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Published: February 20th 2008
The journey back to Auckland went through places we had already made stops at on the way down to the South Island. However, there were some things I felt that I had "missed" on the way down, so in the end I was thankful for the second chance to experience things on the way back.
The first stop on the North Island return was Wellington. We took the good ol Interislander Ferry from Picton to Wellington and I then had 2 nights in Wellington to explore. However, the weather wasn't ideal in Wellington and it rained quite a bit. It was also quite chilly. The good news was, I had made some friends in Kaikoura (Ella and Sarah) and was about to meet another friend Tim (all of them from the UK) so I had people to hit the museum with. We went to Te Papa, the National Museum. Apparently, it is the most visited museum in all of Australasia! Sadly for you, my only photos are of my "masterpiece" work in the kids area. Too funny.
After Wellington, it was off to Taupo. I had already spent an incredible 3 nights there on the way south, but being
my favourite New Zealand town, it just wasn't enough! I had not yet visited the thermal pools and I had not done the infamous Tongariro Crossing. The Tongariro Crossing is an 18 Km hike through the Tongariro National Park, also know as Mordor in Lord of the Rings. It's tough work doing the crossing itself as you're climbing some serious mountain terrain. However, the real challenge is whether you want to conquer Mount Doom itself. The actual name is Mount Ngauruhoe and the climb is an additional 3 hours to your 18 km trek of madness. Obviously we couldn't go all the way out to Tongariro National Park at 5:30 am and NOT CLIMB MOUNT DOOM! What you should know is that this is only recommended for people of utmost fitness levels. You must have decent hiking boots, long pants, and an interesting perspective on the value of human life... or at least the value of unbattered skin and operational knees! I have never done something so challenging and scary in my life! The terrain was really just giant rocks that were not stable. You would grab for a rock that looked stable, and it would move right underneath you.
Mount Doom is STEEP. There is no clear path, it's really up to you how you manage your way up..... and DOWN! Down might have been the hardest part! Definitely the funniest.
Tim was my "hiking partner" for the day and he was quite patient with me... we also had Frankie who is such an incredible athlete and he was constantly waiting for us to catch up. All said, it was an amazing hike. Beautiful mountains, geothermal pools (the emerald lakes), views of the coast, and interesting terrain. Make sure you take some time to see the amazing scenery and photos. This was probably the most challenging physical accomplisment I've had to date, and certainly one of the most rewarding!
From Taupo it was time to return to Auckland where I had a few days to get ready to fly to Sydney. The evenings I spent going to the cinema and catching up on some current movies! Saw Sweeney Todd (ugh, too gory!) and Michael Clayton (loved it, good "thinking" film... George Clooney still has it!). During the day got myself organized with some much needed shopping (which I should have saved for Thailand, I know...) and got
packed up for flights. It was raining when I left Auckland, an interesting way to leave one of the most beautiful places I've ever known. On to other incredible things!!
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