From the west coast we headed inland and hit the Tongariro National Park, home of the carrot! Where the majority of carrots are produced in New Zealand, the place is carrot crazy. They hold a carrot festival every year where the population of the town increases from hundreds to thousands.

The Tongariro National Park is dominated by four 2,000 metre and upwards high dormant volcanoes, the most famous of these is the conical shaped one used as Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings. As we saw the bad weather staying behind us we used the opportunity to go mountain biking on the famous ‘Old Coach Road.’ The road was part of the main route from Auckland to Wellington, though in those days the journey took a few months.

For us it was an uphill struggle for around an hour to reach our target; a viaduct which spans a deep valley. This bridge was the first one AJ Hackett used for his commercial bungee before it was deemed too dangerous (jumpers had to cross four train tracks to get to it, not in the jump off go splat sense!) It was then moved to Queenstown, (incidentally the same one where did mine.)

The original rickety tracks still remained, though fortunately for us there had been some additions and a safety fence and new footpath put either side. The gruelling uphill ride turned into a 8 minute superfast downhill section and was very rewarding.

The next day all three of us decided to hit the famous Tongariro Crossing, this is a 17km walk taking an average of 6 hours. It goes up over the top of one of the smaller mountains and beside the rest. It is one of the most popular one day hikes in New Zealand. After a few scary moments reading posters in the information office; sturdy walking boots a must, first aid kit, 4 – 5 warm layers of clothing (it was 25 degrees at the bottom.) We were then told this is to stop tourists going up in jeans and flip flops, or high heeled shoes as one Chinese lady thought was a good idea.

So the next morning we got the 8am shuttle to the top and began our ascent. The crossing is so famous it was a bit like Piccadilly Circus! There were hundreds of people walking, which did give it a bit more security in case something serious did happen. We started the first ascent up the devils staircase, steps put in by the national park because of the amount of people walking the track. After a gruelling few hours we trekked up to the highest point; 1,900 metres. There were other walks to the top of the other mountains but we felt the view was good enough from where we were!
The weather was good when we started but when we reached the top it closed in very quickly so the views were a bit limited but on our decent down we saw some beautiful lakes. We set off at 8:15 and got back at 3:50 so it was a very long day but well worth the few blisters between us.

Next we headed to Taupo; the extreme capital of the world, (although I may have said that about Queenstown!) I’m pretty sure New Zealand is the extreme country of the world so it may have a few extreme towns in it!

So I would have a few extreme stories to tell if I had partaken in any such activities but unfortunately it was my comrades who did the 48m high bungee over water and 12,000 feet skydive. But I will tell their stories from my point of view.

Sophie’s day began on an overcast morning (bungees are cheaper before 11am, yes we are stingy even on our extreme sports!) After being checked in and weighed she was then taken to the end of a platform 50m over a river and VELCROED to what really is a long elastic band. They have a section of the cord in the booking office for ‘piece of mind,’ which is basically your normal office elastic bands, hundreds of them twisted together.

I’ve emphasized the velcroed part as when I did mine I had a harness on my waist and the cord was then thread through my feet so I ended up the right way, or rather the wrong way up. The only other person I’ve heard having their feet velcroed together is CJ in Thailand, not very hot on its health and safety. But Sophie came out in one piece so I can’t use Velcro as one of my bungee horror stories, on this list is naked bungees (do it naked and you get it free) and (Leanne’s) James being asked ‘what’s more scary than this?…THIS!’ [James is then pushed/rugby tacked unsuspectingly off the top.]

I was contemplating doing a bungee swing, a variation of the vertical bungee, the ‘bunger’ is dropped and then swung into oblivion. This can be done in a multiple of positions; sitting, backwards, mid flip etc, but common sense got the better of me and I declined. My final bungee horror story is from Sian doing this bungee swing, she was positioned to fall off backwards (apparently less scary!) and as she was falling off all the guys on the platform started yelling ‘NO, STOP, you’re not attached’ – not exactly the words you want to hear as you are falling off a 50m high platform. So understandably enough Sian starts praying, life flashes in front of her eyes and starts scrabbling wildly to try and save herself. She manages to grab hold of a piece of rope and then realises what it’s her bungee cod and then hears the guys above her cackling like hyenas.

Anyway, back to Sophie. Sophie performed her jump admirably, she decided against having a water landing (please see jump menu attached). She was advised on her arm position so to stop jumping straight off the platform like a frog aka. Gini, or like diving off a diving board and having your hands straight in front of your face so that when you hit the water you give yourself black eyes aka. Sally (Sorry that really is my last bungee horror story!)

Sophie did really well, no hesitation, bouncing and dangling gracefully into the rescue boat.

In the same morning we then moved straight onto the airport for Holly’s tandem skydive. She flew up to 12,000 feet, had a 45 second freefall and then glided the other 4,000 feet. Falling 8,000 feet in 45 seconds is pretty immense, followed only by Sophie’s 48 metres in 3 seconds, Cara on the other hand just walked around normal pace all day with no falling L !

Luckily we were told the out of the 8 people up in Holly’s plane only Holly had a blue jumpsuit, so from the outset we could see her and took some pretty good photos. We saw some pretty ropey landings, some landing hard straight on their bums, but Holly’s was very smooth. When asked how it was, Holly’s answer (for everything) was ‘it was alright’…!

While in Taupo we stumbled across a body painting festival and unlike another broke traveller from Preston we didn’t take part! Some of the models were pretty amazing and it made a nice change to hang out in the city with its residents.

We then moved onto Rotarua and saw a Maori concert. Although it was set in a hotel we still got a feel for the culture and friendship between the Maoris and got an amazing dinner. Even though the Haka was performed in forced circumstances it still had the desired effect and made everyone’s hairs stand on end. Maori warriors used to use poi (weighted balls on strings) to strengthen their wrists before battle, now they are used more with the women as a object for entertainment. Both me and Sophie got up on stage to have a go and they looked far harder than imagined!

A trip to Rotarua wouldn’t be complete without looking at the geysers, the town didn’t smell as bad of eggs as is advertised everywhere and we used it as a launch pad to travel up to the Coromandel.

After a brief stop and a surf at Mount Manganui on the East Coast we made it to the town of Whangamata (said Fangamatar). Here the surf was amazing and both me and Soph tried our hands at SUP ‘stand up paddle boarding.’ These giant surfboards with extra grip are stood on and paddled. It was great to cruise up the river, which was flat as a pancake, making no noise apart from the occasional splash of the paddles. Though our activity wasn’t without mishap; we moved into the sea to try and catch a few waves as our instructor said we were naturals.

We were told it was easier than surfing because standing up is the hard part, but as soon as we hit the waves we both hit the water! Unfortunately Sophie fell off and while trying to jump back on she was hit in the face with her board and as with all cuts on faces it bled ferociously. But she battled on like the Maori warrior she is and we still had a great morning. A black eye and a few steri-strips later and it’s slowly getting better.

We’ve travelled around the whole of the Coromandel region with its stunning beaches and breathtaking cliffs and now in the final few days of our beloved van. We have 4 days left of the Cocaine Mobile. We are heading to Hamilton then to the east coast surfing town of Raglan then up to Auckland to return our van.

Our adventure seems to be stepping up a gear; in a week we will be in Fiji, in two; Hawaii and in a month mainland USA. We are now looking into getting another Wicked van in America as it seems to be the cheapest way to travel around and they are pretty cool.

Talk to you soon

Kofi x x