Day 17
Travel Location: Tauranga,New-Zealand
After yesterdays Manic day we were really in no rush to get out and about
early today, yet the Sun did its usual trick of waking us up and at 0930 we
To Signal for help, not for potential Goat Rapists
were up and getting showered. we Drove out of the Camp two very happy people
and headed round the corner to the Kuirau Park. A free Park where they have
fenced of several Volcanic pools and mud pits which spend their days
bubbling and boiling away. They really are fairly impressive to see
although i did find it slightly dodgy when you realised that the ground was
gradually giving in to these bubbling pools around you, it’s obvioulsy a
fairly slow process but you can see where the ground next to a pool has just
collapsed fairly suddenly because of it. It didn’t look the safest of
places lets leave it at that! It’s back in the “Sabbath” and we’re on our
way to Taupo, a fairly long drive but again it had spectacular views so it
wasn’t that bad, although i’m still a bit worried about the roads and their
sudden drops into the sea from great heights…haven’t they heard of
barriers or even fencing over here???…. Anyway, along the way we saw the
sign for the Huka Falls and thought why not, so a quick detour later and we
are admiring an amazing sight!
Huka Falls, At these stunning falls NZ’s longest river, the Waikato, is slamme3d into a
narrow chasm and then makes a spectacular 10m drop into a surging pool. As
you cross the footbridge you can see the full force of this torrent that the
Maori called Hukanui (Great Body of Spray) an apt description of NZ’s Niagra
Falls. On sunny days the water is crystal clear and you can take great
photographs from the lookout on the other side of the footbridge. You can also take a few short walks around the area or poick up the trail
from the Aratiatia Rapids into Taupo.
Lonely Planet – New Zealand Guide – page 306-307 So as you can see from the Lonely Planet guide the Huka Falls are fairly
spectacular! On our way out of the Huka Falls we noticed a sign opposite
for the Craters of the Moon & deciding it sounded interesting we followed
it, parked up, saw how much it cost (only $5 but we were already $250 over
budget!) & left! However, it was not a wasted journey as around the corner
we pulled over and through a gap in the fence we’re able to see the Craters
of the Moon, or bubbling mud pools, & for free!
Unfortunatley it was not without problems as i managed to get a thorn in my foot but luckily for me i had help in the form of Luke and a pair of tweasers and in no time at all we were back on the road towards Taupo and the Tongariro crossing. the Crossing is a one day Trek that will take us thourhg the mouth of volcannos, Craters and mineral lakes, it sounds amazing and the best part???? the mountain we climb is Mount Doom ala Lord of the rings!!
We wanted to get as close to the start of the crossing as possible so we could get an early start on it tomorrow but we managed to get a little lost and as we
we’re running low on fuel we headed back towards the centre of Tuarangi
where we visited the isite (information site.) We managed to pick up a map
of the crossing and also transport to the start of the crossing from your
accomodation and pick you up from the end of the crossing and take you back
to your accomodation, as the start and finish of the crossing is 10 miles
apart and a good 7 hour walk we decided this was probalby a good idea!
Now all we had to do was book some accomodation to stay at, the isite
recommended 3 sites, 1: Tuarangi Holiday Park, 2: Oasis Holiday Park -
including free use of their mineral pools and a third choice. Obviously i
wanted to stay at the Oasis Holiday park, who wouldn’t with free mineral
pools! but Luke insisted on Tuarangi as it was closer so i gave in and
that’s where we went to stay for the night. It reminded me of an old school
camp & the not so great toilets (Luke doesn’t aggree with me and thinks it
was ok but then he chose the place so…: ) ) Anyway, once we’d picked our
spot in the empty caravan site we had a walk around & found out that the
cabins you can hire we’re old Army single mens quarters, (the site did go up
in my opinion then!) Once settled we headed back into town (2 minutes down
the road) to do a quick food shop & organise our lunches for the crossing
tomorrow. And here comes the most excitging part of the trip so far…Luke
finally bought Beer!! The rest of the evening was spent chilling, updating
the blog, watching ugly Betty & packing for the crossing. As the weather is
very changeable up there we took :
thermal top
jumper
rain coat as well
buffalo/snugpak
rations (just in case!!!)
camelbak,
cylums,
panic alarm (To Signal for help, not for potential Goat Rapists)
windproof matches(more for LUke’s fags than anything else!)
torches
food (cheese & cucumber & ham & cucumber sandwichs!)
compass,
para-cord,
silk sleeping bag liner,
camera,
bandanna,
shemagh,
sunglasses,
sun screen,
mug& wets kit,
knives & multitools.
And some other bits and bobs… So as you can imagine we we’re prepared for
anything! All that was left to do was hit the sack for an early night in
preparation for an early start.
Caz xxx
