gardens. 
The gardens in Wellington are lovely and on a hill - thankfully we had bought a single for the cable car so we didn't have to climb back up to the top to catch the cable car back down. In the gardens I had great fun with the sundial of human involvement - it didn't take much to amuse me that day. I had to stand on top of the place with today's date marked and then I would be able to tell the time from the stones in front of me. It will make more sense when you see the photos. 
In the evening Natasha, Gill and I went back to the Welsh Bar for a few drinks. It is situated on an island int he middle of the road and apparently used to be the old public toilets. The welsh barman was very funny and it was a good laugh. 
We then met up with Dan and went to see Pirates 3 at the Embassy Theatre. It was a great night.
In the evening I watched the rest of the 2nd LOTR film.
I wasn't feeling too great that night so Emma came round to our hostel and we sat in the outdoor hot tub looking at the stars! We then had a lovely meal from the Thai restaurant at the hostel.
There is a lovely little church on the lakefront which we also stopped off at. It is called the Church of the Good Shepherd and is one of the most photographed churches in NZ apparently! 
In Christchurch I was meeting up with Stephanie who I met in Kaikoura and then again in Queenstown. As I walked into our hostel room, here was Stacey - a Canadian I met in Cairns back at the beginning of March!! - in the same room as Stef and me! Such a small travellers world lol.
On the Saturday I met up with Matt, a friend of Amy's (an English girl I met travelling up the east coast of OZ). Matt lives in Christchurch and showed me around the markets. We then met up with Dan and Natasha and Matt took us for a lovely drive to see parts of the Banks Peninsula. We got great views from this drive: 
Lyttleton Harbour: 
At the end of the road we parked the car and walked down to Godley Heads. Down on the bottom of the hill on the coast there are some lovely little cottages where people come for holidays. 
The only way to get here is to either walk down or to take a boat. I wouldn't like to be the one moving things in or out of these cottages - would involve a lot of work! It was a great day out - thanks Matt.
From here we also got views of Mount Cook. The Maori name for Mt Cook is Aoraki which means Cloud Piercer, from the following photo you can see this - Mt Cook is the one piercing the cloud in the middle of the photo. 
We then continued along the road to the Mount Cook Village. We got a quick tour of the village - there is not much here other than a few hotels, motels or hostels, a school and a cafe! Below is a photo of Mt Cook Village. The large grey building is The Hermitage Hotel which costs up to $880 a night to stay in!
After lunch I met a couple called Amy and Craig and their friend Chris. The four of us then did the Kea Point Walk. It was a walk which took about an hour and a half return. The viewpoint was at the Muller Glacier Moraine Wall where we got views of the Muller Glacier, Muller Lake, Mt Seffton and The Footstools. It was a lovely walk. 
Back at the hostel we spent the evening watching films.
From here it wasn't far to the first swing bridge. However on arriving there I decided it would be better not to try and cross it in the winds - it was rather a long bridge and if I crossed it I would have to come back across it again! However it was still a really nice walk. 
I then came back to the hostel and had a quiet afternoon. In the evening I went to the pub with Dan and Natasha (brother and sister I met who are on the Kiwi bus), and a few others from the hostel. It was a fun evening.
The Hermitage Hotel:
