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Published: February 8th 2005
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Kiwi crossing!
Apparently - we didn't see any! In the background is Mt Ngauruhoe - otherwise known as Mt Doom. Saturday - Journeying
We decided to have another long weekend due to it being Graeme’s birthday and it being summer time (he’s very excited about having a birthday in the summer!). This time we were off to explore a different part of NZ.
We collected our hire car around lunch time (due to having been out the night before) and set off for Tongariro National Park, about 4 hours south of Auckland in the middle of the North Island. It was a quiet and uneventful drive, and we arrived at our destination - National Park Village - late afternoon. The kiwis are great at exaggeration - for the second weekend in a row we found ourselves in a place called a ‘village’, but which turned out to be one pub, one hostel and lots of fields. This one didn’t even have a shop - the woman at the hostel wasn’t wrong when she told me on the phone to bring all our supplies with us! Despite being in the middle of nowhere the reason for being there was right in front of us - the view from the hostel was spectacular. We had a view to Mt Ruapehu, Mt
Mt Ruapehu from our hostel
It's an active volcano and has two ski centres on it - it last erupted in 1996. Now that's what I call extreme skiing!! Tongariro and Mt Ngauruhoe - three active volcanoes in the National Park. We were there to walk The Tongariro Crossing - billed as the best one day walk in New Zealand.
Sunday - Crossing Mordor
We were up early - this walk is so popular that shuttle buses run to take you to the start then collect you again at the end, and our bus left the hostel at 7.45. By 8.15 we were on the Crossing, along with the hundreds of others who were also walking it that day… It was a bit like Sauchiehall Street on the weekend before Christmas at the start!!
We started well - on a nice, flat path, then slowly found ourselves on rocky, slippy paths, then after an hour we arrived at the Soda Springs, and found ourselves facing a long ascent up a very steep and very long cliff. Graeme, mountain goat that he is, was away nimbly skipping up the steep path, whereas I was more like a wee old woman trying to run for the bus - ‘pech, pech’ I wheezed, and had to have many stops for water and to catch my breath. Although it was
Best foot forward!
About 10 minutes into the walk I still had some spring in my step! only about 9am, it was already hot, the sun was relentless as there was no shade, and the volcanic rocks underfoot just soaked up the heat. Lovely!
After an hour of climbing we reached the top and were rewarded with a stunning view to Mt Taranaki (yep, another volcano!) in the west. We were also above the cloud level which was pretty cool. Walking across a crater followed, then another climb to the highest point of the walk. It was a barren, desolate landscape, no wonder it was the setting for Mordor in the Lord of the Rings films.
We eventually started to descend down into lush forest, which was a relief after the volcanic desert. We passed lovely mountain streams, which are poisonous so you can’t drink them, however much you want to! After 6 ½ hours of hard slog, we finally reached the end. We treated ourselves to a pub tea and a few drinks before collapsing into bed.
Monday - Graeme’s birthday
We left National Park and headed for Taupo, about two hours drive north. Graeme was very disappointed because it was raining, he had hoped for sun on his birthday. We stopped
Volcanic landscape
I felt for Frodo and Sam at this point! in Taupo for lunch, then went and contemplated the Taupo Bungy. I say ‘we’, but I really mean Graeme. We watched a few people jump, and he nearly did it, but decided that it was too soon after eating and he had no desire to see his lunch again. So we got back in the car and headed for Rotorua. Graeme wanted to do at least one daft thing on his birthday, so we headed for the home of the Zorb.
For those of you not in the know, zorbing is where you get into a big plastic ball and hurl yourself down a hill. Sounds awful, actually it looked pretty cool. However I’m a bit claustrophobic, and the thought of having to be inside a plastic ball didn’t sound like fun, so I opted out. Graeme went for the ‘Hydro Zig-Zag Zorb’ - which means having hot water poured into the plastic ball with you (who comes up with these things?!), then instead of going straight down hill, going down a longer ‘dog-leg’ run. His face said it all at the end of the first run - ‘that was brilliant!!’ and he went off to do it all
Having a well earned rest
at the top of the horrible hill. again. I was chief driver and photographer - that was enough excitement for me!
Tuesday - Bungy again!
After a nice birthday tea in Rotorua, followed by a few drinks, Graeme started thinking that he might quite like to do the bungy after all… However when he woke up the first thing he said was ‘I don’t want to do a bungy, lets go to the Agrodome instead’. Over breakfast he changed his mind again, with the result being that we checked out of our (excellent, brand new) hostel and headed back down the road to Taupo. This time he hadn’t had lots to eat, and psyched himself up for it while we were driving. By the time we got there he was focussed - he went and handed over his money before he had time to change his mind again!
The Taupo Bungy is over the Waikato River - they have a purpose built platform over the river, and you jump 47 metres. I felt sick at the mere thought, there was no way I was being persuaded. However having handed over his money Graeme was going through with it. They strap your ankles together, check
Look at those sweat patches!
It might not look that great here but the view was spectacular. and double check them, then attach the bungy cord. Then you shuffle to the edge, where you smile for their camera and the woman tells you not to look down (or you might realise that you’re about to throw yourself off a ledge and you might chicken out). Then she says ‘one, two, three, bungy’ and you lean forward and over the edge. Amazingly, Graeme did it first time! And he didn’t scream, he laughed - you could hear him echoing on the cliff walls!
For a man who’s afraid of heights he did pretty well, he was grinning from ear to ear when he got back up to the top again. We had to buy the video and the photos to mark the occasion. And so, clutching our bungy goodies, we got back in the car and headed for Auckland. I drove - Graeme was far too wired!!
Hope you’re all well. We’re having a quiet few weekends after all this excitement, and giving our bank balance time to recover! Till the next time, Jo (and Graeme) x
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