NZ - North Island - Stray Backpacker Bus

The Stray Bus picked me up at 7:30am bright and early outside the hostel.  Backpacker buses are a super common and convenient way for tourists to get around both islands in a quick amount of time.  The most popular bus companies are Stray, Kiwi Experience, and Naked Bus.  Stray has a reputation for going more "off the beaten path" and maintaining a better mixture of young and old passengers (instead of only 18 year old gap year partiers).  Buying a pass buys you space on the bus which transports you from town to town, with stops in between at tourist destinations such as waterfalls, geothermal pools, glowworm caves, Hobbiton, etc.  Passengers can hop off at any destination and hop on again a few days later if they chose, or just continue to ride the bus every day.  I did not have enough time to take any extra days off, so I was prepared to be on the bus everyday.  I had signed up for the Jill Pass which covered most of the parts of the North Island I was interested in, and the East Bro pass which included an additional three day trip to the eastern cape.

"Leftie" our bus driver loaded everyone on the bus and then had us all come to the front to introduce ourselves (with a microphone as the bus was moving), how old we were, where we were from, and our most embarrassing story.  Thankfully I was one of the first victims otherwise I would have hid if I had to think about it anymore.  There was quite a range of people on the bus - a few Americans from Wyoming, Minnesota and New York, lots of Germans and Dutch as well as Scandinavian folks, and of course tons of UK.

Our first stop was Raglan, a beach town on the western side of the North Island, a quintessential surfing beach famous for its left hand point break (whatever that means).  On the way we stopped in Waikoto at Bridal Veil Falls to admire the waterfall which we were able to see from three separate viewing platforms.

Most people went ahead and booked a surfing lesson in Raglan, but I opted to take the bus down and enjoy the water on my own, as did a handful of other passengers.  I joined a few other folks for a walk down the beach to admire the jetty and its colony of green lipped mussels. 

View of one of the inlets

After a nice shower and unpack at the hostel, we all grabbed fish and chips and ate them at an overlook during the sunset.  Surfers were still out in the water as the sun set over the waves.  What a beautiful place!

In the morning we headed out early to the Waitomo Caves.  Waitomo means "water hole" in Maori and it houses an underground maze of caves where thousands of glowworms also live.  I chose to do the Tumutumu Tubing adventure, 4 hrs in the caves, glow worms expected.  We tramped out in wet suits, white boots, and helmets with lights on them - across the field to a small hole barely visible from the human eye.

One by one we carefully climbed down the ladder into the small pitch black hole, waiting in a clump at the bottom for the whole group to assemble.  There is something really odd about volunteering to lower yourself down a steep ladder into a black hole.. for fun... in fact you are paying a lot of money to do this.  At least that's what I couldn't stop thinking as I lowered myself into the abyss.

The tour itself was really fun, we did a lot of tramping through the caves and puddles, a few times the freezing water reached our chest which I enjoyed because it cooled me off.  Water would get stuck in our boots and we'd take turns popping out our foot invoking a waterfall to spill out the back.

Eventually we jumped into inner tubes and drifted down a small stream, gazing up at the glow worms twinkling above us.  It was magnificent to see the glow worms, and wetas too (ancient New Zealand cave bugs).  I am glad that I did the tour because I probably wouldn't go again.  That was my third cave experience on this long trip and... I'm good.  Caves - check.

Once we were done with our caving we showered off and jumped back in the bus towards Mourea where a Maori marae (pronounced moor-aye) awaited us.  A marae is a meeting house and is normally off limits to anyone outside the Maori tribe.  This particular Maori tribe, the Ngati Pikiao tribe, had opened their house to us to show us their culture and to share in their traditions.

We met a Maori woman outside the marae, in the bush near the Kaituna River, to learn about different plants the Maori had used for medicinal and cultural purposes.  The silver fern, a famous symbol of New Zealand, was used by the Maori warriors.  Under the cover of night, they would place the silver fern on the ground (silver side up so the moon would reflect the leaf), pointing in the direction the tribe should follow.  Once the entire tribe had passed, the last warrior would discard the leaf into the bush so enemies couldn't follow.  The silver fern is also the mascot of the All Blacks (New Zealand's rugby team).

Kawakawa is another leaf everywhere in New Zealand.  The heart shaped leaves can be used in pultices, for sunburns, and even in teas for detox and immune system health.  I was told multiple times to find the leaves with the most holes in them (from bug nibbles) because those would make the best tea.

Once we arrived at the marae, a member of the tribe jumped on the bus to explain our next steps for the powhiri (welcome ceremony).  We were to slowly walk up to the marae, women first.  Maori have women approach first to show they do not mean any harm and women are considered their most valuable asset.  Once we reached the door, we all took off our shoes (no shoes allowed in the marae as it is hollowed ground).  We entered single file, filling in the chairs that were pointed towards the standing members of the family.  Leftie was already considered a member of the family since he had already been through a powhiri (dozens of times) and was standing with them.  The women sang a beautiful karanga (welcome song) in Maori and then one of their male members gave an impressive speech in Maori, welcoming us into the marae and into their family.  We then performed the hongi (different than hangi which is a feast).  This is when you touch noses and foreheads simultaneously with another person, sharing ha (the breath of life).  We did this, for every member of the tribe, and every member of the bus.  So I basically hongied about fifty people... it was dirty.  Just kidding, it was a tremendous experience.

Maori marae - meeting house

Once this is complete, you are tangata whenua (a person of the land).  This means you are a member of the tribe and treated accordingly.  I know they do this for all the tourists, but it still feels special, it still feels like you really are one of the tribe, at least for a night.  This means we all shared in setting up our sleeping mats as well as doing our dishes, like one big sleepover.

After our welcome ceremony and dinner, we watched the tribe do the haka and it. was. AWESOME.  Oh man I have chills.  It was so cool to see that, I'd never seen one before.  If you have not seen one, go on Youtube and look up 'Maori haka' (the All Blacks perform them before their rugby games, probably the most popular one you will find online).  A haka is a war cry, a traditional Maori dance performed for many different milestones - funerals, welcoming of distinguished guests, or to intimidate opponents before battle.  The men chant as they stamp their legs and slap their arms and thighs in unison.  There is usually some tongues that appear and eyes are rolled into the back of the head to appear white.  Sometimes there is even hissing.  The one we saw was actually performed by the women and men (although they had distinctly separate parts and the women only performed during part of the haka).  I will say the women were even more intimidating than the men.  The energy in the air, it was palpable.

After the haka, we witnessed a poi dance done by the women.  A poi is a ball attached to a chord.  Traditionally these poi were small rocks wrapped in cloth.  They were used to train both women and men for flexibility and strength - women for weaving, men for spear throwing.  The dance was lovely to watch.

Maori performing the haka (notice the poi balls on the women's belts)

And then, it was our turn.  Men were shepherded off to another room to learn the haka and we were left to learn to the poi dance.  I will just say this... that dance is a LOT harder than it looks.  Thankfully, our poi were not rocks, only foam wrapped in cloth.  If they had been rocks, I would have been bloody and battered at the end of our fifteen minute tutorial.  I seriously beat myself up with that poi.  At first it was almost funny, my friend Neha and I were laughing as we stumbled through the practice, but then we actually had to perform it for the tribe and the guys, and about twenty cameras.  At least I was in the back, that's all I'll say about that.  The guys also performed their haka and it was pretty awesome. 

Here is a transcript from the boys' haka performance (with the translation in italics):

Ka Mate

Ka Mate, Ka Mate

Tis Death, Tis Death

Ka Mate, Ka Mate

Tis Death, Tis Death

Ka Ora, Ka Ora

Tis Life, Tis Life

Tenei Te Tangata Puhuruhuru

This is the man, the fierce powerful man

Nana Nei I Tiki Mai

It was he who captured the sun

Whakawhiti Te Ra

And caused it to shine

A, Upane, Ka Upane

It rises and sets

Upane Ka Upane

Rises and sets

Whiti Te Ra

The sun shines

Hi!

My Stray Bus Group (with Leftie in front)

Once all the excitement was over, we made up our beds in the marae and listened to one of the tribeswomen share their legends and traditions.  We asked her a lot of questions and learned a lot about their religion, tattoo art, current situation, and bits and bobs of everything else.

In the morning we were back on the bus and headed for Rotorua, nicknamed "Sulphur City."  Rotorua is a hot bed of geothermal activity and has the smell to prove it... sometimes folks even call it "Rotten-rua."

Today was also the day that everyone went to see Hobbiton.  Hobbiton is the actual set of the Shire from Lord of the Rings.  Peter Jackson scouted all over the North Island and selected this man's farm outside Matamata.  They have retained most of the set (which was destroyed after LOTR finished and was then rebuilt for the Hobbit movies).  Unfortunately I was heading to another bus tour that day and had to miss this particular adventure.  So I waved goodbye to my new friends and headed into town with Leftie and Hilde (a girl I had been hanging out with from Germany).  I had a few hours to kill before needing to meet the next bus at one of the Rotorua hostels.

Being that Leftie lived in Rotorua for quite a long time, he gave us the grand tour.  We had lattes at Fat Dog Cafe, completed some banking and SIM card topping up errands, washed the windows of the bus at the bus depot, and went out to the Lake Rotorua to see the sulphur pools.

Leftie had warned the entire bus to NOT cross the railing around the lake under any circumstance.  He told us the railing, along with warning signs everywhere, were to remind us that these sulphur pools are dangerous and would boil us in our skin if we broke through the fragile shale covering the underground pools. He said without a doubt there were always tourists that ignored the signs and ended up in the hospital and even died.  As he was reminding us again of this fact, we pulled up to the pools and saw a half dozen tourists on the wrong side of the railing taking up close and personal pictures of the bubbling pools.  People really are stupid.

The pools were pretty amazing to look at, the soft and gentle bubbling sound almost negated the eye-watering rotten smell emanating from the ground.  I took some pics and skirted the lake (on the correct side of the railing) admiring the local flora.

We then walked around Rotorua's main park where there was a naturally heated community foot pool.  We rolled up our pants and dipped our feet in, ahhhhhhh. So nice.

Water felt nice on all my sandfly bites!

And then it was time, time to leave my group behind and join up with a new one.  The new bus was actually a van, driven by Jason and his trainee Gray.  Jason is Maori and had started the East Cape Bro tour using his Maori connections.  He had joined with Stray Bus a few years back and was looking to expand his driver base and number of vans since the tour had picked up in popularity.  Because the tour group was smaller we all spent a lot of time with one another.  There was Robin, an avid bird watcher and former school teacher, from Sweden; Karen, a fiery Scottish lass from Glasgow who had finished university and was traveling for a few years before starting graduate school; Tash (Natasha), another former school teacher now traveling from Somerset England; David, an older English traveler who was hitting twenty five countries on his trip (his passport was incredible to look through) and had also walked the Camino more than once; two younger German girls fresh out of high school - Lucy and Julia; another German ready for adventure - Kate; and a friendly Dutch girl called Ana.

We arrived in Gisborne, our first stop on the east cape.  Gisborne is a reasonably sized town, most famous for its Chardonnay and beaches.  We stopped by the water to take a good look at the coastline and walk around Poverty Bay.

We came upon a statue of Nicholas Young, a surgeon's boy on the Endeavour (Captain Cook's ship) who was the first person on the ship to site New Zealand on October 6, 1769.  Two days later the Endeavour anchored a short distance away at the mouth of the Turanganui River where this statue is located.

And then there was a statue of Captain James Cook himself at the end of Waikanae Park.  Of the many statues of Captain Cook, this one is reported to be the most authentic likeness.

We settled into our lodging for the night, a ramshackle bunk room across the street from the beach.  It was pretty cool to be so close to the beach, most lodging is further inland.  I took a walk with Ana and was dazzled with the paua shells I found.  Paua shells are very special in New Zealand although most commonly used as ashtrays and/or souvenirs.  Stingrays were feeding in the waves as the sun began to sink and we returned to the lodge for a communal dinner.

Everyone woke up super early to watch the sun rise.  Gisborne is the first city on the planet to see the sun rise because of where the date line falls.  (There is some contention on this depending on what time of year it is, but ultimately we were at least some of the first people to witness the sunrise that day.)  We lined up chairs on the beach and watched as the sky changed from dark blue, lighter and lighter, until a thin later of yellow began to expand at the horizon, then pinks and oranges and reds, followed by the actual ball of fire peaking out from the waves.  It was spectacular.

There was a quick stop in Gisborne for walking around town and hitting up a greenstone (nephrite) carver and shop.  Greenstone was highly valued by the Maori people for its aesthetic and stone properties (to make blades and adzes)... and nowadays it's a highly coveted tourist purchase.

On our way out of town we stopped at Kaiti Hill to take one last look at the bustling coastline.  My new sunglasses provided a polarised view of the water.

As we rode up the coast, Jason sidelined a bit to take us by the marae featured in Whale Rider, the New Zealand movie released in 2002, in Whangara.  Apparently he doesn't take all his groups by the marae, only if there is a superfan in the group, and our friend Karen was indeed just that.

After a quick photo-op, we were back on the road, winding our way up the coast.  We stopped at Tolaga Bay Wharf for a quick swim and a chance to walk down the longest pier in New Zealand at 660m long.  The water was filled with seaweed but felt amazing after being cooped up in the van for a few hours.

Back on the road we had an unfortunate incident, our trainee driver was driving the van and hit a sheep (a move that later got him nicknamed "Mutton" by the other drivers).  None of us knew what had happened except the girls in the front of the van that screamed when we felt the bump (since they saw the sheep through the front windshield).  Gray felt pretty terrible about it, but what was worse was that no one would tell us what happened.  So we spent the rest of the drive in silence.  Later, over beers, Jason told us he wasn't sure how we'd react but he had wanted to put the sheep in the trailer (with the rest of our bags) and roast it for dinner.  I told him I wouldn't have cared, but I knew that some of the passengers probably wouldn't have liked sheep's blood on their bags so he probably made the best choice.

We stayed in Tokomaru Bay at an incredible hostel that had an amazing view of the coast.  Karen and I stayed up in a loft with windows facing the sunrise.  Once we arrived and settled in, Karen, Tash, and I ran down to the stables for horseback riding.  I chose to ride the horse known as Ponytail, sounds cute right?  That's what I thought.  Ponytail had one purpose, to swim to Australia.  As we were walking down that beach, that dang horse continued to aim for the water (slightly at first so I wouldn't notice), but as the water started rising and I started noticing, that stubborn animal would resist until I had to get mean and yank him back to the beach.  This kept happening again and again and again.  And when Ponytail wasn't set on his goal of swimming to far and distant lands, he was adamantly trying to destroy our trail leader's horse.  So it was the ocean or a horse fight, back and forth the whole way down the coast.

Tash, me, and Karen post-beach ride

It was a beautiful day, and boy did we earn that ride!  I think it a win, I didn't get too wet and I didn't get bitten by Ponytail.  I liked Karen's horse Bogs, because I like the word bog more than anything.

The next day we endured a very long drive, mainly coastal driving on these little windy roads.  We were all feeling the queasiness and were grateful during the few stops to stretch our legs and breath in fresh air.  Jason promised us a nice easy walk that day, to the East Cape Lighthouse.  He failed to mention until we parked that it was 700+ steps straight up.  So we got our workout and earned that view!

Te Waha O Rerekohu is the largest pohutukawa tree in New Zealand and 600 years old to boot.  At first glance I was impressed with how large the tree was, but on further notice I realised... how large the freaking tree was.  It is a massive freaking tree, with lots of little to medium shoots growing out of it.  This tree has taken over.

Once we arrived at our hostel for the night, in Maraehako Bay, we were told it was too rough for us to go fishing.  Tash and I had initially signed up for crayfish catching and were a bit disappointed it was cancelled.  So I laid down for a minute, and got up three hours later.  The wear and tear of everyday travel finally caught up to me and I relished the chance to sleep the day away.  Eventually once I was up and about, I took a walk on the beach and made dinner with Karen and Tash.

Our East Bro trip was winding down, in the morning we headed back to Rotorua by way of Whakatane.

Once back in Rotorua, Tash and I jumped on another Stray Bus, this time with "Motors."  Neha, Youri, and Niels from the previous Stray Bus were also on this one, so it was a mini reunion party.  Joined by Linnea from Sweden and Hannah from Germany - we nicknamed our group "the Fellowship" and ate Tim Tams to celebrate.

Our home for the night would be Lake Aniwhenua (pronounced An-ni-fin-ua).  Before arriving, we were met by one of the family members at the retreat centre (another Maori family) who led us into the bush to see some very old Maori rock carvings.

We arrived before dinner and were given a whirlwind introduction into this Maori's family history and way of life.  For dinner we were treated to another Maori hangi, that we observed being buried (as well an unearthed a few hours later).  There were a range of activities to sign up for and my friends and I decided to participate in flax weaving - creating lovely bracelets - as we sipped our happy hour beers.

Where the eels were hiding...

After a delicious dinner, Tash and I waited for dark and joined a small group to go eel fishing in the lake.  Because we did not get to go crayfish fishing earlier, we decided this was our chance.  We put on gaiters in case we wanted to go into the water (that thought quickly left my head once I got down to the water).  Eels are very important to the local Maori tribe, in fact they are called the "Eel People."  Eels are actually quite impressive creatures AND (no buts) they scare the crap out of me.

So when our guide handed me a hand line to drop in the water as he scanned the lake with his headlamp showing what seemed to be yellow snakes writhing quickly through the reeds, my heart started pumping out of my chest.  We were down there for over an hour and every little splash sent my heart racing.  Although I did get a few nibbles, Tash was the only one of us to catch an eel and damn if those things don't fight.  Quite exciting!

The next morning we all bowed down to the Queen of Eels, Miss Natasha Eelingdome.  She impressed us all.  We continued along our path towards Blue Duck Station by way of some geothermal pools and Huka Falls.

The geothermal pools were lovely to soak our feet in.  It was spitting cold rain outside, so I didn't want to go all the way in (and sit on the bus in my wet swimsuit), although a handful of people did.

The falls were quite impressive to look at, amazing at how fast they were flowing.  No kayak or swimming activity is allowed in the falls because of how fast the water moves (which doesn't mean people don't try). 

I was trying to pull off my Youri impression in this one...

The bus stopped in Taupo for lunch.  Lake Taupo is the largest lake in New Zealand and actually fills the crater of the Taupo Volcano.  The Taupo Volcano is responsible for the Oruanui eruption which is the world's largest known eruption in the last 70,000 years, occurring about 27,000 years ago.  Taupo is a cool town, but it was a bit touristy for my taste.  The weather was overcast, so views of the island in the middle of the lake were slim to none.

Our final drive that day was to Blue Duck Station, a humongous farm surrounded by the Whanganui National Park.  A "station" simply means a large farm.  The blue duck, an endangered species in New Zealand, does live at Blue Duck Station but they are very shy and so finding one is a rare and special occurence.  The blue duck is an interesting creature.  Besides being blue, they have lips - used to suck off mayfly larvae living on rocks in crystal clear waters.  You know that water is drinkable if you see blue ducks nearby.

That evening we ate a goat barbecue cooked by their Argentinian chef.  Most people stayed up late partying.  This was the only place where we were required to stay two nights in a row, so we had some leeway to "settle in" for a longer trip.  I had signed up to go goat hunting the next morning and headed to bed early.

Linnea, Neha, Youri, and Niels

Some of you might wonder why in the hell I decided to go goat hunting.  Well, here is my rationale...  I grew up hating hunting because all the hunters I met seemed to be ego maniacal assholes who just enjoyed drinking beer and killing things for sport (with high action powered rifles in hidden deer blinds, not really making that a fair fight in my opinion).  As I grew older I realized there are respectful hunters, that controlling the pest population is crucial to the ecosystem, and that it was hypocritical of me to lecture hunters killing animals when I myself eat meat.  So, I decided that in order for me to continue eating meat, I needed to truly understand what it meant to find, kill, skin and gut, and eat my own animal.  (And if I turned vegetarian in the process, all the better.)

I got up very early and headed out with Mitzi, a Dutch pilot, and Colin, a mysterious Brit who apparently was also telling people to call him Alan, and our guide, nicknamed Snowflake, or Flake.  First Flake showed us where on the animal we were supposed to aim in order to kill (not the head).  Mitzi was our pretend goat, complete with noises.

Next we each had a practice shot with the rifle.  After Flake I actually had the most experience shooting a gun, but I did the worst at the practice.  Oh well, go figure!

Then we rode out to the hunting grounds and began to walk... and began to climb... and then walked, and then climb, and then run, and then crouch, and then run, and then walk, and then climb and climb and climb.  I swear we were non-stop moving through those hills for four hours straight.  I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

There was one opportunity to shoot and Mitzi took it.  Unfortunately she missed, although she did a remarkable job.  The goat was on a different hill, pretty far away and laying down so the target was smaller.  We found a bunch of sheep but weren't allowed to shoot those. 

So at the end of our time, Flake let us shoot another round with the rifle.  He felt pretty bad that we weren't able to kill a goat, but I was more than satisfied with the experience.  Hunting is freaking hard, let me tell you.  My assumptions about drinking beer and hanging out in a deer blind, weren't even a tad bit close to what my experience actually was.

After goat hunting and a quick lunch, I headed out with Michael, an Irish farmer, Motors, Haley (Flake's fiance), and Flake for the bush safari.  We rode around the property learning about all the animals they kept.  Deer are not wild nor are they pests in New Zealand, they are raised for their velvet (horn fuzz) and for recreational hunting purposes.  Blue Duck also had plenty of pigs and sheep.

Michael, Flake, and I went down to Blue Duck Falls and kayaked a bit near the waterfall.  It was such a beautiful spot, so peaceful.

Once we arrived back at the cabins, I was pooped.  I was supposed to go clay shooting but I was ready for a beer and bed.  So I gave my pass to someone else and chilled out with my friends.  The next morning we were headed out super early, on the way to Tongariro.

Tongariro Crossing is a very popular day hike through the volcanic terrain of Mount Tongariro.  The hike takes about seven hours and covers a little over 12 miles.  Those on our bus who chose to walk the hike had to check in at a cafe, register (so the park knew we were out on the mountain), and present correct footwear and gear. 

We set out early in the morning and were required to be at the car park by 4pm on the other side in order to catch the bus back.  The Fellowship decided to walk together and bond in our agony (just kidding).

It was quite exciting to pass Mount Ngauruhoe (or Mt Doom from the Lord of the Ring movies).  There is a path to climb this peak but it is very dangerous and the park guides had warned people to not climb it in these current conditions.  There were some people trying to climb it when we walked past and it looked quite painful (one step up, three steps slipped down in ash and gravel).  I have no idea if they made it to the top or not.

Red Crater - highest point of the trip

Emerald Lakes

The walk to the very top was quite difficult.  Once we reached the top, we ate a quick lunch and then began our descent.  I was very happy to have brought poles because we were basically skiing down in the steep beds of loose gravel.  You can see how covered in dirt my shoes got from this...

Once our hike was over and we were picked up, we had a slow night at the hostel.  People were up partying again and some of us just wanted to rest after the hike.  In the morning I said goodbye to everyone.  I was hoping on another bus to get back to Auckland in preparation for my next farm. 

I definitely would miss my Fellowship, they were a fun bunch.  The nonstop day by day touring was really tiring.  I think if I did another backpacker bus I would want to take a few days on and a few days off to maintain a good rhythm.  But, it definitely helped me see a huge part of the North Island in such a short time!