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Published: January 5th 2013
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After a lovely stay at the very generous Crawforths it was time to head out of Wellington and start exploring again. First though we needed to stop off at the British Embassy so we could pick up our replacement passports. We weren't there for long though, it took less time to get the new passports than it did to get the photos for them developed! Rule Britannia!
We drove up straight through the middle of the north island towards our walking destination near the Tongariro Crossing. The scenery was not quite as spectacular as the South Island and you could instantly tell there were more people as there was more traffic and litter around (70% of the NZ population live in the north island) . It was still a lovely drive and after leaving the rolling green hills we soon we came to the impressive Desert Road. Here the scenery changed again to what I can only imagine to be like a cross between driving across Mars and the Moon . The road made its way across the lava filled baron landscape whilst impressive looking Volcanoes of Mt Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe watch on menacingly from the horizon! We stopped the
night nearby in a free campsite and the next day we headed to the information centre at the funnily named Wakapaka Village. The nice lady at the isite informed us that due to the recent eruption of Mt Ruapehu (Mt Doom in Lord of the Rings) we could only walk half of the Tongariro crossing and then back the same way, we were a little gutted to say the least. We were assured that the walk would still be around the same distance of 12 miles and we would see all the best parts, so the next morning we were up early so we could set off on what is billed as one of the most impressive walks in the world. The walk climbed slowly up and across alpine scrubland and a small stream until it plateaus and handy a boardwalk took us across the errie looking marshland (there was a lot of low level cloud around). Soon we reached the first big climb just after the Soda Falls and after dragging ourselves up the numerous steps the walk again plateaus out at the South Crater. We were pretty high at this point and I'm sure if there had been
no cloud the views would have been impressive. We pushed on across the South Crater in the fog and with only the lovely sulphur aroma to guide us and soon reached the next rather taxing climb up to the summit. Heading up this one was much more difficult as it was more of a scramble than a climb across a scree surface where the rocks were loose and the edge is dangerously steep in places. Soon enough though, breathless and sweaty we made it to the summit and the Emerald Lakes. At first we were disappointed because of the thick cloud, but just as I thought Jane was going to get the 'rage' the clouds luckily cleared to give us the most amazing view of the beautiful green lakes down the other side of the summit. After having lunch at the summit ( yes peanut butter sarnies again!) we headed back down the same way. Getting down the loose rocks was much more difficult and dangerous than going up, but we took it slow and soon made it back to the south crater. A few hours later we eventually made it back to the car and even though we could
only do half the crossing it was still an amazing walk through scenery we had both never scene before, it was well worth it.
That evening we left Tongario and moved on to Lake Taupo. Now, Lake Taupo is huge and makes Windermere look like a puddle. It is actually about the same size as Singapore and NZ and Singapore have about the same population so to put that in perspective, imagine everybody in NZ living in Lake Taupo! Cosy. We stayed at great free campsite next to the river and had a nice relaxing few days. We went to see the Huka Falls, went it the Thermal Hots Springs (where on hot river enters another cold one and you can swim between the two) and went to see the film the Hobbit on the day it was released.
After leaving Taupo we headed north again to the Bay of Plenty stopping on route at the very eggy smelling town of Rotorua to see the bubbling hot mud pools, that place looks like its about to explode at any minute! Scary! We stayed at a lovely campsite by the sea and the next morning headed to Mt Maunganui
to do a lovely walk up the Mount for some amazing views if the coastline and see why James Cook named it the Bay of Plenty.
On our way to visit Bobby in Hamilton why stopped off at Hobbiton, the movie set where all The Lord if the Rings and the recent Hobbit films were filmed. The working sheep farm was originally picked by Peter Jackson because if its rolling hills and lack of human development. The farm also had the Party Tree as described by Tolkien and goes to show that money really can grow on trees! The set is now a full tourist attraction and hundreds of 'ring-ons' flock here just to touch Bilbo's fence or rub his plant pot! It was great to see it all so close to seeing the movie and as an added bonus we got a free beer at the recently opened Green Dragon Inn .
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Jonf
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Happy :)
Heee heeeeee I LOVE this!! You look so content Janey!