Hi everyone,
This week we've been climbing Mount Doom, holding our noses in Rotorua and collecting a certain ring in Auckland....
On Tuesday we did the Tongariro Crossing, which is a 7 hour walk (yes, another 7 hour walk! how did this happen?!) through Tongariro National Park. It took us over volcano craters and past multi-coloured pools full of weird volcanic chemicals and all in the shadow of Mount Ngauruhoe, which some of you might know better as Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings.
Mount Doom... and a skiing Kiwi (skiwi!)
It was pretty hard work and took us up to a height of 1900 metres but views made it well worth it. The whole central stretch of New Zealand's North Island is volcanic, which makes for truly awesome scenery, especially as we were very lucky to have a perfect day of sun and blue skies.
There's also a lot of activity still going on underground, which means that you can see steam rising out of cracks in the rocks and there are lakes and pools with amazing vibrant colours caused by volcanic chemicals seeping into them. It also meant that the highest point of the walk had no snow it because the rocks underneath were warm - which made it an ideal place to park our bums and have lunch!
We stayed by Lake Taupo on Tuesday evening, which is New Zealand's biggest and which lies in a crater caused by a huge eruption 27,000 years ago. We soaked our limbs in a thermal spa that evening, then on Wednesday morning we dragged ourselves out of bed and headed north to Rotorua.
We'd heard that car theft is rife in this town - which is one of the main draws on the North Island - so we parked in the local police station for the day and had lunch in the van!
This was also the safest option because Rotorua really stinks. Literally. It's the centre of geothermal (ooh...big word alert) activity in New Zealand and every where you look there are geysers, hot springs, crazy steam-powered power station pipes and weird coloured steam rising into the sky. You almost expect to see Willy Wonka dance by at any moment!
One tourist attraction that we were sorry to miss out on was the Prawn Park - set up by an enterprising local tradesmen this is a pretty unique sounding place where you can see prawns being reared in the warm natural waters, eat prawns 'in a variety of sauces' in their on-site restaurant - and even play mini golf over the top of the prawn beds. Sounds pretty cool but sadly we didn't have time to stop.
After Rotorua we headed to the surf bum town of Raglan on the west coast. This coast is known for its black sand beaches and good surf - but we took the leisurely option and sat in a bar and drank too much wine to celebrate again. Oops. Hicc...
Then on to Auckland where we arrived yesterday and headed straight for the jewellers who were caretaking Sarah's engagement ring. The ring has been made specially for Sarah and looks just as we had hoped. Here's a piccie for anyone who is interested...
bling!
Phil is currently perfecting his Elvis impersonations so that he might busk his way around South America to pay for it...
We have only had one day in Auckland but are very impressed so far. We spent a lovely sunny afternoon poncing about in Ponsonby - a trendy sort of area with lots of vintage clothes shops and lovely cafes. Then jumped on a train to Eden Park, where we had tickets to watch the rugby union Super14 match between the Auckland Blues and the Wellington Hurricanes. The match ended 19-17 to the locals, which gave the cheerleaders plenty to cheer about!
This morning we drove over to Devonport - a lovely suburb on the north shore of Auckland. It's a gorgeous place with sandy bays on each side and a couple of extinct volcanos to keep things interesting too! Climbing to the top gets you some great views back over Auckland (see the photo at the top of this page) and we suspected we weren't the only people to sit at the top and be envious of the lucky so-and-sos that live here!
We'll be back in Auckland on Tuesday to meet up with our friends Gareth and Sarah (two of those lucky so-and-so's who live here) before flying to Chile on Thursday. Until then, we've gone for a wee drive up to the very north tip and the Bay of Islands where we hope to spend a couple of days mooching and relaxing before gearing up for South America.
We'll be in touch again before we fly. Until then, lots of love,
Sarah and Phil x x
P.S. We've been keeping up with the news whilst we've been away and have followed the developments on the Chinese earthquake. As some of you will remember, we were in Chengdu for five days in mid-March and visited the panda reserve too. It's been heartbreaking to see what has happened to such an interesting place that we were lucky enough to see for ourselves so recently. Obviously our thoughts are with everyone affected.
