Round the World

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Auckland/ Rotorua/ Taupo, New Zealand

My 25 days of adventure in New Zealand began with a short two day stay in Auckland, the largest city in the country. It is a very pleasant place with a relaxed atmosphere especially along the gorgeous harbour which is populated by numerous fancy restaurants and bars. Another nice area to visit is Mount Eden which offers a splendid view of the city's skyline with the 328 metre high Sky Tower, the tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere, being the most dominant and impressive feature. From here I also got a glimpse of Eden Park, the historic rugby union venue that hosted the inaugural Rugby World Cup final in 1987 which now has been redeveloped for the 2011 edition of the sport's greatest competition. Despite my poor eyesight it certainly looked very impressive and deserving of such an honour.

However my time in Auckland was always going to be dominated by one thing and that was U2. In total the gig at Mount Smart stadium was my fifth time seeing Bono and the boys perform live but the first occasion I would witness such brilliance from outside of Ireland. As usual they did not disappoint with the set list of this 2 hour 5 minute long concert containing a nice variety of old and new material, popular and lesser known. Many of the usual classics were played, such as Sunday Bloody Sunday, With Or Without You, One, and Where the Streets Have No Name but as a die hard fan it was great to hear lesser known tunes such as Miss Sarajevo, Scarlet and One Tree Hill being performed, the last of which was played in honour of all the New Zealand miners who so tragically lost their lives just two days earlier. The only slight disappointment (besides Jay-Z's opening act performance of course!!) was the Kiwi crowd. I was told beforehand that New Zealanders are quite mute at concerts with many being the type to stand there in admiration and give the odd applause rather than give vocal appreciation to the performers. After the gig I realised how bang on the money this comment was with one couple standing in front of me even turning around on a few occasions in shock at myself screaming the words to every single song out from the top of my lungs. The crowd in Auckland doesn't even come close to that in Dublin, which still is, and always will be the best place in the World to see U2. But despite this the concert was incredible and gave me a sense of great pride as I stood there with my Irish flag in hand as a band from my own back yard proceeded to kick ass on the other side of the world!

The following day I joined up with the Magic Bus tour, which will take me around the country in about 16 days with the option to hop off for extra time at any of the destinations along the route. The first evening was spent at Rotorua where I visited a local Maori village and enjoyed a Tamaki Maori Hangi and Concert. After being welcomed into their community by the Maori people we were given the opportunity to talk to them and ask them questions about their culture. They also showed us the Hangi, their method of cooking food using heated rocks under the ground. After the food has been placed in here it is covered in dirt to prevent the heat from escaping. The result of this was a delicious feed with not one of us going home hungry. They also performed a short show for us with a variety of traditional song and dance, concluding with their own version of the intimidating Haka, something which not only the men performed but the women as well. Spine tingling stuff! The whole thing was a little bit cheesy and touristy but was very enjoyable nonetheless. It would be wrong to come to New Zealand and not admire the culture of its indigenous people.

Today we continued on southwards passing through the impressive Wai-O-Tapu geothermal wonderland with its sulphur pools and geyser which shoots out water to heights of 20 metres. While not nearly as impressive or spectacular as those that I saw in Chile and Bolivia it was still an fascinating example of the wonder of nature. From here we journeyed onwards to the beautiful Huka Falls, located on the Waikato River very close to Taupo. Iguassu it is not, but this small waterfall is remarkably powerful for its size throwing over 200,000 litres of water per second into the river below. After admiring this beautiful setting we took a spectacular walk from here to the town of Taupo with breathtaking views of the river seen along the way.

The first thing I have noticed about New Zealand is its expensive nature when compared with South America. Over the last weeks I have taken for granted all the free Internet access that hostels in Latin American countries have provided. Not only is it not free in New Zealand, but it is not cheap either. I have also seen some hostels charging for lockers as well. There is nothing too abnormal about any of this, it just takes a bit of time to adjust to this after spending so much time in a relatively cheap continent. In addition all the amazing outdoor extreme activities that New Zealand has to offer are incredibly pricey meaning that I will seriously have to prioritise what I want to do over the next few weeks or I will go bankrupt, just like my country!

New Zealand is described by many as the adventure capital of the world and I am really looking forward to experiencing some of the great outdoor activities this country has to offer. However from reading the Magic Bus brochure it would appear that most of the places on the itinerary provide almost the exact same list of attractions (Skydive, Bungee Jump, Whitewater rafting etc). While these are no doubt extremely appealing to the backpacker I cant help but think it is a bit overkill. It would be nice to see some of the towns on the trip offer a few attractions that are truly unique to their own areas. Perhaps as I move through the country I will see this. It is just an initial observation more than anything else.

Tomorrow we continue on to the National Parks and from there to Wellington, the nation's capital.

Bye for now




No comments:

Post a Comment