Holding Pattern at Franz Josef

It's a great drive out to Glacier country, but overnight and the next there's greater than usual rainfall causing power outages and road closures in the nearby town that supports the Fox Glacier. I decide that this is not to be passed up and bunker down at Franz Josef (about 4km from the actual glacier terminal), a town with only two streets with only accomodation and pubs in it. I check in at Chateau Franz which is just the right place with all the right facilities for a wet and cold town like this one. Spa and a wood fired heated room for drying clothes turns out to be great value for $20/night.

There's not a whole lot else to do around this town if the weather isn't optimal for glacier climbing, so despite the rain, I walk across the bridge over to the road leading up to the glacier and Charlie (from YHA Nelson) and Tyler spot me walking along the road that's having repairs due to the flooding and we venture off to hike up to the glacier terminal. No difficult task, although the authorities probably thought it was, as it was sign posted off as closed to the public. It didn't look like there was any real great reason for not venturing on, so onward we go. It turns out there's nothing real dangerous here except that you have to wade through several streams to get up there. Getting a bit closer, it becomes obvious how high the river coming out of the glacier was overnight with the iceblocks that would've been several tonne having floated to this point here.

As we get close up, a chunk of ice breaks off the front of the glacier with a boom and starts floating on down the river, leaving little doubt how the last one got there.
To give you some idea of scale, the chopper pilot says he could fit the chopper in the opening of the glacier (where the river is running out from) and if you click on the picture of the glacier next to the one I'm standing beside (the one where I'm looking like a drowned rat) you can get a further reference of scale.

Sunshine Capital - just not today

Back over Cook Strait by the ferry to meet the bus doing the south island circuit. We drive through winding mountains for an hour or two and head into one of the larger north island towns of Nelson. Although this is the sunshine capital of NZ, there’s a whole bunch of bad weather all over NZ on its way, and so we don’t get to see much of this town other than during our arrival there.

First night in here, most of us check into Paradiso – a well run place that has the right layout for a comfortable stay. Along with free soup, noodles and breakfast it wasn’t difficult to see how this place has a reputation for being awarded “best backpacker”.

Many of us have organised to go and visit the Abel Tasman National Park. Most of us go north via a boat cruise and spend the day walking through the forest which runs down the coast. We’re quite lucky with the weather. Although not great light for Kodak moments, it was mostly sunny and quite ideal conditions for the 20km walk. Those who did the kayaking had perfectly still wind conditions making paddling easy.

The local YHA also gets a good report and so I also stay a few nights here. Although everything is top quality it has a sterile feel to it that makes you feel like you’re visiting a hospital. Not that that matters a great deal as backpackers aren’t intended to hang out at, and I book myself onto the local wine tour seeing as the weather isn’t looking good enough to get a parasail in. Initially the wine tour is booked out by a 16 member group booking from Denmark that happens to be staying at the same hostel. Fortunately one aborts, so I’m in at the last moment. Marion, our expert wine connoisseur takes us out and gives us more than a tour of the local boutique wineries. She’s got several of them with an assortment of foods to suit each and every wine tasting, demonstrating the effects of very specific foods when drinking different wines. While I’ve seen this effect on a broad scale, we all got a real education on this effect.

Back on the bus again to head over to Greymouth for a stopover before heading on over to the glacier area. We travel West South West via Murchison, Punakaiki and the Buller Gorge. I’ve seen some amazing scenery while travelling on this bus, but this has topped the lot. I later read in the magic bible that this winding road that skirts endlessly around sheer drops into gorges often with sections of road that have slipped down to the river below is also listed in Lonely Planets “Top ten drives in the world”.

We drop one off at Te Nikau Retreat. It seems this is the place to stay and if I wander back through this area again a tramp through this country side, this would be a must do.

Express back to Wellington

Back through Auckland which seems to have a way of being overcast for me. Didn't venture far here, so checked out some mindlass action movie.. Transporter 3.

Early next day, Glen and his trusty bus "Denis" take us south back through some already covered ground for some of us, but most onboard are newbies who have just landed in Auckland (near full bus). Back through to Rotorua and Phil, Julie and myself stay at Base Hot Rocks. Just about everyone else stays at Kiwi Packer and Crash Palace, but the $20 overnight was too good to refuse for a Base site. Turns out to be good value, even if was a bit mildewy, however it seems the budget rooms were for the unrenovated ones which we scored. We're not concerned, and wander next door via some food shopping to check out the Lava bar's value offer (Julie later gets our appetite going with her cooking - this was good value too). With heaps of 2 4 1 drinks at already good pricing, we got some predinner drinks in before disovering tonight is a Toga party. Julie gets on to the task and turns the dorm bed sheet (with some help from google on how to make this look the part), some rope from their makeshift clothesline, Julie's sandals, and a wreath made from the bush outfront the bar, and gets me into what turns out to be best dressed (greeted with all hail Ceaser). We go on to score a $100 bar tab with some fine print, but hey, it was still a good deal. Phil, when you read this let me know when you've got the photos to upload here! Thanks to Gemma for the photos.

Early next morning, the bus has thinned out to about 10 people, with most staying on for the local activities in Rotorua. The wind and the late rain seemed to have made the sulfur smell less noticable, so maybe this was good for those who stayed on.

We (Jasmin from South Korea and Matthias from Germany) check out Wai-o-Tapo thermal park on the way back to Taupo for a few hours.

As always, it seems the natural wonders have a lower price ticket and is the stuff to check out. A constant reminder on how thin the earth's surface is at this point and in this area over to Tongariro where the last eruption was in 1995 and Taupo itself just down the road blew up and is described as the largest eruption in human history.



We cruise back from this point via a different route back to Wellington via the highway that runs past Tongariro for a different view of the volcanoes here we climbed last week, although this time they both have snow on them.


From here the last 6 of us are staying in Wellington before heading back over to the south island for where we expect things to get seriously colder...

Tane Mahuta

... or also known as "Lord of the Forest". Home to some of the oldest trees on the planet and also the first settling of the Maori's in NZ. This particular one is estimated to be somewhere between 1200 and 2000 years old. It has a big brother (Te Matua Ngahere) in some regards not far away which we went and saw during the night for extra special effect along with our tour guide who held a poetic license for the Maori's traditions surrounding these trees. Without license I think it was 2000-3000, with I think it was around 4000-5000.

The next morning some of us ventured off for a day at Jim and Charlotte's where Jim showed us how to do bone carving. If you're going to do it, this is the place. None of the get 'em in and out, this is a day of take your time along every step of the process and whenever you need an expert opinion on the next step, Jim is right there to make sure that what you've just conjured up in your imagination appears in a three dimensional bit of bone. A special thanks too for Charlotte's lunch and nibblies all day long, and to Murray the bus driver for the tip on where to go.

After another comfy night out at the Globetrekkers, I got on the bus here for Auckland. If I'd studied the timetable a bit better I would've realised I should have stayed there another night and checked out some of the forest walks, as there isn't another bus out of Auckland until Monday to head back towards the South Island.

A view overlooking the town of Oponini, where you need to bring some cash... no ATMs
Interestingly Orca's play around in this harbour too, although apparently they leave the humans alone.

Back to Auckland we go and its Mike's (the bus driver) idea to have a quiz on the way back to help pass the time as it gets a bit unusually drab for NZ for a while. Most of us initially opt out, but everyone it seems chips in a with a question because there were 19 of us and we had 29 questions and the questions gathered some interest and the momentum increased. It seemed a team effort was the go, and Ogi (a more experienced traveller who has the traveling thing a bit more sorted having home in three different countries) and I came in first to scoop the price. Unfortunately, while Mike was in getting the ice cream, Ogi ventured off before claiming the spoils, so guess who got that one.

Bay of Islands

After a couple of comfy nights out at Lantana, four of us await out the front for a taxi to take us into town to meet up with the bus, but unfortunately due to some type of mess up on many levels, no taxi and no bus. We each made several calls into Magic, who seemed to be on top of the situation, but nevertheless after an hour onward North we go for some pleasant driving via Whangarei (said Fangarei.. and I'd love someone to explain to me where the "F" sound comes from that, as it is with all towns here that start with "Wh". I asked a few locals, including some Maori's who of course reminded me that they didn't have a written language so the translation appears to be entirely of english/european origin).

We arrive at the spectacular location of Paihia (a base area for the Bay of Islands) and many of us settle in at what turns out to be one of the best value places you could stay anywhere in NZ. Not only were the surrounds great, but the backpacker was five star in every respect. This one was quite new, beautifully designed, great beds (I mananged to get a double), and even a spa that seemed to have the heat turned up too high, but hey, there's a swimming pool right there if you need to cool down. NZ$22/night with no hidden extras and no memberships reqd.
Some crab seats carved out of a tree trunk.

We don't hang about for two long. Etienne, Christian and myself walk a bit further north to the location of the Waitangi Treaty grounds. We opt out for actually going in (most of this stuff was at the Te Papa museum anyway, and it cost $20 just to walk in there - non NZers only, plus anther $20 for the tour). So smelling that meant it was a bit touristy onward we went on to walk around to Haruru Falls. Nice enough walk to kill off the afternoon, but nothing to write about, so much so that we walked back via the highway.

The next day seemed like a good possibility for scoping out more of the surrounds but in the end, a quiet day at the Bay Adventurer and surrounds was the best value. Speaking of value.. make sure you're friendly with the checkout chicks at Woolworths, because they'll hit another button only the locals get there, which worked out to be about 7% off.

Come Wednesday, we've booked onto "On The Edge". A super sleek cataraman to sail around the islands nearby. We set sail just after 9:30am with initially near no wind, but true to the forecast it had kicked in by about 10am to take us out to some of the outer lying islands (there was a quiz on this, but we all failed.. I think it was "Waewaetorea" - see top right corner of map below). It was easy to get lost around here without SatNav and of course our skipper Dave had one of these at the helm, but I think he knew his way around here pretty good anyway. On our way into anchoring around "whywhy" we were escorted in by a bunch of playful dolphins. Fotunately, the sun was out, the water was a beautiful torquise and this was a quite a sight to see especially with the hull design as the dolphins were in and under and around all over the place.

While we're being entertained by the dolphins, one of the crew is busy down the back on the BBQ preparing us a meal for when we anchor in the bay. We all get ourselves a feed and then some of us take the tender, some kayak, and some (me) swim in to shore. We spend a few hours here doing all sorts of stuff, from kayakng, snorkelling and tramping around the island, to even taking the tender out for a spin to do some biscuiting (or donuting. or tyre tube riding etc). "Your mission Dave, is to get me to fall off". The jury is still out I hear.



We set sail again for home, this time Dave uses the motors to wind up the mainsail (rather than five of us passengers raising a sweat to raise it.. we got tricked on the way out that we had to do the ropes by hand - which was our first clue that our skipper was a quite a funny fella, with first class comedic commentary from beginning to end.

All in all, a fantastic well rounded day out. A great boat, a great place and a great crew. Thanks to Gavin, Brendan and Dave for a great day out.

Later on we party on up the road at one of the watering holes - lured in by several rounds of cheap drinks. It was great value no matter how you did your sums.

Glow worms, onto Auckland

After quite a long driving day that wasn't expected by most of us, we ventured through more nice towns such as Tairua and Pauanui all the time winding our way through forested gorges before ending up at the limestone caves where the glow worms "hang out" (they could of been LED's stuck the cave ceiling for all I knew!). Being easter these areas were full of traffic going in the opposite direction to us which was just fine for us.

As the day drew to a close we had to pick up another bus as we entered Auckland, only to find out that we had to pick up the previous one again because something was wobbling in the steering. We got into Auckland, which seemed much like any other city on Good Friday - quiet.

I wandered into the Queen Street Backpackers right in the centre of of town, and although quite nice, I ventured off to an inner city leafy suburb known as Parnell this morning to a converted house now used as a backpacker. Here for two nights before heading to the Bay of Islands.



Sunday, its out an about to check the basics around town. Weather overcast but good for a long walk out via the "coast to coast" walk.
Headed from the backpackers here in Parnell, and headed south to One Tree Hill (one of the 50 or so volcano mount/craters in the city area). Easy walk out there and then once you've got to this one you can see some of the others from this vantage point. Then on over to Mt Eden of similar height although a better view of the city area. And those white spots are sheep! They are everywhere - even on all the touristy bits.

Continuing on for a walk back via the "Auckland Domain" area before walking back through the city to pick up a free bus which took me around the wharf to catch a ferry across to Devonport. Climb another similar peak there and head back to base.

Mercury Bay

For this journey up through the Coromandel Peninsular I had to change buses onto a cosier one with about 6 new travelers and our new driver Murray. Only minutes into the journey we had to backtrack and find an alternate route due to a major accident completely blocking the road.


We ventured up the west side of the peninsular before cutting across to the east side via Coroglen on a single lane unsealed road that wound through the forest there at about 20km/hr, not due to any traffic, but just slow conditions, which was great as it was the closest you could come to walking this great area.

Our next stop was the Hot Water Beach, a pituresque beach in a quaint town that has the perfect natural addition to any beach - a hot spring right on the sandy shore of the beach. All you need to do is dig out a little bit of sand right by the waters edge and you've got a hot bath to warm up in.


From here we went to check out more of the coast line along this area with an interesting one hour walk along the green coastline which led down to Cathedral Cove.





Cathedral Cove



And if all that wasn't good enough we then drove off to Whitianga where we stayed at various places around this well to do little town. We all went to the local bar there to take advantage of the cheap meal night which was hard to beat. Chicken, Beef or Fish Burger with chips with your choice of wine or "handle" of beer for $8. Almost all of us grabbed this deal before venturing off to the Lost Spring where the owner (Alan) has spent 21 years drilling down about 800m to reach the naturally heated spring that supplies their garden of eden styled pools there with hot water. A place to visit on it's own just to see the grounds. Our night there with bar service by the pools was just perfect as it was otherwise a clear sky in very cold oonditions.

Magnificent Mt Maunganui

Rotorua was a one night stay for sure. Nice accomodation, and nice town, with lots of free heating, but the smell wasn't for me. Glad to move further north to a paradise area in the Tauranga area known as Mt Maunganui. Postcard perfect town with one or two streets of activity. We arrived late in the day there, but with enough time to form a group of three and venture 1 or 2 kilometers into the town.

Jane was looking to do some night kayaking, but the weather wasn't in favour, and Miriam was looking to find the naturally heated spring pool at the base of Mt Maunganui to relax. Once we checked out both, and getting the advice from the pool attendant, we all climbed the mount just as the rain was clearing. The Mount is a spectacular climb busy with the locals using it as the fitness run for the day.



After that little work out and now dark, we walked the local strip and picked out "The Taste of Thai". We sat outside in the perfect weather conditions and sampled some great meals and a great bottle of Pinot Gris from the Marlborough area(after doing some wine tasting from their selection) along with some spectacular service from the family run business.



The girls were heading out of the country so they took the express route to Auckland, while I stayed another day here as I"ll be taking the long route around to the Mercury bay area.

Smelly smelly smelly

We catch the bus again just for a short journey north to Rotorua (two lakes). As you enter the town there is the stong odour of sulfur dioxide. As the driver reminds us, you get more used to the smell, but depending on where you are in the town, it seems you never would as near the areas where the geothermal activity was particularly close to the surfuce the smell was too strong.



Our backpackers was right next to a strip of geothermal lakes and bubbling mud which was in turn in the centre of town.



More steaming lakes along a strip near the hostel



On the other side of town about 1km away was the sulfur lake where you could see the part of the Rotorua lake that was constantly steaming away.

Tongariro Crossing

After some quiet days, we arrive up at Taupo where many of the riders are keen to get onto some serious adventure activities. I stay at the very comfortable Tiki Lodge which has a dining area that looks out across Lake Taupo. Very cold here, but perfect conditions for everything including those going skydiving, but cosy with all the mod cons. Manage to locate a free wireless intenet with a little bit of effort, which was convenient as I had a fair bit of work to get cleared before heading off tomorrow on the Tongariro crossing.



We catch a shuttle bus before dawn out to the area, where they drop us off to go for the hike. I almost skipped the first operator that showed up, as they'd not had me on their booking list and I saw it as the perfect opportunity to abort and await the alternative operator that had two pickup times for when we reach the other end. The driver talks me round and off we go.. the forecast is for a perfect conditions which is great.

I check amongst others on the bus to see if anyone is going to do the extra summit climb and Pariska says "why wouldn't you". So we find out what we need to know to go the extra distance, and off we go.


After an hour or so we reach the base of the Ngauruhoe summit. We look around for the best way to get up there. Some start up one way, while others try further around. Fortunately we pick the easier way it seems but still no walk in the park.



Only a few hundred meters to go... those tiny coloured bits are people!

Over the two hours that we climbed it, it was hard going with slippery rocks all the way up, and getting more slippery as we reached the very peak. It seemed we'd never get there, especially while being on a time limit. All the way up we were searching for firm rock from which to take a rest, before going another 20m section.



Once we got up there, we could see forever. No time for savouring the view from the top for too long though, as we had to get onto the rest of the crossing. In order to keep the schedule you had to "ski" down the side of the mountain on the loose rock. A quick ride if you can do it, but unfortunately for some the risk was too great which meant a very long hard climb down also. I awaited down the bottom for Pariska to climb down, but by now we were very late, and she was disheartened about being tired and rushed to get back. We still had about another 10km of crossing to do, fortunately not as difficult or continuous as the last one, but still no walk in the park for another hour.



Red Crater.. one of the next sites to view without having such an extended climb.

Fortunately after we got past the emerald lake area, it was all down hill and we ran all the way back. However we were still late and the bus driver wasn't happy about waiting. After more than 8 hours of hiking, climbing, and running, no time for lunch we looked forward to getting back to Tiki Lodge at about 5:30pm