N. Island Road Trip Part 2

Wednesday, Feb 24th

Oh, and yesterday I drove! For maybe 30 minutes. Hannah was keen to drive though and I happily let her, but I feel like I could do it. So, we embarked after breakfast bars and the acquiring of an iTrip and headed to Waitomo. After driving for a bit, I suggested we pull over and find a good spot for lunch. And what a spot for lunch we found! A small brook running through NZ countryside surrounded by green hills and blue sky made quite a good spot for Grace-made pb&j sandwiches (which by the way, is not really big here…at all). Eventually we returned to the DARK KNIGHT and continued on our merry way.

Outside of Waitomo we encountered an ostrich farm! We stopped to take pictures, obviously, and Anna and I figured out we could speak Ostrich fluently. The secret is talking in a semi-Jamaican accent and shooting, “Hey ostrich” or “yo ostrich”. After doing so, the said ostrich will walk towards you and become mildy pissed off in which case you snap a quick picture, return to the car, and drive! They are very large and quite ill-tempered.

We pulled into Waitomo and found the glowworm caves! After paying the fee (NZ 40 or so: ps I’m including prices both for my personal reference and in case any of you plan a trip here!), we headed up some stairs to greet our tour guide. She was Maori and had a very calm soothing voice, which paired with the coolness of the caves resulted in a sleepy Johnny. The caves were incredible! And the once we ventured into has even had benefit concerts inside, as it was large enough. At the end of the tour, we climbed into boats and drifted through the total darkness of the caves to the mouth of the cave where the underground river exits. In the last part, they ask us to refrain from speaking as to not disturb the scene. And what a scene! Up above, and reflected in the still water, were tiny bright green lights. It was like looking up into a night sky. Of course, on our boat there was a baby who had been so well behaved until it started crying in the stillness of the caves. Oh well, it was still magical.

Afterwards, we drove, heading south for Lake Taupo (big lake on North Island, see map). I had my Rough Guide out (thanks Aunt Carol) and found a free campsite! It was left in a man’s will to backpackers to stay for free. We pulled in surveyed the grounds and left to find dinner. We found a pub that offered ten-dollar burgers. While eating, we discovered that Wednesday is quiz night. With no entrance fee, nothing stopped team upsidedowners to enter! But a lot of things stopped us from winning, such as the fact we were in real NZ pub competing against local NZs about all things NZ. It was still a lot of fun and very relaxed. We were encouraged to ask the staff and even got one of the staff to just look up the answers from time to time. The prize for winning was an 100 dollar beer tab and they also gave out free beers, $50 tabs, and other prizes. I won a hacky sack for knowing that Michael Jackson started singing at 5, which was the around the same age I started listening to MJ. Our team didn’t loose though, we came in second to last as we totally aced the pop culture section, seeing as most of it’s from the US. Also, an English man, Les, sat in with our team the whole time. He was very helpful and nice.

We headed next door to a karaoke club, also full of locals. We walked in to find Les, and he performed again and again, quite a good singer. The flavor of the place favored older music, so when Hannah, Anna, and I performed Backstreet Boys, it was a bit awkward. It’s amazing how nerve racking singing in public is, but once you break the seal and do it the first time it’s much easier. Anna and I sang a very strange version of I’m Yours by Jason Mraz, which seemed to be more appealing to the crowd. Eventually it was late, so we drove to our camp site and set up camp, which included laying down a tarp! We snuggled into our bags and went off to sleep.

Thursday, Feb 25th

Woke up too early as it was raining!!! We eventually dried off at a McDonald’s where we planned our next move. We gathered some supplies from town and then drove around the lake to National Park where we got some maps in preparation for Friday. We also found some lodgeing that included a shuttle to both ends of our proposed hike for 50+ dollars! But we decided that was really the only way we’d get to do Tongariro crossing, NZ’s best day hike and in the top ten for the world.

We settled in to our hostel and prepared some dinner which consisted of our variety of canned beans, tuna, and some pasta. Afterwards we started getting our packs ready. I had purchased thirty-six ‘up and go’s. We made enough sandwiches for three per person, got water, apples, cookies, and finally felt ready! The hike is 19km and goes between and almost over some volcanoes. We were eager to climb up Mt. Ngauruhoe, or Mt. Doom, which would add about 2km and much much much elevation.

Packed, fed, and ready we climbed into bed.

Friday, Feb 26th

We woke up early in order to catch our 7:00 am bus to the trailhead. We were ready, rested, and excited. Before the driver dropped us of around 7:45 (the bus was late!) he wanted to know who was thinking of doing Mt. Ngauruhoe. We raised our hands and he said good luck in a way that was very nerve-racking.

We hit the trail and started the mild ascent to Soda Springs, a waterfall with some wildflowers. Though it was not very impressive. After which, we started up the devil’s staircase which was most appropriately named. After an hour and a half or so, we finally made it to stopping point, in which we decided to try and climb Mt. Ngauruhoe. Alison, who had tripped and hurt her ankle decided to opt out. Hannah and Grace also opted out once we started climbing up. There’s a very good reason they did so: Mt. Ngauruhoe is composed of scree, which is loose rock. Not to be confused with gravel, this rock was a bit bigger and offered no support. Every step you take, you slide back a bit which makes for frustrating climbing. Jeff and I kept taking the lead and encourages one another, while drinking liters of water and chocolate eating. I was able to cross to some exposed rock and happily scrambled up for a bit. Eventually my lovely and supportive rock ran out, and again it was the loose scree. Finally, the top was in sight (well it sorta was the whole time, as nothing can grow on scree, that’s what ya gets when your climbing a very active volcano). The last leg was, of course, the worst but with then end in sight I scampered on all-fours to the summit at 2,291 m or 7,520 ft; tallest thing I’ve climbed by 2,000 ft! Up at the top, it actually wasn’t too cold and the view was okay, but hindered by cloud cover below. Sadly we realized that Alison had possession of the ring… After a brief break on the summit Jeff and I started our descent, where we encountered Anna. We waited as she summit-ed with the knowledge that we were running late and probably would not make our 4:00pm bus.

Getting down took only 30 mins (as opposed to the almost hour and half ascent). Why? Because the scree makes it so easy to descend if you’re calm enough. There are some rock streams, if you will, that you can slide down. The streams don’t move on their own, but are more ground up scree and it becomes ridiculously easy to slide down and fall! You essentially ski/snowboard/skateboard/surf down the volcano! It’s a lot of fun, but you can go way too fast and risk falling forward versus falling on your bum, which happened a lot. I wish I could explain it better but really, you have to do it for yourself!

Once back at where the split started (no trail up Mt. Ngauruhoe as the scree makes that impossible to mark….) Jeff, Anna, and I continued on the crossing, which we had only done about a third of. We crossed some barren wasteland that was completely flat and very well received. Next, we hiked up a ridge on the shoulder of Mt. Tongariro, the big volcanic structure that Ngauruhoe is actually apart of. One on the ridge, we got a view of everything! We could see for miles each way and also down into the red crater, blown away by a previous eruption. Once we hit the peak of the ridge and made our descent we viewed an old lava flow to the left and the indigo lakes to the right. The color of the lakes was unreal and didn’t really blend in with the barren land. Continuing on our journey we reach blue lake, which was blue, no surprise there. Finally we climbed away from the rain shadow and entered more of grassland like terrain. Here started our lengthy descent as one descends much more than ascends when doing the crossing.

We found a bathroom hut eventually, as there are still no trees and going to the bathroom is a bit weird without trees. It was there that we met up with Grace and Hannah and discovered that they too would miss the shuttle. Our hopeful plan of Hannah taking the shuttle back and driving pack to pick us up was no more. We started hauling our way down quite fast as I thought I heard some people along the way mention a six o’clock bus, though not one that we had paid for or one that would even go our way. The trail wound down through the grasses and hot springs before we descended into a rain forest-like terrain. Large ferns and thick trees provided a cool shade from the sun. We crossed some rivers and finally found our way down to the bottom, very relieved and two hours late. We had a text from Allison so we knew she had made it back, but the keys to our beloved van were with Hannah. The five of us approached a bus driver and he happily agreed to take all of us with him and drop us of close to our hostel where the car was! Overjoyed and exhausted we climbed out of the bus and ran with blister-clad feet to our hostel and found Allison making Kiwi friends. It was a very nice hike, probably the best hike I’ve ever been on.

We decided to drive south in hopes of finding food (and a place that would serve our smelly/dirty state). We came across a small town found some late night Chinese food and then Hannah and I took the front seats in search of a play to sleep. But then we decided just to drive the whole way back to Wellington, which was successful and beautiful with moon-lit waters and hillsides. We pulled in around 2:00 and caught some much needed rest. We were back, we were happy, and all was good!