On Monday we drove across the top of the North Island of NZ to reach our next destination which was the Bay of Islands. Our first stop was the grounds of the Treaty of Waitangi. This is a historic place of huge importance for New Zealanders. In 1840 the treaty was signed by the British resident William Hobson and over 500 Maori chiefs. The treaty basically stated that the Maoris would have the same rights as British citizens and would be protected by the crown in exchange for giving up the sovereignty of NZ to Britain.
Although there is evidence of the settlers (or Pakeha) treating the natives badly it is interesting to see the difference between NZ's situation and the treatment of Aboriginals in Australia.Built next to William Hobson's house is an impressive Maori meeting house. Many trade and land agreements were discussed by Pakeha and Maori on the grounds.
There is also a huge war canoe in the treaty grounds. It is made out of three Kauri trees (see previous post) and can hold 150 men.
As well as being full of history, you can also enjoy swimming with dolphins at the Bay of Islands. Unfortunately the weather wasn't the best for viewing them so we decided to wait until we were in the South Island.Instead we visited a small town called Russel via the local ferry. Russel was a beautiful little town which had the oldest church of New Zealand situated in it.
Rotorua (07/01/08 - 09/01/08)
We drove straight through Auckland to reach our next destination. Rotorua is literally built on a volcanic ridge of geothermal activity. It was so impressive to see the mud pools and steaming geysers that line the street as you enter the town, however, we were a little worried when a local said that they have to physically let the pressure out of the geysers every week or the town would shake!!
We spent half a day at the Waitomo Thermal Wonderland. Despite the cheesy name the place was awesome. From spraying geysers to bubbling pools it had everything and it was all natural.
The range of colours on display were amazing. They were created by all the different volcanic minerals mixing together. When we saw fluorescent yellow/green pools it was hard to believe that it had all been created by natural causes.
We also found time to relax in Rotorua. We took an invigorating mud and minerals bath at a spa. The picture to the left is not our bath (in case you were wondering) it is a boiling hot mud pool in action at the park.Christchurch 10/01/08 - 12/01/08
We took a short flight down to Christchurch where we spent a few days taking in all the beautiful sights it had to offer.We really loved Christchurch, it was very arty with some great coffee shops. We spent some time going to a huge old university that had been turned into a craft centre, we also took time to visit the museum and had a picnic at the botanical gardens.
This is a photo of Christchurch Cathederal, it is the only church that we have ever entered that had automatic doors!! (It was very touristy) but was a lovely church.
We picked up our campervan from the "Wicked Camper" office in Christchurch. We were really pleased with our campervan. It was brand new, automatic, air conditioned and the best feature is the huge pictures and lyrics spray painted all over the van of the Chemical Brothers!! Akaroa (12/01/08 - 13/01/08)
On our first day in our Campervan we headed down to Akaroa. We had to drive really high up into the mountains and at some parts we got a bit scared. However, from what seemed out of nowhere a huge turquoise blue harbor came into sight and we had such an amazing view that took our breath away!
We decided to spend the night up in the mountains on our first night. There was nothing around us except fields, mountains and a beautiful view of the sea. This is a photo of the beautiful sunset we had from up the top of the mountain. This was taken just before Rob got down on one knee and asked Jennie to marry him and ..... she said yes!! (Sorry for the shocking news if you were unaware!!)
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