Kiwi Experience: A Few Failed Experiences

9th-13th Sept 2013

Day 8

On we go again on the bus leaving Rotorua heading for Taupo. No rest for us, another early start with the first stop being Te Whakarewarewatangaoteopetauaawahio. No I haven't fallen asleep on the keyboard, this is the actual name but its more commonly known as Te Puia. This is a well known thermal park with geysers, mud pools and a Maori Arts and Crafts Centre.

Maori church type place

We weren't so interested in Maori side of things having spent the previous night at a Maori village so we skipped on in to the thermal park. It's a really strange sort of place with the hillside just steaming away. It kinda makes you feel like it really isn't a safe place to be and I suppose it isn't really but there would be some warning before anything major were about to happen. We were shown down to one of the bubbling pools by a guide who talked about the thermal park before boiling a basket of eggs in one.

Cooking

He then showed us over to the largest geyser in the park which was shooting water 30 feet into the air. He gave us our eggs to eat which were now fully cooked and let us wander around the park by ourselves after that. I tried for ages to get a decent picture of the geyser to show how big and powerful it was but it was proving difficult.

Big ass geyser

Super cool looking

We then went over to a huge boiling mud pool which looked awesome before going into a small kiwi bird sanctuary. It was cool to finally get to see a real kiwi bird as seeing them in the wild is extremely rare. No flash allowed so unfortunately no photos.

Mud pools

Just outside Taupo is Huka Falls. The Waikato River is new Zealand's longest river so its obviously quite a wide river except for one narrow gap of hard volcanic rock pulled apart by an earthquake. The roar of this 11 metre waterfall is incredible as 220,000 litres of water crashes over it every second!

Huka Falls

Raging river

We took the opportunity to get our first bus picture - unofficial and missing a few people but still.

Say cheese

Lake Taupo

Taupo is the largest lake in New Zealand and is one of the worlds supervolcanos although you wouldn't realise it looking at it. There is thermal activity in the area and under the lake but it all seems rather peaceful and tranquil. I can't really remember what we did in the afternoon. It was rather uneventful it seems. We went to the bar that night with the hope of winning a prize in the competition but that got cancelled because there was only us in the bar and that made it only 8 people.

Drinks

Day 9

A few people were planning to to the Tongariro Crossing but as it was still icy up the mountains they wanted you to pay for the winter crossing which was an extra $100 so I decided I would do it at a later date given that I have a years visa. I was worried that I may have just passed up an opportunity but the trip was cancelled due to weather anyway so the deliberation was pointless.

Taupo River

So instead I thought I'd go for a epic walk. There was a nearby mountain with walking trails on it so I decided I would go walk up that but an hours walk down a highway with no sign of how to actually get to the mountain even by car I turned back. I ended up walking down the river and seeing the sites down there instead.

Hot springs

There is a thermal spring just next to the river and further up on the cliffs is where they do a bungy jump from. The river itself was unbelievably clear. I don't know if its because of the thermal activity in the area killing bacteria in the water or something but it was absolutely transparent. That night proved as uneventful as the previous night.

super clear water

Bungy ledge on the right

Day 10

Having missed out on the Tongariro Crossing the day before today would be chance of seeing Mount Doom, the first true Lord of the Rings scene I would recognise. And here it is...

Not the best view!

Yep, torrential rain. Couldn't see anything the whole way around Tongariro National Park so I didn't get to see anything of Mount Doom or any other mountain! Not happy.

Beautiful scenery

Thankfully the weather cleared up a little on the way to River Valley to allow us to see the beautifully green rolling hills in the area. Then it was down a steep road, following sheep, to River Valley Adventure Lodge, home to white water rafting.

Sheep!

The Valley

This huge wooden lodge is rather impressive. A two-story building with private rooms on one side and a dorm room on the other side containing what can only be described as one huge bunk bed. Despite its size it seemed extremely cosy with a large fire roaring in the middle and long benches in front of the bar.

Living room

Epic bunk bed

The valley itself is also a stunning place to be with spring flowers beginning to blossom next to the river so we decided we had to go exploring! There was a track that led up to a waterfall which was recommeded to us so off we went, well most of us. There was a rather large drop down to the river from a cliff that you had to use a rope to basically abseil down which put a couple of people off but us hardy folk carried on.

River Valley in all its glory

Don't slip

We found the waterfalls and spent a good hour messing around taking pictures of everyone and I managed to persuade everyone to get into a group photo which took some time to organise as we had to shuffle along a rock over the water. I didn't fancy falling in, save that for tomorrow.

being a tit

Awesome place!

That night we had delicious roast dinner. Not quite as good as the one the Maoris cooked for us but good all the same. We organised ourselves on the huge bunk beds by spreading out as there wasn't all that many of us. It was supposed to cost us an extra $3 for use of a duvet which to most of us seemed uttely ridiculous. If you pay for a bed you don't pay extra for the stuff that goes on the bed! There were another set of dorm rooms next to the lodge that were open so I snuck in and stole a duvet. A few people copied me which must have really pissed off the owners but ah well they shouldn't be so stingy. We go into bed and oh how the heavens opened! Torrential rain all night left us with this site in the morning...

Day 11

Not so peaceful now

A storm had swept up for the south which had raised the river level by nearly 2 metres meaning our white water rafting trip was cancelled and so was other peoples activities like horse trekking. We set off earlier than usual to Wellington as there was nothing else to do.

We had lunch in the small town of Bulls which had some pretty cool names for your usually town commodities. The police station was Consta-bull, town hall is Social-a-bull, library is Read-a-bull, ice cream store is Lick-a-bull, museum is Memor-a-bull, subway is Submerge-a-bull and there were a whole heap more!

Wellybob

More of out party were to leave us Wellington as there's quite a lot of cool stuff to do but as I planned to finish my Kiwi Experience in Wellington on the way back north to Auckland I only had 24 hours here.

Wellington

It was a choice between climbing Mount Victoria or a trip to Te Papa Museum. I choose the museum as I was told it was an absolute must do. It had a large section of the geolocical history of New Zealand including a room where you can experience what an earthquake would feel like which was rather entertaining but massively scary if it were real!

Earthquake room

There was a section about dinosaurs which is always cool, a big part about sea life including one of the biggest squids ever caught, an outdoor area with lots of different types of trees and bushes, an interactive area and obviously a huge Maori section. I didn't get to see all of it as it was taking hours to see everything because it was so big and it was already late so I definitely need to go back!

Dinosaurs!

Huge Whale

Trees and stuff

Interactive zone

I like the interavive zone. This floor would light up as you walked over it and there was a wall where you could take pictures of yourself and write stuff and be all arty. At the very top was the Maori bit and also a good view of Wellington.

messing around

Maori place

Wellington by night

Day 12

The next day it was time to wave goodbye to the North Island. I done some pretty cool stuff in the North Island despite the last few things being cancelled but at least I have the chance to go back and do it again. It was an early start to get to the ferry to take us across the Cook Strait to the South Island where my Kiwi Experience would continue.

Bye Wellington

Hello South Island!