What has Andy gone and done now…?

This is just a bit of a mish mash post to show a few things I’ve done or seen while travelling around the North Island…I did a bit of a round trip going right down to Wellington and right up to Cape Reinga, which was a lot of driving…about 3500km in two weeks to be precise…and it was just me…on my own…with no working radio…nothing but my thoughts…and for those of you who know me well, you will understand that being alone with nothing but my thoughts is quite a scary thing indeed..!!..

I had scheduled in to meet Sal and her dad in Wellington after a week and then to meet them again and stay with them for three days in the Bay of Islands up north for the last part of the trip before her dad flew back to the UK and Sal and I went back to Auckland…and that is indeed what happened…funnily enough…

Anyway, I digress…the trip…the photos…I know you’re dying for me to continue…

Let’s start with more Lord of the Rings shall we..!?..I spent a couple of days in and around the Tongariro National Park – that’s where I did the trout fishing (see last post!)…and I did mention that the Tongariro River flowed out of the mountain range that included ‘Mount Doom’…or Mount Ngauruhoe as it is actually called…

 

…well here it is – Mount Doom on a cloudy day…it actually almost looks like it is errupting!…but it’s not…don’t worry…though apparently it is due…

 

I was driving along behind this car which made me think of Colin and Sharon..!..there are so many personalised number plates here…it’s weird…everyone has them…

 

Te Puia in Rotorua – a really active volcanic area with boiling mud…

 

…and geysers…

 

On my way to meet Sal in the Bay of Islands I thought I would take an extra day and head right to Cape Reinga at the north tip of New Zealand…just so I could say I’d been there..!?..this would also take in the Ninety Mile Beach which I thought would be quite cool…

 

My trusty ride sitting on Ninety Mile Beach…which is, as it’s name suggests, a beach that goes on for ninety miles…well actually its more like 90Km, but who am I to argue with the New Zealand tourist board, eh…

 

OK, bad quality photo I know, but it was taken by someone else and emailed to me…this is me on the left ’sand boarding’ down a massive (they were actually named the ’Te Paki Massive Sand Dunes’) sand dune at the back of the Ninety Mile Beach…basically a body board, a massive steep sand dune…and a LOT of speed..!!

 

Now this photo mightn’t ‘look’ that impressive…ok it’s ‘not’ that impressive, but those waves are actually created by the Tasman Sea meeting the Pacific Ocean at the very tip of New Zealand – come on people – you gotta admit that’s even a ‘little’ bit impressive…Sal and her dad weren’t convinced…

 

Now…the three days in the Bay of Islands were fun…I met up with Sal and her dad (who thankfully is pretty cool and not at all scary..) and had a few nice days chilling out, swimming and doing some fun stuff…part of which was me larking around in an adventure park with lots of swings, climbing walls and stuff…but the highlight was the trapeze..!!..I took to it like a natural if I do say so myself…I’m thinking of joining the circus…it was quite scary, but I didn’t fall off once, and I even dismounted with a forward somersault at the end…I did try to upload a cool video but it didn’t work so all you get is this action shot as I’m just about to launch off one bar and onto the next…hence the strangely contorted body shape..!!

 

Fun fun fun…

 

The highlight of the Bay of Islands (and probably the North Island) was on the last morning, when the weather cleared enough to do New Zealands HIGHEST parasail..!!..I had always wanted to do this so what better opportunity than at 1200 feet in New Zealand..!!..

 

A promo shot of the boat…

 

…but just to prove that I did indeed do it myself..!!..

 

This is the reason for the facial expression above..!!

 

All good though..!!

 

So that’s about it for now…Sal’s dad is now probably still in the air somewhere on his way back…and she and myself are currently in Auckland trying to devise some sort of plan as to what to do for the next while..!?..obviously the ‘work’ part of my ‘travelling and working’ hasn’t quite materialised yet..!?..life sucks eh…