http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/River-Valley/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Oceania , New Zealand , North Island , River Valley en-us Wed, 06 Jan 2010 02:15:09 +0000 Wed, 06 Jan 2010 02:15:09 +0000 hellojust a quick entry to let everyone know that after a great few days in taupo i have arrived in the loveliest and most remote little place called river valley and have a job here doing general housekeeping for food and board for 2 plus weeks with polly so im sorry i wont be able to phone as there is no signal. I will try and write every couple of days though. Going horse trekking tomorrow http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/River-Valley/blog-386376.html Alrighty there. I'm full of beans today having had a really nice afternoonevening yesterday and a sunny morning teaching people Poi today. And a gooood sleepI have also funnily enough had a really good few days. I decided not to spend a 3 nights in Taupo so that i could hang out with the crew on my bus as they are pretty ace. This meant I had to move my Tongariro Crossing walk to a day ea http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/River-Valley/blog-384802.html No sooner had we checked in we were heading down to the lake in our bathers with a few of the boys off the bus. We had a dip. The water was very cool very very cool almost freezing But we swam for half an hour and had a race round a bouy 200 metres out and back. I came in a respectible joint first. We cleaned up and headed to a pizza place for a cheap meal. Ten bucks bought us a large pizza an http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/River-Valley/blog-363886.html Day 162 Monday 8th December Driving to River ValleyAfter leaving the Tongariro national park the bus winds its way through the rolling green hills south east to river valley a lodge located on the Rangititikei river. Towering cliffs and bushclad hills surround the lodge in its remote location. Here we have the option of white water rafting and horse trekking but these activities are all ha http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/River-Valley/blog-352707.html Before leaving Taupo we went to the hot spas. That was nice. We left Taupo on the way to Taihape and the River Valley Lodge. On the way there I was thinking about how crazy obsessed New Zealand is with auto safety. Their alcohol limit is .05 but they are uber conscious of driving safe. There are signs everywhere saying things like How long have you been driving Stop Revive Survive. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/River-Valley/blog-241279.html River Valley was the stop after Taupo. Like most stops it was only for one night. In the morning we went white water rafting which is something Irsquove always fancied doing but just never got around to it. Unfortunatly the rapids were not at their meanest because of the lack of rain but we still had such an amazing day especially with the instructor we had who was a right laugh o He was more http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/River-Valley/blog-168974.html Ok so we've been pretty rubbish with keeping this up to date cos we've been so busy so here's a summary of what we've been doing in the past week....22 April..We went sea kayaking around the Bay of Islands and went through a Mangrove Forest and parked up on small sandy beaches of remote islands in the middle of the calmest waters.We went back to Auckland in the evening where we met up with Rufus http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/River-Valley/blog-153037.html Day 7 This morning I woke up early to go horse back riding. There was only 4 of us going so it was a nice small group. It was an interesing experience. The scenery was amazing we had beautiful hill sides and lots of sheep everywhere we went. It felt just like riding in the lord of the rings movie it was pretty cool. My horse tho had a mind of its own so it would start running at random when it http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/River-Valley/blog-149762.html HELLO this has to be quick as i have little time... however there is so much to say i shall attempt to summarise my various activities Rotorua White water rafting 7m waterfall...the highest rafted waterfall in the world...and lots of rapids. i was at the back of the raft... which was a HUGE mistake... not only was i sitting next to a git of an instructor who thought it would be HILARIO http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/River-Valley/blog-147060.html Wow we have really packed in a lot It's been nonstop We've been weaving down the North Island and a few days ago took a ferry to the South Island where the scenery just gets more and more stunning.In Waitomo we suited up for some serious spelunking in the Waitomo Caves we repelled down a narrow opening in the earth and wound up 50 meters underground. Above our heads were glowing worms on the http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/River-Valley/blog-143242.html To save some money we took a less expensive bus route through the town of Napier located on the east coast of the North Island. It was such a great detour and a really interesting city. In 1931 Napier was devastated by a huge 7.9 earthquake. The quake demolished the city and lifted up the sea floor the town actually grew by 17 square kilometers The entire town was rebuilt from the ground up. S http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/River-Valley/blog-143058.html Left Taupo early morning feeling tired from the night before but not too hung overa little intoxicated perhapsVery Grey day and ever so slightly chilli jeans and sandle weather jandles.Today we were to have quite a long day on the bus. So as we drove to the Tongariro National park we watched 80s cheesy classic Rambo. Handnt seen it before and it made the time go by.Reached the National park http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/River-Valley/blog-135770.html We arrived in River Valley in the late afternoon after a smooth pick up in Taupo another quick hiking stop in Tongariro National Park and a rather uneventful drive to the beautiful River Valley Lodge What an amazing place In the absolut middle of nowhere Lord of the Rings Scenery and a fantastic River... great chicken roast dinner and a few kiwi beers a game of janga with real bricks http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/River-Valley/blog-128861.html After the Tongariro Northern Circuit I relaxed in Taupo abit and recouperated before I moved on to River Valley a remote place just south of Tehape basically in the middle of no where yet perhaps the most beautiful of all the places Ive beenThe lodge was located in between a gorge next to a river. picturesqueHere I realxed the first day taking in the views then the day after I went Horse trekk http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/River-Valley/blog-111036.html River Valley is very very small in fact it consists of one building or as they call it an adventure lodge. This is apparantly the wilderness although such a thing does not exisit in a country as small as New Zealand. We had one night here to take advantage of the excellent grade 5 white water rafting on offer We sat through one night with everybody getting drunk whilst we stayed sobor so we http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/River-Valley/blog-104289.html