Tearing up Whakarewarewa!

Well its been a little while since we blogged. OK a long while. Sorry everyone! It turns out that routine creeps in even when you are in the most beautiful country in the world and we seem to have been focusing rather too much on work and a little bit of beer drinking with friends, and our tiki touring has fallen by the way side. You'll be pleased to hear though that whilst it is June out here (read December for season if you're used to the Northern hemisphere) we have been fitting in some weekend fun, including an absolutely fantastic four day weekend (coinciding with the Queen's official birthday bank holiday) down in Rotorua and the forest park of Whakarewarewa!

Our lovely campsite for the weekend

We have been before (one of our first NZ blogs) but this time was completely different. For a start we had Carrie, which meant we could stay in a beautiful campsite a few kilometres from town, beside a stream which runs through to Lake Rotorua. Soon after arriving we jumped in the deserted campsite's kayaks and enjoyed the sunshine down to the lake.

Sunshiney kayaking

It soon became obvious that this would be an outdoors weekend like no other when Matt discovered that he could hire a fly fishing rod from the campsite owner for a mere $5 for our entire stay. I say an outdoors weekend like no other because despite being in what may be the country with the most recreational fishers in the world, we haven't yet tried it.

You'll all be shocked to discover that we didn't catch anything. To be honest its a miracle that we actually got the line in the river (thanks go to the little boy also staying at the campsite who had a bit more experience than us and showed Matt the ropes). Fun and strangely satisfying (I'm not sure what we would have done with a fish if we had caught one to be honest!)

Matt trying his luck

I took a more energetic approach!

After a relaxing afternoon we awoke the next morning raring to go for two days of mountain biking in Whakarewarewa Forest. Mountain biking was the main purpose of the trip (even though I have never mountain biked previously) and we were both pretty excited (Matt because he was looking forward to the excitement, me because I didn't know what I was letting myself in for). We hired our bikes and got set up in a slightly revised version of our road biking kit (read exactly the same but with proper shorts on over our cycling shorts and no clipped shoes).

Radical

Soon enough we were off into the forest's 100km of trails, ranging from beginner to 'extreme'. I turned down Matt's offer of giving the kid's trail a go and instead got straight onto a steep, narrow and pretty scary trail. Oh dear - we had just booked the bikes for two days and this was pretty intense. All was well though once Matt stopped racing ahead and explained the subtleties of handling the bike (some slight differences from my road bike)... I soon got into it and we spent all day exploring the trails.

It doesn't look scary...

... and OK this trail wasn't really!

This was actually scary -
the photo does not this justice - honestly!

Matt doing his thing

A quick lunch in the van

Back out on the main track to the trails

Trying to catch an air shot,
massive fail from the photographer....

Back to the campsite for a few beers, dinner, some table tennis and telly and we were refreshed ready for our second day.

Free rubbishy magazines to read - yes please,
must catch up with my Aussie/Kiwi gossip...

Of course we had overdone it a bit the day before so I was pretty pooped - we separated for most of the morning so whilst Matt went off to explore the grade 4s and 5s I stuck with the 3s. We both loved it though and definitely got a taste of the other side when it comes to cycling!

The highlight of the day was getting off the bikes, and into the Polynesian hot pools. Rotorua has definitely got it just right having arguably the best mountain bike trails in NZ just a few kilometres down the road from arguably the best spas. We soaked for ages - the muscles loved it and we enjoyed people watching and admiring the sunset. A rather large dinner later (I think the kitchen assumed that whoever ordered the steak sandwich was a bloke and needed extra chips!) and we were ready for bed.

Excited by the size of my dinner

Disappinted by my ability
to eat even half of the dinner.

Luckily the rain only joined us for our last morning so we had a fantastic few hours exploring the Rotorua Museum in the old bath-houses before lunch and heading home. A fantastic weekend - great to get away from work and remind ourselves why we came here in the first place!

ANZAC Day Weekend

ANZAC Day (the NZ equivalent of Remembrance Day) fell on a Thursday this year so taking the Friday as time off in lieu from work made for a proper long weekend. We set off (VERY) early on Thursday morning to a part of the North Island we hadn't yet explored - Taranaki. On the West Coast, Taranaki's motto is 'like no other' - which we thought was kind of apt. Stunning surf beaches, with the backdrop of Mount Taranaki makes it a beautiful little part of NZ.

We had two nights at a beach side campsite in New Plymouth, attending an ANZAC Day service on the Thursday as well as visiting some of New Plymouth's beautiful parks, and the really brilliant museum (perfectly timed for the showery weather).

War Memorial on Anzac Day

First torii gate we've seen in a while -
a gift of New Plymouth's sister city Mishima

On the Friday we did a fantastic hike around Egmont National Park - getting a good way up the central volcano - Mount Taranaki (we decided to listen to the Department of Conservation Ranger who 'strongly' advised us not to try for the top given the conditions!)

Hazy views

The clouds did finally clear

And we got to see the top!

After an epic BBQ and an even more epic night's sleep in the van we spent the morning running the 10km coastal path before packing up for the next part of the adventure...

Prepping for the bbq (aided by a drop of red)

A sunset walk

Hot coals

Flicking through the Lonely Planet we stumbled across a mention of the Forgotten World Highway - a road linking Stratford to Taumaranui. The LP described the road as 'winding through hilly bush country' with a stepped back in time feel - it turned out to be one of the highlights of our time in NZ so far. The road was beautifully isolated, with several historical sites en route giving a feeling of the pioneer days when the road and railway were built and the first settlers started to farm the hilly land.

We had a quick stop halfway at Whangamomona - a self proclaimed republic (they declared independence in the 80s when a Council re-organisation split the district down the middle) - enjoying a pint with a combination of the locals and several scary looking leather clad bikers.

Matt wanted to get his passport stamped

We decided to stay for the night in a campsite just beyond Whangamomona - perched on a hill the campsite has the best views of anywhere we've stayed so far.

360 degree views - just like this!

We shared the small site with a German family of mum, dad and two daughters aged three and five. They were on a cycling holiday and were carrying everything between the two of them - the picture below gives you an idea of how ambitious this is!

A little laden - but they were happy!

Luxurious camping accommodation in comparison

What a spot!

Fantastic sunset again

The next morning we opened up the back door of the van and were treated to a completely new view - the clouds rolling in were stunning.

Above the clouds

Pylons popping up into the distance

We left reluctantly to carry on the forgotten highway and before too long back in Auckland.

Amazing road tunnel carved through the hill

Autumn colours (and Carrie the Van)

Tawharanui

One of the best things about living in Auckland is the Regional Park network (thank you Auckland Council!) We are the proud owners of camping passes which means we can stay for free in all those parks with campsites - including Tawharanui, a stunning peninsula in the North of the region. Tawharanui is a pest free reserve with Jurassic park style gates to keep the nasty mammals (dogs, rabbits, possums etc) out, allowing the bird life to flourish. 

In the dying days of summer, what better way to spend a weekend than parking up, settling down, trail running, sunset watching and reading. Lovely!

The Quickest Year of Our Lives

Wow - time is flying by... Sorry for being so rubbish at keeping this blog up to date lately. Summer is now coming to a close, the nights are getting dark and the mornings cold. They're also selling poppies for the upcoming ANZAC (Remembrance) Day and Sarah keeps experiencing waves of Christmassy feelings. Surely it's Christmas in a month or so right?!

It's been just over a year since we waved goodbye to you at our wedding/limbo championships - and what a quick year it's been. To celebrate our first wedding anniversary Sarah and I took advantage of the last long weekend of the Summer (Easter!) to head down to a little place to the South of Taupo, called Turangi. Turangi is the springboard into the volcanic mountains at the centre of the North Island, a mountain range which has a celebrity - Lord of the Rings' very own.. Mt Doom (Ngauruhoe to use it's official Maori name). The Lonely Planet, which is always full of superlatives, calls The Tongariro Alpine Crossing through this range to be one of the best day walks in the world. Who can turn that down as an opportunity?

Day packs loaded, minibus transport booked to and from the trail ends, and up and off at about 6am while it was still dark, with the hundreds of other walkers...

Getting to the trailhead, we powerwalked the first mile to get ahead of the crowds - well worth it! With a hilly 25km ahead, and a minibus picking us up at 4pm it was time to get a wiggle on anyway...

Heading up into the volcanoes

Sunrise

Before a sharp climb to the first false ridge, and rewarded with a spectacular view of the low lying cloud in the valleys and plateaus we left behind

A sea of clouds

But, onwards and upwards to the base of Mt Doom. Cue lots of (extremely funny) sexual innuendos about Sam and Frodo...

Precious, my precious!

A pretty confusing view

The landscape was ever changing - following bubbling streams, crossing lava fields, scrambling up dusty climbs and then these beautifully flat plateaus. Here's Mt Doom in the background - no time to climb it today unfortunately!

Epic.

And then the big scramble to the lookout over the volcanic lakes, the busy turnaround point for people on the circular daywalk. Luckily for us we were on the crossing walk - so after sharing the path with hundreds, we then saw only a handful of people for the rest of the day!

Hard work coming down...

From being a pretty cool walk, it suddenly stepped up a gear with the volcanic lakes and craters coming into view.

Decided not to swim in it. Clever.

But just to remind you why the scenery is so spectacular (and smelly), there were some pretty scary signs. Sarah was very impressed when I stopped to take a photo. All in the name of a good blog, people...

Noted. 

From the ridiculous, to the sublime...

Pretty special

With the crowds left behind, the scenery was ours to enjoy on our own...

What we think was a valley filled with lava...

Before heading, down and round, down and round...

Still epic.

Heading between massive rocks that had been ejected from the nearby volcanoes. Cover your head...

MR FRODO! Where are you?!

There you are...

A long day, the sun's starting to get lower and lower behind us...

Snow! Snow! Best come back in the winter to do some skiing...

Our last view of the picture perfect Ngauruhoe

Al Lovell - Earth Walker returns!

All in all, a fantastic day. Topped off with some good kiwi hospitality at the minibus... a chilly bin filled with ice and free beer! Nothing better.

Perhaps not the most romantic/traditional way to spend Easter/our wedding anniversary, so we headed North to Taupo to scout cycle half the Ironman course. As you do. It was flat, boring, windy and lonely! Still, the day got better with a visit to an English pub and a good old pint of Pride...

As Caleb would say: Appy.

And watched the sunset over the lake

The site of the Ironman swim!

And on to the next pub for dinner - Sarah didn't have all of this to herself. Honest!

Deep fried everything.

And on to our last night of the long weekend, staying at some hot springs in the middle of nowhere... For some resting and relaxing in hot pools! Another great weekend away - with winter looming and no Christmas to look forward to... Oh!

Hot stuff!