Although the last entry was entitled Northland, Hobbiton and White Island it appears I only had time to tell you about Northland. From the comfort of Shon's sofa I have the time, tools and inclination to bring this journal up to date.
We've camped every night since Auckland. Campsites, as a rule, are located out of town and most don't have internet access. Hobbiton and White Island are in the title of our last entry but don't get mentioned in the text - sorry I ran out of gold coins for the internet caravan!
Hobbiton
Don't look for Hobbiton on the map. It's a remaining set from when tghe Lord of the Rings trilogy was filmed in New Zealand. They started to destroy the set but it was postponed due to bad weather - by this time the farmer had enough knocks on his door from film fans to realise that there may be some money in keeping the set and running tours! Hobbiton is in the middle of a sheep farm. The nearest town is Matamata (inland from the Bay of Plenty). The set only just remains. It's not pretty or painted, but the guides are still shamefully full of enthusiasm and overloaded with Lord of the Rings trivia. Our guide couldn't believe we didn't want to relive moments of the movie - tryng to make the group dance under the party tree at 10am in the morning!
White Island
From Matamata we drove up to Whakatane past the big kiwi - fields of kiwi, stalls selling kiwi juice, kiwi chocolate, kiwi face care products and some of them even the fruit.
White Island is a volcanic island. It's New Zealand's most active volcano about 50km off shore. The volcanoes of new Zealand no longer spew out lava instead they fire out pebbles; rock and mud and lots and lots of sulphuric gas! We were issued with a gas mask, a safety helmet and some sweeties to take away the nasty sulphury taste on the air. The landscape was much as you would imagine: desolate and volcanic. Steam vents surrounded by crystalised sulpher. Loose ash and pumice pieces on the floor (apparently its not exactly pumic as its silica content is too high; its andacite). The crater lake has an acidity of -0.7 (based on the lithmus paper scale we used at school which I thought only went down to 0). At the end of the tour our shoes had flecks of white on them. This was the acid starting to react with our boots - there were buckets to rinse of shoes before you get back on the boat. The guides reckon that they get through shoes; clothes and bags every 3 months as the acid deteroriates the material.
Rotarua
Rotarua is a massive tourist destination on the North island - some might say tourist trap. Its famous for its geothermal parks and strange volcanic craters and formations. It's also home to the 'world famous' campsite with under floor heating - we hadn't heard of it until we got there either. It had been rather cold the last few nights so a heated tent site sounded great. You could hear the bubbling mud and see the steam nearby from our pitch. I was concerned that hitting the peg in may create a new vent! We had been sleeping in thermals; sleeping bag - with under floor heating we were down to just a liner! I was a little worried about the tent or sleeping mats melting.
There are several geothermal parks around Rotorua showcasing a selection of freaky volcanic landscapes. Most of these are formed by hot springs - super heated acidic water working its way to the surface and corroding as it goes. This eats away at the earth and the land will collapse into a crater below. As the water cools on the surface it leaves silica deposits. The landscape was similar to the flowstones you see in limestone caves except in places it covered a hectare and it grows far quicker. The high mineral content give these formation bright colours and we saw lots of formations called the 'artists palette'. The pools in the craters were either bubbling mud pools (which make everyone smile) or greens, blues, reds or pinks like a childs paint pot.
We did a Maori cultural show (indigenous New Zealanders) in the evening. I'm not sure if this is a Maori stronghold or a convenient place to run the shows due to the number of tourists. It was very professional. They had re-created a Maori village. We watched singing, dancing, a little cultural introduction and had a dinner prepared in a hangi (natural steam cooker). Apparently the sticking the tongue out is because they're going to eat you - this is the honourable thing to do but they didn't explain further. It didn't tell you anything about inter-cultural relations now. I guess the cultural show is good employment for the Uni students - certainly beats working at MacDonalds. ;)
The show we did was next door to the 'zoo' so we opted for the Kiwi combo. The Kiwi is New Zealand national icon and a very stupid kind of bird. It doesn't fly. Its nocturnal and its now endangered. They're shy and 'flighty'. They're also bigger than I expected - standing about 30cm tall. They were hard enough to see in an enclosure in the zoo you wouldn't have a chance in the wild.
The thermal parks were impressive but what we really enjoyed was the everyday details of living in a highly volative geothermal area. The city centre park had bubbling mud pools. Peoples gardens would have some rocks surrounding a steaming vent of hot sulpheric water. Carparks had corners taped off where new springs had come up and cracked the tarmac.
We left Rotorua earlier than expected as the weather forecast was good and we wanted to walk in Tongariro National Park and it was just too easy to spend money there and after the trip to White Island the weekly budget had already taken a battering.
Taupo
We had a look at the Huka falls and the Ariatia rapids in Taupo. Lake Taupo is a massive crater lake. The eruption occurred in 186AD and is recorded in both Chinese and Roman documents. The lakes only emptying point is over Huka falls along a steep gully.
The river has now been damned for hydro electric power (NZ gets 70% of its power from renewable sources). This means that Ariatia rapids are usually nothing more than a trickle however at set times of the day they open the gates. The rapids were impressive but what was actually more interesting was seeing the gates open and the rapids gradually increase in size as the higher pools filled up.
Tongariro National Park
The Tongariro Crossing is apparently the finest day walk in the North Island and I have to agree (it's certainly the most popular!). Its a 17km one-way walk with shuttle buses to each end. The crossing runs between Mt Tongariro and Mt Ngurahoe (pronouciation?!) with a few more ups and downs for good measure. Walking across the South Crator floor was surprisingly flat - no rubble or scree heaps; just empty desert. The climb up to red crater reminded me of lemmings: lines of people climbing up a ridge and then 'jumping off the top'.
If part of the walk is described as scree run are you really best to run it? I did make it down the scree a lot faster than Phil but I fell on my bum once and my boots were full of scree at the bottom! The last 3 hours were ALL down hill, the path was good but my knees were aching at the bottom.
The next day was fine too so we walked out to Tama lakes. Also a 17km walk but a lot easier. We were up early - advantage/disadvantage of camping is that it's light at 6 so we're awake at 6. We were the first on the trail. It had spectacular view of the Tama Lakes with Mt Ruapehu and Mt Ngurahoe towering above.
We stayed at Whakapapa (pronounced fakapapa) while in Tongariro. This 'resort' is nestled under Mt Ruapheu which had a minor eruption 6 weeks ago. There were loud speakers throughout the village and signs up in the camp kitchen with regards to an eruption. Rather worryingly the campsite was marked on the 'most likely' path of any possible lahar (volcanic mud eruption).
Wellington
We're now in Wellington staying with friends from Uni. We're using and abusing their internet, their washing machine and most exiting of all we have a REAL bed with REAL pillows.
On Sunday we're getting the early bird ferry to the South Island and probably heading to Blenheim for some wine tasting which sounds like a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
My Mom was asking us for our route so far. So below is a summary of our trip round the North Island of New Zealand:
- Auckland: hostel in Mt Eden; trip to Rangitoto island (dormant volcano)
- North from Auckland, calling in at Goat Island marine reserve for some snorkelling, up the East Coast to
- Harura Falls; Bay of Islands for a boat trip; visit the treaty house
- Across Northland to Waipoua and the Kauri forests
- South to Waitakere Ranges for some walking (west of Auckland)
- South East to Matamata (inland from the Bay of Plenty) for Hobbiton
- Along the coast to Whakatane for a day trip to White Island (volcano)
- Rotarua for geo thermal stuff and Moari concert
- Lake Taupo for waterfalls and rapids
- Wakapapa, Tongariro National Park
- Wellington
