Mt. Maunganui and Hot Water Beach

Mt. Maunganui was more like a hill on a peninsula. We walked the steep way up to the summit and admired the views from the top. Adam came to be our coat rack for the journey up and carried all our coats around him. He looked so funny carrying them all. The views were all out to sea and it was really impressive. My shins from doing the Alpine Crossing were killing on the journey down- I hate walking downhill! Jen tripped up, but she was okay and hadn't done any serious damage! We had some lunch in the campervan and made some tea. We then  did our first swap around and Jen and Adam went in our car while me, Mike and Mike were sat in the other.

Jen had done a lot of driving, but she seemed happy enough to continue. We arrived at Hot Water Beach and walked over to see some of the pools people had dug up that day. When you dig up the sand, boiling water rises up and fills the pockets in the sand. Some of the areas were really nice and warm so we paddled around and dipped our feet. We then made our way to a DOC campsite which was on the way to Auckland. We arrived pretty late at about 10.30pm and were all pretty starving. We'd had a petrol dilemma on the way there in that Jen needed petrol and there wasn't anywhere open. We found a self service one, which rejected all of our cards, but Mike's credit card worked and we filled up 30 dollars. We later drove past an open petrol station and both cars filled up on a full tank and we filled up our water as neither of us had any left. My back was hurting and so I sat in the back with Mike H for a bit. We quickly made dinner at the campsite in the boys' campervan and all fell asleep!

Heading north to Tauranga

We drove back to Taupo after checking out in the morning. The boys had so many problems with their campervan- their water pump wasn't working after filling up 50 litres, and one hob wasn't working. We'd figured that the tv hadn't been working before because they had been running low on power. They called Jucy off our phone and took it to a garage in Taupo. While it was being sorted we nipped to Countdown and bought some supplies for the next few days. Boys take sooooo long at deciding! They need to write a list! Jen and I were done after picking up two items. Adam and Mike went to the gym for a couple off hours, while me, Jen and Mike went to the public library to get some free wifi. I hadn't been online for over a week so it was night to update my blog and talk to my sister and email a few people! That all takes time and we were there for a good hour and a half. Afterwards Mike went to get his haircut in the barbers, while Jen and I drove to to waterfront and ate a very late 4pm lunch of soup and bread. We went and grabbed a free coffee from The Moustrap in town, which we'd got from doing the skydive and after a good old chat with the bar girl in there about New Zealand and skydiving and travelling, we went to pick Mike up, whilst admiring his fantastic new haircut and went back to the garage. They had only just finished, so it was perfect timing. Although we had intended to go to the hot water springs again, it was 5pm by then and we had to get to the next accommodation by 8pm in Tauranga, so we drove straight there. A couple of hours later we arrived, the park by the lakefront and cooked an amazing fajita meal :) We had another late night after all (but mick) fell asleep infront of the film Invictus. I think the cards need to come out one evening again and we need a good game of hearts!

Tongariro National Park

Our late night and night out the previous day caused Jen and I to have a well deserved sleep as we were knackered. We opened the windows and boot, had breakfast in bed and Adam was nice enough to make us tea in bed. It was a gorgeous day and we drove five minutes to Whakapapa Village where we set off on a walk to Taranaki Falls where there was a massive waterfall. We climbed to the top and peered over. The loop walk was a couple of hours and was really nice walking through the trees. I walked ahead with Mike and had a good old chat with him. The others probably had Adam slowing them down in his standard footwear attire- flip flops!

We made a BBQ together on arrival back at the same campsite. We tucked the two campervans together and made a nice little cooking area under the boots of both cars, using all the hobs. We then got ourselves tucked up into the boys' van to watch Catch Me If You Can. However, I think it was running low on power and so the tv decided not to work today. Instead, a few games of 'would you rather?' were played and a few jokes circulated. It took a while for Jens to fall asleep. She kept bursting out giggling remembering the funny moments of the evening, but finally drifted off!

Falling asleep late probably wasn't the best idea. We woke up at 6.30am to get to Howard's Lodge in the National Park Village. We took a shuttle bus from there with a group of people to the beginning of the Alpine Crossing. The hike is between two of the three volcanoes in the park and lasts about 8hrs, depending on how fast you walk! We'd picked a really really hot day. The factor 50 sun cream came out early, even after setting off at 8.45am and we were reapplying like mad throughout the day. The terrain was so rocky and there was no cover at all from the sun. There was a bit of snow in some parts and it was quite refreshing grabbing some and cooling off! The way up in parts was really steep but we all managed and get to the top. The views were amazing and we saw loads of small crater hot pools with steam coming up from them. We had lunch at the top and I showed my bum to the world behind the only vaguely large rock for a quick wee! Adam whacked out his flip flops for the lunch break- there's always one! He was the only one who managed to complete the walk in trainers.

We continued on and although our water was running out in the heat, we still powered on. We stopped at one place where the sign clearly read 'not drinking water'. The water was rain water and quite cloudy with bits in it. While the rest of us used our purification tablets, Adam and Mike seemed a bit to manly for that and drank it there and then. After a warning from a woman about there being parasites in the water, we were quite prepared for both of the boys to get ill!

I think by the afternoon we were all just ready for it to end and we had been walking for 6 hours by then. We walked through greener areas for the last hour and a half and finally arrived at 4.15pm, 7.5hrs later. We were all absolutely exhausted, we were pretty quiet on the return shuttle back to Howard's Lodge. Unfortunately, the accommodation we wanted to stay at was closed for the night, so we had to rethink and went to a holiday park about 20 minutes away on the way back to Turangi. Having a shower was so so good! We cooked a quick meal and ate and fell asleep.

Taupo

After our skydive adrenaline rush we all were all a bit like 'nothing can beat that today'. We drove to just outside Taupo to Huka Falls, this long fast flowing river in between a gorge. It was really cool and  the water was so clear and looked turquoise in the sun. At the bottom of the gorge there was a big waterfall, so there we admired it for a bit and decided to do a walk along the river for a bit. We walked along to a bridge hoping to arrive at the dam, but realised it was a bit further than we had hoped, so turned around and came back. We thought we'd try and drive to find the dam the following day.

In the evening we all got pretty hyped up and started drinking early and playing cards. The place we were staying was a hostel but had sites for campervans, so it was different to what we'd been camping at throughout New Zealand. We ended up going out to a bar called 'element' and made it home in the early hours of the morning. It was an eventful night to say the least, but we all had a good time!

The morning after the night before, everyone was a bit delicate and we slowly got up and Jen and I made ourselves feel a bit better by making a uni hangover breakfast consisting of a sausage sandwich and a large cup of tea! We eventually made a move given that it was gone midday and decided we'd drive to the dam to see the Aratiatia Rapids. It wasn't too far and we were just in time to watch the dam be released, which happens four times a day at the moment. It's a hydroelectric dam, which isn't very impressive, but when the floodgates open the water from the Waikato River fills the rocks below. It was quite impressive watching the water rise and rise for fifteen minutes and once the dam closed it slowly drained the water out from beneath it. I really wanted it to be like something out of a film and have the water gush out from the dam, but it sadly didn't happen like that! After that the boys were pretty hungry so we all got our picnic chairs out and sunbathed in the sun and had some snacks.

We then headed to Spa Park Hot Spring just off Spa St. after being directed to different areas by the locals. We eventually found it though and parked up and headed with our towel and swimming gear in hand down the hill. The hot thermal waters of the Otumuheke Stream meet the Waikato River at a little pleasant spot under a small bridge. The free natural spa bath varies in temperatures; the further upstream you are the hotter it gets. We ended up staying there for a few hours without realising it was getting quite late! We were pretty tired and went to the shops to grab some dinner. Me, Micky H and Jen fancied a pizza and went to Pizza Hut for a cheeky $8 pizza. It was definitely what I needed! Amazing feast! Couldn't finish it! So we were in the campervan and it was about 10pm and we had to get to the campsite which was an hour away. We drove to the Tongariro National Park to a DOC campsite; the one we'd been to the previous week when it was pouring with rain. We went to make hot water bottles in the boys' campervan and ended up chilling in theirs until the early hours.

Heading South to Taupo

In the morning me and Jen had a little lie on while the boys went to do their white water rafting and buy some warm clothes. They have realised it's a bit too cold to just wear shorts and a t-shirt. They came back with a hoodie and slippers each. Anyway, while they were racing down rivers and waterfalls Jen and I went to Redwoods forest and did a walk there. Then we drove 5 minutes down then road to Blue Lake and walked the track around the lake. It was a really nice walk and took us about 1hr30. The sun finally came out and we had some lunch overlooking the lake. We watched a couple who had just run round the lake dive into the water to cool off. After our walk we made several cups of tea in the forest and met the boys. We then rang Jucy and stopped off to fix their gas canister. They were having trouble with it and it wasn't lighting properly.

We drove to Taupo in the afternoon. I'd told the boys where we were going in case they got lost, but they were following us anyway. We pulled up to Rainbow Lodge and before we knew it they whizzed past us and turned down another street. We thought they were going to the supermarket we'd just passed to buy beer. After some time, they appeared on the street- they thought we were camping somewhere else and thought they'd be smart and whizz off! Boys being boys...

Jen and I made a veg curry that evening and we all played cards for a bit and went to bed.

Rotorua

The following day we got up late and planned what we'd do next. It is difficult, as we're sort of making a circular route as we want it go back to Tongariro to do the Crossing, so we're waiting on the weather to get better. We drove just under two hours to Rotorua and arrived at a holiday park in a town just 15 min north. We planned a few things to do in Rotorua, and as they were all pretty much outside, we were crossing our fingers!

Adam, Mike and Mike were also driving to Rotorua after landing at Auckland airport to come and meet us. We'll be travelling the rest of New Zealand with them and then they'll make their way to South Island when we leave for Fiji. They arrived at the campsite at 7pm and it was so nice to see them all! They all looked so tanned and while me and Jen stood there with our many layers on, you could tell they were unprepared for this change in climate with their shorts and t-shirts on!

We checked out their Jucy campervan which was a lot bigger then ours (you can actually stand up in it!!) and made some dinner with them. We all chatted in their campervan, which fitted the five of us perfectly, so I can tell we'll be in their camper until late from now on and will be just be leaving to go to sleep in ours. I'm not complaining!

The following day we all got up and went to Rotorua town centre. The weather, of course, was rubbish and it was pouring with rain. According to Mike, they 'bring the sunshine', and they must do, because the weather brightened up in the afternoon, proving the forecast wrong and made for a nice afternoon. In the morning we went to the Whakarewarewa Thermal Village and saw two geysers- they were pretty cool as I've never seen one before. There were also loads of geothermal pools. The water was really hot and oily. The smell however, was horrible and because of the sulphur it gave off this awful smell, similar to boiled eggs! The guide said they also use the steam to cook so showed us a few ways to cook food this way. We picked our moment and went for a walk around the hot water pools when it decided to pour down! My jeans got absolutely soaked! We ended our visit by seeing a cultural show which involved some of the town's Maori people singing and dancing. It was quite entertaining, particularly when they tried to involve the audience in a version of the hokey pokey! 

We then had some lunch and went to Kuirau Park where there were loads of hot geothermal pools dotted around. The water was boiling, with steam coming off them, but the smell was awful! We also saw some mud pools which were pretty cool. We drove over to the Government Gardens and found yet again more geothermal pools! I think once you've seen one, you've seen them all, but we did a bit of our own exploring, found a women cooking by the water of one and found a big lake where the water was pretty warm. The lake itself was white and looked chalky- it was really strange. Around it were loads of cracks and hot water pools bubbling away. I think I'll be happy to leave Rotorua because of the smell!

We went to buy some food and some gas canisters and then went back to the same campsite from the previous day and chilled in the evening and played some card games. Adam and Jenny taught us Queens, which was a good game and I think the rest of us almost have the hang of it now!

Waitomo

The weather was not doing us any favours and we ended up having to change our route and go to Waitomo instead! This is what happened: we woke up in Wellington and it was a lovely day, enough sunshine to say 'ooooo shall we wear a skirt or dress today?!?'... I think we were just so fed up with the rain! We went and booked a shuttle bus for the Tongariro Alpine Crossing the next day. They take you to the start of the crossing, and they pick you up nine hours later at a different point on the other side. We drove up the top of Mt. Victoria and looked at the views of the city. You could see right round, from the shipping harbour to the sea. It's a sprawling capital. There are loads of hills everywhere and I noticed a lot of residential houses built on stilts, protruding off the hilltops.

We drove the 4hr drive to Tongariro National Park and arrived in a DOC campsite. I felt pretty miserable, maybe it was the rainy weather and being in the middle of nowhere on a cold night, so Jen cheered me up. While she made hot water bottles, I tackled making the bed (which is far harder with one person) and went to sleep in preparation for our long walk the following morning.

We were so prepared. We had snacks, lunch, water, layers, waterproofs all on us, but no matter how much we did there is always one thing you can't rely on here; the weather. It was still raining and we hurried to the road ready to be picked up at 8am, but nothing came. We called the company off our NZ phone and they told us that it had been cancelled due to the weather. There had been fresh snowfall, the winds were high and the views were poor so it wasn't even worth doing.

We listened to the locals who said to leave the area while the weather was like this for the rest of the week and come back another day, so we decided to head to Waitomo to see the caves.

Two hours later we were there, we were exhausted but after some lunch to pick us up, we visited the Glowworm Caves. Our guide showed us round the caves and have some interesting facts about stalacmites and stalactites, glowworms and the cave itself. We ended the tour on a boat where we went into the darkness and there there were thousands of glowworms. It was hard to gain a perspective of the cave itself, but after a while of adjusting to the light, it was pretty cool seeing the huge number of them in the cave.

We then went to the campsite and sat in the sunshine outside (for once) and had some great chats! We meet a guy from Hamilton in the evening and he advised us on somewhere south of Rotorua that we should visit where there is a natural hot water bath. He told us to 'take a few beers' and chill there one afternoon!