From Sulphur To Snow To Beer

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Leaving Rotorua behind, I headed towards the centre of the North Island and Taupo. On the the way there were a couple more stops... another thermal area and a waterfall.

Craters Of The Moon, which unlike the ones in Rotorua, have almost no smell and no sulphur crystals forming at any of the vents. Because of this, the name is kind of deceptive as there is vegetation growing all around the area. Certainly made for a much more pleasant visit though. This area is still highly active with eruptions happening all the time. The last major one was in 2002 which makes me think that it is long overdue and maybe not such a good idea to stick around for too long.

Now when I mentioned a waterfall, what I meant to say was The Mother Of All Waterfalls!!! Huka Falls on the Waikato River is truly amazing.... with water so clear before the rapids that when churned up by the falls it becomes a pale blue, like the light inside an ice cave. The rapids stretch for about 100m down a narrow chasm that funnels the river before dropping off a 7m fall. Seeming these are categorised as a class 5 rapid and the only one that commercial companies are legally allowed to go over. Not surprising as two hundred thousand litres (200,000L) of water tumbles over the edge every second. To put it in perspective.... that's 5 Olympic swimming pools every minute. The force that it comes through at is staggering!!

On the shores of Lake Taupo, the holiday town of Taupo is another of the cities built around tourism... from skydiving to water sports and even as a base for the snow fields a bit further to the south. It has a laid back feel to it and I get the feeling that if it wasn't a Monday then it would be quite the bustling centre.

Around the east shoreline of the lake and I deviate from the highway again to head towards the alpine region known as Tongariro National Park. This is one of the skiing destinations of the North Island and, even in November, it's not long before the sun is shining off white capped mountains. Only the upper slopes are open at the moment and the chairlifts look a little out of place with the bottom half of their journey over exposed rock. The vegetation has changed to low hugging ground covers as the temperature drops into the single figures, but the village at the base of the chairlifts looks slightly odd with no snow lying around.

At the base of the mountain range is another DOC campsite, Mangahuia, sitting next to a snow-melt river that is as clear as a pane of glass... another stunning spot for a night, looking up at the snow capped mountains while rugged up with a glass of wine.

The morning saw the peaks covered in clouds and it wasn't until an hour or more after I'd packed up and moved on that they peeked out from their shroud. Of course by then I was further to the south-east and the pictures were even better.... if only I had a better zoom on my camera (mental note.... must buy better zoom (and possibly better camera) before next trip.)

Aiming for just north of Wellington for the night took me through Mangatainoka Gorge where the road is basically one long bridge grasping for dear life onto one side of the gorge as the rail line grasps to the other. The town of Mangatainoka is famous around here for one thing.... beer!! It is the home of Tui, a major competitor in the New Zealand market, which prides itself on not taking life too seriously. Their advertising slogans are hilarious with the punch line always saying "... Yeah right!" Some of my favourites include "England. World Champions... Yeah Right!" and "Bikinis shouldn't be so small.... Yeah right!". The problem of course is that because I'm driving solo, most of the tasting tray of beers I got had to be sacrificed to the beer gods... better to be smart than lose my license and have no way of getting the camper van back to Auckland I guess.... that and with all the narrow winding roads over here it could end up a coffin instead.

It must be said, the DOC campsites provided in this country are the most under-rated thing I've ever experienced. In saying that, I don't think they should be advertised too much as if they drew too much of a crowd they would be ruined. My terminus for the night was Waiohine Gorge, a truly majestic campsite above the Waiohine River. This seems to be the base for a lot of hiking (New Zealanders call it tramping) trails, as there are a number of huts you can stay in winding through the mountains. Definitely an area I'd love to come back to with more time just to take a couple days to hike through some of this beautiful landscape.

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Comments

[RENanDREW]

gorgeous photo!
This could be Tasmania :)