North Island Part 1

Our North Island adventure began on Friday, December 19, as soon as we got out of work. We had packed everything in the car before work and were able to take of right at 5pm. We drove about 5 hours to a town called Cheviot, just north of Christchurch. We got to our campground at 10.30 and were greeted by a slightly creepy, slightly drunk man who showed us to our plot of grass. Everything was fine, warm night, didn’t rain til after we set up camp and were sleeping. Early in the morning, we awoke to the sound of roosters crowing seemingly very close to our tent. I took this as a sign I should get up to use the loo. Upon crawling out of the tent, I saw about 10 chickens and big black roosters about 10 feet from our tent. No wonder they were loud!
That began day 2 of our trip. It was pretty rainy all morning on our drive north toward Picton, and the ferry to Wellington. We got to the town with no problem and checked in at the ferry terminal, where we were directed to 6 lines of cars waiting to get on. And there we waited for about 3 hours. The ferry was delayed due to rough seas. Finally, cars started moving for all of about a minute until the poor girl next in the line beside us realized her car wouldn’t start. So, not only could she not move, but neither could the rest of the cars. This must happen frequently though because some men in yellow reflector vests came running out with a batter charger. After 3 unsuccessful attempts at restarting, they tried doing it by pop-starting it, which was equally unsuccessful. So, the car was pushed out of the way and the last we saw, was sitting on the side, probably not boarding the ferry.


Ferry

We carried on though, and drove up a ramp onto a huge ship where we parked, along with about 100 other cars, some RV’s, and a tractor trailor. Pretty impressive! From there, we went up some steps into the “lounge” area. There were several large flat screen TV’s on which a couple of movies played, some chairs, couches, and a café. There was also access to decks outside and when the rain stopped, we were able to enjoy some great views. The ride was uneventful and 3.5 hours later, we docked in Wellington.


Unloading

From Wellington, we drove to a campsite in Tongariro National Park. Well, I should clarify. Craig drove and I slept for the last 2 hours or so. We arrived at 12.30 am, put up the tent, and went to sleep. We had planned to get up at 5am the following morning to hike Tongariro Crossing but the trip, thankfully, was cancelled due to bad weather. So, we slept in the next morning and then spent the day exploring the area. We found a cool 2 hour hike to Taranaki Falls and finished that in the rain. Then we hike around a large lake for a couple of hours and headed back to camp for some English muffin pizzas, showers, and an early bedtime. Oh, I almost forgot, as we were leaving the lake hike, a small wild pig meandered across the parking lot and up the trail! I’m hoping to see some more of those while we’re here.


Taranaki Falls

Monday morning, we woke up at 5am for the 5.45am shuttle to Tongariro Crossing. The skies were clear and promising for a great day. We were on the trail by 6.15am. This hike is known as New Zealand’s greatest day hike, and now we know why. After about 3 hour of hiking uphill, we reached the summit (1800 metres) and were rewarded with the most amazing views of surrounding volcanos, Emerald Lakes, and beautiful landscape. The volcanic nature of the area made the scenery unlike anything we had ever seen. Hopefully the pics can describe it better than I.


Top of Volcano


Crater of Mt Tongariro


Emerald Lakes

After a short break on the summit, we moved on toward a hut that was supposed to have great views of Lake Taupo and surrounds. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the hut, the clouds were rolling in and we couldn’t see anything. So, a quick sandwich and off we went, this time on a 2 hour downhill hike to the carpark to meet the shuttle. Fortunately, the clouds moved up past us about 15 minutes down and we didn’t miss the views of Lake Taupo.


Lake Taupo from the Hike

After that, it was all down hill (literally). Really pretty the whole way, and we made it back to the carpark a half hour before the shuttle. The whole trip took us about 7 hours, and it was well worth every minute. The shuttle met us at the trail end and drove us back to camp, hitting a bird (possibly a tui) along the way. Sad day for the bird.
We packed up the car and drove about 45 minutes north to Taupo, a decent sized tourist town on a big, beautiful lake with a view of the mountains and volcanoes. We found a campsite, showered, ate some dinner and then went into town for a walk. The next day (Tuesday), we drove around to all of the tourist sites around Taupo. First was the Aratiatia dam, which was releasing when we arrived. The Waikato river is responsible for the production of 22% of New Zealand’s energy supply. Pretty impressive! While the dam was releasing, the river below was humongous, raging whitewater (class VI for those of you kayakers). It was turquoise and white, really beautiful. When the dam stopped releasing (it releases every 2 hours for 30 minutes), the water immediately dropped (not enough water to run it in a kayak) about 12 feet and was much calmer. It really was amazing to see.
We then left the dam and drove to do a geothermal walk. However, we were informed it would cost $13 per person for a 30 minute walk so we passed. Instead we were given some free food to feed the “birds” outside. So, we wandered out and were met by a peacock. We took turns feeding it and next thing you knew, Craig was surrounded by an increasing crowd of chickens and roosters, all wanting a nibble. It was pretty entertaining! Luckily, we got it all on video.


Rapids


Craig and his Chicks

Then we drove down the road to a “lookout” on our map. The lookout turned out to be a view of the Wairakei Geothermal Power Plant. It was composed of miles of pipeline carrying scalding hot water and steam. Interesting to see.
Next was Huka Falls. These waterfalls are famous for their color, turquoise again. Again, really pretty.
Finally, we were back in town where we spent the afternoon wandering around, enjoying the nice sunny day. And also enjoying some refreshing gelato. Great way to end the day.


Huka Falls on the Waikato River

We hopped in the car and drove to Ohakune where we are leaving for our 3-day kayak trip of the Whanganui River tomorrow, Christmas Eve. So, I write this sitting in our room at the hostel we leave from, after packing all of our stuff for 3 days into 2 kayaks. Unfortunately, we don’t have internet access so I can’t post this but we hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Pix from the First 4 Days (Sorry there is a ton)

P.S. We will update the blog a few times this week since we had bad internet access and connections during our trip. We were diligent to write them all but didn't post them.