When we visited India the past February, the idea for another trip started getting kicked around. We had so much fun in Italy that we wanted to do another 'family' trip. As AV, SB, Indu and I started talking about trip ideas AK and BT got interested too. And eventually we were 7 of us including ST.
See, how many ever times you cross the equator and check if the water really drains down the toilet clockwise you can never be sure (or is it anti-clockwise or is it all just a myth?!), so we decided the trip had to be over the equator once again! And that's how we ended up picking New Zealand as our destination - well, atleast that's why I voted for NZ!
After the usual long flight, we landed in Auckland. And to our pleasant surprise, it took us less than 10 minutes from collecting our bags to walking into our hotel room. Yes, Novotel hotel at the Auckland airport is actually right across the exit door of the airport. Its such a great feeling to walk into your hotel room after a 20 hour journey within minutes of landing.
The next morning we met up with AV and SB and flew out to Queenstown. The landing approach to Queenstown airport was just breathtaking. We flew over the stunning Remarkables and the Lake Wakatipu. We had booked a vacation home with a view of the lake and the mountains. And what a view it was. At this point, I should note that one has to try really, really hard to find a place in NZ that doesn't have a great view!
By late afternoon AK, BT and ST had joined us too. Since we had chosen Spring time to travel to NZ, it was not crowded yet. We were able to walk about and take our time enjoying the beauty. Its hard to rank the places we visited in NZ based on the beauty aspect but I think Queenstown beats out the other places by a tiny margin. Ofcourse its the first night in NZ and what do people vote to eat? Yes, that's right, we went to an Indian restaurant. I was actually surprised at the number of resident Indians we saw in NZ. Back to Queenstown, the next morning we boarded a bus to Milford Sound. It was a long ride but it was very scenic. And yes, Milford Sound looks as stunning in real life as it looks in the movies and post cards! We cruised on the Sound for an hour and saw some stunning mountain peaks and waterfalls.
The next day was the big day. We took the gondola up the nearby mountain in Queenstown. This is where the Ledge bungy was located. Ohh what a stunning location it was to bungy jump.
Allow me to try and paint a picture for you. Imagine you are up a mountain which is about 1000 feet up. Now imagine you are surrounded by a breath taking view of snow capped mountains with a huge lake in front of you. Add to this a beautiful day with blue skies and few patches of clouds. And now imagine suited up in a harness with a rope attached to your back. Add to this standing on the edge of a cantilevered ledge which is hanging off a cliff with nothing below it for a few hundred feet. Now take a few steps back from the edge, close your eyes, breathe for a second, open your eyes, run for the edge of the ledge and leap into nothingness with your arms and legs extended like a star. And remember to keep your eyes open for the next few seconds. As gravity forces you to twist to face down, the view of the snow capped mountains and the lake slides up your field of vision replaced by the view of the ground and the trees on the mountain side. Now this view doesn't change, instead it rushes up to you at an incredible speed for the next couple of seconds. As you start to realize you have a frozen brain - either from the indescribable fear of the ground rushing at you or the indescribable beauty of the surrounding - the rope yanks you back and your brain is jarred back into action. And then the usual stuff happens - you bounce around, you get pulled back up to the ledge, you get out of the harness, you cant stop shaking from the adrenaline rush as people hi-fi you and all the while you cant believe you are stupid enough to actually jump off a cliff with nothing but a rope attached to you! And Indu followed it up bravely with her own jump after a bit of goading by AV and she yelling at the jump master (yes really, she yelled at the poor man for counting down for her jump!). AV had one of the best jumps style wise and AK's jump actually inspired Indu to go for it too.
Now back to our trip. The next day we flew back to Auckland and embarked on our great NZ road trip. Over the next 6 days we would travel over 600 miles conquering lush mountains, freezing coasts, windy roads... ok I am dramatizing this a bit because it was after all a min-van that we were driving, but it was a great road trip. I was so glad we chose to drive. We were able to randomly stop at some stunning locations and even just park on the side of a state highway, walk to the middle of the highway, sit down and take a photograph! This reminds me, once you get out of Auckland, you get this feeling that you see more cattle than humans. You can drive for miles without crossing another vehicle!
Our first stop was at Whitianga. We stayed at an amazing Bed & Breakfast called 'On the Beach' and the name could not have been any more appropriate. It was a beautiful house right on the beach run by a lovely old couple - Gordon and Diana. The next morning was a shocker. I opened the curtains and felt something was out of place and it took me a few minutes to figure out what was out of place. Right there on their flag pole was an Indian flag! Apparently Gordon has many flags and he hoists the appropriate one based on who is staying in their B&B that day! Funnily SB, AK and Indu were scared of Diana because she looked very strict! And of course we had another shocker that night. We headed out to dinner to the town, I would actually say its a tiny tourist village. As we finished dinner and headed back to our van, there was a huge siren, not like the ones on ambulances but like the ones on big mines. We were confused and wasn't sure what was happening. In fact I was afraid that it might be a tsunami warning. So we went back into the restaurant to learn that it was a fire alarm. Apparently the town has an all volunteer fire service and that's the way to call in the volunteers from their homes if there is a need! Oh well, if the town is tiny enough I suppose it doesn't hurt to wake up the entire town even if one house had a small fire. The next day we hiked to Cathedral Cove which was quite a sight. That evening we had a surreal experience at the Hotwater beach. It was surreal because we were sitting in a hot pool of water on a beach a few feet from the freezing waves on a frigid day! On this beach there is a hot spring that you can reach only during low tide. So for a couple of hours when the tide is low you go in, dig a hole to trap the hot water that oozes out and on its way to drain into the ocean. You then sit in that hole with hot water refreshing you as you look out to the freezing ocean! Of course once in a while the wave gets its revenge and overruns the holes and you will see everyone bolting upright and jumping around in the cold until the wave recedes and holes fill back with the hot water! That was a funny sight to watch. So yes, wherever you stay around Whitianga, they provide you with a tiny shovel and beach towels just to go visit the hot water beach!
We then drove on to Rotorua where we stayed for a couple of days. On our way we stopped at a really scenic coffee shop overlooking the back waters. Did I mention that its really, really hard to find a place in NZ without a great view?! The highlight of Rotorua was the Tree Hut vacation rental home we stayed in. It was a log cabin built on the side of a mountain overlooking Lake Tarawera. It was quite a steep hike up to get to the house - to the extent that our van could not make it up the driveway. But that meant we had a great view and the log cabin was in the middle of a jungle. We also went to some really good restaurants here. In addition, AV's friend JS joined us one evening and he brought with him his delicious marinated chicken dish! And Indu continued her tradition of introducing and hooking people into her favorite Moscato wine. This trip it was AK's turn to be corrupted by Indu!
We finished our loop back in Auckland. The city was a fun place. We spent a day visiting the Waiheke island wineries. The island was very beautiful and I am not saying that just because of all the wine tasting we did there! I forget, did I mention its really, really hard to find a place in NZ without a great view? The next day we just went around the city and I had one of the best waffles I have ever had in my life! Oh yes, I should also mention the yummy crème brule we had at SB's aunt's house. She makes one kick ass crème brule.
Ofcourse I cant warp this up without talking about our hero ST! He was our hero because he could not stop himself from posing for pictures from all conceivable angles. BT was the poor official photographer for ST. And ST kept providing us some quality entertainment the whole trip. And ofcourse the driving style of AV. It was obvious that this was his first experience driving in a regulated traffic where turn signals mean something! I kept reminding him that unlike India, in NZ, he had to follow traffic rules, stay in the lane and use turn signals even to change lanes. He would nod his head. And what does he do, he switches lanes and then turns on the signal. And he assures me he followed rules by using signals for lane change and looks at me funny why I complain about the ordering of those tasks!
See, how many ever times you cross the equator and check if the water really drains down the toilet clockwise you can never be sure (or is it anti-clockwise or is it all just a myth?!), so we decided the trip had to be over the equator once again! And that's how we ended up picking New Zealand as our destination - well, atleast that's why I voted for NZ!
After the usual long flight, we landed in Auckland. And to our pleasant surprise, it took us less than 10 minutes from collecting our bags to walking into our hotel room. Yes, Novotel hotel at the Auckland airport is actually right across the exit door of the airport. Its such a great feeling to walk into your hotel room after a 20 hour journey within minutes of landing.
The next morning we met up with AV and SB and flew out to Queenstown. The landing approach to Queenstown airport was just breathtaking. We flew over the stunning Remarkables and the Lake Wakatipu. We had booked a vacation home with a view of the lake and the mountains. And what a view it was. At this point, I should note that one has to try really, really hard to find a place in NZ that doesn't have a great view!
By late afternoon AK, BT and ST had joined us too. Since we had chosen Spring time to travel to NZ, it was not crowded yet. We were able to walk about and take our time enjoying the beauty. Its hard to rank the places we visited in NZ based on the beauty aspect but I think Queenstown beats out the other places by a tiny margin. Ofcourse its the first night in NZ and what do people vote to eat? Yes, that's right, we went to an Indian restaurant. I was actually surprised at the number of resident Indians we saw in NZ. Back to Queenstown, the next morning we boarded a bus to Milford Sound. It was a long ride but it was very scenic. And yes, Milford Sound looks as stunning in real life as it looks in the movies and post cards! We cruised on the Sound for an hour and saw some stunning mountain peaks and waterfalls.
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| Milford Sound - Land of the Hobbits! |
The next day was the big day. We took the gondola up the nearby mountain in Queenstown. This is where the Ledge bungy was located. Ohh what a stunning location it was to bungy jump.
Allow me to try and paint a picture for you. Imagine you are up a mountain which is about 1000 feet up. Now imagine you are surrounded by a breath taking view of snow capped mountains with a huge lake in front of you. Add to this a beautiful day with blue skies and few patches of clouds. And now imagine suited up in a harness with a rope attached to your back. Add to this standing on the edge of a cantilevered ledge which is hanging off a cliff with nothing below it for a few hundred feet. Now take a few steps back from the edge, close your eyes, breathe for a second, open your eyes, run for the edge of the ledge and leap into nothingness with your arms and legs extended like a star. And remember to keep your eyes open for the next few seconds. As gravity forces you to twist to face down, the view of the snow capped mountains and the lake slides up your field of vision replaced by the view of the ground and the trees on the mountain side. Now this view doesn't change, instead it rushes up to you at an incredible speed for the next couple of seconds. As you start to realize you have a frozen brain - either from the indescribable fear of the ground rushing at you or the indescribable beauty of the surrounding - the rope yanks you back and your brain is jarred back into action. And then the usual stuff happens - you bounce around, you get pulled back up to the ledge, you get out of the harness, you cant stop shaking from the adrenaline rush as people hi-fi you and all the while you cant believe you are stupid enough to actually jump off a cliff with nothing but a rope attached to you! And Indu followed it up bravely with her own jump after a bit of goading by AV and she yelling at the jump master (yes really, she yelled at the poor man for counting down for her jump!). AV had one of the best jumps style wise and AK's jump actually inspired Indu to go for it too.
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| Stunning location for a bungy jump! |
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| Sitting in the middle of a state highway |
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| The view from the living room of our B&B. |
We finished our loop back in Auckland. The city was a fun place. We spent a day visiting the Waiheke island wineries. The island was very beautiful and I am not saying that just because of all the wine tasting we did there! I forget, did I mention its really, really hard to find a place in NZ without a great view? The next day we just went around the city and I had one of the best waffles I have ever had in my life! Oh yes, I should also mention the yummy crème brule we had at SB's aunt's house. She makes one kick ass crème brule.
Ofcourse I cant warp this up without talking about our hero ST! He was our hero because he could not stop himself from posing for pictures from all conceivable angles. BT was the poor official photographer for ST. And ST kept providing us some quality entertainment the whole trip. And ofcourse the driving style of AV. It was obvious that this was his first experience driving in a regulated traffic where turn signals mean something! I kept reminding him that unlike India, in NZ, he had to follow traffic rules, stay in the lane and use turn signals even to change lanes. He would nod his head. And what does he do, he switches lanes and then turns on the signal. And he assures me he followed rules by using signals for lane change and looks at me funny why I complain about the ordering of those tasks!
