Tongariro Crossing, Taupo, Rotorua

The next phase of my journey was meeting up with Bernard and heading to the volcanic/thermally active central part of the North Island. Our first stop: the Tongariro Crossing, known sometimes as the best one day hike in the world! We have both been really looking forward to this hike for a long time so anxiety was running high when the weather looked worse and worse the closer to our hike day we got. Unfortunately our worst fears came true as the weather the day of the hike was even worse than predicted.

The Crossing goes across the volcanic area in the middle of the island between Mt. Tongariro and Mt. Ngauruhoe, aka Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings. This is where Mordor from the movies was filmed, which is part of the reason for its fame, but also because it has weird and amazing scenery (on a sunny day). We spent the first two hours climbing up lava flows while the mist turned to rain. We’d hoped to go to one of the summits but because of weather this was out of the question. The weather turned into a full on rain and wind storm at the high point of the crossing and at this point we were so wet pictures, or even stopping, were out of the question because we were freezing. Hope was lost for the weather to turn around when we got to the Emerald Lakes, the coolest part of the whole hike, and barely even noticed them because it was so misty. From here we just trudged on down because we knew all the pretty parts were past and the weather wasn’t getting any better. It was a real letdown because we were both so excited for this trip but we vowed to come back and do it again one day so we can actually SEE the Crossing instead of just saying we did it.

View of Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe in the sun - the only one we got!

Ngauruhoe aka Mt Doom, if only we could have seen it or climbed it!

The lava fields of Mordor

This is when I became really depressed about our awful weather and how we could barely see anything :(

Crazy hiking outfits, I enjoyed feeling superior to these girls when I stopped worrying about them getting hypothermia

We left our disappointment in Tongariro and headed on to the sunshine at Lake Taupo, where we stayed and enjoyed fish and chips, a trampoline, and hot pools at our campground. The next day we headed to Rotorua, aka Rotovegas because it’s the most touristy spot in New Zealand, but this is rightly so because it has lots of really cool geothermal stuff to see like mud pools and geysers. The thermal pools at this campground weren’t half bad either!

A little sun in Taupo

Huka Falls

Rotorua

Despite weather setbacks we had a great holiday checking off a few New Zealand things Bernard hadn’t seen yet. From there he dropped me off at my new home near Rotorua to WWOOF (work on an organic farm in exchange for room and board) with Dahlia!

Mt. Egmont National Park

I met up with my mom and Dahlia to head off on a jaunt to Mt. Egmont National Park, more commonly known as Mt. Taranaki, on the western peninsula of the North Island. Our main aim here, not surprisingly, was to hike up the mountain as best we could! The mountain is 2500m/8200ft, 1600m/5500ft of which you walk over the course of only 6k/4mi (look at me and my conversions). Unfortunately it’s a little too snowy this early in the summer to make it to the summit without crampons so we decided we’d just go as far as we could to enjoy the views. Unfortunately, again, we were not blessed with good weather, but we trudged up anyway hoping for a break later in the day.

And let me tell you, this is one steep hike. The first hour was up a gravel road until it transitioned into a cement track referred to as “the puffer” – luckily this provided me enough amusement to make it to the hut that acted as our lunch spot. From there we scrambled over rocks before climbing up an estimated 1000 stairs. If all of this hadn’t been bad enough, the rest of the way to the summit was even steeper and involved two hours scrambling up an incredibly steep scree slope and trying not to slip. We’d been waiting out the weather all day and it wasn’t really getting any better so at this point we decided it wasn’t worth continuing if we weren’t going to get to see anything so we started to head back down, probably at about 1800m or 60% of the way to the top.

The puffer

The beginning of the infinite stairs

Annoying scree

So steep!

Sad to be turning back

Of course half an hour after we turned around a lot of the clouds cleared away so we soaked in the views and took plenty of pictures. The upper mountain was still pretty cloudy so this was our consolation for not being higher up when the weather broke. After that we enjoyed some snow sliding and then made our way down. The best part of this trip was the assurance we all got that, given the right season and weather, we could totally climb this mountain. Taranaki, I’ll be back for you someday!

Climbers coming down

Only real view of the whole mountain

North Island! - couchsurfing in Wellington

After five months of anticipation I am finally on the North Island, the whole half of New Zealand I haven’t explored since being here! (I know, you’d thought by now I surely must have seen everything.) First I spent about five days in Wellington and the most notable part of that stay is that I stayed with a host from the website couchsurfing.org. I’ve been involved with this website for the last year or so, hosting a few people in Seattle and meeting up with people for coffee or tours here and there, but this is the first time I’m on the surfing end of the deal. I am a huge fan of this website – you have a profile and can search by location and send messages to people who seem cool and not sketchy to meet up, get tips, or stay a few days for free. It’s a great way of meeting locals, really getting to know a place, and traveling on the cheap – all things I’m in favor of! So it’s been really fun to be on the better end of the couchsurfing deal for the first time.

I stayed with a guy named Kern who just finished university and lives with a handful of other students in the cool neighborhood of Newtown. I got so lucky because we totally hit it off and his friends and flatmates were really friendly and cool as well! We spent our time checking out the city and hanging out in nearby parks, eating lots of Indian food, checking out some local bands and spending late nights out on the town. It was so fun to be in a real city for the first time in five months that actually had stuff to do and people who were willing to go out and do it with you! Wellington reminds me a lot of Seattle so it’s fun to enjoy all those good things – pretty with water and hills all around, fun urban café and shop vibe, cute wood buildings, environmentally and socially conscious, the list goes on.

View from Mt. Vic

Gorgeous waterfront

Cool urban parks

Cuba St, heart of the city

Civic square

Parliament

Christmas New Zealand style

My favorite part of being in Wellington was the whole couchsurfing experience and the fact that I met such amazing people that I had so much in common with. Most of the guys are interested in similar things (like the environment and wanting to do human rights or social work or something else to help people as a career) and I found it really inspiring to meet people who were into the same things as me and actually taking steps to do things about it. I loved Wellington so much I ended up back a few days after I left for one more night before meeting Bernard, and now it turns out I’ll be back one last time when it’s time for me to fly to Christchurch! Wellington has easily been one of my favorite places in NZ so far. Enough rambling, pictures:

Newtown, the u district - esque neighborhood I stayed in

Kern and I

Graduation party

Watching the sun rise

Our house

Crayfish dinner that one of the flatmates caught diving!

Zipline!

South Island travels IV: Dunedin and Moeraki Boulders

The last leg of our journey before coming back to Christchurch was Dunedin. This is the second biggest town on the South Island and I really enjoyed seeing it because it had a cool downtown area with an urban feel and it’s what I imagine Christchurch was like before the earthquakes. We enjoyed some great food and seeing the sights before taking off for the nearby Otago Peninsula and then heading back north.

New Zealand pretending to be British

The one obligatory stop on the way back to Christchurch is the iconic Moeraki Boulders. This is a collection of a few dozen large boulders on the beach and no one really has figured out how they formed or why they’re on this beach. It’s a big tourist spot but really fun to climb around on!

Pretty shells!

It was great to finally see the south end of the island and have my mom here to see some of New Zealand’s most beautiful sights with me. Now I’m having a day of rest and hanging out in Christchurch and then I’m off to the North Island for the first time – hello, Wellington!