We met up with our 9 tour mates and 2 guides in Auckland and circled clockwise through the North Island We covered Rockaway Beach, Mount Maunganui, Rotorua, Lakes Okatina, Lake Tarawera, Whakarewarewa Forest, Huka Falls, Turangi, Lake Taupo (the world's biggest volcano lake), Tongariro National Park , Waitomo Caves and back to Auckland in 5 days. The names are Maori and roll off the tongues of New Zealanders – personally, I have difficulty with all of them.
The north island is the location to many scenes in the Lord of the Rings movie. It sits on volcanoes and there is tons of geothermal activity going on under the earth's surface (YIKES!!!) In some places it looks almost surreal with hot spots of steam, bubbling pools of water and rolling mud coming out of the earth (YIKES!) It is a bit unnerving at times – but home to many spas and beauty care products so it must be safe. In other places it looks like a lunar landscape - the after effects of erupting volcanoes. (YIKES again!) But mostly it is very green and lush, with fertile farms, cows, TALL trees, rolling hills, mountains with snow tops and home to many kiwi fruit orchards (they look like grape vines). Oh yah, and there are TONS of sheep.
We were on an Active New Zealand tour and Grant (pronounced in New Zealand as Grauuuunt – to rhyme with Auuuunt) certainly kept us moving and active. Our hike on the second day was 21km (13 miles) at Lake Okataina. The Brits and Americans on our trip expected it to be “undulating” - obviously underestimating the stamina of New Zealanders.
Three highlights of our trip around the North Island:
FIRST: Tongariro National Park is New Zealand's oldest park and is the 4th oldest national park in the world! It was a gift from the Maori people to the country – a very clever way to ensure the land remains natural forever. There are three massive volcanoes in the Park – one of which was Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings.
We “tramped” (New Zealand Speak for “hiked”) the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. The trail is 19 km (11 miles) and over the first 9 km (4 miles) we had an elevation gain of 2,000 feet. For those of you not into hiking, suffice it to say, that is a very steep climb. The mid plateau was like a windswept lunar landscape with flat black lava plains. When we crested the top peak we looked down on 3 small turquoise alpine lakes – perfect for lunch.
Seven hours later we were back at our bus, to be greeted by Grauunt with a cold adult beverage by a lake. This was followed by a welcome soak in the bubbling thermal waters in Turangi.
SECOND: We mountain biked Whakarewarewa Forest (I am not making these names up, honest!) It is home to huge trees, including transplanted California red woods, and “undulating” hills.
I tackled the Level 2 trails but John was in his glory and took off with another guide that took 3 more adventurous souls on Level 5 trails (or so they say. Note: that there are not many pictures of their adventure....) Apparently John had a silly grin on his face the whole time. I was quite happy on my trails, especially because I did not have any close encounters with the nature around me.
THIRD: I had never heard of “black water rafting”. The pictures and brochures showed people having a ton of fun. So I figured it must be a good time.
Ha!!! Let me define “highlight” - it does not mean I enjoyed it, it just means it was “memorable”. It also means I can “tick off the box” - not that I ever had the “black water rafting” box on my bucket list before!
“Black water rafting” means putting on a cold and wet 5mm wet suit, booties under rubber boots, strapping on helmets with flashlights, sitting on rubber tubes, descending into caves and jumping over water falls into pools of water at 14C (about 55F) in the dark. YIKES! I do not like being cold, the dark, cold water and am mildly claustrophobic – so this was pretty much my worst nightmare all in one package!
Now that I have completed it and am out of both the cave and wet suit – you know, it was kind of fun. (YIKES!) When we turned off our headlamps it was total darkness except for the glow worms on the ceiling. (Why any creature would choose to live their life in those conditions is beyond me, but why our guides would choose to do this 3 or 4 times a day is ALSO beyond me!) We floated with the lights out and looked up at the glow worms and it was like a beautiful starry night. Later we turned the headlamps on and maneuvered through the tunnels and it reminded me of a moonlit night through a canyon with stars over head. Now that I am out I can say it really was very pretty. Although, it would have been much nicer had we gone through caves with thermal water instead of frigid water!
Both John and I were sad to leave our tour of the North Island after 5 days. We saw beautiful countryside, had interesting adventures and had a lot of fun with our Kiwi guide Graaaauuuunt, who loved to laugh and joke and tease us Canadians, fellow members of the Commonwealth, and former residents of Australia.
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