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Published: December 2nd 2006
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Monday
We drove back into New Plymouth for a look around the Art Gallery, which had an interesting display by the local artist Michael Smithers, at least I thought so! It seems Simon and my opinions of art are at opposite poles. After this we headed north on SH3 stopping for lunch at a pretty little cove signposted as 'The Three Sisters' though we weren't sure what they were as it was high tide. Onwards through more beautiful sub-rainforest valleys back to Otorahanga, where we stopped for the first night of our 'adventure' back in September. We made a brief stop at Waitomo Caves hoping to book a blackwater rafting trip for the next day, but it turned out to get the 10% discount we had heard about, we needed to book online at least 24 hours in advance. This we did on our arrival at the campsite, opting for the 'Black Abyss' tour. We chilled out for the evening, watching some cricket 'highlights' and movies.
Tuesday
As we had the day off, we spent the morning in a very leisurely fashion pottering about Max. Simon went to the on-site fitness centre and I had a good bounce
on the air pillow. Before lunch we drove back to Waitomo to stop in at 'The Shearing Shed' where angora rabbits get sheared. This was quite an odd experience and Simon was convinced that it looked quite cruel. Given that the women running things seemed to care quite a bit about their bunnies (all 350 of them have individual names) and that in comparison to what other little blighters of this world are bred for (predominantly scientific testing) I decided that things could be worse. However, Cordelia, who was stretched out on the rack for our demo didn't look all that happy as she was rotated upside down for a good shear!
For the rest of the afternoon we visited the museum, to which we had complimentary tickets, and got some info about what the famous Waitomo gloworms actually are - "an insect called a worm, that thinks it's a spider". Talk about an identity crisis! We then wandered up to the top of a nearby pa (historical Maori fortified village) for some good views across the Waitomo area. Following this, a stroll around Otorohanga itself - the self-declared capital of Kiwiana, with a couple of nice Maori sculptures
and shops.
Wednesday
We got up much earlier than we have been recently and got ourselves sorted for a day underground - the Black Abyss tour with the Legendary Black Water Rafting Co.
After an introduction to our guides Louisa and Andy, we got kitted out in a very attractive ensemble of wetsuit dungarees/jacket, with shorts over the top and white gum boots. We had some group photos and then drove out to Ruakari Cave, where we were given some dry-run abseil training with our ropes and racks. Then onto the real thing: a 35m abseil into a cave, starting with an extremely narrow hole. We all had to clip our 'cow tails' onto a rope just before approaching the hole and Andy commented that only Germans and Accountants liked to unclip both of them at the same time (I made no comment about Simon's teutonic leanings) and one of the Germans embarrassed him quite considerably by pretending to be an accountant. Apart from a few nerves at the top when leaving the platform, the abseil wasn't too scary at all and a great way to enter the limestone cave.
After watching the rest of the group materialise in the gut of the cave, we walked a little way to get our next thrill - a short flying fox through the cave - no doubt more frightening for Kelly, the first to go as it was in pitch black! Following this we walked a short way and then got our first snack of some hot drink and a flapjack. This was to spur us on for the next challenge - jumping off a 3m ledge into water with our rubber ring. Simon opted to go first, not realising quite how high up he was until the huge explosion of water as his butt hit the surface. I was next, scared to death but loving every minute, although I did get about a litre of water up my nose! Floating along in our tubes, we had to pull ourselves through the cave by a rope and luckily no-one capsized, despite a few near misses. Although the glow worms above were beautifully captivating, we were all concentrating a bit too much on pulling ourselves along to fully marvel at them, so it was nice that when we got to the end we linked up into a big chain and were pulled back through by Andy. This was after a stop to see some of the critters at an overhang and check out their sticky fishing-lines up close.
Back again at the ledge, and all of us extremely cold by this time, we abandoned our tubes and continued on for the 'caving' part of our trip. Basically this involved following a stream through the cave, at times walking, swimming, squeezing, sliding and commando crawling through tight gaps! It was quite intensive but fun with another break for chocolate and stops every now and then to play the 'what does that look like' game with various lime rock formations. Answers included Gandalf, zombies, Homer and Marge Simpson! The finale of the trip and personal highlight were the 'Twin waterfalls of doom', two waterfalls which we had to climb up using crevices which our guides were helpfully on hand to point out. After another short crawl we could see daylight start to trickle in, and then round a corner before a third stepped waterfall marked the stream's entrance and our exit.
Having thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, we went to change and partake in a complimentary soup and bagel. Leaving Waitomo we drove south once more with the intention of doing the Tongariro Crossing...hopefully we'll be third time lucky! We camped for the evening as before near National Park.
Thurs
Rain. All day. Torrential.
We broke up the boredom by a trip to the pub in the afternoon, but otherwise it was reading and games with three games of scrabble and a couple of seven letter words the sorry highlight of the day!
Friday
Getting up again at 6.15am, we peeked apprehensively out of the window to check the weather conditions. Thankfully the day looked promising and we got ready quickly before driving back to National Park to pick up our group. By half seven we had set off for the Mangatepopo end of the crossing, having been told that it would be predominantly fine but that there could be snow in places.
The walk started off easily with undulating patches and board walk, but we were all pleased to see the clouds clearing ahead of us. Chatting with the group we realised that there were nine of us...the fellowship of the ring itself, heading towards Mordor and the frosty peak of Mount Doom (Ngarahoe).
At the valley's end we started up the most difficult section of the day, so-called 'Devil's Staircase', which was steep and rocky with icy patches at the top. There were some great views across to Mount Ruapehu here and at the plateau summit, we could see right up Ngarahoe. After an even walk across the plateau, we had another climb and then the classic Tongariro views opened out, with the bright 'Red Crater' to our right and the Blue Lake directly ahead. As it was starting to snow we began our descent, bringing the Emerald Lakes below into view and smoking fumeroles giving off a distinctly eggy whiff.
Our route continued up past the Blue Lake and then around Mount Tongariro on a gradual descent, leading us to Katehahi Hut, where we stopped for lunch, having made extremely good time. Leaving Andy (Gandalf) behind, we continued to the Katehahi hot spring area, where there was a lot of thermal activity going on, including a grey-stained warm stream, cascading down the mountain side. Shortly afterwards, we left the rocky landscape to go into rainforest.
We completed the walk in approximately 6.5 hours and everyone agreed that it was certainly worth the much-publicised accolade of 'Best one-day walk in NZ'. We were picked up by our bus and returned to the hostel for a good shower before hitting the pub with the Aussies in our group for some Ashes. We were hoping someone might throw Warne a pie from the crowd, causing him to trip and injure himself, but as Bell and Collingwood batted up a decent partnership, it seemed things were looking better than the first test.
Saturday
Another beautiful day, with clear views across Ruapehu, Ngarahoe and Tongariro. We drove out of National Park for the last time towards the west side of Taupo as we make our way north to Coromandel.
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Mum F
non-member comment
Nice fashion items!
I'm glad to see that you are taking following fashion seriously with your "interesting" black suits, pink hats and white boots! Thanks to your blogs, Dad and I are seriously thinking of keeping up with the children and following in your footprints for a few weeks after we have retired-provided we can find someone to look after the cat! You will be glad to know that we don't seem to have had as much rain as you two in the last few months, perhaps it is saving it up for you when you return. Keep safe. Love from Mum and Dad F