So, our fourth week travelling started on North Island of New Zealand (day 22, Mon 13th Oct). We drove from Paekakariki up the west coast to Whanganui and then on to Stratford which is in the Egmont National Park. In the park is a volcano called both Mt Egmont and Mt Taranaki. We flew over this volcano on our way from Auckland to Christchurch and it is remarkable as it's almost a perfect circular peak, surrounded by an almost perfectly circular fringe of forest. It is a lone peak and one that we both had to visit. So, we camped that night in Stratford and made our preparations for an overnight hike on the mountain the next day.
Tues 14th Oct took us up to the visitor centre on Mt Taranaki to get some advice on the best walk and overnight stay to do in the area. On the advice of the ranger there we walked on the Pouakai ranges which are Mt Taranaki's next door neighbours. The walk was steep and through forest most of the way and carrying our rucksacks full of sleeping bags, stoves, fuel, food and clothes made the walk even tougher. It was a mighty relief to see the Pouakai hut at long last so we dumped our stuff and carried on a little way over the top to be greeted by the awesome sight of Mt Taranaki right in front of us. It is a breathtaking mountain and we were gifted with clear views of the snowcapped summit. The weather was being kind and I hope the photos do some justice to our reward for the tiring day's hike. We had the hut to ourselves that night. It's a pretty basic affair run by the Dpt of Conservation. You buy hut tickets from the DoC office in advance and it's on a first come, first served basis. You get a bunk with mattress, running water from an outside tap and an outside pit toilet. There's no power so after 6pm we were eating dinner and playing cards by candlelight. James got a lovely toasty fire going in the wood burner and we had a very comfy night. Thankfully I didn't have to get up in the night to use the loo as I didn't much fancy the pitch black, freezing cold walk outside!
Wed 15th started with much worse weather than the day before. Our view of the coast from the hut was completely obscured by cloud and the walk back down was wet and boggy. By the time we reached the car our trousers were clagged with mud up to the knees! Quick change and then we drove off to New Plymouth for a little look around and then we drove on up to Waitomo (stopping briefly at an organic beer brewing place to make a purchase!) We treated ourselves to a private room in a backpackers that night so that we could sort our smelly walking kit out without upsetting anyone else!
Thurs 16th Oct was the 10 year anniversary of me and James getting together so we celebrated first with a trip to watch angorra rabbits being sheared for their fur! I'm not even joking. Obviously angorra wool is lovely and soft and some of you may even have clothing made from it. Did you ever think about how it's obtained? Me neither. Well, they shave the rabbits. And to do this they strap them to a rack and rotate them like a hog roast. Has to be seen to be believed. I know it sounds cruel but the rabbit honestly doesn't seem to mind and James and I almost died laughing at it's expression. Check out the photo of Kyle who had been completely shaved and even he seemed to know how absurd he looked. Poor chap.After the rabbit circus we went to see some glowworms. Waitomo is famous for it's glowworm caves and there's a myriad of ways you can get to see them (including abseiling, caving, black water rafting to name a few) but we took the sedate option which was also the one David Attenborough took when he visited (good enough for him....) A group of 9 of us were taken down to 2 caves by local guy Norm who knows the area really well. In the first cave we walked in a little way lit by our headtorches and couldn't really make anything out. Then we all got onto a raft and Norm punted us through into the most breathtaking cave ever. There were literally millions of glowworms giving out a blue-ish light which actually lit the cave up enough that we could see each other without any other lights on. It was absolutely quiet and still and so so beautiful. We drifted through for 20-30 mins and as we walked back out, our night vision was so much improved that we saw loads more right by the cave entrance! After a lovely cup of tea and lots of biscuits we drove on to the 2nd cave where the focus was the amazing rock formations and cave structure - and a few glowworms too! We had dinner at a lovely restaurant in Waitomo that night (well, actually I think it's the only restaurant- the town only has 46 permanent residents).
Fri 17th Oct (day 26) took us away from lovely Waitomo and over to the Tongariro National Park. North Island has 3 big volcanoes right in the middle called Ruapaho, Tongariro and Ngauarahosjelmlg (or something - haven't got my guidebook to hand) They're still quite active and we saw clouds of smoke or some volcano matter pluming out of the side of one of them. We took a bit of a drive around and spoke to a few people about doing some walking in the Park but the weather forecast was wet and there's still a fair bit of snow and ice on the tracks so we thought it was best left til next time. Instead we stayed in Turangi and went to bathe in some natural mineral hot pools for the evening. Nice.
Day 27 started with some indoor climbing action (the backpackers we stayed in - 'Extreme Backpackers' boasts it's own wall) and then moved on to mini golf. I know mini golf might not sound like the most NZ activity but all the holes were designed to represent features of the Tongariro Nat Park - quite clever see. We did do a little walk that afternoon up to see the Silica Rapids. The walk started from a town called Whakapapa (which is quite funny written down but funnier when you say it as it's pronounced 'fakapapa' - go on say it without giggling). We did get a bit rained on during the walk and were teased with only the most fleeting glimpses of the volcanoes. Tongariro Nt Park is way down the league table from Egmont Nt Park let me tell you.
Sun 19th (day 28) and after another quick play on the climbing wall we drove up to Taupo and stopped to check out Huka Falls. I had a major flashback to when I was in NZ before as I had totally forgotten but am pretty sure I went to the Falls before. They're quite cool. We then went to look at the Craters of the Moon. Not actually of course. It's just a area of geothermal activity that's called that. It's really just some holes in the ground with lots of steam belching out from underground. We are now moving into Rotorua land- where the earth's crust is so thin that all sorts of crazy geothermal sheenanigans go on. Including heating our tent site that night from under the ground. Sweet.....toasty.....
