The Tongariro Crossing is often described as the ‘best one day walk in New Zealand’. I think I have to disagree, so far for me its the best in the world and its easy to see why part’s of Lord of the Rings were filmed here.
The day started at about 6am when I was picked up by shuttle bus from my hostel in Taupo. This takes you to the start of the walk, drops you off and promises to meet you 17km further on at the end of the walk. From there the first half an hour is flat over alpine terrain before climbing what is known as the devils staircase which takes you to the South Crater and the base of Mount Ngauruhoe. Some Staircase, its basically a 30-45 minute rock climb. A lot of fun to do.
Mount Ngauruhoe was used as the basis for Mount Doom in The Lord of the Rings, and its easy to see why. Climbing the Staircase you could imagine being Sam or Frodo Climbing the mountain to destroy the Ring. There is the option to climb to the summit of Mount Ngauruhoe but there was a little too much snow on there to try so it was off to walk through the South Crater.
There was some mist coming in at this point, so for about 30 minutes there is the barren landscape of the crater with the cloud drifting across the ground. A very strange feeling. It was actually hard to leave the crater, as despite the number of people walking the track it was so peaceful and detached from everything. Freedom?
From the crater there is another climb. Shorter than the last but with ice on the track so a little more treacherous. This takes you along the ridge of the Red Crater and to the start of a side track to the summit of Mt. Tongariro. The guide leaflet we were given warns not to leave the ridge. Those that do go down into the Red Crater don’t come back! Not something you really want to know when balancing on an icy ledge!
Mt. Tongariro’s peak was also covered in snow but the path is reasonably straight forward and I had a couple of hours spare so I took this side track. Thick cloud came in while doing that and it got incredibly cold, but it was well worth the effort and I got to play in the snow! Once at the summit a few minutes wait saw the cloud clear and there were some amazing view over the area.
After retuning to the main track it was time to head down towards the Emerald and Blue Lakes, named for their colours. Lunch was taken by the Emerald Lake before heading onwards through some more snow and past the Blue Lake. This is where the most interesting parts of the walk end, but there’s still about two hours of the track to go through alpine scrub land. Thankfully it’s all down hill, though I still had my bruised ankle from Rotorua, which was fine when climbing but made the descent a bit of a problem but well worth the pain.
Thanks to Heidi who I met on the walk for the company, and there are just too many photos to feature on this posting so go check out The Tongariro Crossing gallery! Tonight is my last night in Taupo, tomorrow it’s back to Auckland before heading to Australia in a few weeks.
One of the most active thermal areas in New Zealand is the city of Rotorua and that was my next stop where i’ve been for the past week. It’s also a very important area for the Maori population which means not only can you visit the thermal areas but you get to experience a little Maori culture too.
First stop was the Kuirau Park, which is a free thermal area and gave a great opportunity to see the center of the earth making its way to the surface through boiling pools of mud and steaming lakes. Then there’s the smell of rotten eggs. For the first day its gets a little annoying, but after that you start to not notice it, although I did have a craving for boiled eggs for the best part of the week!
I also took the opportunity during the week to visit one of the Maori Villages, Te Whakawerawera, which is built over an active thermal area. A guided tour took me round the village and was followed by a performance giving a brief introduction to the culture.
The rest of the week was spent relaxing in a fantastic hostel, Funky Green Voyager. Thanks to everyone I met there, and of course to Yasu for the ‘fish parties’! The most ’successful’ fisherman in New Zealand!
Oh, also did a mad 40km walk in 7hours round the Redwoods. A forest that give great views over the town and also passed by a couple of lakes. I did a small walk round there at the start of the week, and then decided I should do a full day walk they have. It’s a 32km walk thats supposed to take 8 hours, however I did an extra 8km getting to and from the hostel making the 40km in 7 hours. Madness, and I have a slightly bruised ankle from it – doh!
Photos from Rotorua are here.
Yesterday was a great day. A trip out to white island which is New Zealand’s only active marine volcano! So not only did I get a boat trip, but also to walk on an active volcano.
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The trip started with a nice 80 minute boat ride out to the island. The boat is nicely designed so that you can walk all round the outside, so I stood at the front and just enjoyed the journey and views as we approached the island.
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Just before you get to the island we were issued with a helmet and gas mask! Once at the island the idea is they take you ashore via a small inflatable. However the direction of the wind was making the transfer difficult as the waves were a little too high, so they had to abandon their normal landing spot and move to a different bay. This meant for slightly calmer water but no real landing place on the island so there was a nice scramble across some rocks. Have to say this made it more interesting and fun for me, but a few people were having difficulties with having to do this.
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Once on the island it was time to put our helmets on – required just in case the volcano decides to have a little eruption! The gas masks are optional, and a few people were using them in places as the sulphur in the air got quite thick making for a lot of coughing! Then the crew took us on a tour round the island. The island no longer vents smoke since an eruption a few years back but its a very strange landscape. The sulphur means no vegetation exists, so all you’re left with is a barren landscape with boiling mud in places and steam venting all over.
There’s also the crater lake with a water level that has been rising steadily over the past few years although, for no apparent reason, its recently started to fall! The tour also took in the corroded remains of an old sulphur mine on the island. The acid in the air destroys most things over time!
Once the tour was over it was back across the rocks to transfer to the boat and some lunch (The only disappointing thing about the day was the lunch, very small amounts!). They then sailed round the island before heading back to the mainland. The trip back was much more eventful as we were heading into the wind so waves were crashing over the outside decks of the boat. Impressive to watch!
You do the tour from Whakatane, where I am now. When I got back to my hostel yesterday three very strange Swiss backpackers have moved into my room. They don’t talk to anyone, hardly to each other. They just seem to sit looking at a laptop. One of them, despite being a backpacker who isn’t working or looking for work is dressed in a suit and sleeps in the suit too…
From Coromandel Town it was onto Whitianga. Something of a shock after the small Coromandel Town as Whitianga, although not big is very touristy and doesn’t have that much character. I travelled there on the bus with Carmen who i’d met in the Lions Den hostel and we spent the rest of the day exploring the long beach next to the town. We started climbing over the rocks at the end of the beach as the map we had “the fun map” seemed to suggest there was some smaller beaches further along. It turns out the fun map is not to scale, in a BIG way and the bays we were after were much further along. Not something you want to discover when the tides coming in! Still following the ‘fun map’ we did have a laugh in trying to get back to the beach before the water level was too high.
The next day we hired bike to go to Hot Water beach, at low tide you can dig a hole in the sand and relax in your own thermal pool, and also Cathedral Cove. We heard the roads were fairly flat, and for New Zealand they are but when you’re slightly unfit then its… hard! Once we were at Cathedral cove it was a warm day so we decided to abandon hot water beach and just relax for a few hours on the beach before the cycle back. A decision we were both glad we’d made!
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The coastline round Cathedral Cove is stunning and the walk from down the the beach passes by a couple of other bays which are equally stunning and great places to snorkel from if you want to see some marine life. Just get there by car or bus, not a bike unless you’re fit! 
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Heading north from Thames in Coromandel Town near the tip of the Peninsula. I travelled here from Thames with Dana and Claudia, two girls I met in Thames, and we spent the day exploring the town and the coast around the area.
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They only had the one day in town, so after they left the following day I headed up to the Driving Creek Railway to play tourist for the day. The railway started out as a way to bring clay down from the hills, but has since turned into a tourist attraction.
It’s wasn’t a bad way to spend a few hours, but to steal a phrase from the many Germans in New Zealand – its very “touristic”. I would rather have walked into the hills, but it was different and there was something nice about it.
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The real reason for coming to Coromandel Town was to do the Coromandel Coastal Walkway. A 3-4 hour walk at the tip of the peninsula from Fletchers bay to Stoney bay. From the walkway you can see over to Great and Little Barrier Islands and walk through open fields and thick forest. A walk well worth doing, and although its not at all difficult its New Zealand so you do need to be prepared for changing weather conditions and carry food and water unlike the English family who were doing the walk at the same time with bad shoes, and small amounts of food in carrier bags! Thankfully the bus that took everyone to the start of the walk had free water…
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Worth checking out are the incredibly friendly ducks at Stoney Bay. All to happy to come up for a photo and will even sit and fall asleep right next to you!
In Coromadel Town itself if you stay there make sure you stay at Lion’s Den. A hostel with real character, eccentric owner, amazing hammock over the river out the back and a great African Theme!
The first stop after leaving Auckland was the Coromandel Peninsula, a couple of hours drive away from the city. Thames was the first town to do a couple of hikes in the area. The first called the Rocky’s Gold Mine trail. The area’s an old gold mining area and so there a number of walks in the hills behind the town.
Normally the walk should be pretty easy, but I did it on a wet day and a lot of the path is surrounded by a lot of bush most of which seems to be making it’s way onto the path which made for a very wet experience. Added to that in the latter stages of the walk there is a stream to cross a number of times. The last of these crossings was a little harder due to the rain making the stream a little faster and deeper meaning the stepping stones had been covered by water. While attempting a balancing act on a rock things went a little wrong and left me with the option of trying to continue the balancing act and fall of down a little water fall, or accept defeat and just enter the water. This I did so I had to walk the rest of the hike with very wet feet. Well worth the discomfort though!
The second, and much bigger hike is the Pinnacles Track. A great day hike that takes you into the Kauaeranga valley. The hostel I stayed in usually runs a daily shuttle out to the start of the walk and picks you up at the end of the day, however they weren’t running when I was there as demand wasn’t high enough. Thankfully, there was an American girl called Kiera who was staying there at the same time, had a car and wanted to do the walk so we did the hike together.
There is the option to split the walk over a number of day’s and stay in a DOC hut, but we went for just the one. The first three hours and spent climbing meaning some fantastic views over the area, and this takes you to the hut. Once at the hut there is an additional climb up to the Pinnacles themselves. This bit takes you near some steep drops and requires climbing up ladders and over rocks to a platform at the top. The views from there are stunning!
Then it’s about a four hour descent back to the car park on a path that seems to go on for ever! A great day’s hike. The last hour was interesting though as I had a bad knee and with the pounding it was taking coming down for that length of time it got to the point where I couldn’t bend it! Amusing trying to descend and looking like something from a Monty Python Sketch.
Oh, and there were rope bridges too! We missed the first bridge and crossed the river using the stones, got to the other side and saw the bridge. We both looked at each other and the bridge and just had to go across that, so we went back across the river the way we came so we could cross the rope bridge!
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