Mount Doom

We got up buck early to catch the 6:15am bus to Tongariro Crossing from Taupo. It turned out to be a great day, very nice hike. Volcanic rubble turned into orange sulfur craters and several emerald lakes up at the peak of the hike.

Just a couple of observations not on Shannon and my video.

The weather went from sweating at the base, even at 9 in the morning, to freezing with 50-60km/h winds at the top.

Mount Doom was neat to see.

The peak of Mount Doom is sacred and therefore they were not allowed to film it in Lord of the Rings. Didn't matter because they CG'ed it anyways and made it spill with lava.

What I've noticed is that the Maori have made a lot of things sacred. Excusing my insensitivity, it just seems like a waste not sharing the beauties of the land with others. But I guess that's the point. Aside from the peak of Mount Doom, were some fantastic looking hot springs on the eastern face of Tongariro Mountain. It's kind of like going to Banff area and saying boom, Radium Hot Springs is sacred. Therefore no swimming. Also, Lake Louise, so you can go but no photography. Who knows, maybe it was sacred but just the "white man" didn't listen there.

Exhausted after our hike we had a nice shower back at our motel, did some Bali planning at the Internet cafe and had a huge 700g rump steak at a place called Dixie Brown's. It was quite excessive, even I'll admit to that. 

A geyser and lots of sulfur

This morning we checked out and drove down to Wai-O-Tapu where we rushed to make the 10:15am eruption of Lady Knox Geyser.

Wai-O-Tapu is quite the commercialized park as the Lonely Planet warned but that didn't tell the whole story.

Around the geyser were seats set up amphitheater style for optimal viewing. 10:15 came and went. Cameras were poised. Then a park guide steps up to them geyser, tells us some history and geology, and proceeds to dump some surfactant into the mouth of the geyser. Water bubbles up and five minutes later it is gushing ten meters high.

I guess see the geyser was neat but for those expecting something like Old Faithful at Yellowstone, not quite the same.

We went into Wai-O-Tapu which was an easy hour and a half walk around interesting boiling mud and colorful pools smelling of various degrees of egg.

Having exhausted our $50 admission, we drove up Old Kerosene Road where we found a beautiful stream and mini waterfall that was hot! We were surprised no one hadn't commercialized this and charged for it. We put on our swim suits and had a fantastic relaxing dip in the hot waterfall.

We drove into Taupo just another 40 minutes away where it started to pour. We found Chandlers Motel which was charging $30 less than comparable accommodations after driving around half an hour.

At the ever so handy iSite tourism office, we got information on the Tongariro Crossing for tomorrow. Something I thought would have been just about free cost us $100 in having a shuttle take us to and from the all day hike. Had we planned it better, we would have only booked one night at Chandlers and driven the hour to get down there and carried on south.

Because of the rain, there was not much else to do. There were some highly rated jet boats in the area which we'll have to put off until the day after.

We hung out at the Internet cafe, bought food for our hike tomorrow, and had a nice lamb shank dinner at Pimentos. Then watched part of Lord of the Rings that I downloaded on my phone before going to sleep. Long hike ahead tomorrow!

Sheep and Hobbits

Shannon was really looking forward to the sheep show at the Agrodome today to see all the different kinds of sheep and what makes them different.

The Agrodome was a few minutes away from town and was actually a farm as well as an attached and unrelated Agroventures which had a bunch of thrill rides if you were so inclined.

We dropped $40 to see the sheep show which was kind of interesting. About 16 or so different types of sheep were introduced to the audience with the nice fluffy merino being the star attraction. There was also a sheep shearing demonstration and two types of sheep dogs shown including the staring eye dog which was pretty neat.

We got to take a few pictures with sheep and then stop over next door where some newborn lambs were penned for some petting. Baby animals are always so cute.

On the way out, we stopped by the Zorb. Now normally, I'm all for paying for one of a kind experiences, but the Zorb has got to be the fastest way to have your money parted from you ever. For $36,  you get zipped up inside the Zorb sphere and rolled down the hill. The whole ride is no more than 20 seconds which was pretty ridiculous. Maybe if you got a couple of rides, or allows you can ride for an hour, but at that price, I just got a picture and we moved on.

We drove about an hour to Matamata. Driving through NZ, we frequently pass towns whose lifeline are the highways that crisscross through the country. The average sized town in NZ is about 7000 with the total population about 4 million. That really gives you an idea about the size of the place. There really are no "big" cities so living here would definitely change one's perspective on the size of a community. Moving to Red Deer with 90000 people would be like a metropolis here.

A farm just outside of Matamata is where Hobbiton is located, the set of the movie Lord of the Rings. The owners of the land convinced the movie studio to not take down the set and have it as a tourist attraction. It was really neat to see, almost like another Warner Brothers tour. But the whole shire was there from the Party tree to Bilbo's house and the Green Dragon. A neat bit of trivia include the "sunset" where Gandalf and Bilbo were smoking pipes was actually filmed during sunrise because of the landscape. Whenever I come on to these sets, I feel it's too bad that most of the buildings are actually facades.

Shannon and I aren't huge LOTR fans but appreciated the tour nonetheless. Later, we'll have to watch the movie again to appreciate the full NZ LOTR connection.

We went back to Rotorua where we wandered around the town. The thing with small towns, which all of NZ's towns are, is that they pretty much don't have night life, especially on Sundays.

We enjoyed Kuirau Park, a public park spotted with numerous bubbling hot springs, mud and other volcanic activity. It was really nice to find a place in NZ that didn't charge you to see something. In NZ it seems, to do or see anything, someone has to make a buck off you.

We strolled around the Museum grounds. The Museum used to be a really posh bath house for the "rich, ill, and famous." It's interesting how hot springs are somehow connected to healing. The park was free with a nice rose garden, and we skipped paying $10 to see the museum.

Caving adventure

It was drizzling again today. Which made it a perfect day to do some caving underground!

I was really looking forward to doing something like the reputed piece de resistance of caving tours, the 7 hour epic which included an abseil down into a huge cave and then finding your way out through waterfalls and underground rivers. I was looking forward to it as much as Shannon was not. Luckily for her, it was sold out.

We compromised on a three hour less intensive tour with Legendary Blackwater Rafting Co. Donning chilly wet suits and grabbing an inner tube, we made our way down to the caves.

It was freezing water! The temperature was about 11C, but thankfully the wetsuits were thick. I also put on one of my wool t-shirts and rash guard as I usually get cold in the water.

The entrances to the caves always amazes me. They're often non-descript small entrances with a gentle stream running into them. Crawling in, the small low overhanging ceiling gives way to crazy rooms and crawl spaces. I was the first to enter and lead the group which was really neat, as if I were exploring this cave on my own.

Near the entrance, there was this low and tight corner to be negotiated which led right into a cozy cave room with an impressive waterfall crashing down to the cave floor. I think this was the coolest thing I've seen in a while. Our headlamps weren't bright enough to see where the waterfall began, but all of a sudden this rush of water cascades into this small enclosed space, and then out the passage that we just crawled through.

There were several floating areas where we'd turn off our lights and see these amazing blue-green star like points on the ceilings of the caves. These were the glow worms, and they actually got really bright. Their life cycle was actually quite gross. They're not exactly worms, but maggots. These insect larvae have excrement that glow in the dark to attract flies. The flies get stuck in sticky strands the larvae secrete and get eaten. Eventually, the bug makes a cocoon and emerges as an adult. The adult insect doesn't have a digestive tract so it lives only three days. But 10% of its body is reproductive organs so you know what.

There was a small waterfall jump, and eventually we made it to the cave exit, got a hot shower followed by bagel and soup. It was a very good tour, but too short, I thought and if I were around again, would definitely sign up for one of the longer ones.

The last time we were in caves was in Belize. I thought these ones were more interesting especially with the beautiful glow worms and the waterfall. Both had the tube ride. For Shannon, I think this was just right for her. She told me again that she was quite nervous for this one, but coming out of it, it wasn't as bad as she thought. Made it!

We drove into Rotorua and did some motel searching again. After about 6-7 motels, we found Collingwood Gables Motel, run by a Korean lady who knew I was Chinese right away, unlike the otherwise nice corner store clerk at Rawene who thought I was Indian. We're finding that most of these motels are pretty much the same, all built around the same time with two faucet sinks, two burner stoves, a separate small kitchen, a bathroom in the back and bedroom in the front. The room was $75 ($60 CAD), whereas many others averaged $80 CAD.

After getting pizza for dinner and a quick stop at the Countdown supermarket since we had a fridge, we went to the Polynesian Spa down the road. Rotorua is on top of things crust and has steam rising from hot springs all over the place. In fact, as soon as you hit the city limits sign, sulfur starts hitting the senses.

The spas were great. There were pools ranging from 38 to 41 degrees were we just soaked and reaped supposed healing properties of the alkaline and acidic pools. One 41C pool looked out onto the lake and I think it's this view that gave it a top ten rating by some agency.

Driving on a sunny day

Today is probably the nicest weather day we've had since coming to NZ. We spent most of the day in the car putting in a good six or seven hours driving from Kaitia in the north to Hamilton south of Auckland.

Notable event included the ferry across to Rawene. Shannon's parents called while we were on the ferry and were planning on going to Red Deer for a farming technology show.

We had a quick lunch a cafe in Rawene before continuing on south to Waipoua Forest. Just off the highway is Tane Mahota, the world's oldest known kauri tree, sprouting from a seed probably when Christ was born. It was a pretty huge tree with Maori aboriginal significance - giver of all life. In this respect, it reminded me of the tree in the movie Avatar.

There seemed to be several hikes in Waipoua Forest, but Shannon was bored of the forest already, and we were anxious to get as far south as possible.

We kept going, hit Auckland at rush hour, but eventually made it down to Hamilton.

Whenever I think of a city named Hamilton, I think of smoke stacks and industry. There were some big factory buildings but Hamilton seems like a nice city.

There was a motel strip where we parked the car and just walked up and down the street looking at rooms and inquiring about prices. There was only one place that actually gave us a "deal," the owner was quite friendly and offered us a double bed for $64CAD. All the rest gave us the regular rates, you could tell, and despite prompting, didn't go lower.

The Gardena Court Motel had a small kitchen with fridge, two burner stove, tv, a lumpy double bed and clean shower. While it's not the most beautiful room, I thought the owners did a decent job with the details like Cadbury chocolates on the pillows, three sets of cutlery and pots for cooking, and neatly laid out shampoo and soaps. I'm all for family run places.

Being a Friday night, it was busy downtown Hamilton. Of course, downtown is only one street, but it was on street with no parking at all. We finally found a spot right in front of the Internet cafe, and had a nice cafeteria style dinner. We surfed for an hour before going back to the hotel.

The Far North

Today we drove up far north. Our first stop was Mangonui for some world famous fish and chips. The village itself was very cute. It could definitely be a site for a television series - very scenic main street, one or two beautiful dressed waterfront buildings, but living here in real life would probably be boring.

I imagine the fish and chips were made world famous somehow a self-proclamation that was subsequently perpetuated by iSite staff. Probably not unlike Japadog in Vancouver: a hot dog stand that managed to land in the Lonely Planet but a hot dog stand nonetheless. I mean, how can you do fish and chips in any other way than how it's always done? We ordered a shrimp and mussel dish as well as the fish and chips. They were like all other such platters I've had as expected.

Further north took us to the gift shop featuring a staircase carved into the trunk of an ancient kauri tree. An interesting specimen, but we didn't need any kauri furniture at the moment.

I find it strange the further north one gets, the more desolate it becomes. I would have thought it'd be the opposite since going north here should mean warmer as one approaches the equator. But like Canada, as you drive north, the highways become less busy and you definitely feel more alone.

The southern end of 90 mile beach was like that. It went on forever, merging into the mists beyond. It was also very flat giving the appearance that one could walk into the ocean and its waves disappearing into the sea. A few cars ventured north on the beach and some other tourists were having a look around, but the emptiness of the scene and fierce winds of the roaring 40s gave it an alien feel, like we were on another planet, in some ways hospitable, in others hostile.

A long miserable drive north took us to Cape Reinga.

Anyways, Cape Reinga was just as windy and felt like the end of the world. Looking off out into the sea, where the Pacific Ocean met Tasman Sea, I get the sense once again of how small I am and how easily the ocean could swallow me up, disappearing without a second thought in lapping waves that have struck this coast for thousands of years. A lighthouse sits on the Cape and I wondered how many exhausted sailors breathed a sigh of relief when they saw this northernmost point (close enough) of New Zealand.

I took over driving from this point and we made a stop at the sand dunes. We rented some boogie boards and surfed down the sand dunes. They were crazy steep, but definitely manageable once we got the hang of it. An hour was just the right amount of time as its the climbing up part that got the best out of you.

We made it down to Kaitia where we found a hotel that was clean but in need of a face lift. Better than a hostel though, so can't really complain too much. We drove out to Ahipara to enjoy the sunset, got some Chinese take out, and back to the hotel.

Bay of Islands

We went on the Cream Tour today, a full day Bay of Islands tour through the Fullers company which followed the route of a cream and mail delivery boat took in the olden times. We actually had some groceries and mail on board to deliver to a couple islands!

The day started off dreary and cool, and we wondered if we were just spoiled from sunshine and islands of French Polynesia that any cruise we did now would just pale in comparison. NZ isn't exactly a cheap country either, and what we like are cheap warm places...

Anyhow, the Bay of Islands very much resembled Halong Bay in Vietnam. There we did an overnight cruise in a bay dotted with green covered hills that poked out over the water. It was similar here with NZ's own unique plant flora. Interestingly, even the weather was somewhat similar: overcast, a weak threat of rain, jacket weather.

We cruised around different bays, saw the rare volcanic "Black Rocks" and had a stop at one of the islands for lunch. There was even a Hole in the Rock that Billy our skipper amazingly took our boat through. Halong Bay also had a similar hole, but we were taken through by human driven canoes.

The highlight of the trip were the dolphins for sure. We had two sightings, the first being a large pod of 15-20 dolphins with young calves. Then at the end of the trip, we came across a smaller pod and some passengers jumped in to swim with them in the wild. They were so playful, breaching the water, swimming so fast alongside the boat and getting up close. This was the first time either of us have seen dolphins like this and it was pretty amazing. I think the next time when it's warmer, we'd have to try the swim as well.

I wondered at first if the sound of the boat motor would scare the dolphins away, but they didn't seem put off and came around and under our boat. Having watched The Cove, I think this is a way more humane way to interact with the dolphins being out in the wild.

We were pretty tired by the end of the trip. We checked in to Paihia Pacific Resort across the street from the hostel. For the same price, the place was awesome. Nice big clean room with ensuite and hotel amenities. It was a little quiet which was probably why we could negotiate. I bet this whole town completely books up during the high season, but right now we're still in shoulder season, and this is apparent by the weather. I'm actually ok with that having had a lot of water and beach time before NZ, and looking forward to more in Asia.

Dinner was at the same restaurant as last night. We were craving the three course dinner menu, and now with a 5% discount for returning, we couldn't resist. Unfortunately, I could only say that the meal was "good." I had lamb shank and Shannon had the fish of the day, blue nose, and we both found the meal left us wanting more. Yesterday's pizza at a little more than a third the price was more satisfying.

Pooped, we returned to our hotel, threw our smelly sandals in the washing machine, and turned in for an early night as we have big plans to head up to Cape Reinga, the northern point of North Island, tomorrow.