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Published: March 13th 2007
Emerald Lake
One of the many amazing views on the Tongario Crossing.Since my last entry, I have been to Rotorua, Taupo, Tongario and am now in Wellington, the capital. These have been really exciting places for me, considering what I have done.
The first night in Rotorua we spent at the hostel bar, drinking cheap booze and dancing to some bad music (after a few drinks I wil dance to anything). The theme for the night was a beach party, so the floor was covered in sand, and people were dressed up as hula dancers and beach balls. It was a fun night, and luckily there was not much of a hang over for the trip to Whakarewarewa Maori village, the next morning. This is an amazing little village, built on a very thin layer of earth crust, over a volcano, or just over the volcanic belt, I'm not sure, but there is an abundance of geothermal activity, the reason for the 'eggy smell' engulfing the area. I didn't think it was that bad actually, not as harsh as people had described it, think I may have even got acoustomed to it in the end. The Maori people open up their village for people to see and understand both how they
live and their traditional customs. The money that they charge goes towards the up keep of the village, as the increased sulpher level in the air causes damage to and weakens the buildings. They use the hot water pools (geysers) to cook food in, and have also constructed steamer boxes to place ontop of other smaller areas of geothermal activity. Very convienient and resourcefull way to make use of them. We ate some food that was cooked in these ways, very tasty. The sulpher brought out the flavour in the corn and sausages, but didn't make it too salty. They also performed traditional song and dances, including poi. It was very impressive, they used both long and short poi, using different moves for each one. The style differs from modern day poi, they used the basic moves, but also used their hands, arms and shoulders to bounce the poi off, quickly and rhythmetically. The flax (like straw or thin wicker) that they make the poi from is really light weight, enabeling to do those moves with ease, couldn't do that with my heavy ones, it would hurt too much! Having the sun shinning really made the day. These geothermal areas
Before the Jump
Silly shots were obligitory! are scatterded all over the town, including the the common over the road from our hostel, and have to be fenced off, so no one can fall in and get burnt. Pretty crazy though. In the middle of the common there was an aquatic centre, where we spent one morning swimming and chilling in the spas. There was an olympic sized swimming pool outside, pretty hard going. Having never swam lengths that long before it made my arms ache after the first length, but after a few I got used to it. We also checked out the sledging at lake Kaitiaki. It's a bit like white water rafting, but instead of being on a boats, you are holding onto a sledge whilst going over smallish waterfalls and rapids. So much fun! There was one bit where the guides were getting us to surf against the flow coming down from the waterfall, had it for a bit, then suddenly my sledge was still in the rapid, but I was the other side! Fun! As the rain fall had been low over the past month, the river was quite low at points, occasionally being able to feel the heat from the hot
springs underneath the river. Couldn't leave Rotorua without visiting the Rotorua Museum, which used to be an old bath house, using the local hot springs, as the sulpher, and other minerals in the springs are said to have soothing properties for pain that you can't otherwise releve. Here we learnt about the ols bath house, which ran out of money, so was not compelted to the plans, the volcano eruptions and devestations in the area, and the Maori tribes that created a bateleon. and fought in the wars. Interesting stuff, in a very interesting little town.
A little bit further down the road was the town of Taupo, the home of a giant lake (about 170 km circumference) which formed in the crater of a dormant volcano, and the cheapest place in NZ to skydive. We had been there less than an hour before we did it. Got the DVD of the experience, so you can all laugh at it when I get back, and it is funny. I was expecting to be really nervous before hand, which suprised me quite a lot, as I felt really calm. There were four of us in the pink plane, along with
Mt. Doom
Another of the many amazing views on the Tongario Crossing. The star of Lord of The Rings! the four experienced jumpers, with whom we were fastened to. The first two got out at 12,000 meters, suddenly they were just gone out of the plane, making the sound that you get as a speeding car goes past, which is when I thought 'ah, I'm going to jump out of a plane'. Soon got over that though. At 15,000 meters Adam and his guy jumped out, then it was me. Had to hang my legs out of the open door of the plane, lean my head back, then Alex, my skydiver, jumped, pushing me out of the plane. You don't feel like you are falling, you don't get that feeling in your stomach that you get on a rollercoaster, the only indication is the wind that rushes past your face and up your nose. After a minute of free fall, Alex opened the parachute, and we started floating down at a slower pace. Absoloutly amazing. Couldn't have asked for a nicer view, the sun was shinning, the sky was clear, apart from a few scattered clouds (would have been good to fall through a cloud though) at about 5,000 meters, and the view of Taupo and the lake was amazing. It was such a rush, it made me buzz for the rest of the evening, and infact every time I think about it. We had to go celebrate after with a few beers, had to be done. It happens so quickly though, have to do it again. We spent a few days in Taupo, hopped on a tubing ring and floated down the Kaiori river, the currents at certain parts are quite strong, so it just takes you down to the natural hot springs by the side of the river, a bit further up. Have to take advantage of these incredible natural things.
The first day that we tried to do the Tongario Crossing, one of the most famous walks in the world, the weather was too bad, it rained like hell in the morning, and since the walk takes you up to the mountains, around Mt. Doom (from Lord Of The Rings), it would have been too dangerous to proceed, so we spend the day doing a few really short walks around the base, then lounging in the hot tub for the rest of the day. The next day, the weather was amazing. The morning was really cold, then as we walked, and as the sun came up, the layers came off. It is 19 kms long, roughly 12 miles, and takes roughly 6 hours to do, although we dragged it out to about 8, as knew we would have to wait at the end to be picked up later, otherwise. Everytime we found some amazing scenery we just sat and enjoyed it for a bit. And it was amazing, well worth it. I don't think I could do it justice, so you'll just have to look at the pictures. There was one real harsh rock climb, called The Devil's Staircase, which led to the base of Mt. Doom, but the rest of the trail comprised of smaller slopes trailling around the mountains, then down the otherside of the mountains, through some foresty land. The Emerald Lake was an astounding sight, almost better than you could expect to be real. As well as a sence of extreme satisfaction at the end, my muscles didn't ache too much either.
Moving on to Wellington. We arrived in the late afternoon, just in time to scope out what there was for us to do in the evening, as it was saturday night, and we all deserved some party time. After a few happy hour drinks at the hostel, we headed out the bars in the main high street, and ended up at Sandwiches for a night of dancing to electro and breaks. Fun was had by all, we managed to get a large group to go, who have all been on our buses for the last few days, and spanned across about 6 different nationalities. Only the English lasted till the club shut at 7, but everyone else loved it, I could tell! For a capital city, Wellington is quite small, easy enough to walk anywhere real quick, and had a brilliant view from the top of Mt. Victoria (which is apparently where the director of LOTR lives). Also visited a few museums, the Tapu, which is huge, and the Tattoo museum. I really liked this city, hardly any skyscrappers, and bustling night life (you don't see that very often in NZ, well so far anyway), but the rumours are true, it is a very windy city.
Well, this is the end of the North Island for us, feel like we've missed out loads though, action packed as it has been. Heard that there is great surfing in Gisborne, and unfortunatley couldn't make it to see Lucy's sister in Napier. That'll have to be another trip!! Looking forward to the South Island though, hope we beat the start of winter, the weather has been good to us so far. Take care everyone, be in touch! XXX
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Granny Sarah
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Lord of the rings!
I'm so jealous! Would love to go and see where LOTR was filmed! Looks like your loving NZ, i'll send you an email xxx