Day 16- November 18th

One of our most uninteresting days, I haven't got much to say about this one. 12 hours travelling from Wellington to the sleepy, seaside town of Kaiteriteri in the South Island. 3 hours on the ferry which was then delayed another hour or so (it was actually a very nice ferry though to fair!)

Safe to say, when we finally arrived at our destination, we were feeling pretty dishevelled and droopy. It was about 6.30 and we still had about 2 hours of sunlight, so I decided to go for a run and dragged Emma along ;)
It was nice running along the seaside, but we soon came to the main road which was too dangerous to run along, so instead we ran up a few hills until we found a secluded field. We did some sprints and strength exercises, finished off by a nice yoga session with a pinch of meditation. It was exactly what I needed after 12 hours on the bus! And lying on the grass at the end as the sun was setting was a pretty magical feeling. It was completely peaceful.
I don't have any pictures as I didn't take my phone running, but here's a picture of a Shetland pony we met later.

Hi friend

Day 15- November 17th

Lily and Emma wanted a lie in this morning, but they couldn't sleep too long or else they would miss the free pancakes offered by the hostel from 7-9 AM (this was Nomads in Wellington- highly recommend this hostel. Only downside is tiny dorms, but everything else is really good). I did some yoga in the room as I'm starting to get really stiff from carrying my backpack around everywhere!
We had a leisurely day, touring around the city. Wellington is perfect for that- everywhere you go there is something interesting to look at.

Alternative water fountain

We promised ourselves we wouldn't spend much money today, as lots of the activities we've been doing have been fairly expensive, but a vintage boutique we found on our guide map was calling us, and we ended up picking up a few bargains! We also found a cute little fro-yo place for a mid-morning pick-up.

'I'm enjoying my fro-yo too much to smile'

We redeemed ourself that afternoon by visiting the famous Te Papa museum- and it was free! It's the most incredible museum, covering natural history to social history in a lively and interactive way- we got to lift huge rocks to compare the weigh of the earth's crust and its mantle for example. But after a few hours, we were struck by tiredness and hunger- almost inevitable when spending too long in museums- and ventured out to find somewhere to eat.

The eerily life-like model of a soldier in the Gallipoli exhibition 

We came across a great place called Common-sense Organics, however it was more of a giant shop than a café, however we met a guy in there who pointed us in the direction of Deluxe café and espresso bar, which was outstanding and did a great range of veg food and drinks. It had a bit of a hipster vibe.

Whilst we were enjoying our coffees and lunch, the heavens opened and it started pouring with rain. We waited a while in the hopes that it would pass but it didn't. So, running between shelters in an attempt to stay dry, we made our way back towards centre-town and all the action.
We had a sleepless night that night, largely due to our room-mate, an elderly lady who snored like a toilet flushing. It wasn't great. She was already asleep when we came in, and although we tried to be as quiet as possible when we came in, one of us must have breathed a bit too loudly because she suddenly sat bolt upright, asked if it was time to get up, and when we told her it wasn't, she promptly got back to her toilet flushing again.

Day 14- November 16th

Woke up early-ish as we were going horse trekking this morning, and were meeting the guides at 8. There was supposed to be a group going white water rafting aswell, but this was cancelled due to torrential rain last night- legally, they can raft when the river is at 50mph, however this morning it was 150mph.
6 horse riders were picked up by a little old man in his bus and driven up the the ranch where the horses were kept. River Valley offers a unique horse riding experience. They don't use shoes or bits on the horses, nor do they use traditional reigns. The emphasis is on building a relationship with the horse. It is an independent creature with its own thoughts, and you can't expect it to respond like a robot to your every pull and kick.

It was honestly just a beautiful experience.
We were assigned to our horses according to personality apparently, and then we began some bonding exercises before riding them. We also had to make sure that the horse maintained a certain distance from us, to ensure a level of respect between us. My horse was a wild horse called Tuki, who had been tamed two years ago, and was a gorgeous brown colour, but not too silky and smooth like though thorough-bred horses.
Even though it was raining, I really enjoyed the trek. It made me think of horse riding a different way. You don't need to micromanage the horses movements- we were moving over some pretty difficult, steep and slippy terrain and the horse knows better than you do which is the easiest path to take. However, you need to make sure that you are there to guide the horse, so that you are not simply a passenger.

We returned to River Valley for lunch and then set of on the long bus drive to Wellington. It took forever, and there were strong winds blowing which caused more delays to our journey.
We stopped over in a town called Bulls which was a bit bull crazy. Everywhere you looked there were signs with the bull theme; 'response-a-BULL' for the recycling bins, 'read-a-BULL' for the library, 'const-a-BULL' for the police station. I don't think they took themselves very seriously...

We arrived in Wellington quite late, but I already got the feeling I was going to like this city. Everywhere you looked there was something interesting. The architecture was way more beautiful than Auckland, and it was much more cultural- I saw theatres, museums and posters advertising free shows. We began making plans for the next day....

Day 13- November 15th

Today was really just a travelling day. We left Taupo at 9.30 and arrived at River Valley Lodge at about 4 in the evening. On the way down, our bus driver was getting loads of phone calls because, due to the earthquakes that were happening in the South Island, buses up ahead were having problems with blocked roads, and the ferry had stopped running from Wellington. We didn't know if we would even be able to get to the South Island. We were actually extremely lucky that we did the Tongariro crossing when we did, because a day later it was closed as earthquake risk made it too dangerous.
On the way to River Valley, we stopped at a national heritage sight. We were supposed to be going for a walk, but it was optional as it was absolutely chucking it down. I went, and got absolutely soaked. That was just a poor decision by me really. I didn't take any photos because I didn't want to drown my phone but it was really pretty!

Welcome to River Valley

When we arrived at the lodge, we had an induction by a man who reminded me of captain Jack Sparrow and then we went to find our room. It was unique. We were staying in a 16 person dorm which was essentially one bunk bed that stretched from one end of the room to the other. At least we had our individual duvets! But it was pretty cozy to say the least!

We went out for a walk before dinner, since we had a couple of hours to wait, and the rain had finally cleared up! We walked down to the river, and hopped across some rocks to the middle of the river where we could get a better view of the waterfall. I fell in and got wet feet.

Dinner was lovely and greatly enjoyed as most people have been living off noodles and rice. We ate at long, communal tables, and served ourselves from the central dishes. It had a really nice, family feel.

After dinner was happy hour, and people sat around chatting, making music, playing Cluedo and drinking the house cider. It was a great evening.
I went for a shower before bed and a massive bug jumped up my leg which was quite uncalled for I thought.

Day 12- November 14th

R U ready?

A very, very early morning. 4.45AM to be exact. And why were we waking up this early you may ask? We were going to climb mount Doom. Now, if you've seen lord of the rings you will know the infamous mount Doom. And if you haven't, mount Doom- also known as mount Ngauruhoe- is an active stratovolcano (volcano built up of many layers of lava, ash and the likes), and part of the Tongariro volcanic complex. Which is why our hike was named the Tongariro crossing. The last eruption was in 2012, but luckily we only found this out after completing the hike.
We had to get a one hour bus from Lake Taupo to the base of the crossing, and when we got out it was pretty chilly. Lily rented a coat from the bus man, and she and Emma both bought woolly hats to arm them against the cold. We set off at about 7.30.

Looking forward to their hike

We were fairly lucky with the weather the whole day. Although it was cold, it never rained, even though it was forecasted. Supposedly it was 2 degrees, but I don't believe that. There were two steep climbs- devil's staircase and the ascent between south crater and red crater. On devil's staircase I got stuck between two boys who decided they were going to power up as fast as they could. My competitiveness got the better of me, and I made sure to keep up with them, so I wouldn't have to experience the shame of being overtaken! It just really annoyed me how they kept saying how easy it was, even though they were clearly out of breath!! Must be a man thing....

River near devils staircase running black

After this, the climb was much more gentle, and we we made our way up steadily until we reached the top, where it was blowing a gale and so foggy we could barely see 20m in front of us. Needless to say we carried on quickly to the next peak to get out of the wind a bit. The path was very narrow and unstable underfoot with steep drops either side, so we were fortunately that a big gust of wind didn't come along!

Mount Doom looming ominously ahead

I am still disappointed as I write this by our view from the top. We were supposed to be looking out over the gorgeous Emerald lake, but all we saw was this. On a clear day, this would have been spectacular. The brilliant colour is partially caused by the dissolved minerals which are washed down from the thermal area of Red Crater.

What we should have seen

What we actually saw

It was mainly downhill from here, so the rest of the walk was fairly chilled. We passed snow, jumped over rivers and finally got away from the barren, volcanic landscapes and entered the Jurassic looking forest, which was very pretty and we finally heard the birds singing again. It had been eerily quiet along the volcanic ridges. Mount Doom lived up to its name.

Trekin' through the wilderness

We slept well that night.

Loving life

Day 11- November 13

Leaving day. We packed up and left the hostel at 9, setting off on the little trek back to our pick up point. The drive to Taupo wasn't long at all, but we made two stops along the way. At the first stop we had an option of activities; the geothermal park or the redwood forest- both things that we had already done! We chose the redwood forest because it was free and we are already noticing our purses getting significantly lighter. New Zealand is not a cheap country- even the museums aren't free! We only had an hour and a half at the woods, so we had to follow the same loops as we had the time before as it was the only one short enough, but it was still a charming enough walk, and the weather was mild.

Appreciating nature

The second stop we made was at Huka falls, part of the Waikato river, a 425km river running through the northern island. The name Waikato is a Maori word, and translates as 'flowing water'- not very imaginative compared to some of the Maori words and stories. There is a traditional Maori story about the origins of New Zealand, that claims that the North island is actually a giant fish, caught with the jawbone of someone's grandma.
One of their founding gods, Maui, wanted to go fishing with his brothers, however they refused to take him as he was the youngest and the runt of the family. So one day, Maui hid in the bottom of his brothers' boat and popped out when they were far out to sea. His brothers were angry and refused to give him any bait to fish with, so Maui punched himself in the nose to make it bleed, then used to jawbone of his grandma, which he kept as a talisman around his neck, as bait for the fish. He then cast it out to sea and caught the biggest fish of all—Te Ika-a-Maui, or, the North Island of New Zealand.
fun

Watching the sun set

That evening, we went out on a chartered boat, which was surprisingly cheap for New Zealand standards. The sun was out but I wouldn't necessarily call it warm. Some guys jumped off the boat into the water, trying to out-macho each other, but there were also fluffy blankets provided so we could all cuddle up on the top deck with drinks and pizza as the sun went down. We met some really interesting people, in particular a girl who had lived in Thailand for two years, and gave us the ins and outs of the country. Sometimes I find it hard to enjoy the present moment when I know we have so many exciting things coming up to look forward to!

Having a bit too much 

Day 10- 12th November

Woke up this morning and Lily's nose was still bleeding. Another backpacker in the hostel happened to be a practicing doctor, who had a look at Lily's nose and recommended she went to the hospital.
Rotorua is famous for its volcanic activity, but in particular, the 'geothermal wonderland', Wai-o-Tapu, is a hot tourist attraction. Emma and I managed to jump in on a lift with another Dutch back backer who was heading the same way, and saved ourself $30-40 on a shuttle bus. The only problem was getting back, but we would come to that later.

On arriving at the park, we were in a bit of a rush to get tickets as we wanted to see the lady Knox geyser which erupts every day at 10.15. However, we made it to the geyser and settle down on the wooden steps, shaped like an amphitheater. At 10.15, instead of an eruption, a little man popped out and poured some soap into the top of the geyser, which started frothing and then shot up 15m or so into the air. It was a bit disappointing to say the least- I was at least expecting the geyser to be able to do it's own eruptions.

Someone's head ruining my photos...

Fortunately, the rest of the park did no disappoint. We walked along path ways through the steamy, craggy terrain, through ferns, orange moss, and the highlight- the coloured, geothermal pools. Some of them were fairly average, but a couple of the pools were so vividly coloured, they looked artificial (I've been assured that they're natural).

My phone is way more interesting than this green pool

These pools got up to around 100 degrees and were really kicking out steam, which could have been quite nice as it was quite a chilly day, however there is nothing nice about getting a face full of smelly, eggy steam.

Grin and bear it

We went around the park with the Dutch guy, and we all had a drink together in the park café before saying goodbye and heading our separate ways. We decided to to hitch hike back to Rotorua, as we figured that lots of people would be heading back in that direction. Not really sure what to do, we headed down the road to the exit of the park, sticking out our thumb to any passing car. Some ignored us, some just laughed at us, but after about 5 minutes, a Land Rover pulled over and a middle aged woman stuck her head out of the window and asked where we were going. Turned out we were all
going the same way so we jumped in the back.

Family

They were two English ladies who had lived in New Zealand for the last 10 or so years and gave us loads of information and tips on what to do whilst we were here. One was fairly well to do, and the other was a bit more rough and ready. They raved about Wellington where we are headed in 3 or so days, so we're looking forward to that. To be honest, everyone we have met is much more enthusiastic about the South Island, which makes me glad we started in the North as things can only get better.

We arrived back at the hostel to find Lily, and then went out into town to have a little wonder round and see the government botanical gardens. I think I'll end this blog post here as it promptly started raining after we had set foot out of the door and the afternoon was pretty grim. And the government gardens were tiny. However, one thing I will mention is the poet we met on the street. He sold me two poems and told me the human race was doomed. He was a cynical guy, but he was interesting and quick minded, and I would have liked to speak longer to him, but it was raining and I don't think the others were particularly keen on hanging about! I'll attach a copy of the poems below.