Blogs from National Parks, New Zealand, Oceania - page 4

Rain. This is the word for the day. The forecast for the area indicates 200-300mm of rain over the next three days. According to the hut warden, they get this type of forecast all the time, but they rarely get that much. As long as the creekbed just beyond the hut is dry, it should be fine to continue. Fortunately, the creekbed was dry, but there was a steady mist/drizzle. It was definitely going to be a wet walk. I made a later start (9:00) as there was only about five hours of hiking left before I reached the Divide Shelter. The trail rose steeply ("up" is now a four-letter word) through the bush and the trees kept a fair bit of the rain off. Although I was none to pleased with the trail going up, ... read more

Time to leave Queenstown and start my first Great Walk - The Routeburn Track. First, it was a bus ride, about one hour north past the town of Glenorchy. For Lord of the Rings buffs, this area was used for three scenes in the movie: Lothlorien, Isengard, and the Battle of Amon Hen. On the first day I'm slated to hike 8.8km (estimated time of four hours) to Routeburn Falls Hut (elevation approximately 1000 metres). Wonderful weather - not a hint of rain. The trail followed the river up into the mountains of Mount Aspiring National Park. The water was a fantastic turquoise. Every so often the trail swung through a valley before rising again. Words can't describe it, and the photos don't do it justice. The only down-side to this section of the hike is ... read more

The world doesn't want you to climb Mount Ngarahoe and I'm not really sure why. If you have a look around on the net you'll hear how energy consuming and perilous it is. How the clouds can come out of nowhere and swallow you up like a wayward hobbit. Some pages go on about the dangers of the slippery 'scree' - loose, pebbly, frozen lava from the 1977 explosion (oh, it's an active volcano by the way) and how one wrong footstep will set off a minor avalanche, sometimes taking you with it. Even the guy at the information desk was going on about the inauspicious weather. But no one really mentions the potential reward, the sense of accomplishment, and the joy of the eternal view if you make it to the top (and if it's ... read more

Hello. En lille update. Vores sidste dage i Paihia var meget hektiske. Om onsdagen havde vi Maori cermoni, hvor vi var blevet inviteret ud til en Maori skole. Hele den velkomst cermoni der ventede os der var noget af det mest utrolige jeg nogensinde har provet. Vi performede for dem med sang og dans, og de for os(hvilket de selvfolgelig klarede en milliard gange bedre). Det var saa smukt og guddommeligt at se at hore. Men ja, det er stort set umuligt at gengive den oplevelse. Torsdagen bod paa surfing og fredagen var dykning, hvor vi blev open water divers! Afgang lordag morgen til Waitomo, hvor vi om sondagen var ude i deres fantastiske underjordiske grotter. Vi var 9 som var nede i Lost World, som var en 7 timers haard tur (hvilket den ikke rigtig ... read more

So Saturday we were all set to attempt the Tongariro Crossing, reputedly the best 1 day tramp in New Zealand... We left Taupo at 6am arriving at National Park Village (imaginitive name!) before 8 in order to sign in for the guided walk & get kitted out. Seagull had told us walking shoes weren't good enough but our guides seem to disagree & pronounced all our footwear suitable for the tramp. So after a short talk & drive to the start of the walk we were handed ice axes & set off up the mountains! Beautiful views around as it was a crystal clear day with not a cloud in the sky, best day they've had for ages! For the past couple of week's they'd not been able to go up the mountain at all & ... read more