I had to get up for a rediculously early ferry crossing back to the North Island because with my time quickly running out in New Zealand I knew I'd have a real whistlestop tour if I was to fit in everything I still wanted to see and do there. Needless to say I've not ticked all the boxes, but I had a pretty good attempt at it!
First stopping off point for me was in Taupo. It sits on the banks of the lake of the same name (the largest in New Zealand) and beside the Waikato River (the longest in New Zealand). An attractive place, I walked along the riverside pathway to the Huka Falls passing the Taupo Bungy spot on the way. I watched (well, squinted through half shut eyes) in a mix of trepidation, nervousness and curiosity as someone made the jump. It's undoubtedly a very picturesque spot: steep sandy coloured cliffs, greenery atop and a wide clear green river curving round below glinting invitingly on the sunny day I was enjoying. BUT, watching the girl jump and bobbing about on the end of her tether as she was lowered to the bottom again afterwards only served to reconfirm my thoughts that it can't be at all good for you, and I'd far rather be stationary while admiring the scenery than have it rushing towards me at 60 or 70 kmh! While I was watching a helicopter had been buzzing around filming events and as I carried on my walk I met more people struggling to run up the hill towards the bungy. It transpired they were part of a "reality" TV weightloss competition programme called "The Biggest Loser". They had to run up from the valley floor, bungy off the cliff and Kayak down the river as part of some tortuous race. I can only imagine how desperate they must be to lose weight and/or be on TV because it seemed a horrendous ordeal to me. I happily left them to it and carried on to the falls which were really very spectacular. Not high, but long and a real cauldron of bubbling white rapids. The noise was incredible and the volume and force of water was equally immense. The river, which not far upstream was almost 100m wide and 4m deep was channelled at that point through the little sheer sided gorge which was just about 15m wide and 10m deep! The force of the water as you can imagime was amazing and a little jet boat which came zooming up the river struggled to hold its position and let its occupents get a close look at the torrent.
The undoubted highlight of my stay in Taupo however was going on what is billed as the greatest day walk in New Zealand - the Tongariro Crossing. Yet again I was blessed with fantastic clear weather for the 19km trek across the volcanic pass, which really allowed me to fully appreciate the spectacular scenery on offer. Including stops it took about 7 hours in total but it was very much split into sections with just two serious uphill slogs, but plenty of good excuses to stop regularly, admire the views and get your breath back! Taken there by shuttle bus you get dropped off at the carpark at one end and(sensibley enough!) picked up at the other end in the afternoon. The first hour was easy walking along the tussocked valley either on well marked track or wooden boardwalk. It was busy with dozens and dozens of people setting out so that hour gave time for the crowds to spread and thin out as people found their own pace. After the first hour, at Soda Springs, the lava rock became more noticeable and started changing colour- becoming darker than previous rocks. The path then climbed up a series of twists turns and wooden steps for the next hour as it went up "The Devil's Staircase". A steep climb I had to stop regularly - purely to admire the views you understand, nothing to do with the fact I was jelly legged and completely out of breath! My excuse is that the steps were too tall for my little legs so it was a bit of a clamber rather than a walk. Finally reaching the top of the climb the track passed the foot of the summit track to Mt Ngauruhoe, an active volcano. I took one look at the gradient of the hill and decided to give that path a miss! Instead I carried on across the dead flat South crater. It looked like it had been ironed flat. Wide and circular, enclosed by the hyge mountains around it, with lumps of solid lava rock dotted about and an occasional tussock of grass and a vivid red colour on some of the hillside rock, it had an extraordinary other worldly feel. Everyone was commenting how it felt like being on the moon or even Mars. On the other side of the crater was the start of the Red Crater ridge. The views were awesome: at about 1600m the vistas across the south crater I'd just crossed, over to Mt Ngauruhoe, up to Mt Tongariro or out over the enormous deep Red Crater and across the wispy cotton wool clouds were absolutely breathtaking. The deep crimson volcanic rock, the black lava solids, the sandy basin floor and brownish patches of bare rock was phenomenal. Like nothing I've seen before. The track clibed again, this time up the red Crater ridge with steep drops on either side before getting to the summit. A sulphury smell hung in the air and pockets of steam rose round about. Sitting at the top the ground was warm from the volcanic activity deep beneath. There was a cool breeze however and although my underfloor heating may have worked its way up eventually it was too slow in taking effect so I edged my way down the steep loose ashy scree to the incredible emerald lakes below. Coloured by the high mineral content they really stood out against the mountain terrain - really like twinkling gems. I sat taking in the sights and smells before continuing across yet another volcanic basin, skirting another lake, before rounding the hill and reaching much more vegetated hillsides with little mountain daisies and alpine iris providing splashes of colour. It was amazing how different the landscape looked so quickly. From there the path descended all the way down the hills past hot smelly springs until it reached the bushline again and the last while was through the forest alongside a babbling stream until getting to the finishing point at the little carpark. An amazing walk and incredibly diverse scenery. It certainly lives up to the billing it gets. On the bus back to town we were trundling along fine until going up a long steep hill about 15 minutes from Taupo we ground to a halt. I couldn't believe that for the third time in NZ I'd ended up on a bus which broke down. Fortunately for me the woman I was sat next to had a phone and called her husband back in Taupo who then came and collected her and I and whisked us back to town. I was more than happy not to have to wait in the hot bus with 50 other sweaty walkers and no aircon until the breakdown people arrived!
Leaving Taupo I had a very quick visit to the east so that at least I could have a quick look at the area even if I couldn't linger - I now had the deadline of my flight to Chile looming close on the horizon. The scenery was very much like Scotland with cattle grazing, deep valleys and multicontoured green hillsides. Napier was a lovely city. Perched on the side of Hawke's Bay it is flanked by several wineries on its inland side and has a great long promenade with gardens playparks and open space behind its stoney beach. There are numerous buildings of Art Deco styling throughout the city giving it a real sense of character. The city had been razed by earthquake then fire in the early 1930's so it was rebuilt at the height of the art deco movement and most of the significant buildings reflect that. Gisborne looked quite nice too, but I had even less time to explore it. It is another beachside town - a surfing city- and also sits on the banks of three converging rivers, including New Zealand's shortest at only 1200metres. Leaving there I had just one more stop, in Rototrua, before arriving back in Auckland.
Rotorua offered a range of attractions, some better than others, and a background odour all of its own! Walking round Kuirau Park is in many ways like strolling round any town park, just with the addition of numerous hot springs, steaming ponds and bubbling mud pools. It was quite strange looking across to clumpd of shrubbery and seeing the clouds of steam rising. At first there was just a faint sulphury smell to accompany the gentle bubbling. As I moved from one area to the next the mud got gloopier and plopped away noisily and one area was particularly stinky ... think very ripe cheese, smoky bacon crisps, sweaty socks and rotten veg all mixed together and left in the sun - RANCID! The largest of the hot reserves was a desert-like mass of mud but with the hot pools steaming round about. The plants on the side were mud strewn where previous eruptions from the geysers had splattered everything. Today nothing was a forceful as that fortunately. Leaving the park I meandered down to the lake. At the aptly named Sulphur bay the water is so low in oxygen and high in sulphur that not only is the colour tainted but no fish and plants can survive there - a real contrast with other parts of the lake. Further on again was anothe rancid smelling pond and an area called "Cameron's Laughing Pool" The chemical reactions there were such that when it times gone by people bathed there to reap the benefits of all the mineral salts they were effected by the fumes in the same way as Laughing gas! They must have been a hardy lot though as there is no way I could put up with the smell long enough to bathe - even a quick sniff was way more than enough, no matter how good for my skin it might be!
One evening I went to a show billed as a traditional Maori evening of music, dance and food. Despite some good bits, overall it was a wee bit of a disappointment: being a real parade of the masses it was a bit like being on a conveyor belt of tourists getting rushed through and out as quickly as possible so the next lot could come. On arrival we were lined up along the banks of the stream which flowed though the venue site as a waka (canoe) of warriers paddled up. When they got out we all trouped along behind and to the big theatre area where a performance of dance and music was staged. It was ok but nowhere near as good as what I'd seen in Waitangi when I was there. After a final impressive Haka the "chief" spoke a little about the traditional tatoo patterns, and that was quite interesting. Those on legs and body generally represent the rivers and seas, while those on the face represent the 4 most sacred or precious birds for the polynesians: the owl, parrot, bat and kiwi. The bat, the only native mammal to Aotearoa, being on the forehead and brow, parrot on the nose, kiwi on the cheeks and owl around the mouth and chin. Tatooing was always an honour earned and usually only done on chiefs, elders or as an award of respect. While his talk was quite interesting I would have been happy for it to be a bit longer, but we were moved on to marquees for our Hangi. A hangi is an oven in the ground heated by fire baked stones and traditionally with leaves covering it where food is baked for feasts. Today for good old health and safety reasons a stainless steel lid was used although hot rocks still heated the pit. The food was delicious, the meat so tender and the veg cooked under the meat so that they benefited from the juices dripping into them. We had chicken and lamb, potatoes, Kumura (a NZ sweet potato) scallop potatoes, corn and salad leaves, coleslaw, red cabbage, stuffing, rice salads, gravies and sauces. It was lip-smackingly good. Afterwards there was pudding: chocolate log, trifle and fruit salad and tea or coffee to finish. A great feast I rolled back to the bus when we were ushered out and taken back to our accommodation!
My final encounter in Rotorua was also my favourite: looking round a captive breeding centre for Kiwis, and finally seeing these elusive creatures living and breathing. The centre is one of 5 captive breeding sites across NZ working to release the young kiwis to the wild and so stopping the long term decline in numbers. Started in 1995 the number of chicks released each yer has grown after a slow start to over 100 each year. This year 128 chicks have hatched - a bumoer year. We started our tour in the incubation room where the eggs are first brought. A kiwi egg is about 25% of the size of the adult bird - huge! The generally life pairing birds live separate lives and when she is going to lay her egg the female goes to the male's burrow and leaves him the egg, never visiting it or the chick again. She will return with a second saved egg she develops after the first hatches, but thats it! The male kiwi, or the centre in this case, cares for the egg for about two months until it hatches. All behaviour is inate with no teaching from a parent so the centre can provide chicks with a food mix of offal, cat biscuits, veg and a side order of bugs and wait as they learn to eat and start to grow. We watched a newly hatched chick sleeping, tip of its long beak tucked under what would be its wing if it had one, but didn't see one feeding. After about 3 weeks the chicks are transferred to outdoor enclosures to further grow and develop and once they reach 1kg from an average birthweight of c350g they can be microchipped and released into the wild. We saw three of the long term residents in their inside-outside runs. Foraging around snorting and scratching they were fascinating to watch. Very like wekas in appearance really, they are very confident and self-assured in mannerisms. When we had to leave them to their scuffling we went through to a little information room to learn more facts and figure about these amazing creatures. They are so unbird-like in so many ways its quite bizarre. I really enjoyed my visit and was delighted to finally see these elusive New Zealand icons before heading back to the big city in readiness for the off.
In Auckland I managed to meet up with the Barnes family (Gus's friends from his visit out here) and had a lovely meal,lots of friendly chatter and banter, a nice walk around the beautiful parkland just next door to their home, and was entertained by their two cats Jim and Steve. It was the ideal way to round off what has been a very quick three months or so here in New Zealand. Before I came numerous people had said to spend most time in the South Island and less in the North, but having been here now I wouldn't share that sentiment. Both are super places just in different ways. The scenery and wildlife in the south is fantastic and not to be missed, but, the people and culture of the north is just as fascinating. In some ways its like two countries in one, and if possible both should be given equal weighting on any trip down here. Ah well, here endeth my lesson, next stop Chile!
