Randy cows

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Since leaving Asia the background noise that is present in my mind seems to have returned. I don't know if it's the proliferation of beauty magazines, fashion and 'stuff' that inspires the return of craving, but, if anywhere stands a chance of reducing that in a Western environment I think that NZ is the place!

Auckland was a real crash and my first, and gratefully wrong impression of NZ. On the surface it looks like Sydney but scratch that veneer and it is, sorry Aucklanders, a dump in comparison. However, get out of there and NZ has got me turning over a very positive new leaf in an exceedingly beautiful country!

If I lived forever there are enough walks to keep even the keenest 'tramp' happy (NZ for a hiker, rambler, walker) and I'm a very keen tramp! The plan was to make my best effort to enjoy as many of the walks and the numerous wineries this country has to offer in the next month. But first - diving.

Jacques Cousteau named the Poor Knights as one of the top ten dives in the world and I was excited to be consolidating my learning out on the Barrier Reef with my first independent dive in new surroundings and new company. I was teamed up with a jolly German guy for the day and we set off. Within 10 minutes all my dreams had come true for the day (yes, it really can happen that quickly!) Our boat was surrounded with dolphin!! Interacting with these animals has a place on most peoples bucket lists and it certainly has a spot on mine - and there we were! If I had've been told that the diving was no longer possible that day I'd have been content - but fortunately that wasn't the case.

Despite my buddies confidence I was a little more nervous than I had expected descending into the deep blue world as a newly qualified diver and went through the first dive with the speed of an underwater warhead. There were a few very large stingrays to be seen which was cool but I certainly wasn't taking enough time to see much more! Back on the boat I was kicking myself for my haste and my German friend very kindly suggested that I was maybe a 'little fast'!

The second dive of the day was the MaoMao Arch which is a tunnel right through the Tawhiti island. Halfway through the tunnel there's a hole in the rock above the water that allows the light through creating the most beautiful underwater scenery and light play. This time my buddy and I had our communication sorted and I was completely relaxed - the camera I'd hired for the day didn't work which was sad but the memories remain. The light bathed us in penetrating rays turquoise and we took our time to enjoy the wrasse, snappers, scorpion fish and the majesty of the huge underwater boulders that provided tunnels and arches for us to swim over and under - just gorgeous.

That evening I headed north up to Paiha. I had read two things about Cape Reinga - the northern most tip of the country - that made me know I had to go there, sit and just experience the place. Firstly that it’s a sacred place for the Maori - where they believe that the spirit of their deceased descends down the roots of the ancient kahika tree - named Te Aroha - to the water and from there onto Hawaikl - their spiritual home; secondly, this is the location where the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean meet in such waves that the connection is actually visible.

Tired from diving (why does it wear you out so much?), hoping for a very early nights sleep and finding a few people at the hostel that would fancy the journey I headed off. On the drive into town however I started kicking myself for being so stupid, surely everyone that would want to go there the following day would already be booked on a tour? Destiny was shining on me once again though. Within minutes of entering my new dorm I'd met two new people - lovingly and accurately titled 'England' and 'Canada'. Both hadn't booked tours and both were keen - the day was set - so I had a nice quiet night and had as good a nights sleep possible in a tiny bed with a woman near me snoring like a buzz saw!

The following day wouldn’t translate too well in fine detail but was one of the single most laugh filled, enjoyable days I’ve had! From the outset the banter was great, the scenery was wonderful and everything fell into place. We reached Cape Reinga just as seemingly all other tourists were leaving, the rain had just given way to beautiful blue skies and sun and walked down to the lighthouse. Captivated by the beauty of the scene we all just sat for probably an hour, sometimes talking, sometimes not, staring out at the ocean and the lonely kahika tree.

Eventually we prised ourselves away and, within only 10 minutes drive we were in an entirely different landscape - the giant sand dunes of Te Paki. We all regressed considerably and climbed up, rolled down, ran around and took lots of silly pictures of each other there, stopping only when the laughter got too much. From there it was the journey home via 90 mile beach - which, as soon as we saw the sunset tipped waves we just had to jump in still singing Honky Tonk Woman which had just been playing on the radio. We finally found some food and luckily stumbled across one of the countries celebrated chippies - which to any Brit finishes off a day at the seaside just perfectly - thanks so much guys!

The following day I made the long drive down to Rotorua, famous for it’s hot springs throughout the world. It’s now 100 years since the towns bath house was built and used as a place of medical healing for the wealthy to ‘take the waters’ and finally work is progressing to complete the building as it was originally planned as a celebration of that time. The bath house also houses exhibitions that teach the visitor about the town and the Maori history which was a great footing for my visit. But it was the physical splendour of the springs that most impressed me.

From there I searching for a good walk and did the 34km trail around the Redwoods - an experimental forest planted out with many non-native species including, of course, Redwoods. The trail itself took in some lovely lake and forest views but it consisted a little too much of wide lane type walking for me to really feel I’d got away from civilisation for the day. To make the lanes pass I set targets of ‘I’ll just run to the next tree’ or the like, which reminded me of when it was cold and mum was walking my brother and I home from junior school. She’d set us the next lamp post to run to and all the time we’d chant ‘hot chocolate, drinking chocolate’ which was our promise on a speedy return home. Then I got to the woodland part of the trail and the narrow winding paths so soft underfoot just called me to run through those too! All in all I was so happy and energised I did the eight hour circuit in nearer 5 hours - very tired but content! From there I drove out to a lesser known hot water river spot called Kerosene Creek. From what I’d read there was no chance that at the weekend, or evening time you’d have the place to yourself. In fact it was likely to have people being noisy and drunk there. By immense good fortune then I had the place to myself - and left alone in such gorgeous surroundings decided to play around with the timer on my camera and try to be creative! Well, it made me feel like I was being constructive with my time soaking my tired limbs in the lovely hot water!

I had finally received news from my friend at home that she’d managed to get a little financial assistance from the bank of mumanddad and would therefore be coming to New Zealand so I had to start moving to the south island where we would meet. This gave me little time to pack much more into the north island but I was not going to miss the Tongariro Alpine Crossing - hailed as the ‘best one day trek in the country’. I had heard a certain rumblings of ‘over-hyped’ and read that to climb Mount Ngauruhoe - otherwise known to you Lord of the Rings fans as Mount Doom was a more enjoyable endeavour so I sought advice from the hostel. ‘Do them both’ came the answer! Apparently it was only a couple of hours diversion - so that was enough of a sales pitch for me!

An Israeli guy from the hostel was also keen to do it so at 5am the following morning we met in the kitchen, cradling mugs of coffee wondering what the hell we were doing there! The moon and stars still shone benevolently on us as we reached the starting point of the trek and we walked for the first half hour under their gracious glow before the sky began lightening and the dawn started to stretch its penetrating rays over the landscape. In no time we were looking up at the Mount thinking - that’s not far! 10 minutes later we had climbed a good third of the way up and were wondering how the hell it was going to take a ‘good 45 mins to an hour’ to make it the rest of the way. Well! At the very same time that thought entered our heads any hint of strong rock was gone and we were left to climb a giant black sand dune on a very steep angle! The volcano was just ashen rock! We scrambled, dug our fingers in and had to laugh and the ridiculously slow progress we made - but we did - eventually!

The good thing however was the views - which of course were spectacular, but for sheer fun were surpassed in my mind by the descent - which took under 15 minutes! We jumped, slid and fell down much to the jealous comments of those poor souls still making the ascent! The rest of the day captured the stunning colour variations of the Emerald Lakes and Red Crater but was overall a very easy walk - Mount Doom really did make the day for us both - and without it I’m afraid to say that I would probably also have been uttering over-hyped comments.

That said it had made for a good walk, a great day and a great end to my present time on the North Island. The blog title comes from the disturbing number of times I've seen cattle having sex as I've driven the manic 1800km since I arrived - it's so often now I have to laugh - but I've seen an incredible amount in that short time. I’ll have a few more days at the end of the journey to capture the few bits I’ve missed.

So far though, New Zealand is expanding my lungs with its challenges, raising my eyes to its mountains and soaring my heart out over its many ocean views to the people I love back home that I am now as geographically far away as possible from and still be on earth!

Lots of love x

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Comments

[Eric]

I enjoyed your New Zealand post. I have always wanted to go there. My blog is looking for travel photos. If you have the time, email us some at [e-mail] or come check us out at dirty-hippies.blogspot.com. Continued fun on your travels, Eric

[Chris and Nikki]

Awesome picture!