New Zealand - North Island

Hello Everyone! It's been a while since I last posted.  I'm now back at home in Vancouver and just celebrated Christmas with my family this past week and am getting ready for a low key New Years Eve tonight.

Alright, so back to this travel blogging business!  My 2nd to last stop before coming back to Canada was New Zealand. I had been here before in 2006 but only had just enough time to explore around the North Island.  This time I planned on revisiting some of the North Island but mainly focusing on the even more beautiful South Island.

When I arrived in New Zealand, I stayed with my uncle, aunt and cousins in Auckland for a few days.  Aside from being fed some delicious food, it also gave me some time to try to adapt to the cooler New Zealand weather.  When I say "cool", I mean 20C.  Sure, this might seem warm to some of you, especially my fellow Canadians who were preparing for the winter season, but I had just come from warm & sunny Australia and I was freezing cold.  I wore as many layers as possible and still, I would feel a chill from the breeze outdoors that would make me shiver. Brr!

The day prior to leaving on my Kiwi Experience adventure, I came down with my first bout of a stomach related illness.  Let's just say I spent about 12 hours with my head glued to the porcelin bowel and my innards hurt with every movement from the constant vomitting.  Looking on the bright side, it only lasted for a day.  While I still felt nausea for a few days afterwards, the vomitting had completely subsided and I felt good enough to embark on my Kiwi Experience adventure and participate in all the activities. I just didn't eat much!

Our first stop on the Kiwi Experience was the Coromandel Peninsula which is renowned for its secluded beaches and untouched native forest. Along the peninsula, there was a beautiful coastal hike that leads to Cathedral Cove.  At the Cove, I was surrounded by white sand, crystal clear water and the archway from which the cove gets its name.  After our nice walk to the Cove, we headed to Hot Water Beach at 4pm (when the tide was out), so that we could dig our own pool in the sand and have it filled with hot water generated from the geothermic activity below.  Boy, was that water piping hot!! We had to be sure to mix it with some sea water to cool it down otherwise we'd burn ourselves.

Here are some photos:

 The beginning of the walk at Cathedral Cove

 Coastal Cove walk

 Here's the view once you arrive at Cathedral Cove

 Cathedral Cove

 Hot Water Beach

Digging a hot water pool at Hot Water Beach

Hot Water Beach is a popular area during low tide...look at all the diggers

After Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach, I went on a short hike called Karangahake Gorge Historic Walkway. Here are some photos from the scenic hike:

The next stop on the North Island was Rotorua (aka Sulpher City). Rotorua got its nickname of Sulpher City from the amount of geothermic activity that is actively happening in the city.  Plus, the town stinks of sulpher!  In Rotorua, you will see steam coming from under the streets through storm drains, you'll see boiling mud pools and you might catch the occassional geyser.  There are also hot springs which you can relax in that are free (just requires a nice walk to get there).

The last time I was in Rotorua, I went to the Tamaki Maori Village for an awesome cultural show plus hangi (a method where they cook the food under the ground....delicious) and went to the Wai-O-Tapu thermal reserves (amazing!!!!).  My biggest regret though, was not going to the Polynesian Spa which time and time again has been rated one of the WORLD's top 10 spa's.  This time, while everyone else went to the Tamaki Maori Village, I went to the spa for a few hours of uninterrupted bliss.

I started off by relaxing in the thermal hot pools which overlook Lake Rotorua. As recommended, I started in the coolest pool (36C) and worked my way up to the hottest pool (42C).  By the time I was done, my fingers and toes had wrinkled, my skin smelled of sulpher (but ohhh was it smooth as ever), and I found it difficult to breathe with all the steam in my face. I was ready for my spa treatment - a Rotorua Mud Body Polish/Aix combo which finished off with an organic coconut oil full body massage - heaven on earth!  This was the best spa treatment I've ever had. If you are planning a trip to New Zealand and you like going to the spa and treating yourself every now and again, GO to the Polynesian Spa in Rotorua. 

One of the thermal Lake Pools that overlook Lake Rotorua at the spa :)

While in Rotorua, I also checked out Te Puia, which is a New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Centre.  This is a great place to learn about the Maori culture, check out some of the local crafts and witness geotheric activity including active geyers.  Here are some photos:

 Finished product

 Wood carving

 Boiling mud

 Geothermic activity - so cool (actually, it's quite warm - LOL)

Active geyer

On the North Island, I also went to Waitomo (glow worm caves), Taupo, River Valley and Wellington.  Waitomo - there is nothing there except the glow worm caves. I saw them in 2006 and just went for a nice hike instead this time around.  Taupo - beautiful lake and a great place to relax, but not much else to do except for skydiving.  One of the cheapest spots in the world to skydive!  River Valley - I don't want to talk about it.  The photo below will captures my sentiment:

 

 

The only good thing about River Valley is that we left it and on our way out, we went on this walk called the Tawhai Falls Walk in which Mount Doom (for those of you who watched Lord of the Rings) was clearly visible. Note: The real name of the mountain is Mount Ngauruhoe.  Here are some pics:

 

As for Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, it was so cold, windy and rainy when I was there, so I basically hibernated indoors or under the bus shelter with my friends Wendy & Becky to tap into the free city wi-fi. 

Well, that about sums it up for the North Island! Next post - South Island.

Australia - Brisbane & Surfers Paradise

Following my African adventures, I spent 2 weeks in Brisbane and at Surfers Paradise relaxing.  This was my vacation away from my vacation :) I backpacked around Australia during 2006 and visited Sydney, Gold Coast/Surfers Paradise, Brisbane, Whitsunday Islands, snorkled the Great Barrier Reef, camped in the Outback in Alice Springs/Uluru, went to Adelaine & Melbourne and drove the Great Ocean Road. 

This time I focused on spending more time with my aunt in Brisbane and visiting extended family who live in the Brisbane area. Thanks to all my extended family who welcomed me into their homes and fed me way too much food - it was absolutely delicious!

Here are some pics from Brisbane:

And here are a couple photos from beautiful Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast:

I had a very relaxing time in Brisbane and in Surfers Paradise - I can't wait to come back here in the future.  I still have my Australian working visa for 12 months and just may come back here for a few months in 2012 for work (depending on the job situation/economy in Vancouver).  My aunt has already offered for me to stay at her house rent free and I've received similar offers from other family members in the Brisbane area - very tempting!!

Matteo - Diving in Egypt!

After spending a week in England the cold was starting to get to me so I put on my 2 shirts, 2 jackets, jeans and shoes and headed via train back to Manchester Airport. I flew into Sharm, Eygpt and got picked up by a bus to go to Dahab. I met Mel on this bus ride turns out we were on the same flight as well. We were heading to the same accomdations in Dahab at Bishbishi Garden Village! I had heard about this place through Nadia who I had met in Galway, Ireland. She put me in touch with Oula, who manages Bishbishi. I spent a week here and all the staff was amazing and the food was great! I will stay here again when I come back.

The Blue Lagoon

Mel had told me that her boyfriend was living in Cairo and studying Arabic. Him and bunch of his friends came down for the week as well so it was interesting to get their opinion of the mess that is Cairo! Although Oula went out of his way to book anything and everything I wanted to do including look into flying to Giza. I had decided that I will have to come back and see it another time. Bishbishi had lots of different excursion to go to Jordan, Petra, and Jerusalem. Yet another reason I need to come back! The real reason I was here was for diving!

I booked to do my PADI Advanced course which consisted of 5 dives in 2 days. This Dives included 2 at the Canyon as well as a drift dive at the Blue Hole! Yes, lots of people have died here but most due to diver stupidity. Going deeper than they can handle. The only reason I could think that people would do this is they get addicted to the "bends". This felling makes you feel like you are drunk/high. So these divers, diving at these depths is kind of like an over dose of nitrogen in your blood! The first day I did the Canyon a man had died that afternoon. They found his body floating in the water and was brought to the surface by other divers. It's his history that makes him dumb. 5 weeks prior to this day he was placed in a chamber for decompression sickness for going too deep. When he came out the doctors told him not to dive for at least 3 months. 5 weeks later he was in the water diving and not only that but going down 50m. These people made these decision on their own and clearly this is what they wanted was death.

On a plus note I did pass my Advanced and now certified to go as deep as 40m the max depth for Rec diving. My instructor, Sonia, had asked me why I wanted my Advanced Cert if I had no interest in going to places like the Blue Hole to go down just to go deep. I had told her that I wanted to start seeing wrecks because there is so much untouched history under the sea! She got excited and recommended that I do a wreck dive call the Thistlegorm out of Sharm! As well as get my cert for enriched air. Lowering the risk of decompression sickness at depths giving you longer bottom time. So signed up for this as well the Thistlegorm.

The Blue Hole

(The dark area drops off to 300m from where the people are standing)

A typical seating area in Egyptian cafes and restaurants. 

Sonia was originally from London, she is an english teacher. She came to Dahab to do some diving and holidays for 3 weeks she ended up being offered a job as a dive instructor and ended up staying 4 months. This included missing 3 weddings that she was part of the bridal party. Just to give you an idea of what Dahab is like! It was very interesting talking to her as we were roughly the same age and the path less travelled seemed to intrigue both of us. Hope to see you in Aus in Feb!

I had a couple days before diving the Thistlegorm so I talked to Oula and he said you have to hike the White Canyon, its is a day trip. This is a ride in the desert with a jeep to see, first the mushroom rock, then to a village oasis in the middle of the sand. Then a hike through the White Canyon! Which was wicked because middle of the Canyon was all white sand so it was like hiking at the beach! No footwear required except for the rocks you occasionally had to climb which I managed with my sandals. I refused to wear shoes!

Now, the Thistlegorm. It was 3 dives in one day. Making this 8 dives in one week and no I didn't get sick of it at anytime. The Thistlegorm was a British cargo ship from WWII. It was bombed by 2 bombers. Almost everything is still there included, ammo, deck guns, tanks, locomotives, trucks, motorcycles, machine guns, and wellington boots. As I don't have an underwater camera I don't have any pictures to show you. Although I did purchase a DVD from the day which I split the cost of a fellow world traveller Ryan that I met on the boat from New Zealand. He is currently in Central America travelling south. This was by far the best dive I have done to date! Words can not describe so when you see me ask about the DVD or there are lots of images online that you can see about this wreck.

The following night I was back to the airport of Sharm with Mel to catch 3 flights to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe to begin my Safari as Mel headed back to England!

South Africa - Cape Town

After my safari ended in Johannesburg, I flew to Cape Town for my shark dive.  Unfortunately, due to high winds, my shark dive was cancelled.  I now had a free day to explore beautiful Cape Town.

Cape Town is beyond rich in history and beauty.  I had a great time driving along the scenic coastline (Camps Bay, Clifton, Bantry Bay, Sea Point, Three Anchor Bay) and stopping at some points along the way to enjoy the beautiful water and view, I loved exploring the shops at the Waterfront, looking up at Table Mountain which was covered in cloud the entire time I was there and checking out the main city streets.

Here are some pics from my day in Cape Town (one day was definitely not enough!).

 

 Next stop – Brisbane, Australia!