Simon & Caroline's World Tour 07/08

Top Wellington attraction in our guide books was Te Papa, the relatively new museum on the waterfront. But this is no ordinary museum, you get the chance to be shaken in an earth quake, jump on stuff, touch lots of screens, wind things up, and feel how heavy rocks from the centre of the earth are. Essentially what all museums should be like, and we left there knowing a lot more about New Zealand, its geology, wildlife, Maori and immigrants.

After that lot we were museumed out, and our legs didn't fancy seeing more sights, so we hit the road again. We spent the twilight hours in search of the poorly/not signposted DoC campsite, and in true DoC style it was just a field with a toilet. The heavens opened as we pulled up, so to be on the safe side we parked on the road, just so we don't get washed away in the middle of the night.

On a lighter note, our campsite had luxury of luxuries, a covered walkway to the toilet!

The area is also the setting to a Maori story recently told in the film Whale Rider, where a girl from a tribe fights against adversity to prove that she is the successor to the chief of the tribe whose ancestor arrived in New Zealand on the back of a whale. A good film, and a little unusual from the norm, along with teaching a bit about the Maori culture - watch it if you can!

Tolaga Bay gave us the rare treat of the longest concrete pier in the southern hemisphere, which is being eroded away from the inside as the sand used for the concrete was from a beach so the salt is eating away at the steel supports.

We made it to East Cape, the most Easterly point in New Zealand, and according to the GPS only 1.5 degrees from the western hemisphere, so this is pretty much as far as we can get from home, I reckon if you drilled straight down you'd hit France on the other side. The campsite was probably the most easterly campsite in the world. Also onsite was the most easterly chippy (in the world, according to me as it makes it more interesting), which we made full use of, as if we needed any excuse.

After a couple more hours extra kip we hit the road again for the final section of the East Cape road. Driving past Maori meeting houses (Marae) with their ornate wood carvings, cows giving us odd looks as they were herded past, and a little church with picket fence next to a beach. At the end of the day, what could be better than relaxing in a hot bath? Fortunately we've made it to volcano country, so the campsite had a nice hot spa to relax in!

Before we could get up close and personal to the sulphur, our guide informed us that there had been a 5.4 earthquake a mere 140 km offshore the previous night. Nevermind any possible aftershocks, what we really had to worry about was a possible eruption from this volcano that we were standing on. You may, like me, imagine torrents of lava streaming towards you which would be scary enough, but no, this particular volcano emits boulders the size of cars flying towards you at the speed of bullets! She then told us that IF we were to survive, we would then come up with an escape plan!

With just a little trepidation we then followed her past the bellowing yellow vents, a good point to use the supplied gas masks! The magma chamber was only 3.5km below our feet, which would explain all the bubbling pools. 3.5km was less than the length of the island and so a little too close for comfort! Along with the multi-coloured rocks there was also a crater lake, with a pH of -1.5 - the most acidic lake in the world, and also at a temperature of 50C, not something to take a dip in!

On our way off the island we had a quick look at the remains of the sulphur factory, being rapidly eroded by the sulphur! Feeling very relieved to have made it back to the boat, having avoided an eruption we enjoyed our lunch and began to wonder just how close to danger we had come. A book on the boat told us about a violent eruption in 2000 and how the boat trips were operating up to just two days before! We felt more at home with the sight of common dolphins swimming and frolicking alongside the boat on the way home.

The sun was starting to peek through the clouds, just in time as we were off to the luge, as recommended by Pete. Seeing there was some other ride called the Skyswing at the top of the hill as well, we eagerly bought tickets, and were up the gondola in no time. The Skyswing looked so innocent, a nice little cage suspended by cables that would somehow do a swing. Laughing off the suggestion the ride was scarier than bungies and skydives, we climbed in and were strapped in, twice. That's when the little seed of doubt was sown, the cage winched the three of us up, tilting so we were face down and we had no option but to trust the harness. At the top there was one thing left to do, come down, and I had control over that with a release cord. With a couple of screaming girls next to me, I gave the cord a tug and we were off, 150km in 2 seconds.

The ride was definitely scarier than it looked, helped by the cage pushing you down the free fall, and swinging out over nothing but a long drop down to Rotorua. At least I know my adrenalin glands still work.

That wasn't even the reason we were up the hill, the luge beckoned, and true to Pete's word it was great fun. Sitting on a little black tray with wheels we careered down a concrete track, screeching around corners on two wheels (me!) and over kerbs (Caroline!), although some of us took it a bit too easy (Cat!).

We caught the gondola back down the hill with Caroline renewing her vow to retire from these danger sports, we've all heard that one before! ;-)

We'd camped at the thermal pools of Waikite, lots of outdoor pools fed from the "boiling river", although we didn't think that was literal, a short walk put us straight. The spa is fed from a massive pool about 4 metres across of fiercely boiling water, at some points it boiled so hard it looked like it was going to erupt into a geyser, not something to stand near! Testimony to the fact that the earth's crust is very thin round these parts.

That only whet our apetites for the thermal wonderland that is Wai-o-Tapo, and first treat was the Lady Knox geyser, promising to erupt at 10.15am. As we'd read our guide book, we knew that the ranger triggers the geyser, but I swear some people were standing with camera ready, checking their watches... The wait also gave me the time to come up with that gem of a blog title, ah, simple things!

The ranger dropped soap powder into the mouth of the geyser, and within seconds foam was billowing from the top. A few seconds later and water was spurting out, giving us our second shower of the day. The rest of the park was as a wonderland as advertised, craters, pools and rocks in a kaleidoscope of colours, all bubbling away and steaming. The champagne pool fizzed as it boiled, and the rim of the pool was bright orange, before dropping off deep to the bottom of the extinct volcano. The final pool was an odd luminescent yellow-green, like some big vat of lime shower gel. Suplhur is very smelly, but can make some crazy colours! At the exit, the mud pools plopped away merrily, occasionally a mini mud eruption would occur in the middle of the lake, and hats off to Caroline who snapped one of the bigger plops mid flow.

With all the thermal pools we've visited, it was time for a change to plain old water, and so we stopped for lunch at Aratiatia dam. Now, as you've come to expect, this is not an ordinary dam, at 2pm the sirens wailed and the floodgates opened, literally. 80,000 litres of water a second gushed out, and gradually the river level rose. The Aratiatia rapids downstream changed from a trickle to a raging torrent. Even more bizzarre is that the river is turned on just for the spectators to see what the rapids are like in full flow, no other reason. Compare that to Australia, or most other countries for that matter, I can't imagine they'd use water quite like that! After half an hour the river is turned off again, until the next time.

Further upstream is the Huka Falls, a paltry 10 metre drop, but impressive due to the sheer amount of water flowing, varying depending on the amount of rain, but on the order of 1 tonne per second. It's easy to see why they can turn the Aratiatia rapids on, the dam would probably overflow if they didn't!

As dusk was fast approaching there was just enough time to fit in one more visit, this time to Craters of the Moon. The whole landscape was covered in steam rising from various vents, from impossibly small holes to ponds, all billowing white vapour. In many ways similar to what we've been looking at for the past two days, but concentrated into one area without trees, and the low light levels added to the atmospheric feeling.

All together it's been a fine day, and we've managed to squeeze quite a lot in, no wonder so many photos were taken!

This is New Zealand though, always lots to do, so plan b was to catch a scenic flight over the three volcanoes and see them that way. Unfortunately as we woke this morning, the cloud cover was so low you could almost touch it. Instead we took the scenic route around the national park, the mountains still hiding behind clouds. Eventually we were far enough south to get out of the cloud cover and see Mount Ruapehu, New Zealands tallest volcano, in all it's glory (apart from the power cables obscuring the view...).

The volcano had erupted 8 months ago, and had a large eruption in 1996, so quite an active one! The 1996 eruption threw out 5 to 15 metre boulders (that must be like a house flying at you!) along with hot ash and other debris. The volcano is currently under alert as there is increased activity in the crater, meaning a possible eruption could occur. There was also a map indicating where lava flows and water from the crater lake would go if an eruption occurred. Came in quite useful for us when picking a campsite!

With the farms long gone, the forest is returning to nature, mostly fern trees with their big umbrella leaves filling the steep hillside (not sure why anyone thought it would be a good idea to farm there!). Just as we returned to the boat the rain set in, not too bad on shore, but with the jetboat hurtling down the river each drop was like a needle to the face - good job we had raincoats!

We were going to do some walks around the mountain, but just counted ourselves lucky that we did manage to catch half of the mountain peeking out from behind a cloud for a few seconds. As you'd expect, when we were about 75km up the road taking sunset photos the mountain was there in the background in it's full glory without a cloud to be seen!

Our journey today took us to a remnant forest of kahikatea, New Zealands tallest tree. Most have been chopped down to make butter boxes which is a shame as their moss covered buttress roots make for an enchanted forest feel. There was also a stop at Karangahake, an old gold mining town, topped off by the 1km disused railway tunnel walk, that's a long way to go in the dark!

After a morning beach walk we made our way further up the peninsula and found ourselves another idyllic beach for lunch. The sun was shining, the sea was beckoning, we had that summer holiday feeling and frolicked around like kids (check out Si on the rope swing).

Eventually, when we were able to drag ourselves away from the fun and frolics we hiked to Cathedral Cove, a beach with spectacularly eroded cliffs and a huge rock archway. We ran through the arch and dodged the waves to get to yet another beautiful beach. It has been a bit of a beach-tastic day! This particular beach boasted views of several stranded arches not that dissimilar to the Twelve Apostles on the Great Ocean road in Australia.

The guidebook informed us that there was only one thing round these parts that could top Cathedral Cove and that was Hot Water beach. We had been waiting all day for the appropriate low tide time of 6pm to enjoy this little treat. Apparently there is a hot spring under the sand so the idea is that you dig yourself a little pond to sit in and enjoy the hot bubbling water with the occasional sea wave to cool it down. Sounded easy enough. Our first path to the designated area was unfortunately blocked by some rather unsurmountable rocks with ferocious waves crashing on to them, after a bit of a soaking we gave up on that path and drove round the corner to the much easier more direct route. All we had to do from here was walk along the beach to the correct spot and dig. Finding the exact spot proved a little difficult however. In one spot Cat and I were pretty sure that the sea lapping at our feet wasn't as cold as it should be but a little digging with our toes proved fruitless and we had to admit defeat, especially since the tide did not seem low as promised. We later questioned the lady at the campsite who informed us that this natural phenomenon was not working at the moment. Right!

We also stopped off to see some Kauri, New Zealands second tallest trees. Doesn't sound impressive when it's put like that, but they are the largest by volume, and that's what really counts in my book. The relatively young 600 year old trees we saw were a mere 2 metres across, and given that they can live to 4000 years old, these monsters can get to some impressive sizes. What a shame someone thought it was a good idea to chop most of them down.

So with our new van we zoomed up (it's petrol instead of diesel and moves somewhat for a van) the imaginatively named Northland peninsula north of Auckland to meet Cat and re-establish the convoy, ready to continue our tour. Oh, we've also been reunited with our passports and India is on, woohoo!

When we arrived in Paihia we hooked up with Glen, our skipper for the day who promised to show us around the Bay of Islands on board his yacht, 'She's a Lady' (I made the mistake of asking how she got her name and was told it was because she was high maintenance. Huh!)

Our track record with sailing led us to believe that the weather probably wouldn't be great and it would no doubt rain. I'm thinking of our last day trip sailing from Brisbane, heart of the sunshine state but where it rained all day for our sailing expedition. Sure enough as we set sail it looked like a rather grey morning. There was also not a great deal of wind around (kind of a pre-requisite for sailing) which meant that we kind of drifted along in a very relaxed manner, which set the tone for the rest of the day. We drifted past many islands, some very exclusive and privately owned. How do the owners get to their homes I hear you ask. By boat more often than not but we did also spot a helicopter hanger (ah how the other half live!) As we came close to where the islands stop to reveal endless miles of sea, we chose our very own deserted island and dropped anchor. We passed up on the proposed swimming although we did brave a wee bit of kayaking, alas despite the glass bottom I saw nothing except some rocks and the sea bed. We also climbed the hill of our wee island and were rewarded with 360 degree views of the area and a light spattering of rain.
After what were quite possibly the best sandwiches ever we boarded 'the lady' once more and continued with thè 'relaxed' sailing back to harbour.

By now we have pretty much seen all there is to be seen in this country so we were really struggling to find some unexplored wee nook somewhere. After much searching of the map and guidebook we found such a corner just to the west of Auckland. We headed to Muriwai beach first to check out their gannet colony. Unfortunately most of the gannets have flown off and left New Zealand for the warmer shores of Australia (must be the time for leaving New Zealand!) However we did spot a couple swooping around so all was not lost.

Beach Two:

Once again the stunning scenery of this country has been used as the backdrop to another film. This time the film was The Piano and the backdrop was Karekare beach (try to imagine a piano in the picture!). We haven't actually seen the film but the beach has got a moody, dramatic air with the waves pounding, the sea spray causing a fine mist in the distance. We have managed to pick up a cheap copy of The Piano so our task tonight is to compare and contrast.

Enough of what we didn't do, we did find impressive waterfalls leaping down a 50 metre cliff. Sound hauntingly familiar? The viewing platform was unusually positioned right at the top and out over the cliff so you get to look down the falls to the bottom. It allowed us to relive that canyon swing leap from a few weeks ago, and let the butterflies flutter one more time.

P.S. We've been slack at keeping up with our blogging homework and we're sorry, get ready for about a weeks supply soon!

The cold night was coming in, so back at Rotorua we headed for the Mitai village to culture ourselves in the Maori traditional canoeing, greetings, songs, dances and of course Haka. The Maoris are also dab hands at cooking too; Hangi is dinner cooked in the smouldering embers of an outdoor fire so that meat falls off the bone, gives it a nice smoky flavour and makes you eat until stuffed. Which we did, mmm!!

We started our Saturday morning (early!) with a swim at the local hot salt water pools, is there a better way to start your weekend? It was just the right combination of relaxing with a bit of exercise (one of the pools is a slightly cooler 34 degree for swimming) and a bit of fun. Not sure if it was Si or Will having the most fun as they raced on-the-back-of-a-turtle style with Paul and Josh.

After we dragged ourselves away from the pools Kelly took the boys home for a sleep whilst Paul, Si and I went off to climb The Mount. Probably not as impressive as it sounds since Mount Maunganui probably doesn't really qualify as a mount as such. Nevertheless it's an impressive mount / hill on the edge of the sea.... New Zealand may be on the brink of Winter but the East coast has that special sunshine ingredient which we love. So it felt like the middle of Summer to us (from Scotland...) There were lots of local fitties jogging past us (I'm sure one woman passed us twice!) whereas just walking to the top was exhilarating enough for us. The 360 degree views at the top were pretty awesome and worth the climb, especially since we had a local with us to explain the points of interest. Our family fun day in the sun was rounded off perfectly with a yummy kiwi barbie. Ah, it's good to be home (well, obviously I mean we won't get too settled here....)