days 27, 28, 29 & 30

Day 27

Today was a travel day. We left the Tongariro National Park at 9:00 am and headed to Wellington. Wellington is the capital of New Zealand and a cool little city. The trip was beautiful driving past mountains and then along the West Coast of the North Island. Along the way we stopped at a metal gum boot in Taihape.













Cool rural New Zealand stuff! The gum boot is known in other parts of the world as a rubber boot, mud boot, ect.

Once we arrived in Welllington we found our backpacker and went to the information center to find out what was happening in town and get our ferry ticket for Saturday's trip to the South Island. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing, doing some research about the South Island and Andrea completing her chiropractic jurisprudence test for New Hampshire.

Day 28

We spent some time getting Andrea's test faxed to the NH board and then had a little lunch at the Mac's Brewery down by water in the Wellington harbor. Mac's has some really tasty beers!














After lunch we headed over to Te Papa.



















It is the New Zealand national museum. There are six floors of New Zealand history, flora/fauna, weather, art, and almost anything else to due with NZ. It is really cool and is free! We spent 5 and a half hours in the museum looking at all the interesting exhibits. One really interesting exhitbit is about a giant squid that was captured off the antarctic coast. They are the only museum in the world to actually have a giant squid on display, unfortunately the squids enclosure was under construction so we didn't get to see it, but they had a lot of information and videos about the giant squid and its capture and preservation. After 5.5 hours we were exhausted! It is a really amazing museum. Obviously the squid is not in the picture, it is different varities of kiwi birds that used to be common in New Zealand. Now there are many possums in the country that like to eat the kiwi eggs, so there are a lot of DOC (Department of Conservation) efforts to increase the number of kiwi birds in the country.

From the museum we went back to our hostel to put on some warmer clothes then caught the bus down to Westpac Stadium for a must-do New Zealand event.













We went to a Super 14 Rugby match between the Wellington Hurricanes and the Pretoria Bulls. We arrived a little early to grab a NZ dog (a corn dog not an American dog in a bun), a beer and find our seats. The stadium wasn't full, but the atmosphere was still great and it was really fun evening. The Bulls beat the Hurricanes 19-14. Kiwis are extremely passionate about their rugby!












We caught the rugby fever and would like to try to go to an All Blacks (their national team) game sometime while we are here.

After the game we meet our Irish friend Jenny (we met her up in the Bay of Islands) and her boyfriend Arnie for a drink and some great converstion. We have met a ton of really cool people during our travels!

Day 29

We woke up and packed up our stuff for our trip over to the South Island. We spent an hour or so doing some e-mail and watched a dragon boat race in the harbor before we headed down to the ferry terminal. We loaded the ferry and set off on our voyage across Cook Strait.













About an hour into our 3 hour and 20 minute trip the captain announced that our planned arrival time of 4:20 pm had been changed to 7:00 pm. One of the two engines was not operating so it was going to take twice as long. So we relaxed, did some reading, had some food and tried to entertain ourselves. The weather was a little cool and rainy, so we didn't spend a whole lot of time outside. Once we made it across the strait and into Queen Charlotte Sound the captain came back on and annouced that the second engine was operating so we would be arriving at 6 instead of 7. Sweet!

We arrived in Picton













and got a ride to our backpacker were we settled in, sat in the spa pool (hot tub) for awhile, had a little dinner and some free hot chocolate pudding with ice cream (a special perk at this hostel).

Day 30

Today we spent some time relaxing at Sequoia Lodge Backpackers in Picton while waiting for the next bus. We got a ride from the lodge to the ferry terminal where we met our bus at 11:45am.

We left Picton and headed west towards the Abel Tasman National Park. We made a couple of stops along the way and dropped some folks off who went sky diving. So most of the day was spent traveling.

We stayed just on the eastern side of the park at a place called Old MacDonald's Farm! Yup, its true and they have a lot of animals wandering around. It didn't take long before 2 ducks and 1 peacock came up to our door.













They liked John. Once we were settled in we headed down the street to have dinner with the bus and then relaxed for the evening.




















Tina, eat your food!

day 25 - 26

Day 25 started out pretty slow. We slept in a little and then headed into the town center in Rotorua to grab a coffee and do a little work on the computer. Our bus picked us up at about 1:00pm to head to Taupo. Taupo is well known as the skydive capital of New Zealand and possibly the world. They claim that more jumps are done per year in Taupo than any other place in the world. So...

I bet you thought you were going to see a picture of us skydiving. Well we wanted to, but the weather was terrible and we couldn't go. We will have to try when we get back to Taupo or in some other town.

Anyway back to our trip. On the way down to Taupo we stopped at a few geothermal mud pools to take a few photos













and then headed to Kerosene Creek, which is a little river that is feed by thermal pools. We got to relax in the hot river for about a half an hour before we continued our journey.

Just before we got to Taupo we stopped at Huka Falls which is supposed to be the most visited tourist attraction in New Zealand. The Falls are not really high, but the amount of water that goes over the falls is amazing. Every 3 seconds there is enough water to fill an olympic sized swimming pool.













That evening we relaxed at our hostel for a little while before we headed out for St. Patrick's day. We went to a little Irish bar to listen to some live music and do a little dancing. We didn't drink much and were home and in bed by midnight because we had a big day coming up.

Day 26 came quickly. We had to be on the bus early so we could get down to Tongariro National Park to do the Tongariro Crossing. It is one of the best day hikes in the world! We lost a couple of our friends who were going to do the crossing due to a little too much partying on St. Patty's day, actually our bus was several passengers short. So we got to the trail head at about 9:45 am and had a little safety briefing from the shuttle driver before we took off. There were 5 people in our group, but hundreds of other people on the trail. It is a very well traveled track. The key is to keep looking at the incredible scenery and not the other people (this wasn't too difficult).

The crossing is a 19.4 kilometer track that heads up to the saddle between Mt. Tongariro and Mt. Ngauruhoe (aka. Mt. Doom for those Lord of the Rings fans)












both active volcanoes, then around the backside of Mt. Tongariro and down into the bush to the finish. Along the way you pass two very different and distinct craters, some emerald pools, a beautiful blue lake and a some other volcanic activity.













The hike started with an hour of easy hiking up to the base of the mountains to Soda Springs, a sulfury spring. (Note that none of the water along the hike is suitable for drinking due to its high sulfur content.)













The next hour or so was stairs, stairs and more stairs. Most of the way up to the saddle was climbing stairs. We are not in the best shape, so it was a good workout! The views were awesome. Once we got to the saddle it was a short hike down into the south crater and then a short, but steep hike up to the top edge of the red crater.













The red crater was steamy and had amazing red and black coloring.
























From the top you could see the emerald pools. They are an incredible set of thermal pools that are a bright aqua color.















They are quite a contrast to the rest of the bleak volcanic landscape. We headed down to the pools and stopped by the pools for a quick lunch. It was a really cool setting other than the sulfur smell. After lunch we headed over toward and then around Te wai-whakaiata-o-te Rangihiroa (Blue Lake).













From the lake we started our decent around the backside of Mt. Tongariro.













It was a pretty hike with the valley below, Lake Taupo and several mountains in the distance. Along the way we passed some more thermal pools. After an hour or so of hiking we reached the native bush.



















This was the last section of the hike and proved to be a little challenging. They were doing some work on the trail (replacing steps) and it had rained a fair amount the night before, so the trail was muddy. We were pretty tired by this time, so took some concentration to make our way down the half completed steps. Near the end of the trail we came across a beautiful little stream and a little waterfall. It was a great way to end an incredible walk. We finished the Crossing in 6.5 hours and were exhausted at the end.














We were picked up by the shuttle and brought to our accomidation at the Park Lodge in the Tongariro National Park. We took a shower and had a bite to eat in the bar before we collapsed in our bed. It was an amazing day!

More adventures on Day 24

We woke up early on day 24 to be the first people in the world to see the sun rise! Gisborne is the furthest east town in NZ and is supposedly the first place in the world to see the sun rise. It was a little cloudy and rainy, but we held out hope that we would see the sun. Well at 7:08 am the sun came and...

we didn't see it.

So our day didn't start out as planned, but we were confident that our next activity would not disappoint us...

and it didn't. We headed to the Rere Rockslide, a 60 meter long smooth sloped rock face in the middle of a river. We got wetsuits and inflatible boogie boards and cruised down the slide. It was faster than expected and incredibly fun. We spent two hours going down the slide and walking back to the top to go down again. At the end we thought of a fun game. We slid down and tried to go through the tube at the bottom. It was a little dangerous, but still a blast. Watch the video below.

After we couldn't walk up the hill any more, we headed over to the "champange pools" in the river. They were deep and you could jump and dive off them, then slide over a little waterfall into a second pool. As you can see we pulled off some "choice" tricks.

Next we headed down to the waterfall for a few photos and a climb behind the falls. It was a pretty spot and neat to walk behind the falls.

We were exhausted by this time and headed back to the backpacker to get cleaned up and pack so we could head back to Rotorua. On the way we ran into a "New Zealand traffic jam." It is not the same as a Minneapolis traffic jam, but can be just as slow!

Once we got cleaned up we loaded the van and headed to Rotorua. We were very tired and tried to sleep, but the roads in NZ are not known for being wide and straight. Most of the time you just hold on so you don't fall out of your seat. We made it back and got some dinner and a beer with the people in our group before heading to bed, exhausted.

days 22 - 23

Day 22 brought new adventures as we headed east from Rotorua towards Maraehako Bay on the East Cape.



















It was a beautiful drive as we headed into an area that was not as touristy.














We stayed at the Maraehako Bay Retreat right on the water.














It was an incredible place to enjoy the ocean and relax a bit. We arrived around 1pm and spent a few hours exploring the place and looking in the tide pools for fun creatures. We found many starfish, sea urchins, crabs, snails and even one abalone (Paua in Maori). There was a lot of sea glass and oyster shells imbedded in the rock along the shore line.



















Andrea helped provide for dinner by collecting a Paua off a rock during low tide. She is a great hunter/gatherer!
















The evening was spent relaxing around the fire and spending time with our friends from around the world.



















On day 23 we left Maraehako Bay to head towards Gisborne, which is the first place in the world to see the sunrise. Along our journey we stopped at a church that was built by the Maori people to commemorate the Maori people who were killed in WWI.














We saw the furthest point East in New Zealand.















Then we went to the longest pier in New Zealand. It was built in 1936 to carry the cargo from the ships, which was mainly supplies to build roads. It was only used for that purpose for 12 years, and is now used more for fishing, swimming and as a tourist attraction.
















The weather was a bit dodgie when we arrived in Gisborne.















When we arrived at our backpacker we got settled in and walked over to the beach. We relaxed for a bit and then had a Hangi for dinner. It is a traditional Maori meal that is cooked in a hole dug in the earth, it was really good.
Once dinner was finished we introduced the people that we were traveling with to S'mores. They don't have graham crackers here, so we had to find some Malt Biscuits as a good second. They were a big hit. Then we watched Whale Rider, a great New Zealand movie, and went to bed in order to get up to watch the sunrise.