Like a bat out of hell
Time to go. The sun was shining and the time was right. We drove south to the volcanic mountains of Tongariro. The three big mountains we had driven past without even noticing when we headed down to Wellington were there looming at us as we came into the park. Ngauruhoe (Mt Doom from Lord of Rings) looked menacing as we looked over at it from the top of the ski lift up Mt. Ruapehu. It was an amazingly clear day, we could see almost all the way to the sea. In the distance we could see across the island to Mt. Taranaki. Absolutely breathtaking.
Back in the car we zoomed cross the country, through the windy windy roads of the Forgotten Highway, with steep green hillsides just from the edge of the road. So pretty, so pretty. But after all this good luck we were not surprised that Taranaki had covered itself with clouds. Taranaki has been used a body double for Mt. Fuji (in The Last Samurai for instance), and it seemed to have the same desire to hide itself in clouds. But not to be deterred we went up and had a few walks on the mountain. We walked up to streams and down to waterfalls, never getting the chance to see anything above the trees, so when we popped out to the car we were aghast to see an absolutely clear view. We got to see the whole thing, top to bottom. It is such a great sight. It is the only mountain around and looks so impressive. Happy and content we settled into our hostel in New Plymouth.
Rush, rush, rush. No time for hanging about. None of this "enjoying yourself" rubbish. We drove north, on a mission to get as far as possible but managed to sneak in a Waitomo glowworm cave tour. The caves were huge so instead of walking we took a boat through few little caves with ceilings covered with glowworms. It was like we were looking at the night sky covered with stars. Quite surreal. We ended up in Orewa, a little holiday town just above Auckland. But again, no time for resting, so we were up again in the morning and heading up to the massive Kauri forests and the historic location of the gumdiggers up in Northlands. These trees are absolutely unbelievable. We can't even remember the stats, but it takes something like seven people to span round one of these trees. The big ones are seriously 2000 years old. Amazing.
We also learnt about the Dalmatians and people from the countries which would become Yugoslavia who came over here to dig up 40,000 year old resin from the Kauri trees (gum). One of the towns even welcomes you with the Serbo-Croat "Dobro Dosli"!
Next day, and the the mission was to the top of the country, to Cape Reigna, where the Tasman sea and the Pacific ocean meet. You get to see waves from each of these crashing into each other! On the way there we stopped and the giant sand dunes at the top of of Ninety-mile beach. Like we were in desert, we wandered barefoot across these massive dunes, and watched people sledging down them. We then thought it would be a good idea to walk all the way to the beach seeing as we couldn't drive there.
Ninety-mile beach is technically classified as a road, and so buses and anyone else who fancies, can drive down it, ensuring that they don't slow down too much or else there is a chance the car will sink down into the soft sand. Unfortunately the spoil-sports at the rental company don't insure you if you drive on it. I guess they must have had their fingers burnt before :) Anyways at the north of the road, just by the sand dunes, you have to drive up this shallow stream to get back to the real road. So it was down this stream we wandered, dodging the splashes of the cars and campervans which sped past trying not to sink. We get to the beach only to be greeted by a torrential downpour. 40 minutes back and another torrential downpour later we were absolutely soaked to the skin.
The rain stopped a little to give us a brief look at the cape itself when we got there which was nice of it, but then it didn't really stop the rest of the day. We drove down to the the cute little town of Russell in the Bay of Islands, to a cute little backpackers with 2 rooms (our double and a 2 bed dorm) through the rain, not really getting the chance to see anything. So, imagine our surprise when we woke up to the view over the bay in the beautiful sunshine of the next morning. Ahh, it makes your heart ache how lovely this spot was.
Not having the time to take any of the relaxing trips around the bay, we took the high speed jet boat round the islands. Lots of adrenaline and fun! The sun was shining, the waves were 3m high and we were in a very fast boat - what more can a person want. We got to see lots of the bay, including the submerged sand bank they play one day cricket on when the tides are right. Then it was straight back on the road back to Papamoa. 7 hours later we arrived, tired and weary, but happy. And we have stayed there since. A couple of days to sort ourselves out before friday's flight to Lima.
We are sad to say goodbye to our dear friends. Our NZ experience was amazing and everyone being so welcoming and warm made us feel we have found our home from home. But we have warned them that they don't get rid of us that easily. We will be back ... oh yes ... we will be back.
Back in the car we zoomed cross the country, through the windy windy roads of the Forgotten Highway, with steep green hillsides just from the edge of the road. So pretty, so pretty. But after all this good luck we were not surprised that Taranaki had covered itself with clouds. Taranaki has been used a body double for Mt. Fuji (in The Last Samurai for instance), and it seemed to have the same desire to hide itself in clouds. But not to be deterred we went up and had a few walks on the mountain. We walked up to streams and down to waterfalls, never getting the chance to see anything above the trees, so when we popped out to the car we were aghast to see an absolutely clear view. We got to see the whole thing, top to bottom. It is such a great sight. It is the only mountain around and looks so impressive. Happy and content we settled into our hostel in New Plymouth.
Rush, rush, rush. No time for hanging about. None of this "enjoying yourself" rubbish. We drove north, on a mission to get as far as possible but managed to sneak in a Waitomo glowworm cave tour. The caves were huge so instead of walking we took a boat through few little caves with ceilings covered with glowworms. It was like we were looking at the night sky covered with stars. Quite surreal. We ended up in Orewa, a little holiday town just above Auckland. But again, no time for resting, so we were up again in the morning and heading up to the massive Kauri forests and the historic location of the gumdiggers up in Northlands. These trees are absolutely unbelievable. We can't even remember the stats, but it takes something like seven people to span round one of these trees. The big ones are seriously 2000 years old. Amazing.
We also learnt about the Dalmatians and people from the countries which would become Yugoslavia who came over here to dig up 40,000 year old resin from the Kauri trees (gum). One of the towns even welcomes you with the Serbo-Croat "Dobro Dosli"!
Next day, and the the mission was to the top of the country, to Cape Reigna, where the Tasman sea and the Pacific ocean meet. You get to see waves from each of these crashing into each other! On the way there we stopped and the giant sand dunes at the top of of Ninety-mile beach. Like we were in desert, we wandered barefoot across these massive dunes, and watched people sledging down them. We then thought it would be a good idea to walk all the way to the beach seeing as we couldn't drive there.
Ninety-mile beach is technically classified as a road, and so buses and anyone else who fancies, can drive down it, ensuring that they don't slow down too much or else there is a chance the car will sink down into the soft sand. Unfortunately the spoil-sports at the rental company don't insure you if you drive on it. I guess they must have had their fingers burnt before :) Anyways at the north of the road, just by the sand dunes, you have to drive up this shallow stream to get back to the real road. So it was down this stream we wandered, dodging the splashes of the cars and campervans which sped past trying not to sink. We get to the beach only to be greeted by a torrential downpour. 40 minutes back and another torrential downpour later we were absolutely soaked to the skin.
The rain stopped a little to give us a brief look at the cape itself when we got there which was nice of it, but then it didn't really stop the rest of the day. We drove down to the the cute little town of Russell in the Bay of Islands, to a cute little backpackers with 2 rooms (our double and a 2 bed dorm) through the rain, not really getting the chance to see anything. So, imagine our surprise when we woke up to the view over the bay in the beautiful sunshine of the next morning. Ahh, it makes your heart ache how lovely this spot was.
Not having the time to take any of the relaxing trips around the bay, we took the high speed jet boat round the islands. Lots of adrenaline and fun! The sun was shining, the waves were 3m high and we were in a very fast boat - what more can a person want. We got to see lots of the bay, including the submerged sand bank they play one day cricket on when the tides are right. Then it was straight back on the road back to Papamoa. 7 hours later we arrived, tired and weary, but happy. And we have stayed there since. A couple of days to sort ourselves out before friday's flight to Lima.
We are sad to say goodbye to our dear friends. Our NZ experience was amazing and everyone being so welcoming and warm made us feel we have found our home from home. But we have warned them that they don't get rid of us that easily. We will be back ... oh yes ... we will be back.
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