Advertisement
Published: April 13th 2011
Lake Taupo!
This was just a beautiful day!I arrived in Taupo on Monday morning. This is one stop from my first trip to NZ that I really did not want to miss this time around. Taupo sits on a beautiful lake that is huge! I found out its the size of Signapore...are you kidding me! And Signapore has a larger population than NZ. Nice! Either way, its a town I always wanted to come visit and has a hike that I've been dying to do. When I arrived at 10 am, I quickly found a hostel to check in to. I choose Rainbow Lodge. Its ok as far as hostels go. Thus far its been quite quiet which is pretty much what I'm looking for at this point. I put myself into a 3 bed dorm and only one other girl was in, sweet! The day was sunny and absolutely perfect, so I went back to reception to ask about a few things. I found out that Tuesday was probably going to be a fantastic day to do the hike so I decided to see if there was an afternoon kayaking tour on the lake. Sure enough, there was. Double sweet! I booked that and then went in
Mt Doom!
None of my pics do this mountain justice! to town to grab some lunch stuff for the hike on Tuesday.
Once back at the hostel, I changed into my swim suit, that still smells of rotten eggs, and then a tank top, t-shirt and pants. I was picked up by Elliot at noon. Nice guy...ridiculously tall! My first thought was, does this guy fit into the kayak? As it turned out, it was just me and 2 others doing the tour today. I love small groups. This may be the perfect time of year to be in NZ. We had about a 15 min drive to the spot where we'd put in the kayaks and then Elliot gave me the option of riding alone or with him. After discovering how badly out of shape I am in Rotorua, I decided not to chance it in a kayak by myself and therefore got into a double with Elliot. This was the right choice! The wind had kicked up on the one side of the lake and there were some big waves to navigate...but I'll get to that. We put the kayaks in on a quiet side of the lake in a really pretty bay. The water was crystal
The volcanic dirt
Much of the walking trek was through this volcanic rock/dirt. It was really cool! clear and you could see the rock and sand bottom. There was also a resident black swam in the bay. He/she was quite curious and swam over our way to check out what our plans were. I couldn't believe how pretty it was and how graceful it moved! There were also a bunch of ducks swimming around. I couldn't help but laugh when I looked at their little legs all a flutter under water - its like the saying - I'm like a duck, smooth on top but a mess down below. Ha! After some quick instruction, I climbed into the front of the kayak and then Elliot pushed the boat into the water. I didn't even have to get my feet wet. This is the life! Now, I did paddle while we were out on the water, but I won't lie, I could have paddled a little harder or with a bit more effort, but I just kept looking around at stuff...I'm sure I paddled enough that he didn't mind :-) We hugged the coast as we paddled through a couple of bays in the lake. This lake is absolutely beautiful! I couldn't get over how clear the water
The crater you trek across and the back side of Mt Doom
This was a great view. Standing on the opposite peak and looking back at Mt Doom plus the view in the distance. was and how pretty the shoreline was. The changing of hte leaves was present and gave an even better impression of the surroundings. Much of the shoeline is undeveloped and in its natural state. I loved it! After we got around a big point, the wind really kicked up! Now I was really glad that I was not in a boat alone. I actually had to pick up the paddling pace. The waves were a meter or so high and they kept crashing over the side of the boat. Thank goodness I had on the splash thing...the water was super cold! So the only part of me getting wet was my face and upper body. It was tough going for a bit but it was still really pretty and fun to work out my upper half instead of my legs. My legs needed a break after the 10KM bike. As we came around the final point the waves got even bigger. This was due to how the wind was blowing and how the rocks were protruding. It took quite a bit of effort to keep the boat far enough from the rocks, yet close enough for us to see the
The emerald lakes
No re-touching of this photo is needed! carvings. The Maoris hand carved a 10 meter high chief face into the side of the rock. It was really pretty! The amazing thing is that it was all hand carved and that there was so much detail. The face represents the tattoos that the chief had. The tattoos represent his ancestors and status and things like that. The waves were causing us to rock and roll too much, so I didn't dare take out my camera from the water proof bag. So, instead of pictures, I'll just have to hold on to my memories. The added bonus to this site was that in addition to the face carving, there were several other carvings off to the side. This included the wind god, a lizard that is the guardian, a woman and so on. All carved into different rocks and off to the side of the main carving. Overall, super cool! On the way back, I asked Elliot about a few other things I saw around the lake. Their are two different rock cliff areas that looked completely different than the rest of the visable shoreline. Turns out, those are the two areas of the most recent eruptions. That's right,
The little bit of snow at the very top!
This peak was the very top, and on the way down, you walked past this little bit of snow. its a volcano. Awesome! Good to know. The paddling back was quite easy and we even stopped for a quick break and snack. Typical Kiwi form...there was hot tea if you wanted it :-) I had a great banana bread cupcake and was a happy camper! Then back in the water and an easy paddle back to the car. The whole trip took about 3 hours and was the perfect afternoon activity!
Once back at the hostel, I had a pretty lazy afternoon. I ended up making noddles for dinner and going to bed early. I was catching the 6:20 am bus in the morning to go to the Tongariro Crossing. I slept pretty good, but kept waking up to check the time. I was paranoid that I'd miss the alarm and therefore the bus. The weather was supposed to be perfect and I didn't want to miss out on a good day to hike. Sure enough, when my alarm went off, I was up and got ready in good time. The weather can be really unpredictable on the crossing so I dressed in several layers. I figured, I can always take things off. The bus picked up on
The next crater with the lava wall
Or at least, like I said, what looked like lava that had poured out and then stopped. time and as it turned out, Sophie, from my Uluru tour in Oz, was now in NZ and doing the crossing too! I couldn't believe it! We were both really surprised to see one another and then really happy to see one another. We loaded the bus and were on our way. After about 10 min, we swiched buses and then the ride was about an hour to the start of the track. The ride was beautiful! I got to watch the sun come up over the mountains and the lake begin to shine. It was foggy in the morning and as the sun came up, you could see the steam rising! The road followed the lake all the way around and then thru some of the mountain area and then joined up again with another lake. Absolutely fabulous scenary!!! Again, its autumn here...and I'm in the middle of the country surrounded by forest...really, what could be better! Here's some background on the tongariro crossing. This issaid to be the most beautiful one day walk in the world. I'm not sure if that's true, but that's what we were told. Its a 18.5 km crossing. You start at 1150 meteres
The Blue Lake
This was another beautiful spot! and the highest point is 1886 meters and you finish up at 750 meters. They say that its a 7 to 8 hour walk. I did it in 6 hours and 45 min with taking about a total of 35 min for breaks. I didn't really know what to expect, so when it was flat, I tried to walk at a good pace and when it was steep, I took my time, slow and steady. The main attraction at this point of this walk is that you have the option to summit Mount Ngauruhoe aka Mt Doom from Lord of the Rings. The Walk starts out and its in a nice flat area with a slow incline. The scenary is ground cover bush with some scattered flowers and whatnot. its a pretty well marked out path to start and rather smooth. There are hundreds of people starting out on the path and I'm happy to be walking it alone but yet with enough people around that I can't get lost or anything. The sun is completely up at this point and there is not one cloud in the sky. I'm less than 30 mins in and I'm peeling off layers.
On the descent...
This was a view during the walk down. Not much to complain about :-) I got down to my tank top and pants. I had leggings on under my pants and never did take off either of my bottom layers. I knew that I'd be cold at the top no matter how sunny it was. The site of Mt Doom as we climbed was unbelievable! Its an active volcano and there was very little snow on it. That means that what you were looking at was black lava rock. It was almost vibrant in the clear sunshine! I think I took at least 50 pictures of it! As the hike continued, the ground cover became more and more sporatic and then the rock/sand turned from tan to black. There was also a pretty creek running along one side of the path. The water was cold! There were moments when I'd have to climb through some rocky areas, but for the most part, the first hour or so was a steady and realitively easy climb. At the first break station, I was doing good on time and looked to see that the next major part of the track was a steep uphill climb. Oh boy...ok. The national park has put in several sets of steps, but let me tell you, these steps were steep! This was definitely a slow and steady point. I passed some people, some people passed me. At this point, you're traveling up the side of Mt Ngauruhoe and you can't help but stop every now and again and just take it in! Then, you could turn and look out back behind you and see the start point of the trek and a huge mountain covered in snow in the distance. According to the bus driver, that's a mountain on the west coast of the country. That's pretty far away yet on this clear day, it sored into the sky for us to see! By the time I got to the top of the steps, I had to take a few minutes to catch my breath and check my time. Not too bad. It took me about 40 mins. At this point I'm feeling really invigorated and excited about the things to come on the climb. Also, you can really see how the mountain is all lava rock. Its amazing! You can see the paths where lava flowed down and how rocks have formed and reach out and touch some of the jagged edges. Good stuff! The next part of the trek was a little flatter and then there was a bit of a decline as you made your way into the south crater. This part was really cool. You walked out over what looked like a dried up lake. Complete with almost a sand like covering. And it was huge! This part of the walk was really flat and the views back at the mountain was glorious! On this side of the mountain you could see some red rock/dirt as well which gave it a really erie feel. Once on the other side of the crater, there was another really steep climb. Again, slow and steady. This part of the climb also had a lot of loose rock and dirt. So, it was definitely slow going. There were also people trying to come down, presumably they started from the other side, so it was a bit tricky passing people along the way. This was probably the slowest part of the climb for me. But getting to the top was a great feeling of success and then as I crested over to the other side I gasped with delight! I did not expect the sight of the red crater. This was the highest point on the track. By now, the wind was blowing pretty good and I had to put my jacket back on. The red crater is what looks like the top of another volcano and is just that...all red. Talk about a sight to see! The track takes you around the one side of it and then down the far side so you get to see it from all different angles. Again, with teh sun shining, the red rock looked amazing! What a sight! On the far side, I came to the part I was waiting for...The emerald lakes! On this trip of mine, I had 3 items on my bucket list that I hoped to see - The Rock (Uluru), The Great Barrier Reef and the Emeral Lakes. How lucky am I that I can now check off two of the three. The emerald lakes are just that...on a clear sunny day, they are a set of green lakes on the volcano. I would assume they are thermal lakes of some kind with sulfur involved because it smelled of rotten eggs and there was some steam coming up. I couldn't get enough of it! I have seen so many photos of the lakes and I was like, that can't really be the color...it has to be photoshopped...but no, the photos are not. That really is the color and the color is not in the Crayola box of 64. There may be things I've done on my travels and although I've enjoyed them, I could have skipped them and been ok with it. I'm SO happy that I saw these lakes. This is a gift from nature that all should see. I took my time walking down the crest. This was all loose rock and therefore, lots of sliding was involved. There was also some snow left over and I had to take a photo with my hand in the snow :-) When I got down to the lakes, I took my time and walked around them a bit. Then I settled in and had my lunch. I rested here on a nice rock for about 15 min and enjoyed the view of the glowing lakes and the sunshine coming down. At this point, the wind was really blowing, so at one point, I had to put my hood up! After I had soaked in enough of the views, I was back on my feet and making my way across another crater. This one was not nearly as big but even more interesting. This one had a mass of what looked like lava that had poured out and frozen in time. I'm not sure if that's what it was, but that's what it looked like. On the far side of the crater there was a bit of a climb up and then I came upon the blue lake. This lake was quite large and again, absolutely glowing blue in the sunshine! The water was crystal clear and you could see several feet into it. Lord only knows how deep it really was. I took another break here and soaked it in. It was just too beautiful to just walk past. After about 10 min, I was off again. There was still a bit of an incline and it wasn't too tough, but at this point I was a bit tired of going up. Once over that point, it was all downhill of sorts. The scenary changed as you started the desend and as you got to the other side of the mountains. The black rock was slowly turning back into the brown/tan rock and sand from the start of the walk and there were more bushes and ground growth again. The decline was welcomed, but after about an hour, I was done. For me the climax of the climb were the lakes and now that I didn't have anything left to anticipate, but the finish line, I was ready to be done. I got to the travelers hut, a resting area, and saw that I had 6 km to go in order to get to the bottom. Yeah, that's too far. So, I found a spot and took a 10 min break. My quads were on fire. My calves were on fire. My ankles were killing me. The highlight was over and all the other things had started to set in. I will never be a master hiker...I don't have it in me :-) I got myself up and was determined to finish in time for the 3 pm bus. This should not be a problem. I tackled the last 6 km with some serious determination and the knowledge that when I got back to the hostel, I had a Cadbury creme egg. All would be right with the world soon - LOL! The sites on the way down were quite pretty. We were high enough up that you could see out to the north of the country and several of hte lakes in the area. I liked soaking in this view. There was also an area where there was steam coming up from some thermal areas. That was cool to see as well. It looked like the side of the mountain was on fire. After about maybe 1/2 way down, the area changed and the trek was consumed by forest. I was happy to have the shade. The sun on this side of themountain was really strong and the wind had faded. So the walk had gotten quite hot! The forest was beautiful. Really thick and dense with huge trees all sorts of bushes and shrubs and whatnot. There were several different areas of creeks and little waterfalls. Again, this was completely unexpected and therefore really fun to see. It made the last 3 km of the trek wonderful! I don't think I've ever been more excited to see a carpark in my entire life though when I walked through the end of the trek and into the area where all the buses were parked. I did it! I made it through the entire trek without injury and in good time. I might not be able to move my legs for the next week, but I did it! As I took a seat by the bus I needed to take back, the driver wasn't there yet, it set in that I was ridiculously out of shape. My legs were already aching. I immediately assessed that Wednesday (the next day) was going to suck in terms of pain. Hahahaha. When the drivers arrived, I was one of the first ones on the bus. I settled into my seat and practically fell asleep. I had to struggle to stay awake on the ride home so that I could see the beautiful scenary. It was fantastic all over again and the ride was quite nice. Once back at the hostel, I took a shower, got into some comfy clothes, ate dinner and then settled into my room with my book. I was exhausted. Who knew walking could take so much out of you! I was in the room by myself for the night and I was asleep by 9:30 pm. I'm pretty sure I had a smile on my face as I faded away.
I woke up on Wednesday morning and felt so rested! I love this no one else in the room thing...its doing me some good! I got up to go to the bathroom and almost fell down. Yeah, my legs were stiff and sore! I had to stretch a bit in order to get them working. I think the critical mistake was the biking combined wtih the trek. I made a note to keep my activity level at calm for the next few days! I realized this morning that my towel, that has lasted me my entire trip thus far smelled like rotten eggs. I can't believe it. There was no way I could put it back in my bag. I had a 10:40 am bus to catch and on the way, I stopped into a store to buy a new towel. At least it was only $8. Also, my white tank top is the next casuality of the trip. It smelled far too bad and the stains were there for good, so I retired it. It treated me well!
Next stop...Gisborne!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.149s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 11; qc: 56; dbt: 0.0853s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Rachel
non-member comment
Rotten Eggs, no more!
Tip for your suit: Rinse in cold water and hang in sun to dry. This should get the smell out of it. I'm working on a water treatment plant right now and we are using UV to treat water with sulfur in it. :) I'm so glad you are having such an amazing time! The kayaking and hiking sound wonderful! Take care and Safe Travels, Rachel