Julie's Magical Mystery Tour: Kiwi Experience Bus Trip, North Island

Julie's Magical Mystery Tour: Kiwi Experience Bus Trip, North Island
including Whitianga (Coromandel Peninsula), Rotorua, Waitomo, and Taupo

I described my five-day Kiwi Experience bus trip to someone as being "a cross between Disneyland and boot camp." Having known someone else who did this, they felt the description was quite accurate. Still, it was a wonderful time, and a great way to see many places very quickly, with a guide who knows the areas very well.

On the bus
I had no idea what I was in store for, but was glad I decided to do this and not drive myself, especially with all the narrow mountain passes we would be careening through. Our first stop would be Whitianga, on the Coromandel Peninsula, with a stop at Cathedral Cove. Since this bus trip was billed as "activity based," they'd pass around sign-up sheets where you'd choose what you wanted to do. Feeling adventurous on that first day, I signed up for sea kayaking.

Whitianga, Coromandel Peninsula
About to treat myself to a nice lamb dinner with a glass of Merlot at a cozy pub/restaurant across from the Whitianga marina. This is to try to sooth my frazzled nerves, after a horrific kayaking experience out to Cathedral Cove. Don't get me wrong &##8212; the kayak was brilliant, the scenery spectacular, and they served us mochachinos and cookies on the beach after we got to the cove, which was absolutely exquisite. But my partner! Ack!!

They were two-person kayaks, and I had the misfortune of being paired with this eager Asian-American youngster. For some reason, he refused to row in tandem with me (I was in front), and as a result, I kept hitting his paddle on the backstroke and we were the last ones in our group to arrive at each destination. Idiot. Apparently he is still too young to know that some activities are best done slowly and in cooperation with your partner. Like... well... kayaking, for example.

The Kiwi Experience bus is quite interesting. We have a wacky and quite funny Kiwi driver who provides us with running commentary of each place we pass by. Awful music blasting. At one point, he put on a weird tape of U.S. TV soundtracks! And the passengers &##8212; all early 20s and thank the gods most of them are at a different backpackers tonight. Apparently this particular touring company is rather notorious for full-out craziness and partying (as I was told by several people in Auckland), so it should be an interesting time...

Rotorua
Somehow managed to get up and out at 7:30 (our pickup time). Fortunately, at least we had a cafe stop in the morning before setting off towards Rotorua, where I was able to get a "savory" (sort of a smaller version of the meat pie, with different fillings). Delicious!

We drove for a fair while, our driver giving us a great deal of background and history of each place we went through, along with a lot of humour. At one point, he mentioned we were passing through the town of Paeroa, and of course, he told the story of the famous Kiwi soft drink, L&P. Which had me thinking, "hmm... wonder if they have a big bottle somewhere?"* We turned the next corner, and there it was!

We then made a quick stop at Matamata (aka Hobbiton, from "Lord of the Rings"). Unfortunately not long enough to do a tour of the hobbit holes, but I was able to snap some pictures of the town itself and grab some souveniers. [I believe all the sets are gone anyway, so all you'd see are big piles of dirt with holes in them. Apparently Peter Jackson now has Bilbo's "Bag End" in his Wellington garden.]

Upon arriving in Rotorua (a town known as the center of Maori culture, and for its thermal activity), we dropped our things off at our hostel and hopped back on the bus to go to Te Whakarewarewa Thermal Valley and Maori Arts & Crafts Institute. It's an amazing place. First, we had a good look at a reconstructed marae, complete with meeting house, storehouse, ancestor home filled with beautiful portraits, and of course many wonderful woodcarvings. I wandered off with Manoli, a Spanish girl I had met on the bus, but eventually we met up with a guided tour, just in time to get on this "train" to be taken to the thermal park area. A wonderfully surreal landscape of boiling mud pools, the huge Pohutu Geyser, and surrounding mountains. The sulpher smell was obviously more intense here, but overall the city of Rotorua was not nearly as bad as people had warned. Though I was also told the winds can shift at any moment!

In the evening, we all went to Tamaki Maori Village for the traditional hangi and concert. Our guide was Flo, a Maori woman who, during the bus ride to the marae, gave us all the necessary background information and protocol for that evening's festivities. I probably knew more about Maori culture than any of those kids did, but our "tribal leader" had to be a man (hmph!), so they ended up choosing this young guy who I was sure would, to use the Kiwi vernacular, stuff it up. As it was, I would be the one to commit a serious faux pas. We were all standing in a semicircle as the tribal elder explaining about the wero (challenge) to the leaders from all the groups that evening. I quickly took out my camera to get ready, not realizing that I was near the end of the disc. I started to film, and I see the 'nearing end of disc' message. Panicking, I fumble around for another disc, inadvertently choosing another one I had already used. Again, a few seconds of footage, and 'end of tape.' They're about to start now, and I'm getting more frantic, so much so that I end up dropping the disc on the ground and quickly bend down to retrieve it. Exactly after that, I hear the elder say, "please show respect during this ritual by standing up straight, facing forward, and do not bend over or break eye contact." And then he looks pointedly at me with a glaring expression on his face. Yikes!

In spite of that, the challenge went well and was fascinating. It was followed by a series of cultural demonstrations in a large courtyard, and then we were ushered into the meeting house for a wonderful concert of songs and dance. The hangi followed, which was superb (lamb, chicken, smoked fish, kumara (sweet potato), and several other items, cooked in the traditional way, which is in a dug out area in the ground, beneath heated rocks). After a few hours of eating and some parting words from our hosts, we all waddled back onto the bus for the ride back. Flo was once again a lot of fun, and it made for a great evening. I slept very well that night.

For an excellent overview, including video clips, of Maori culture and ritual, check out 100% Pure New Zealand. The actual Wero (challenge) can be seen here. By the way, www.purenz.co.nz is the home of Tourism New Zealand, and is, in my opinion, the best NZ-related site there is.

Waitomo
Another early morning start &##8212; 8am departure this time. I somehow managed to get up early enough to take a short soak in the outdoor Jacuzzi. Still not quite sure how I managed that, but it was wonderful. I even had time to walk to a nearby park, not realizing that the park itself was a thermal area, with some gorgeous sights of steam rising from pools and rocks. I wandered around in amazement, and got back just in time to grab my bags and jump on the notorious bus.

We arrived in Waitomo to a lovely hostel surrounded by hills and forest. After getting settled in, I took off with this British woman, Abby, for this wacky sounding "Kiwi Culture" show, put on by someone named Billy Black. We ended up getting there late and sneaking in (very naughty of us). The show was a complete hoot. He introduced the audience to the early pioneering history of New Zealand, and his "supporting cast" was an endless stream of animals that he brought up on stage. Hilarious. At one point, he did a sheep shearing demonstration (of course), and he pointed to us and said, "I'm going to pick on the girls who got here late." With that he waves me up. Ulp! So I hand my camera to Abby, who's laughing uncontrollably, and up I go. Turns out I'm to operate this manual sheep shearing contraption (what they used before automation came along). And needless to say, I do that for about 30 seconds and I'm exhausted, and meanwhile this crazy Kiwi hick is yelling at me to go faster. Fortunately, a few others were called up as well (to take over after the first person dropped, apparently), so this guy was far better at it than I was, and Billy Black was able to finish shearing his sheep.

We made it back to the hostel just in time to hop aboard a van for our Black Water Rafting trip through the glowworm caves. We had a choice of "wet or dry," meaning either you get tossed into the water in an inner tube, or you take a slightly more passive approach and board a raft. I opted for the raft. If any of you get to Waitomo and wish to see the glowworms (highly recommended), I suggest you do the trip with the Black Water Rafting group, and not the more commercial one. This smaller company limits the group to 10 at a time, and you first hike through a private pasture to get to the cave itself, through rolling green hillsides and lots of sheep, which is just lovely.

We were supplied with those miners' helmets with the little lights on top and ventured into the dark cave, one at a time. We walked a little ways to a boat, our wonderful guide telling us about the cave and completely blowing apart our romantic notion of glowworms. Turns out they're really maggots and not worms at all, and the part of their body which glows is, in fact, the material inside their intestines. So basically what you have here is glowing maggot shit. Not terribly romantic anymore, is it?

We could see a few of them as we walked to the boat, but we would have to go further into the cave and turn off the lights in order to get the full effect. They're attracted to dark, wet caves and light disturbs them, so we were asked to turn off the lights and not take any photos with flashes. Our raft moved along through the cave; very serene. We reached a point where we got out and walked along a ledge, holding onto each other and shuffling along in the dark. Even in the boat we could see them &##8212; a blanket of bright stars lining the walls and roof of the cave. Fantastic! We sat for a good while just watching them and listening to the quiet water sounds. At one point, our guide suggested we make noise, as this would make them brighter. So we did &##8212; and it worked! She said they were basically "crapping themselves" at the sudden loud noise and hence, getting brighter.

We made our way back out into the brightness, back to the stream next to the cave, where we had a little snack of mochachinos and cookies, to rekindle our strength for the small hike back to the van. A wonderful afternoon.

Taupo
At 8:30 am, we were off again, on the road to Taupo. We made a stop at Waikato River and the magnificent Huka Falls, and also to take a dip in the hot water stream. A good day for it too, as it was rather cool and rainy. A bunch of us wandered off from the main group and ended up having a bigger hike than we were intended to. Next trip, I must connect with a slightly older age group. These kids seemed to think they were participating in some sort of Olympic event, and I got quite a workout trying to keep up with them! But we did finally find the hot water stream, after hiking what seemed like the entire length of the river.

The stream was marvelous. Some of our group went in completely. I decided to just soak my feet, which was really luxurious. A natural jacuzzi! The rest of the bus finally came along, and we hung out there for a while. Then it was on to the Taupo bungy jump, where everyone watched, but no one bucked up enough courage to try it. We saw a few jumpers; it looked like a very nice place to do it, over the river and surrounded by forest and native bush.

I had hoped to do a tandem skydive over Lake Taupo (gorgeous area), but due to the dodgy weather, the plane didn't go up. We tried again in the morning, but still no luck. Ah well, next time. After having breakfast with some friends I had met on the bus, I walked around and did a little souvenir shopping in "downtown Taupo" (lovely little town by the lake). I then boarded a different bus back up to Auckland, since the Kiwi Experience folks were headed elsewhere, and I had a Crusaders game I had to get to on Saturday, down in Christchurch. [See Christchurch Revisited].

* Many New Zealand towns do this, if they're especially known for something.

Kiwi Experience Bus Trip, Day 1 to Whitianga