Up High, Down Low

Well it's that time again where I fill you in on what I've been doing with my time (and more importantly, my fast-diminishing bank account) over here. To summarise: Another awesome and adventure-packed week!
From Auckland I took a little-travelled coastal route out towards Port Waikato and then onto Raglan to fix up a huge mistake - contrary to my blog title, I did infact forget my jandals in Raglan when I was there last! It was definitely a surprisingly stunning piece of back country (although, I'm not too sure why I'm surprised looking back at the rest of my trip). I guess it's the first time I realised that Autumn had hit.. The look of the landscape all over the country is really starting to get a boost with the green leaves of deciduous trees now turning bright yellow, orange, red and purple.. I found my flip-flops there and also saw a few familiar faces (although some of them didn't see mine.. Rob!) from the last time I was there. We all chowed down on a BBQ feast that night.. Mmmm.
Again taking the long way the next day (you hardly see anything good from the main roads and highways) along some rough - but scenically rewarding - dirt roads, I eventually ended up at a place called Waitomo, about an hour south of Hamilton. The entire Waitomo area is pitted with over 300 caves (which when you think about the fact that in Māori, wai means water and tomo means hole or shaft, it's fairly fitting). I was there for one thing.. caving! I've never done caving before, although I have had some experience rock climbing and abseiling from the indoor gyms so I figured I would give it a go the next day. It was a shame we couldn't take our cameras down into the caves with us, but just as well because there were points where we had to crawl on our stomachs through water in order to fit through some tight tunnels, and also had to abseil down waterfalls. Yaaaa-hoooo! What awesome fun, and the glow worms (Arachnocampa luminosa - check out their life cycle, very interesting!) providing the mood lighting made it all the more beautiful. While I enjoyed checking out this very well known cave, I don't think I'd want to be the one exploring a dark, slippery, seemingly infinitely winding cave for the first time.. Think I'll leave that up to the experts..
Onwards from here, further south past the west coast of lake Taupo to Tongariro National Park. It is here that the active volcanoes of Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu are situated in close proximity to each other. I've wanted to walk the Tongariro Crossing - classed as the finest one-day walk in NZ - ever since I got to chatting with the guys on the Milford Track about their experiences. The weather was looking up for the weekend and I decided to buy a hut pass so I could spend two days exploring the volcanoes. Before I ventured out onto the Crossing, I took in a few shorter walks around the Whakapapa Village, which is situated on the slopes of Ruapehu.
Saturday, the first day of the Crossing, I have to say, was one of the most gratifying and spectacular tramps I've done so far! The first hour and a half I spent climbing up some fairly steep rocky terrain which they call the devil's staircase. I was pretty tired after this but the views from the top were certainly wonderful. I waited at this rest-spot for the French girls to arrive because we had planned to walk the track together. Turns out they had different plans to myself so we ended up parting ways almost straight away. They continued on down the track and I took a side trip up to the summit of the dreaded Ngauruhoe (which is actually the mountain they used as Mt Doom in LOTR - but who takes notice of these things).

I didn't realise what I was getting myself into when I started this climb but soon figured out that I probably should have been more prepared with climbing poles, etc., although I'm not sure if they would have actually helped on this perfectly symmetrical and steep cone.. Most of my time up the mountain was spent on all fours just trying not to tumble backwards as I slipped on the loose scoria that formed the cone's outer surface. I've never been so relieved to reach a destination as I was on that climb! The weather was absolutely pristine (better than forecast - but I've learnt to never trust the weather report in NZ anyway, as it's wrong about 95% of the time) with not a cloud in the sky, so I could see out to the horizon in every direction from the top of this 2287m high volcano. The crater was quite dramatic in itself with red and yellow hues, attributable to different chemicals in the rocks, and steam still venting from certain places. Going down was even more fun than the climb up.. I simply had to slide on my feet all the way down.. for 30 minutes straight! I was surprised my shoes were still in good condition (let alone still intact) after this marathon rock coasting session.

I was understandably well and truly stuffed by this point but had to push on as the day was also doing so. Another slippery climb over the highest point of the track (apart from the Ngauruhoe side-trip of course) and I reached the Emerald lakes - three lakes, bright emerald in colour, which have to be seen to be believed - just as the clouds started rolling in. From here I deviated from the track, through an eerie volcanic landscape, to get to Oturere hut where I was to spend the night playing Uno with a whole bunch of fellow trampers.

I was the first to awake in the morning out of the 20 or so people that spent the night in that hut. The clouds had persisted throughout the night and rain had slowly started to develop (unsurprisingly worse than forecast) so the rest of the 5 hour walk to the end of the track was fairly shitty - no pretty waterfalls or rivers to wade through this time, just rain and lots of it. I'm not complaining though, it was all worth it in the end for those views from Ngauruhoe!
After all this excitement I thought I'd have a relaxed drive on Monday through another day of hilly, green, red, rocky terrain.. and rain, to the large and good-charactered town of Wanganui on the west coast. The next day, moving on again to the Taranaki region, a little further north on the west coast, of which the main feature is the huge dormant volcano Mt. Taranaki. New Plymouth is the place to be on this coast and that's exactly where I stayed. Yesterday I drove up to the Plateau (a popular ski field on the slopes of the mountain) for a brilliant view of the topography of the volcano. I would have walked up to the summit of this one also but I've heard that people have started turning back due to ice on the track, so I thought better not. Also yesterday, I visited the tiny and noneventful town and republic of Whangamomona (the one which Lee noted as having elected a goat as their president, in her comment on one of my previous posts).

I managed to tie off a few loose ends yesterday and this morning, which have been hanging over my head for a while. I feel quite relieved (as you do). And now I am back in Hamilton. Passing through on my way to the Coromandel.


Photos:
1. The Mangapohue natural limestone bridge - on the way to Waitomo
2. Sexytime - Waitomo Caves
3. Taranaki Falls (I got a little wet) - Whakapapa
4. Psyching myself up for the big climb
5. Me and the girls
6. It begins...
7. Peering into the crater at the summit of Ngauruhoe
8. The view over Mt. Tongariro from Ngauruhoe
9. Steam vents...
10. The Emerald lakes.. Beautiful!
11. The next day!
12. Did I say relaxing in Wanganui? - "The Swing"
13. Autumn in the Virginia Lake Scenic Reserve - Wanganui
14. Mt. Taranaki

4 days, 3 islands

I've spent the last 4 days relaxing in the Hauraki gulf, to the northeast of Auckland, on 3 of the 47 islands that make up the Hauraki Gulf Maritime Park. The first of these was Rangitoto, which I visited on Friday.
Rangitoto was born only about 600 years ago when lava started spewing out of the sea near another island, Motutapu, which was already inhabited by Māori. They watched as this newborn volcano erupted for several years a few hundred metres from their shore before eventually settling down to its extinct state that we see today. Today, the island is covered in lush green vegetation while the ground is still rugged made up predominantly of black solidified lava rocks. I bumped into two fellow Aussie girls and together we walked through some lava caves - very dark and I forgot my torch - then onto the summit to peer into the huge several-hundred-metre-wide crater that was left behind. I proceeded to walk across to the vastly dissimilar Motutapu island - mostly plains and grazing land - for some lunch on the beach. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable day out.
Saturday, I drove up the beautiful Whangaparaoa Peninsula half an hour north of AKL to catch the ferry to my next destination, the birdlife sanctuary Tiritiri Matangi. Our volunteer guide Yvonne was fantastic and we spent most of the day with her as she pointed out birds and explained how the island was transformed in around 10 years from a virtually barron land, following logging and grazing, to now with well over 200,000 trees covering the island. Birds and other animal life have now been reintroduced, and a group of scientists and volunteers constantly monitor animal populations, breeding habits, etc. Such a peaceful place and, like Ulva Island, bird songs can be heard constantly over the entire island. Again, another fantastic and relaxing day. Late afternoon, back on the mainland, I drove to the west coast again to see another beach, this time the secluded and stunning Piha beach with its distinctive centrepiece, the 101m tall Lion Rock, jutting out of the surf.
The third and final island in the gulf that I visited was a much more "touristy" island known as Waiheke. I borrowed a bike from Becs - another AKL flatmate - and spent two days here riding all over the island, checking out the beaches and sights. Only 30 minutes ferry ride from the hustle and bustle of Auckland, this island enjoys a very laid back way of life and is known in particular for its arty atmosphere with many artists and sculptors residing here and showing off their works all over the island. There are loads of permanent residents and plenty more holiday baches making it a relatively busy place, however, for an island of its size. While I was there the weather was not exactly the best, basically no sunlight for the entire time, but I still made use of the beaches anyway. I even slept on the beach in Oneroa bay - the problem with that is it pretty much pitch-black by 1800hr at this time of year so there's nothing to do after this time and so I pulled out my sleeping bag around 2030hr for an early night and subsequent early start the next day. A nice place overall, I can see why people enjoy Waiheke so much, but I guess I prefer something a little more secluded when I'm on an island like that.
And again I am up to date with the blogging aspect of my trip.. I'm moving on from AKL today, heading further south down the west coast. I've really enjoyed meeting the guys here in the flat and just generally enjoyed my time here. I think it's a shame that a lot of people only pass through this city in a day, coming to the conclusion that it's "just another big city." The thing is, as with most places (and anything for that matter), if you only take the time to explore, there is always more than meets the eye....

Photos:

1. On the ferry to Rangitoto

2. The landscape

3. The crater - a little too green don't you think?

4. Three Aussies in a lava cave

5. Relaxing on Tiritiri Matangi

6. This young man took quite an interest in the endangered Takahe

7. Birdwatch: A whitehead

8. Birdwatch again: A tui - very famous, very well known here in NZ...

9. On Lion rock at sunset

10. Oneroa bay at low tide

11. Havin' a ride on the beach - Waiheke island

12. The smallest horse ever.. Two questions: How? And why?

13. Birdwatch 3: A shag drying its wings in the sun

the City of Sails

Cast your minds back about 6 months ago.. Do you remember where you were? Well, I was back in the South Island in a place called Nelson. I visited the geographic centre of NZ there. I met a guy by the name of Jade on top of that hill. He was from Auckland. Somehow I recalled this fact on my way down from Awanui so I decided to give him a shout. And what do ya know.. I've been crashing at his flat for the past week and a half. How convenient - 15 minutes walk to the city centre, and with free off-street parking right next door too (it's very difficult to find non-metered parking spaces in this city), you can't go wrong! Awesome!
Friday night, the night I arrived, Jade took me to a going-home party for Theresa, a Swedish girl he knows, at a funky little club in town. Fun, fun... The next day, a lovely clear and sunny day, myself and a few of the guys from the flat Paul, Ricky and Renée played some frisby in a nearby park - ahh, the childhood years - before wandering the streets of AKL.
Sunday came, and what do all good people do on a Sunday? They go to church! That's exactly what Jade, Theresa, Melissa - one of Jade's mates - and I got upto. We all know I'm not a religious person in the slightest, but it was in fact quite an interesting service, and the sense of community in this particular church is really strong and great to see. Northgate Baptist Church, you've got my vote. Following this, I thought I'd go for a bit of a stroll... On four legs! We went back to Jade's parents' house for some lunch, a visit with some alpacas and then, sat avowedly a little uneasily atop one of their fine horses, a trot (and canter) around their rather large property surrounded by forested area. I've never ridden a horse before and I did enjoy myself, although when the other horses started to canter and mine followed suit on its own accord the self-assurance was not exactly flowing. Theresa even managed to get a jump in on her horse which was cool. We finished the night off in an Italian restaurant for a lovely plate of, you guessed it, pasta - the backpackers' choice, and my meal for almost every night of the past 8 months! Mmmmm.. Oh how I look forward to real meals when I finish up here!
Visiting art galleries, public gardens and just generally strolling around the city was what I got upto on a rather lazy Monday. Then Tuesday was a day for visiting some of the eastern shore beaches and then a place called Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World. With a real colony of sub-Antarctic penguins, stingray tank (which you could get into if you so wished!) and a moving walkway through a clear tube surrounded by an aquarium teeming with sharks and other creatures of the like, this was quite a neat up-close subaquatic experience. In the afternoon I met up with the French girls, Fan and Bene, for a yarn then another catch-up, this time with Nic. Man it's been a while... Was lovely having a coffee and a chat again, glad to see everything's going well up this way for her! Then back with the French girls for a drink at a very chic bar on Viaduct harbour a little later that night.
Zak, an American dude I met in Welly, came upto AKL on Wednesday so we caught up and went for a walk in the Winderholme NP about 30 minutes north of the city. I then went on that day to visit the stretching part of coastline known as Muriwai beach on the west coast, for a walk over the wave-pounded rock formations to the gannet colony situated there. In the nighttime I met up with Jeff, Judy and Lauren, who I met all those months ago on the Milford Track, for a drink.. A huge week of reminiscing!
Thursday was the day for checking out the acclaimed Auckland Zoo for some more wildlife spotting. The most impressive part of my visit was definitely the African animals' enclosure, Pridelands, and the nocturnal house in which I saw my first kiwi.. Yes that's right, in this entire time in NZ and in all the nature reserves that I've visited, the only kiwi I've seen has been in Auckland Zoo! Later on I ventured to the summit of Mt. Eden, one of some 48 extinct volcanoes that punctuate the Auckland region. Even later still I went with Ric to a beginners swing-dancing class.. Great fun, love the music! Then along with Renée, we checked out the brilliant voice of local musician Lauren Thomson at a pub on the harbourside.
And now for a brief detour, to the islands.......


Photos:
1. Across the harbour from Auckland city
2. The view from the flat balcony
3. Hang on... I thought those guys split up?
4. Feeding the alpacas with Theresa
5. Looking very calm, very collected...
6. Me, Tess, Mel and Jade
7. Feeding the stingrays at Kelly Tarlton's
8. A whole colony!
9. The French gals
10. Read the fine print... A masterpiece! - Winderholme NP
11. Found these odd creatures on the balcony.. Ewww.. You should see them move!
12. A taste of home at the zoo
13. The kiwi! (the little fluffy thing in the middle)
14. Ric and Renée @ the gig

lower

Again it's been a week and a half since I last blogged.. I tell you, time is getting away from me faster and faster these days! OK, so what has happened since then? Lots! Here's the first few days...
I spent most of what was to be my final day in Awanui inside due to bad weather, venturing out only once to check out "Kauri Kingdom", a store selling all sorts of carvings from ancient (≈50,000 year old) kauri stumps recovered from a local swamp. The focal point was definitely the spiral staircase carved inside a 3 metre-wide Kauri trunk (possibly the only one in the world), which is used to reach the first floor of the store.
Shooting off the next morning past the pretty town and small but proud beachside community of Ahipara, I ventured south down the west coast of Northland. A few hours had passed when I came across the magnificently situated twin towns of Omapere and Opononi on the southern shore of the Hokianga Harbour - yes, pretty much every place I have visited in Northland is on the coast! I say 'magnificently situated' because of their proximity to the impressive sand dunes which lie across the clear aqua-coloured waters on the opposite side of the harbour.
I enjoyed lunch on the beach in Opononi, and then headed on my way further south, this time towards the Waipoua Kauri forest - which was proclaimed a forest sanctuary in 1952, saving it from certain destruction due to continued milling. In this dense jungle I came face-to-trunk with Te Matua Ngahere (The Father of the Forest), which is believed to have the largest diameter of any kauri tree in NZ at over 5 metres (absolutely massive!) and could also possibly be the oldest in NZ at around 2000 years old. That night I watched a resplendent sunset over Aranga beach before bunking down a little further south in Dargaville - a largish town that services the Northern Wairoa region, which is considered the "Kumara Capital" of NZ, producing two-thirds of the country's output of this sweet potato Kiwi icon.
Onwards and downwards on the Friday through more green pastures, more beaches, more of everything I've come to expect from New Zealand, stopping at Goat Island beach, near Leigh on the east coast, for a gander at the local aquatic life around this 547ha marine reserve. I was expecting to see some pretty cool fish and coral along the shoreline but it seems as though you need to go scuba diving around the actual island, 100 metres out, in order to come across these - unfortunately I had left my emergency scuba gear in my other pants pocket - the rocky beach and island were quite nice nonetheless. So after this there was not much left for me to do but head back to the place I had taken this detour from 9 days before... Auckland. This time to stay for a bit.

Photos:
1. The kauri spiral staircase
2. Ahipara coastline
3. The dunes at the "O" twins
4. That's a bloody big tree.. I'm actually standing about 10m in front of it! - Te Matua Ngahere
5. What a sight!
6. Goat Island
7. Found this odd fellow looking over someone's driveway entrance near Leigh..
8. It just goes on forever.. On the way to Auckland

Northland

In Awanui, a little village just north of Kaitaia and just south of the famous 90 Mile Beach, a man sits behind a computer in a local family's house, updating his blog before deciding to retire to the comfort of his caravan in the front yard. How did this come about? Read on..
Around 1500hr on Wednesday, I arrived in Auckland and bumped into someone strangely familiar.. Brian had finished his South Island section of his trip and flew into AKL that morning, hungover - could we expect anything else from a Scotsman? We met up for a coffee in the local Starbucks, plus had a brief catch-up session with Amandarin and Karin (they were passing through aswell), before shooting off north into that part of New Zealand known, not surprisingly, as Northland.
After a pleasant drive through the green rolling countryside (I've found pretty much all of the North Island and a large portion of the South consists of this type of landscape), we came to the end of our first day in a small town called Leigh on the east coast. Maybe it was the fact that the town seemed deserted, but we decided to instead head 11km north to a place the Lonely Planet book describes as a "secret paradise", Pakiri. And it was a beautiful beach so we decided to stay the night... on the beach... in our sleeping bags... brrrr... But great fun, we managed to get through a fair chunk of a New Woman's crossword puzzle (no, we didn't buy it!) before calling it a night and watching the stars, or rather the clouds obscuring the stars. I woke up a few times during the night, freezing, and managed to see a few satellites and shooting stars after the clouds had cleared, then the spectacular sunrise at about 15 of seven. And I now know why people use tents.. something else for the dew to form on.
We checked out NZ's only oil refinery - very informative - in Marsden the next day after a long and scenic drive along the coast, then onto Northland's "capital", Whangarei. There was not much to do there as such so we spent the last couple of sunlight hours visiting the Whangarei Falls and then driving out to the Whangarei Heads at the harbour entrance 35km away. It was actually quite a tiring day. Needless to say, the spa facilities in the Whangarei holiday park were fully utilised!
Friday held some swimming, football (soccer for the non-Europeans among us - must be all the English I'm hanging out with, I'm turning into one of them!) on the beach and other beach-related activities for us before finishing up in the Bay of Islands at the seaside town of Russell, NZ's oldest European settlement and former capital - equipped with NZ's oldest church, Christ Church (1847). Once described as "full of the refuse of society" by Charles Darwin, and later adopting the generous nickname of "Hell hole of the Pacific" due to the population largely comprising of fleeing convicts, whalers, prostitutes and drunk sailors, Russell is now a pretty and serene place which can (and does) justifiably call itself 'romantic'.
In the morning of Saturday we passed through Kawakawa, a seemingly normal town until you need to go to the loo.. The public toilets here, designed by Austrian-born artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, are decorated with ceramic mosaics, coloured bottles, wavy lines and are even equipped with grass and plants on the roof! Interesting. Then onto Paihia and Waitangi, across the bay from Russell. Waitangi is the historic place where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed (see my past post Taking over the world!). It was wonderful to see where it all happened, where the modern Aotearoa was born.
Kerikeri was the next stop for the night. Again, not much to do here.. apart from this time visiting NZ's oldest stone and wooden buildings. Ach! (Brian, that's for you) So many historic buildings, and yet none more than about 150 years old!
Speaking of Brian.. He was off the next day, back to Auckland to met a friend who flew in from Scotland, and so once again I became a lonely traveller. We said our goodbyes and I headed off further north, stopping along the way at a few scenic beaches, bays and coves - including the very secluded, very stunning Matauri Bay with its 17 Cavalli Islands scattered offshore - before eventually ending up in Mangonui (very different from Mt. Maunganui). It was in the fish and chip shop of this fishing port that I met a lovely local couple, Mike and Andrea, who after I chatted for a while with them offered me the bed in their disused caravan in the front yard of their Awanui house.
I spent a surprisingly comfortable night bayside in my car in Mangonui before driving up the jutting Karikari Peninsula in the morning for some more beautiful views over Matai Bay, with its twin coves, and Rangiputa beach. Awanui was the next destination and I again met Mike, Andrea and the rest of the family, this time at their home. They cleaned out and set up the caravan for me, and we even had dinner together. How nice! And how comfortable that caravan is!
And so we now have reached today's chapter.. I had a much needed lie in this morning then a little before midday I took Keita, Mike and Andrea's granddaughter, out for a drive up to the north-westernmost tip of NZ, Cape Reinga. On the way, we took a detour to the west coast to drive up 90 Mile Beach, literally. This beach is very popular in that you can drive along its entire length (which is technically more like 60 kilometres, but let's not get pedantic), although you might want to make sure the tide is way out before making this trip because cars have been known to get bogged and swallowed by the tides. Luckily, we arrived at low tide, but chose only to drive the first 20km (it loses its novelty a bit after that) before reverting back to the proper, impermeable road again.
Cape Reinga was great, there is a neat lighthouse there and it is also the exact place where the Tasman and Pacific Oceans meet, apparently sometimes causing 10m waves in stormy conditions. So now I can say I've been to the top and bottom of NZ! Cool. The weather was fantastic too so we could see the ocean stretching on for miles out north, but looking south we could see something a little out of place... Sand dunes... Hundreds of metres in height all across the top end of 90 Mile Beach. Now sand dunes are the last things you would expect to see in such a green and fertile country as this! So why not take advantage of the situation and whip out the old boogie board? And that's exactly what we did. Sliding down these sandy mountains was awesome fun, it was the climbing back up that was the killer.. I did eventually manage to persuade the apprehensive Keita to go for a bit of a slide on one of the smaller dunes too. After this short burst of energy expenditure, we visited a couple more beaches then headed back for a well deserved relax.

And here I am.

That concludes my story thus far. I hope everyone is well. Put a comment on here to let me know what you're all upto!

And Lee arrives back home very soon.. Awesome.. Can't wait to see and hear all about her amazing adventures in Ghana! And I'm sure mom can't either! ;)

Pictures coming soon.

Photos:
1. Sunrise at Pakiri
2. Football on the beach with Brian
3. Christ Church in Russell..
4. Felt a little weird going into the toilets with a camera, Kawakawa
5. In the meeting house at Waitangi - not sure what I was doing but I think Brian got a little scared
6. Onwards!!! In the 35m waka (canoe) at Waitangi
7. Big kids need their fun too! A circus in Paihia
8. Matauri bay, beautiful...
9. Some of my host family, Andrea and Keita, and me
10. My pad. Form an orderly queue ladies...
11. Cruising on 90 Mile Beach
12. Cape Reinga with the sand dunes in the background
13. Yeeehawww! Sandboarding!
14. Me in NZ, Spirits Bay
15. Now that's a letterbox if I ever saw one...