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Published: April 22nd 2007
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Two weeks to go and so much to fit in, deadlines - no problem!
Here we go - the Bay of Islands - Northland - the top of the North Island. The weather wasn't ideal for the trips that we wanted to do, so we stayed in Paihia for a day or two longer than planned - but it was well worthwhile.
On Saturday, 14th April - we headed up to 90-mile beach (by coach). The beach is actually 64 miles long, beautiful white sands stretch into the distance and there we were driving through the surf in a coach for the whole of 52 miles!! It is the only way to see the beach, which is backed by huge sand dunes - we passed a couple of vehicles that had become stuck in the sand (it cost an absolute fortune to get pulled out!). We stopped along the beach and dug for pipis (shellfish), which live just under the surface - so simple, but great fun! Further on as we drove off the beach along the creek, the opportunity arose for some sand boarding - Mike immediately made his way to the highest sand dune
he could find - I stayed on the Nursery slopes - being a beginner at these things!! It was great fun, but curtailed by the rain - sand sticks when wet - err - what a wimp!
Our next stop was Cape Reinga, the most northly point of NZ - a very spiritual area for the Maori - they believe that when they die their spirit comes here to begin their journey to the spirit world and people are known to travel long distances to visit this area after losing a loved one.
The Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman sea here too and you can see where the two great waters meet from different directions. The lighthouse is a very popular photographic location too.
On the Monday, we took our seats aboard the catermaran for a trip out round the islands. There are over 100 islands in the bay - of all sizes - some are inhabited and the trip we took included delivering post and supplies to a couple of them - a service that originally collected cream from the farms located on many of these islands, but as time has passed, the
'cream run' has become the 'post and supply' run. It was a wonderful day out and a rest before our next challenge later in the week. You can see in the photo that a pulley system has been set up to enable the island's residents to collect their mail from inshore.
From Paihia we made our way to the National Park. This is a popular ski area in the winter and the village where we stayed was designed for that purpose - ski lodges, wood burning fires and snow on the mountains - fortunately only at the top! Outside the window Mount Ruapehu sat boldly, an active volcano which errupted in 1996, but more recently (last month) experienced a lahar - where the crater lake split its bank causing a mud slide which blocked off the state highway for some days.
The 'Tongariro Crossing' - the best one day tramp in NZ we had been told - provides an opportunity to experience some of the most scenic and active volcanic areas in the Tongariro National Park - but you need a fine, clear day - don't do it if it isn't! The day dawned bright and
cold, armed with backpacks, poles, layers and layers of clothing and a huge lunch, we were collected by the minibus to take us to the beginning of this 17.5k tramp.
It was incredible, we had been warned that it isn't unusual to have 700+ people with the very same idea - not a tramp to do if you want peace and solitude - so along with everyone else off we set. The track climbs over volcanic rock to the Red Crater (1886m), then drops down to the Emerald Lakes and the Blue Lake and descends around the northern slope of Mount Tongariro. It certainly was a challenge and took us just under 7 hours to complete the 17.5k - we did manage a quick lunch stop and took quite a few photies too. For me this was the highlight of our NZ trip, a personal achievement and I know that Mike felt the same too - if you are ever in the area - do it!
This is also the area where much of Lord of the Rings was filmed and I can really understand why, it certainly has a feeling of isolation about it (even
with hundreds of walkers tramping through the landscape). The photo of the Emerald Lakes also shows the route of the track down the mountain.
We have spent the last two or three days in Lake Taupo and Rotorua (smelling wonderfully of sulphur from the many pools in the area). We feel we have done neither of them justice. Both needed far more time than we could allow.
However, we did manage to fit in a walk (enroute between Taupo and Rotorua) in the Whirinaki Forest - a rainforest full of maori myths and legends. The forest was logged up until the early 1980's when conservationists fought to retain the remaining forest as untouched - they won and the tracks that wind through the forest enable people to experience the wonderful old woodland. The trees are so big and so close together that even if it rains you wouldn't get wet!
During our visit round the Bay of Islands we were able to spend a short time in a submarine to view the undersea life - there were lots of fish!!!
So time has run out and we're off to Auckland tomorrow and
Australia bound on Tuesday. New Zealand has been brilliant ...... Oz - here we come!
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