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Published: November 27th 2007
Mt Ngauruhoe
The stunning views as the sun rises Kaikoura was a bit of a disappointment, we booked to go and see and swim the dolphins the morning before the ferry so we got up at some silly hour.........it had rained and the wind had got up during the night so we were in two minds if we would still go. On arriving at the office we were told that the skipper was making a decision on if we were able to go or not due to the weather. After half an hour of waiting we were told that the weather was too bad to go! Bloody typical mother nature stopping us, what worried me was that they told us that the swell was too much to go out and we had the ferry to get arrhhhhh.
The ferry was a bit rough but not too bad i survived without any drugs this time! We arrived back in Wellington to the hustle and bustle of rush hour traffic something that we have forgotten about......we got ourselves out and made our way back to the national park to try and do the crossing. The Tongariro crossing is classed as one of the great walks in New Zealand, it is a
Emerald lakes
The colour of these mineral filled waters was amazing 18km walk around what is known as the ring of fire......three volcanoes one of which is very active and had a mini eruption the day we landed in New Zealand....Mt Ruapehu! We checked into Howard's backpackers again as it was so nice last time we were this time put in a small flat like room again on our own kitchen, paying dorm prices but getting our own room kitchen and even garden fab!!!!! The weather forecast for the day after looked good so we booked our transport to get picked up at 6am. As the walk is around a national park and a bit out of the way you need to get a bus to and from the beginning and the end of the walk. Most of the transport leaves at 7.30 but as the weather said it would rain after lunch time, a few people and ourselves wanted to go earlier so they made a bus specially for a few of us which was good.
As we started the walk the sun was rising from behind the snow capped crater of mt Ngauruhoe (Mt Doom) what a beautiful scene, one of so many here in New Zealand. It
Red crater
The red and black layers of ash from years and years and years.........ago was quite chilly so the gloves were on and so were the hats, i think some of it is that you can see snow so you think that it is cold a psychological thing maybe?!!! The walkway was pretty easy to start with weaving its way through the once pathways of lava from many many years ago. When we looked behind us we could clearly see Mt Egmont....the peak that we drove right up to see and the cloud was that low we could not see a thing and yet here we are bloody miles away and clear as a bell it is peaking itself over the clouds. Next we were to start the difficult bit, up what i can only describe as a load of rock on quite a steep hill.......a few people had those walking sticks which you can hire but we didn't so were relying on our own brute strength! The DOC map called it devils staircase which i would say is a fair name for it. The sun had come up and as we climbed along you could really appreciate Mt Ngauruhoe's (Mt Doom) size and shape a true stereotypical cone shaped volcano, one we were
Panaramic views
it was like the moon, well what you think the moon would be like! taught about in geography!!! For the next hour we started off walking along a large flat piece of ground in between the volcanoes, a piece of ground that i am sure was probably used in the rings! It was so barren and quiet, peaceful.......but when you think of all the noise that once went on here when they erupted its quite scary to think about the sheer power and unpredictable nature that these wonders of nature have.
The red crater rim took us over the rim, and i mean over the rim......it was like walking up a steep hill with the ground moving under you so you were taking one step forward and two back which is not the way you want to be walking on a thin edge quite high up!!!!! ha ha ha. The view of the red and black ash with steaming holes reminded you about how active this area is. The steam was so warming as you got a touch of it on your face as you passed. I was amazed at how red the rock was and how strange the formations were. On the other side of the rim we were rewarded with emerald
Emerald lakes
the water was so still you could see the reflections of the near by peaks lakes, and they are exactly what they say they are 'emerald lakes'. The colour of them is caused by minerals in the water and they look like you could take a dip but you can not! we stopped here for lunch before we headed past blue lake and onto our way back down to the bus pick up point. Along the way we came across snow that we had to walk through......i love it! The cold was starting to come in quite low so we did the right thing leaving earlier. The walk took us about seven hours to do which isn't bad as we made a fair few photo stops as you can imagine. Back to the backpackers and a nice curry to warm us for tea.
After the walk we spent the next couple of days heading back to Kaitaia. Our little New Zealand road trip coming to an end........one thing i will say we have noticed being on he road is that the drivers here are bloody nuts! they drive right up ya bum at some silly speed then decide to overtake you on mountain tops as you drive round a corner! unbelievable. We called in
Claytons catch of the day
Fresh flounder caught by our in-house specialist for fish and chips or fish and 'chups' as they say here, on our way back to the Jones HQ. We arrived and were glad to get back to a bed after sleeping on a foam mat for the past 5 weeks!
Since we have been back up here the weather has picked up and the sun has got his hat on which is great! We have been on a few more fishing excursions with Clayton and James, this time with a net to catch flounder. We caught a fair few and brought them home to fry in a bit of flour-yum. We also went to work with Clayton. Now Clayton calls himself 'The inseminator' this is due to him inseminating cows for farmers so all of there cows calf at the same time. We went along to watch......i will not go into detail on what exactly happens due to some of you maybe eating but i am sure you can imagine. The farmers were really nice when we went up and made us feel involved instead of a spare part, we had the job of writing each cows number down on a form, the number that is on
Cake selling
my cake selling tactics were to wave to every passing driver! a plastic tag on there ear. I was given the job of letting some of the cows out of the run and back into the field, i had been watching somebody else do it and the cows just wondered themselves back down to the field hmmmmm........not with me i opened the gate and the cows decided to trot themselves into the next run along! oh dear i get one job and mess it up tut tut. Anyway all ended good and the cows got pregnant by Clayton the daddy!!!! We went back to Clayton's and watched Tara ride Rita her pony who is so good, as all Tara does is sit and laugh the faster Rita goes the more Tara laughs!!!
To make some extra cash we decided one day that as this country is a place where selling at the side of the road is a culture, we had the idea of selling fairy cakes outside the gates. So we baked 100 cakes give or take a few that were munched as they came out of the oven. We iced some of them had some with choc chips, some with sultana and lemon and some with kiddy decoration!
Cake selling
Ste's cake selling tactics involved resting in the sunshine! We sold them for $1 each and sold 30 of them! so we broke even which was amazing, as we didn't expect to sell any. We proved people wrong ha ha ha. We have not done it since but maybe we might try again soon.
We also went along to a cattle sale with Clayton, all of the cows were auctioned off. If i lived here i would have bought all the skinny cows that were there. they bought 2 calves, one black one and one with Tiger stripes. I must stop calling them all cows as i have been informed that they are not all cows! We took them home in the horse wagon and released them into the fields with the others. The only problem being that we had let them out with an electric fence that wasn't on, in practice they are supposed to follow the line down the hill and into the field with the rest of the cows......they jumped the fence and ended up in the field with the horses. They are still to this day in there and will not mix with the other cows, apparently they think that the horses are their
Kauri trees
this is a stump from a tree that fell a while ago, i was stood at one end of it Ste was at the other it was massive! parents as they have not long been weaned, bless them.
Kauri trees are the second largest trees in the world. We went along about an hour north of here to visit some of them that are protected. These trees were once in abundance here but as with most things man came along and ruined it. Man chopped a lot of them down to use with building. This area is protected to stop anybody from chopping them down. They take years and years to get really big and some of the trees in this area are very old. When you get close up you can not believe how big they really are!!!!! There are also lots of small baby Kauri's that in time will be huge.
So where are we at now, now that is the million dollar question! A New Zealand working visa was an option and an Australian one is too. We have now applied to get an Australian Visa so we are currently playing the waiting game. If we get one we are off to Australia again to see the West and if we don't well we have a few different options that i don't want
Kauri Trees
Ste with one of the big old trees to bore you with. Nobody warns you when you come travelling that it will open so many doors, give you so many ideas and dam right confuse you! We will see what happens.
In the meantime its countdown until Christmas, i sat and wrote cards yesterday felt rather strange in the sunshine as i am used to the cold weather when writing cards, in the house with a hot cup of tea.....not this year outside in my bikini with a cold drink ha ha ha!
i will leave you all with that thought and speak soon, hope you are all OK xxxxxxx
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catherine face
non-member comment
No way
no way did ste make that cake with you all? surely?!?! I love the photos missing you both loads xxxx