Last full day here as we fly tomorrow night, so time to review:
Glad we came, have enjoyed it, but still think I wouldn't have bothered flying halfway around the world just to visit. Highlight for me was the geothermal activity around Rotorua - mudpools, geysers, hot pools and clouds of steam everywhere are like nothing else I have ever seen, and different to volcanoes I have visited (Teide, Vesuvius). The rest of it I think you can find across Europe between Norway, Scotland and the Alps. It is all pretty, just not unique. Plus the weather, language, food and culture are too like the UK to feel like you are a world away - one of the main reasons we never holidayed in the UK.
69 nights in Lurch and Fat Tranny have also been an education - we now have a long long list of things that these vans are missing and that the next one must address. I think it was the right decision to rent given the time we were here for, and we have timed it about right having only really had to kill the last few days back around Auckland, but it hasn't been a comfortable time compared to Oz and Tigger. Soooo looking forward to the economy seat on the back of the plane and a decent nights sleep :-)
If I was coming again I would probably come a bit later in the year - we were probably a month or so ahead of when we expected to be here as we sold Tigger so easily, so late winter and into spring. Advantage was that van hire and camps at the start of the trip were a little cheaper, and we never had to book in anywhere as there was always plenty of space, but overall so much to do and see here is outdoors so weather dependent. We had some great days - Milford sound, Marlborough sounds, whale watching at Kaikoura - but equally we had a lot of drizzly rain and cool that just saps the spirit. But then this is what NZ is famous for...
Overdosed on curry at the Diwali festival yesterday as it will be my last one for the foreseeable future - never found a decent Indian in the US. On the other hand I have only had 1 burger this whole trip, so I dare say I will make amends for that in the next couple of weeks....
Glad we came, have enjoyed it, but still think I wouldn't have bothered flying halfway around the world just to visit. Highlight for me was the geothermal activity around Rotorua - mudpools, geysers, hot pools and clouds of steam everywhere are like nothing else I have ever seen, and different to volcanoes I have visited (Teide, Vesuvius). The rest of it I think you can find across Europe between Norway, Scotland and the Alps. It is all pretty, just not unique. Plus the weather, language, food and culture are too like the UK to feel like you are a world away - one of the main reasons we never holidayed in the UK.
69 nights in Lurch and Fat Tranny have also been an education - we now have a long long list of things that these vans are missing and that the next one must address. I think it was the right decision to rent given the time we were here for, and we have timed it about right having only really had to kill the last few days back around Auckland, but it hasn't been a comfortable time compared to Oz and Tigger. Soooo looking forward to the economy seat on the back of the plane and a decent nights sleep :-)
If I was coming again I would probably come a bit later in the year - we were probably a month or so ahead of when we expected to be here as we sold Tigger so easily, so late winter and into spring. Advantage was that van hire and camps at the start of the trip were a little cheaper, and we never had to book in anywhere as there was always plenty of space, but overall so much to do and see here is outdoors so weather dependent. We had some great days - Milford sound, Marlborough sounds, whale watching at Kaikoura - but equally we had a lot of drizzly rain and cool that just saps the spirit. But then this is what NZ is famous for...
Overdosed on curry at the Diwali festival yesterday as it will be my last one for the foreseeable future - never found a decent Indian in the US. On the other hand I have only had 1 burger this whole trip, so I dare say I will make amends for that in the next couple of weeks....
No comments:
Post a Comment