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Published: January 30th 2008
Sunrise over Mt. Ngauruhoe
At the start of our go at the Tongariro Crossing. This walk around 8hours takes you through, up, down and over Volcanic craters, Volcanoes, Sulphur lakes and some of the most impressive scenery we'd ever seen, which is something to be said, even in New Zealand. Mt.Ngauruhoe was used as Mt. Doom in Lord of the Rings, and the surrounding areas for Mordor, such as the Devils Staircase (seriously that bad!, especially when you are like Samwise Gamgee, laden with Photographic equipment and too many clothes on a hot day like I was)We drove into Lake Taupo in much need of some relaxation as well as desperate to do some laundry. We solved both of these mini problems (let’s face it when you are out seeing the world these problems are certainly not major) by checking ourselves into the De Bretts Resort. A very strange lady checked us in (for those of you who went to uni with me think Sarah Chadd with severe sunburn) and kind of bamboozled us with all of the local information and activities on offer, due to our need for a big chill we let this go in one ear and straight out the other. We waved goodbye to her zig zagging off in a haphazard fashion, in her little golf buggy having escorted us to our campsite. The main reason we’d chosen to saty here is because out in their back yard, they have a series of thermal and mineral pools available free if you are a guest in the resort - AKA The Taupo Hot Springs. So we dashed off to spend a very relaxing 2 or 3 hours mooching about soaking ourselves in a variety of colourful and fragrant pools - all naturally warmed to
Smoke plumes
From a break in the thermal crust at Orakei Korako (Hidden Valley) different temperatures. The private spa was particularly enjoyable to escape some screaming dive bombing children. As a side note and factoid, if you submerge your head underneath thermal waters like these, you run the risk of catching a form of meningitis which scurries up into your nose……with alarming consequences I’m sure. So needless to say the parenting skills that were being demonstrated in these pools was rather alarming, instead of involving ourselves we went back to the private pools again. With our relaxation-o-meters firmly on max we soaked up the delightful sunset and views of the Lake with the mountains of Tongariro National Park off in the distance.
Now, as there is literally tones of stuff to do when you get to Lake Taupo, we decided to try and check out all of the things that appealed to us most - so this meant we could cross off a load of fishing activities (they LOVE the pursuit of a trout or two), as well as a bunch of expensive stuff. So we had an action packed time exploring the Hidden Valley which is known as Orakei Korako. Here, there is more thermal activity to experience - and you can see
Colourful terraces
Complete with clean-air Lychen. Orakei Korako (Hidden Valley) from the many photos we have included there is loads more colourful sediments, active geysers and -especially for my mate Viksa- loadsa mud pools! At the risk of being repetitive, delivering similar geo-thermal facts that we’ve picked up along the way, I shall instead chose to let the photos and their accompanying commentaries show you what it was like there.
Next on our list was a photographic pit-stop. We’d read about a huge Dam North of Taupo, that opens it’s flood gates a couple of times a day. Thom’s face lit up at this thought of capturing another man-made/nature combo, so we managed to secure a spot on the flyover - with tripod, spare lenses and filters all ready to go 5 minutes before they opened the flood gates. As Thom snapped away at the tonnes of water shooting on down the valley, I got involved with some heavy-weight pooh-sticks players, a few kiwi kids who had been collecting a variety of branches and twigs ready for this very occasion.
On to more water phenomenon, we went to Huka Falls. A water fall which is not particularly high - as you’d expect
Golden Fleece
A white tumbling sodium eruption. Orakei Korako (Hidden Valley) a waterfall to be - but one that is really really long, along the ground. It looks like a really big set of rapids but because of the way the land is formed it’s technically classed as a waterfall. You can’t do any extreme water activities on or over the waterfall as it’s currents spiral inside themselves at different intervals (if you are into the geography/geology of this business this fact is sure to impress you). Instead, the only main extreme way to see the Huka falls is by jetting up towards it in a very fast boat, where they cut the engines out just as you get a little too close to the falls, the power of the water then pushes the boat all the way back down the river at a fair speed, cos it’s just that extreme. We weren’t really up for spending a big wad of cash on riding a boat back and forth up the river so instead walked around the falls and took it in from all angles by foot.
After seeing all of Taupo’s cheapest sights, we made our way south towards Tongariro National Park, the oldest one in New Zealand
Can you see it?
Yes its a rock in the shape of an Elephant. Pretty cool I think. and a World Heritage Site. This is home to 3 volcanoes: Mt Tongariro, Mt Ruapehu, & Mt Ngauruhoe (or to all of the LOTR’s fans - Mt Doom). We’d decided to hike here by taking the famed Tongariro Crossing route, which is billed as the best walk to do in New Zealand, at a mere 18.5 kms, you had the option to scale up the side of Mt Doom as a “tag-on” option to the walk. We were quite gusto with our assessment of our own hiking skills and agreed we were up for it, so we got to the beginning of this trail at 7am - giving ourselves a hefty 8 hours to complete the whole thing. As you can see from the pictures Mr Crowder was a little bit too over-prepared. He’d taken that scout motto to the Nth degree by bringing way too much stuff with him as well as all of his photo equipment. After stopping a few times so he could change filters and lenses, or even sneak behind a big rock to take off his thermals we missed the deadline for starting the Mt Doom ascent. To be fair, the beginning of the walk
Diamond Geyser!
You 'no I am Treacle! Orakei Korako (Hidden Valley) involved the notorious Devils Staircase which left us both in a panting mess. At one point we’d been overtaken by a nice Polish couple with one of Thom’s stop-offs, they’d been tramping along very happily with a mini radio which was belting out the Almighty Zep tunes (Ramble On - of course), but by the time we’d gotten half way up the staircase we found the couple again. The missus was sitting down without a smile on her face and that radio had either been thrown away or simply switched off, we did see them back on the bus at the end of the walk but like I said, they weren’t as happy hobbits. Having made our way up the steep beginning of the trail we were rewarded with the stunning views we’ve tried to capture in the enclosed photos, we tramped along desolate craters and decided to have our lunch early (just like that Milly Molly Mandy story where she goes on an expedition and they eat the Jam sandwiches at 9am - a comment for her fans out there). Then our pace was quickened against our will as we had to pretty much ski down the side of
a loose scree mountain all the way towards those lovely green pools you can see in the photos. Then the hike was across plenty more volcanic surfaces then down the side of meadowy hills, and then just when we thought it must surely be near the end we had a long walk through a forest, before finally reaching the bus pick up point. It was a very tiring day but so rewarding and those views really did pay off for the blisters and aching muscles. (Mine not Thom’s).
So with the aching muscles we called off the scaling up Mt Ruapehu as planned and enjoyed a posh day of golfing at Chateau Tongariro which is in the Whakapapa Village at the bottom of the volcanos. The golfing shots have been included for Ben, with a special message from Thom “Ner ne, ner ne nerrrrr”. Having played 16 holes, we dined at the chateau to celebrate our 1 year anniversary (sheesh… that flew by!) which was extremely pretentious, but because of that we had jolly good fun rocking up in our travelers clothes and speaking in mocking tones. Of course after the meal we did not indulge in a suite
Stained & Broken
Orakei Korako (Hidden Valley) in the chateau, we climbed into the Bat mobile and stayed in a free rest stop with a couple of beers and a sandwich (tiny portions NEVER mean the food is good!).
Soon to follow….. River roads, Windmills, Wines and Wellington.
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