The K Team Conquer Mount Taranaki!

Our main purpose in visiting New Plymouth was to see the impressive Mount Taranaki (2518 metres high) and attempt to climb it! It's yet another dormant volcano (last eruption 1755 so we felt quite safe - despite reading in the guide book that another eruption is well overdue!) We hired a car, got up early for a big breakfast and set off up the mountain at 8am. We were advised to pack for all weathers so had our backpacks stuffed with extra clothes, waterproofs and of course lots of water, food and chocolate! The first section up to Tahurangi Lodge wasn't too bad, apart from the infamous "Puffer Hill" - aptly named because puffing and panting is exactly what you're doing all the way to the top of it! After that a wooden stairway led us up to the North Ridge and then the fun began! Slopes of scoria had to be encountered to get up to the Lizard Ridge but it was so hard to climb up as for every step forward you slipped about 2 steps backwards! We were very glad we had brought our gloves as we ended up wearing them to grab onto rocks along the way up! After scrambling up the scoria slopes we then clambered up some rocky crags onto Lizard Ridge which led us to the volcano crater itself. Even though it's summer here, some bad weather a few weeks ago meant that there was still some crater ice to cross. (Fortunately only a short, but narrow, ledge where we had to grab onto the rocks on the left side to avoid slipping on the ice and going over the crater edge on the right!) Then it was down into the crater itself which is filled with snow all year round! By the time we got up there the clouds were below us which blocked the view from the top somewhat but it was fantastic to be up there above the clouds and see all the snow and the ice crystals hanging from the rocks! Awesome! (to quote a well used Aussie & Kiwi phrase!) It took us 5 hours to climb up the mountain so we allowed ourselves about 20 minutes to play around in the snow before starting our descent! I didn't think that going down would have been as taxing as going up - but how wrong can you be?! It was much more precarious climbing down the rocks than up and as for the scoria slopes - well your feet just slipped out from under you and you ended up on your backside! Well I did! Connie did much better at staying on her feet than I did - but it wasn't the most dignified descent for either of us, put it that way! We were both dead chuffed with ourselves for having done it though - it felt like a real achievement! Not sure we would do it again though! Or if we did - it would have to be on the condition that a helicopter would come to wynch us up from the crater at the top! I wouldn't want to repeat that descent again for all the money in the world! Having an easy day today after yesterday's exertions! It was exhausting but the exhilaration in getting to the top more than made up for it! And as Connie put it when we got home last night - we were absolutely Taranackered!

Lake Taupo

We arrived next in Taupo and our hosts kindly gave us a lift to our accommodation in Acacia Bay. Lovely place and a fantastic view of the Lake from our courtyard (which CK is admiring, accompanied by her glass of vino!) Only hitch was that it was a 4 mile walk into town and back with no public transport! Oops! Sorry CK! Must have missed that nugget of information when I was searching the web for somewhere to stay! But, being as we now seem to have an SAS style survival course being planned for us in outback Wales on our return (Thanks Bridget!) maybe that extra little bit of exercise will come in handy! Anyway, we decided to hire a car mid week (No - not to drive ourselves into town and back!!) We needed one to go up to Wai-O-Tapu (another sulphur smelling but spectacular thermal area!) that we didn't get chance to visit last week. Here we saw the spouting Lady Knox Geyser and various pools full of amazing colours, depending on which minerals had been deposited. The best of which were the bright green Devil's Bath and the Champagne Pool - bottle green and bubbling but fringed with burnt orange and swirling with steam! A fantastic sight to see, but in certain areas of the park the smell was horrendous! Haven't been able to face a plate of scrambled eggs ever since! Next we drove to Tongariro National Park to see a group of 3 volcanos and where parts of 'Lord of the Rings' was filmed. The largest of the volcanos (the one with snow on!) is Mount Ruapehu, which last erupted in 1995! In fact our car (where CK is posing with the map!) was old enough to have witnessed the eruption and still had the marks on it where the ash had fallen. We reckon the garage should advertise it as their "Volcano Special", having lost their former "Backpacker Special" which was a cheap to rent old banger that we wanted to hire(!) to a Taiwanese couple who trashed it by ploughing straight through a Give Way sign! Anyway we drove as near as we could get to Mount Ruapehu and visited the Whakapapa Alpine Village (yes, sounds like something out of the 'Night Garden' as those people who have any dealings with children under 5 might agree!) The Grand Chateau that you can see on the photo was quite impressive and is the posh place to stay if you are skiing up there in the Winter, but not much more there to see really. In keeping with the ski theme, how do you like the cool bench that I found to stretch out on back in Taupo?! Next stop New Plymouth ...

Tauranga & Rotorua

Our next stop down thte East Coast of North Island was Tauranga, home of Mount Maunganui (behind CK on the photo!) which is yet another dormant volcano that we can add to our list of having climbed! Pretty small I know but we are already making plans for climbing Mount Taranaki in a couple of weeks which will hopefully be much more impressive (actually having snow on the top of it!) and a much more strenuous climb so watch this space ... presuming we make it to the top of course! The heavily wooded island with the great beach that you can see on the photo with the sheep is Matakana Island. We were reliably informed (I think!) by a couple of 20 something local guys, while chatting us up(!) (well it makes a change from the 80 year olds and openly gay men who have approached us recently!!) that although it was ok to visit the beach and fish off there etc, under no circumstances should we venture any further inland! Apparently it's Maori land and inhabited by a fierce tribe who set traps and get their shotguns out for anyone who wanders too far off the beachs! So the story goes anyway! We have no current plans to find out for ourselves! We also took a day trip to Rotorua, which is a 'must see' in the area, as long as you don't mind the constant sulphurous smell of rotten eggs all the time, which is the hydrogen sulphide coming up through the earth's surface which is particularly thin in this region. Pongs to say the least! The plus side of this though is that the area is full of hot springs, bubbling mud and thermal pools! If it had been a cold day we might have been tempted to take a dip, but being as it was about 30 degrees we decided to give it a miss! Just walking through the clouds of steam coming off the pools was like being temporarily in a sauna! We finished off our week in Tauranga by watching the Half Iron Man competition which was held over at Mount Maunganui (2km swim, then 90km bike ride, followed by a 21km run!) Whew! How exhausting! Felt the need for a bit of deck time back at the ranch after all that! Next stop is Lake Taupo, the largest lake in New Zealand! Internet access is a bit sparse at the moment so we will be back with more news on that when we can!

Christmas at Coromandel

Happy New Year to you all! Just thought we would show you a few pics of what we have been getting up to over the festive season here on the Coromandel peninsula! The cute white house with the picket fence has been our home over Christmas and New Year. We are staying in the extension to the right of the photo (with the little balcony on the top floor!) The sunset is the view from the balcony almost every night! Tim and Annette who live in the main house have been so hospitable to us, even inviting us over for Christmas lunch! Tim is an enforcement officer, which covers various roles including issuing parking tickets, going out to investigate complaints of rowdy parties, illegal camping and also 'arresting' any stray dogs found wandering on their own on the beaches or reserves where they are not allowed! He took us out with him a couple of times which was very exciting - driving in a 4WD around hairpin bends on unsealed roads! And we got to see him in action when he had to arrest 2 dogs! Been doing lots of walking too and visited numerous bays and beaches - too many to show you all of them! One of the best ones was Cathedral Cove, named for its shape of course, but our favourite beach was 'New Chums Beach', only accessible at low tide when you had to walk across the estuary to find a little track over the headland onto the beach. Hope you like the photo of me and CK (old chums!) posing on New Chums Beach! As for the walks - lots to see and fabulous views again! We did a short walk to a viewpoint overlooking Coromandel Town, the Coromandel Coastal Walkway and the beautiful Karangahake Gorge to name just a few. And yes, that tunnel WAS scary! It was about a kilometer long and part of a walk around the Gorge. Although it had some roof lights they were so dim that you could hardly see your hand in front of your face! Connie was in front of me and she stopped at one stage and I just slammed right in to her because I couldn't see her - that's how dark it was! Also visited Driving Creek Railway and went on the little train in the photo for an hour's return trip, through forests, several tunnels, over bridges and up to precarious view points, all built by this slightly eccentric, but talented sculptor and potter who still worked at his studio at the railway site at the age of 75! Anyway, we decided to go for a New Years Day walk today and had a real surprise when we visited Wyuna Bay! Lovely little bay and only about an hour & a half's walk to get there. What should we see high and dry on the beach but Iggle Piggle's boat!! No sign of Iggle Piggle himself (or his blanket!) but it was definitely his boat - we were quite sure! See what you think! (click on the photos to see them bigger!)