I started my journey up to Auckland from Wellington, having got the ferry from the South Island. Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand and is also the windiest city in the world!
After Wellington, I made my way up to Wanganui, and then on to National Park Village, where I walked the Tongariro Crossing. This was a spectacular walk through a volcanic site!
You might recognise Mount Ngauruhoe as it was used in the 'Lord of The Rings' movies as Mount Doom!
After the Tongariro crossing, I continued my way up North to Tauranga, where I climbed to the top of Mount Maunganui, which is a dormant volcano.
Further along the coast of the Bay of Plenty, we got to Hot Water Beach. At Hot Water Beach there is an underground reservoir of hot water. When you dig into the sand, the hot water rises, creating your own natural hot pool! You have to be careful though, as the water can be incredibly hot!
Not far from Hot Water Beach was Cathedral Cove:
I was very sad to leave New Zealand, having spent over 4 months there, but am now looking forward to my time in Asia. I am now in Malaysia and plan to go to Singapore and Thailand in the coming weeks!
Hope you are enjoying the heat in the tropics - it must have been getting cold in New Zealand as the seasons changed.
ReplyDeleteWere you in Malaysia for Chinese New year? What was it like? It must have been very exciting.
Post lots of pictures as you go through the tropical climates - we are really interested in the rain forests and the different plants that grow there.
We are all looking forward to lots of pictures of Buddhist temples as you travel up through Thailand.
Take care and make sure you don't get bitten by any nasty bugs!
Ms Woods and all at Strand
It is certainly very different to have temperatures above 30 degrees every day but it makes the smallest tasks very tiring! Air conditioning is essential! New Zealand was beginning to cool as the seasons changed and I have heard from friends that it is experiencing some stormy weather. I was in Malaysia during the Chinese New Year and it was very exciting as the celebrations seemed to go on for several days, although there was a lot of traffic and prices seemed to go up for everything during this time! I have just posted some new pictures of my time in Malaysia, Singapore and the beginning of my time in Thailand so check it out. Hope everything is going well at school - I saw the pictures from Red Nose Day and felt gutted to have missed out on th fundraising - you did a fantastic job! I am doing my best to take care but unfortunately, the mosquitoes seem to like the taste of my blood! However, I am now armed with some high strength mosquito repellent.
ReplyDeleteMissing everyone loads,
Mr Dienn