So after an enjoyable ferry ride through the Marlborough sounds and across the cook straight, we made it into Wellington where we set up camp for the night. At our campsite, we were informed that the department of conservation campsites we had been using up until now, were regularly used for drug runs! And that it would be much better to use main camp site chains.... Hmm.
Anyway, Wellington was home not only to Sir Peter Jackson but also to an amazing museum, Te Papa. In here there was everything, from the only displayed colossal squid in the world to a flag that when you raised it, it played God save the queen! So we very much enjoyed our time here! And they did great cakes too!
So next on our agenda was to do one of the greatest one day hikes in the world: the Tongariro crossing. But first, we met up with a couple of Gills distant relatives whom we had never met before, Wendy and Peter! It turns out that Wendy's granny, was sister to Gills great granny! Or something like that! Either way, they were fairly knackered as had just done the crossing so we decided we would try and meet up with them again at a later date!
The crossing itself is 19.4 kms and across alpine ridges, lunar landscapes, volcanic craters, past stunning lakes and through dense rainforests! Oh and there's an optional extra to summit mount narapau (some spelling similar to that!), but also known as mount doom from lord of the rings.
If you guys picture the end of the third film, where Frodo is running first up and then down this erupting volcano, other than the erupting bit, this is not camera trickery. There is no path and the shale sides are at a constant 45 degrees or greater the whole way up. Every step up, you slide the majority of the way back down. Oh, and it's all unstable so the whole time, there are boulders (some easily the size of a watermelon) hurtling down these sheer sides that you have to dodge! While we were climbing, there was one German lady who didn't manage to dodge and one clocked her in the side of the head, resulting in an air ambulance rescue! This place is actually quite dangerous.
2 hours later and we eventually, after some blood, sweat and tears, we made the summit and the crater rim. Doom defeated. There was steam flowing out of one of the vents as we were up there just to remind us that it was an active volcano we were standing on! The view was amazing though and definitely worth it!
After a few minutes rest, it was time to head back down! This was not much easier and eventually we made it by surfing the tide of shale rocks to the base. This 3 1\2 hour detour meant that we were now massively behind as we were being picked up at a certain time! So we had to quickly walk the rest of the crossing just about making it in time!
But, what was amazing was afterwards, we had a hot tub! That was the only real reason we upgraded from a tent to a "mountain lodge". It felt good! And even better than that, was we got to meet up with Chris and Jane, our friends from the truck, for dinner as they had also done the crossing that day!
Some of our next stops included the thermal and cultural centre, Rotorua! The whole place stank of sulphur! But we did dig our own natural hot tub in the sand while the cold lake waters were mere feet away! We also went to a cultural show and were told about how the Maoris used/do live! They even did a haka for us! Very exciting. But the funniest bit was a pale white boy amongst these huge Maori men!
Rotorua was also where we met some more relatives called Adrienne, Peter and their son Samuel. We went out for a lovely dinner with them and shared a great evening!
Our next stop was definitely one of the highlights of NZ for us, black water rafting! Picture this, a mixture of canyoning and white water rafting on an inner tube, by torchlight in a cave surrounded by thousands of glow worms! Amazing! But very cold!
The afternoon was spent on a little farm just outside of a town called matamata, better known as the shire or Hobbiton! We wandered around the set and visited Bilbo's house and even managed to have a drink in the green dragon pub! Their attention to detail was amazing. Even going as far to have someone who walked tracks through the grass prior to filming to make the set more lived in!!
That night, we camped on the beach and saw an amazing orange moon rise! Definitely a good day!
The following day, after church, we met up again with Wendy and Peter and were given a guided tour of the bay of plenty before having a BBQ at their kiwi fruit farm! The next morning, we went hiking to some water falls with them. This is when we should probably mention that, although nearly 60, Wendy is an ultra marathon runner, clocking up to 100 kms at a time! So this hike wasn't so much a gentle walk in the countryside, it was a sprint hike through the forest!!
The rest of our time in the north island was spent with either Tom, Gills great uncle, and Cat, our friend from uni and companion for Christmas and new year! So Tom is 92 and the fittest man of that age I have ever seen! He was running up grassy banks, hopping up curbs and even closing the car door with a bump of his hip! We enjoyed a delicious meal with him and particularly enjoyed seeing how excited he was at the chocolate fountain! Cat was in brilliant form and we enjoyed some good times with her, especially failing at the insanity workout DVD and at a Mexican night!
What an amazing trip in NZ. We can only reiterate what we said in the south island blog entry, you need to come here yourself. But for us, it is time to leave for Fiji, but we will be coming back here!
