NZ - North Island

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One of the best day-walks in NZ is the Tongariro crossing. It takes around seven hours and involved a rather early start (and a random bus journey to the beginning of the track on a 1970s bus, fully equipped with the driver’s puppy under the seats). The weather is very changeable and started off a little wet, getting slightly colder and wetter as we reached the highest point, before finally turning into a glorious day. The crossing is in an active volcano area and takes in several craters - mixed with the eclectic weather, the steam rising from the vents and the yellow rocks coloured by the sulphur it made for some of the strangest lunar-like landscapes we have ever seen.

There’s an abundance of geo-thermal spas and springs in the north island, but one of the coolest looking attractions would have to be Wai-o-tapu. Here there are huge (and stinky) lakes and bubbling mud pools, many displaying amazing colours. There is also the Lady Knox geyser which erupts on a strict schedule each day - oddly enough prompted by a guy pouring soap suds down its spout (we think, something to do with the soap reducing the surface tension in the water under ground…)

It took a while but the van made it along a 20km dirt track to the most northerly point of NZ, called Cape Regina. The view of the Tasman Sea meeting the Pacific Ocean was fab, and to the south-west of the point were some major sand dunes. We clambered up for a look, and then attempted to run down from the top - trying look even vaguely cool was a challenge too far. 90 mile beach runs along the west coast and when the tide is out is used as a public highway (unfortunately we weren’t allowed to have a go, as rental cars aren’t insured). We watched an awesome sunset from the southern end of the beach, finishing off a great day.

The Poor Knights Islands are a renowned dive site and we stopped off to have a dip. The dive was much colder than we were used to (and required some rather fetching head-to-toe wetsuits), but we saw some great stuff like huge stingrays and cool kelp forests.

Our mate Greg was holidaying in Australia and popped over the Tasman Sea for a quick taster of NZ. We picked him up from the airport in Auckland and headed straight to the Coromandel Peninsula. Plenty of time was spent eating, drinking and catching up, but we managed to squeeze in a couple of visits to touristy sites.

The highlight would have to be Hot Water Beach, where a thermal spring emerges underneath a small section of the beach at low tide and you dig yourself a little pit in which to wallow. Digging the pit was a bit of a challenge with competition for the best spots pretty intense, and the occasional wave coming in to ruin the ongoing engineering project! It’s safe to say it didn’t turn out to be the relaxing spa session we were expecting, but very entertaining all the same. Returning from the beach the St Patrick’s Day celebrations ensued at a couple of rather random rural bars - needles to say we got completely leathered, and the mountainous return journey to Auckland the next day was made all the more heinous…

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Photos

Hot Water Beach
After two hours, the pit wasn't getting any bigger...

Cool Maori Carving
A Maori carving at Waitangi