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Published: December 23rd 2008
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Raglan
View of Ragland from our hike Raglan, wow. I think I could easily stay in this chill surf town for ages. I had planned to stay here two nights, but like everyother backpacker who comes through here, I extended my stay for another night. I was really tempted to stay a few more days, but the weekend approached and all the rooms filled up in the hostel. I can understand why because this was the best hostel I have stayed in for my whole trip. hmmm (thinking over what I just said) and yes, this does rank as my number one hostel! Not only was there a really relaxed, chill atmostphere, but they had free kayaks to use on the river which was right out the back door. They also had surf board hire and free transport to the acclaimed 'longest left hand break in the world.' And then, to top all that off, they had multiple hammocks and a hot tub in the central courtyard complete with green grass. It was just wonderful! The first two days I stayed here, I surfed all day then layed back in the hammocks enjoying a nice bbq for dinner. On my last day I went on a hike of
the nearby mountain with two others backpackers and then joined in on the giant beach bonfire once the sun set. It was a wonderful three days and quite difficult to leave.
From Raglan I headed south to Wiatomo Caves, the big tourist hot spot for caving and seeing glowworms. I signed up for the Black Labrynth tour which involved floating down an underground river in an intertube while gazing up at the thousands of glowworms overhead. The last stretch of the float we turned off all our head lamps and glided along in total blackness. When you looked back, the glowworms created a reflection off the water...pretty spectactular! While in town I also went to see the daily Angora rabbit shearing. These giant fluffball rabbits get transformed into little skinny poodles. Quite a sight! At my hostel I met Stefanie, a girl from Austria, who offered to give me a ride to New Plymouth since she was headed that way as well.
New Plymouth is on the west coast and is at the base of Mt Taranaki. Stefanie and I decided to do a nice little one hour return hike through the 'ancient goblin forest.' Well....three hours later we
The carrot capital of NZ
I must say the carrots down here are deliciously amazing! finally made it back to the carpark after realising our exit path had been closed off without any notice. Not until we had retraced our steps did we see the newly posted sign saying the exit trail was closed. That night I went out with some people from the hostel for the big wednesday night out at the karoake bar. Little did I know how serious the Kiwi's are about karoake. The bar was packed! You had to push and shove your way to the bar and to get some space on the dance floor. It was insane. The locals sung song after song until the bar finally closed down at 3am. There were even regulars who sang everyweek cause they'd get up on stage and the whole place would start hooping and haulering and people would rush to the front. It was a riot!!
After my late night out at the karoake bar, it was a struggle to check out of the hostel on time. Sometimes 10am seems way too early. But I caught the bus to Wanganui where I waited out the rain for two days. It was a nice small town with a river right across
the road from the hostel and I happened to catch there local market. When the rain cleared up a bit I headed north to Ohakune, the carrot capital of NZ, and book my trip for the Tongariro Crossing.
The Tongariro Crossing is considered one of the best one day hikes in the southern hemisphere. It skirts around the base of volcanoes, one of which was Mt Doom in Lord of the Rings. The 19km trail passed by neon blue and green lakes as well as vents shooting out steam. The views from the top include Mt Taranaki and Lake Taupo and are just breathtaking. I considered myself pretty fortunate with the weather since it had been raining for a few days before. In the morning the skies cleared up a bit and I got some nice blue backdrops. Once at the top the clouds came slowly rolling back in sometimes obscurring the path 30 ft in front of me. But on the way down I walked out of the clouds to see Lake Taupo on the horizon. Again my breath was taken from me. It was a glorious 6 hr walk and I have a suspicious feeling I may do
Tongariro Crossing
My best effort to scare away the clouds it again on my way out of the country.
Today I got a ride with another backpacker from my hostel in Ohakune. On the way to Taupo we stopped at Mt Ruapehu and took the ski lift up past the snow line where we had amazing views of Mt Taranaki and the Tongariro Crossing. The weather was crystal clear and the Crossing looked perfect! It was tempting to hike it again despite the sore muscles, but another day. I'm now in Taupo where I'll spend christmas at a funky hostel that has a bunch of xmas activites. Should be an interesting holiday!
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