A brief glimpse of Tongoriro National Park and Wellington

When I last checked in with you folks, we were nestled in the foothills of the mountains in Tongoriro National Park.  I’m very glad we had arrived during daylight hours and had a nice – if distant – look at the mountains, for the view that had so enchanted us on Tuesday was completely obliterated by Wednesday morning.  The mountains were fully shrouded by the thick clouds and fog that had moved in overnight.  Fie!

The forecast had promised the clouds would burn off, so we valiantly headed deeper into the park to Whakapapa village wearing clothing we had deemed appropriate for the excursion – nylon pants, t-shirts, cardigans and rain jackets. 

At the i-site (the visitor’s centre) we enquired about short walks in the area, specifically about the Meads walk – a half-hour walk to a rock wall that was used in some scene in LOTR (still not sure which one). The woman at the counter directed us to head on up to the ski fields, and to take a path behind one of the lifts. 

Let’s remember that it’s early spring here and that we were up in the mountains.  Hence, there was still snow up there, and the ski season was still in full swing (it’s a school holiday this week).  Remember those nylon pants, t-shirts, cardigans and rain jackets we were sporting? Well, we quickly discovered that they were definitely not warm enough. 

We pulled out all the extra layers and cold-weather accessories we could and girded ourselves for a nice challenging walk through the mist. 

Toasty!



We couldn’t see more than 10 feet in front of us for a while, but only for a short while, cause about five minutes after setting out up that slippery, snowy hill, we were in a clearing, and it appeared that we were at the end of the walk (30 minutes my sweet patootie).  The fog suddenly lifted and we were standing in front of a 10-15m high rock wall that we assume was the star of the show.  We took a few quick photos, then headed back to try and warm up. 



Quick!  Someone tell me what scene this is in! We haven't figured it out yet.



We drove (and by “we” I mean Nick) to Wellington all afternoon. Along the way we skirted some truly alarming rock faces that were either seemingly on the brink of tumbling into the road, or had done so already.  We didn't get a picture of it, but one section actually had a car-sized boulder that had rolled across two lanes of road to the other side.

Eeek!  And this was luckily a place where there was a shoulder to the road.  Usually it was just sheer rock face jutting out right next to the pavement.

, and arrived just in time for rush hour.  We swung by two backpacker hostels which had come highly recommended by our travel books and quickly rejected them (the first smelled of a delicate bouquet of old hockey equipment, cat pee and cigarettes; the second’s front porch was writhing with at least 20 disaffected youth. They reminded me of a bunch of cats just lazing about in the sun looking entitled and bored with life).

We ended up at the YHA which was so much nicer than any place I’ve ever stayed in Wellington.  When next I’m back in Wellington I’m not bothering looking anywhere else (and if ever you’re there, do the same.  Trust me.)

We really didn’t see much of Wellington.  A short walk along Cuba street and the main drag was about it.  I did point out a café where the LOTR actors had apparently frequented on occasion, and noticed that the piercing studio that had given me the now-defunct hole in my lip six years ago was equally defunct itself.

It was an early night, as we were expected at the ferry terminal at 7:30 to make our way to the South Island. 

Well…it was meant to be an early night, and Christina and Nick, comfortably ensconced in their cosy double room, did get a full night’s rest.  I, on the other hand, was in a six-person dorm and got lured into a long conversation with a kiwi bloke from somewhere on the North Island who was very sweetly accompanying his niece and her friend to a Paramour concert in town the next night.  They were all very nice.

Who wasn’t nice were the other two twits from our room who loudly stumbled in at 4:00 a.m. More precisely, they loudly and repeatedly attempted unsuccessfully to open the door at 4:00 a.m.  When I got up to open the door for them, they proceeded to turn on the lights and slowly and noisily get ready for bed to the backdrop of my passive aggressive sighs.

I so wanted to return the favour when my alarm went off two and half hours later, but I couldn’t do that to the uncle and girls.  So instead, I did what all nice roommates should, and got ready in the dark trying to make as little noise as possible.  I did get one final passive aggressive act in and used the twits’ nice face wash and moisturiser they had left in the washroom – that’ll teach them! (Not that they’ll notice, but whatever).

On a positive note, that morning was clear and bright, and for once, Wellington wasn’t being hit with gale force winds, so the sea was calm. In short, it was a perfect day to take the ferry.

Just look at that brilliant sunshine.

The crossing from Wellington, on the North Island, to Picton, on the South Island takes three hours on the HUGE ferry boat. It’s a great ride that starts off with great views of Wellington – a picturesque city built into a steep hillside, which means that nearly everyone seems to have a view of the ocean. 

Wellington in the a.m.

The middle section is open sea, which is still quite pretty, and then the last hour or so is through Marlborough Sound, which is particularly stunning.  I was hoping to see dolphins as I had during the crossing last time since Nick has never really seen any (don’t worry, that’s a situation that has been taken care of since then – stay tuned!).  Alas, there were none. 

The Marlborough Sounds -- ahhhhhhhhhhh.

We did see thousands upon thousands of jellyfish though.  So that was cool.

A quick tour of Picton – including the cute park on the water, complete with its own ride-able miniature train and affable conductor – and we were off to Kaikoura, stopping many times along the way to get photos.

How much does this man love his job?  So much!  In case you're wondering, a ride on the train costs 0.20$.

Picton from the boat.

The Ferry in Picton.

Coast, train, and plants

East Coast of the South Island

Nick and a sleepy seal.

Self timers are awesome.

Glowing worms, moa bones, and big mountains, oh my!

Sorry for the two posts today.  I don't always have access to Internet, so when I do, I have to pounce.

This morning we were out the door and on the road by 8:30.  Destination: Waitomo two hours southwest via a rather indirect route (many, if not most routes in NZ are of the indirect nature, thanks to the hilly landscape).

Waitomo is a small town.  It’s fitting, given that what draws people here is a very small thing.  Waitomo is blessed with a large network of caves, which in itself is rather interesting.  But it’s what you find on the roof of many of these caves which has tourists flocking there like moths to the flame – or like flies to the glow worm.

Glow worms are actually glow maggots (ew) that are hatched on the roof of wet, dark caves and cliffs.  They drape long sticky strands that trap unwitting insects that are drawn to the little greenish light the worms emit from their butts. 

It all sounds rather gross, but when you’re standing in a cave looking up at a ceiling covered in thousands of these critters, it’s something else.  It literally looks like someone took a long piece of thick black cardboard, punctured it with pinpricks, then backlit it with a dull green light.

Glowworms? or night's sky?  You decide (pssst...it's the former)

We had the lucky surprise of being the only people in our tour group, so we had our own private guide who drove us through hilly farmland to a cave and guided our raft through the very still water and explained the critters to us.

The entire tour group.

The tour also included some short walks through the idyllic countryside and a tour of dryer cave where we saw tons of stalagtites, stalagmites, rock pearls, flow rock, and tons of other very slow growing formations. 

Overhead you have stalagtites (cause they have to hang on tight).  Below, stalagmites (cause they might reach the top of the cave)

There were also the bones of various animals that had tragically fallen to their deaths through holes some 20-25m above, including a goat, a cow, and even a 200,000 year-old moa skeleton. Crazy.

Oh, and we saw a cave weta.

I think the most exciting thing I heard today was that recently Peter Jackson, the director of Lord of the Rings visited the caves in Waitomo.  Speculation is that he might have been scouting out the location for the cave scenes for The Hobbit. (Squee!) Now all we need is for this actors' dispute to be resolved so we can finally get this movie made.

It really would be aweful for this country if The Hobbit doesn't get filmed here.  It's tourism industry has blossomed since LOTR came out, and if it were to be filmed elsewhere, it could mean a huge loss for decades to come. 

We’re now in the small village of National Park which is in Tongariro National Park (they were really creative when naming the village, no?).  Basically we’re at the foot of four huge, active volcanoes, the highest which is nearly 2800m tall (Ruapehu), and another which had a starring role in Lord of the Rings as Mount Doom (Ngauruhoe). 

Beyold! Ruapehu!

It’s a popular spot for hiking (or tramping, as they call it here) and for skiing, which I was surprised to find out is still going on this late in the year.

Tomorrow the plan is to do a few shorter walks, then head in the general direction of Wellington.