The smells and sounds of the north
So, last time I filled you in on my travels, I had just arrived in Taupo. I love Taupo, it's such a cool place - apparently the number one place to skydive in the world (maybe because it is also one of the cheapest), this seems to be the big thing that all travellers do when they are here. I would have loved to do one, but am trying to cut back on the spending right now, and also figured I need to save some fun stuff to do in the future otherwise I will have done it all already!
Taupo is also the beginning of the geothermal areas I visited in the North Island. For a small fee, you can visit 'Craters of the Moon', an area covered in geothermal activity. Its pretty cool to see if you haven't seen it before, all these spouts of steam are shooting out the ground, big craters are all along the pathway, and my favourite bit, the mud pools. Hot bubbling mud, when I stood at the edge I could actually hear it, it was ace.
Taupo is also the beginning of the geothermal areas I visited in the North Island. For a small fee, you can visit 'Craters of the Moon', an area covered in geothermal activity. Its pretty cool to see if you haven't seen it before, all these spouts of steam are shooting out the ground, big craters are all along the pathway, and my favourite bit, the mud pools. Hot bubbling mud, when I stood at the edge I could actually hear it, it was ace.
The other 'top' thing to do in this area is the 'Tongariro Crossing'. Voted the 5th best walk to do in the world (I am not sure who decides these things), its marketed as a pretty cool thing to do. I was up for it, then everyone I told basically told me it was the hardest thing they had ever done, blah blah blah, which put me off. But I figured, what the heck, got to love a good challenge and decided to do it. Because it's the winter and the ground can be icy and snowy, they advise going with a guide rather than attempting it on your own, so that's what I did - which was also good because they provided me with all the kit I needed, including a coat, which is good since I don't have one with me! Anyway, the trek, or 'tramp', was pretty good. It was challenging at parts, particularly 'The Devils staircase', which consists of 267 steps (about that) which seem to go on forever. I also got to use 'crampons' for the first time - spikey things you put on your shoes so you can climb up the snow! 20km later I felt as though I had achieved, so I'm pleased I did it!
After Taupo I headed for Rotorua. On the way we stopped at 'Thermal Wonderland' and got to see a geyser erupt, 'Lady Knox'...they did spur her on a bit by sticking some soap inside her, but they knew what they were doing, and we got an eruption, take a look...
Met some other people heading the same way so managed to catch a lift, one of whom was a German chef who offered to cook us all dinner, it was impressive, it even got a photo (which doesn't do it justice, I served myself, hence the sloppy appearance)...
At the hostel in Rotorua there was a hot tub in the garden which was heated by the ground, it was so flipping hot though, had to keep jumping out and running round the garden to get cold so I could go back in again!
Just like the Ozzies, the Kiwis also love a good 'BIG' statue, such as this giant kiwi on the side of the road, just north of Rotorua. I didn't actually realise until I was here that the reason the kiwis are called 'kiwis' is because they are from New Zealand...I have read 2 different reasons for it...the first one, that they are named after the 'kiwis', as in the name the people give themselves (which is after the bird with the same name, confusing, I know) and the second being that the fur of the kiwi fruit looks like the fluffy kiwi bird. Either way, everything is linked back to the almost extinct bird.
Rotorura, affectionately known by the locals as 'Rotting Rua', smells. It's a kind of eggy smell, due to all the sulphur there is floating around.
I then spent the next couple of days travelling the northland with Kadri, an Estonian girl I met....[sorry, I digress here, I am sat in the library using the free internet, whilst the elderly gentleman next to me is attempting to send a photo of himself to some lady he has been chatting to for a while across the internet...don't ask how I know, but lets just say, everyone in the room pretty much knows what this dude is up to]...ok, I'm back, yeah, so travelling around the northland. This was a bit of a hit and run type tour as we had only hired the car for a couple of days and everything is actually quite far apart. We did manage a day trip to Cape Reinga though, the northern most point of the North Island, where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet. I also got to see lots of 'Kauri' trees, which the kiwis are really proud of - its a type of tree that grows really old and produces a gum which they use for stuff. the oldest living tree was recorded at being around 4000 years old and the wood they make stuff from at this place we went to had come from trees that were 140000 years old, apparently. I'm not really into trees so much, but everyone seems to go on about these Kauri trees, so I guess they must be pretty impressive.
Light house at Cape Reinga
The Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meeting
Driving along 90 mile beach (which is actually more like 90km than miles - apparently in the 'olden days', the people here thought that they walked 30 miles in a day and it took them 3 days to walk the length of the beach, hence the name, but science now says they were wrong...)
View from Pahia
After the excitement in the north, we headed down again to Auckland which is where I am now. There's not so much here, just a City, but its quite nice to relax for a couple of days before I head off on my next plane tomorrow...to Fiji!
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