Hamilton to Coromandel

04.02.2011

We've heard from Alastair & Carole; Ken is servicable again. Hurrah! We've got somewhere to live when we get back!

We went from Hamilton up Highway 26 through Morrinsville (library) to Te Aroha and then over the Coromandel Mountains to Waihi. These mountains were swarming with gold prospectors in the late 1800s. Half way along the road we came to the Karangahake Gorge,

which was mined extensively until 1936. The tramway and some of the mine tunnels are now walkways allowing visitors to have a glimpse of what it used to be like. This is the path up the gorge.

This is the bridge over it,

and this is the Windows walkway back along the opposite side,

so called because the miners dug "windows" in the tunnel walls so they could chuck waste rock into the river bellow.
This is what the gorge looked like in 1910

and this is the same view now.

Back down at the car-park is the site of the Cyanide works.

1910.

Now.

It’s amazing to see how much has changed in less than 100 years.

Dave’s injured himself again; while we were doing a wash-out this morning he dropped a drain cover on his leg.

Ouch!
In the afternoon we had a dash up the fantastic Highway 25. Let’s face it, we haven’t found a road we don’t love yet, but this one is just relentless! We were on a mission; there is a little place called Hot Water Beach about 80kms up the coast from Waihi where a hot spring under the beach emerges 2 hours either side of low tide. We got there with an hour to go and joined lots of other happy people digging our own hot pools in the sand. It was brilliant!

We lazed about in the warm water (sometimes a bit too warm!) till the tide came in and washed our defences away,

then went for a refreshing swim. After that we drove over the peninsula and down the best bit of road yet, to Coromandel Town. Here we found the Tidewater Camp Site

and in less than 2 hours we were parked, plugged in, fed, showered and had a load of washing drying in the evening breeze. We’re getting good at this.

New Plymouth to Hamilton

03.02.2011

Amongst a holiday of special days this one was extra special. We were up and off nice and early from New Plymouth, lots of low cloud and drizzle all around and although we were following the coast road and stopped for elevenses in a picnic area next to the beach, we never actually saw the sea. We didn’t mind though, because the place we were heading wasn’t affected by the weather. These are limestone cliffs on the way out of New Plymouth.

Deep limestone deposits like this mean one thing - caves!
In the hills around Waimoto are Waimoto Caves; a world famous black water rafting and cave diving mecca, although that’s not why we were there. Theses caves are also famous for their glow-worms; millions of tiny ice-blue lights cover the cave roof wherever there is flowing water. We went to Spellbound, and had one of the most magical 3 hours of our lives. Our guide Hohepa, or Hop for short, was brilliant, he took us down two caves, this is the entrance to the first one.

At the bottom of the path there was a boat and we spent about 45 minutes drifting up and down the underground river, inches below the mesmerising roof. After ten minutes or so our eyes got used to it and even though there was no other light down there at all we could see perfectly well. Of course the camera doesn’t do it any justice whatsoever, but this is sort of what it almost nearly looked like.

In the second cave we walked down a beautifully engineered walkway, winding through endless rock formations.

We were even treated to tea and biscuits in the “café” between the two caves.

The tour ended at about 5.30, so we set off for Hamilton and parked for the night by the lake. There was a walkway all around the lake so we went for a stroll after dinner.

Tangarakau to New Plymouth

02.01.2011

Today was a bit less energetic. By 9.15 we were still the only humans for several miles in every direction, but as we’d not had any lecky and only used the loos, we didn’t feel too guilty about driving off. We continued along the fabulous Forgotten World Highway

winding up and over saddles then swooping back down to charismatic valleys with one-horse towns.

We especially liked Whangamomona, which declared itself a republic in 1908 after a falling out with regional government.

It made up 50 years later, then declared independence again in 1989, probably as a publicity stunt.

All the roads in NZ seem to have suffered land slips and washouts recently; this is one of the hairpins that has been cleared, but there are little piles of rubble and vegetation all over the place.

We got to the end of the Forgotten World Highway at Stratford, where we followed the walkway round the town and learned some of its history. It has a bust of Shakespeare outside the info office and a very pretty river running through it. We stopped for lunch and met a very nice Kiwi called Kevin who told us a lot about his home town and was obviously very proud of it.

From Stratford we went due west past Mt Taranaki, (or Mt Egmont, as it was named by the Europeans)

to the coast to the town of Opunake where we had a walk along the beach. Stupidly we forgot to take the camera with us so there are no photos of the black sand and the fabulous hopping rocks in the lovely clear Tasmin Sea. We consoled ourselves by buying ice-creams; we asked for small ones and got these.

We drove on up the coast to the Cape Egmont Lighthouse

and then headed up to New Plymouth for the night.

Whakapapa to Tahora (We think.)

01.02.2011

Wow! What a day!

The weather couldn’t have been any more different from yesterday. We woke up to clear blue skies and sunshine; perfect for what we had in mind. We left the campsite and continued up the road towards Mt Ruapehu. Yesterday we couldn’t even see it.

This is winter sport central and the road ends in a car park surrounded by ski lodges, chair-lifts and a café. They keep 2 chair-lifts going in the summer to take visitors up to the start of the track going up to the crater rim.

It’s a marked track called the Skyline Walk, although as we observed, it’s not so much a track, more a set of guidelines.

The people in the bottom right-hand corner are on the path There’s a really steep screedy bit in the middle where you go 1 step down for every 2 up. It’s really high up. The peak is over 2700m and there’s still snow around in the gullies.

From the top there is a fantastic view of, well, everywhere, but especially Mount Ngauruhoe, which was Mt Doom in The Lord of the Rings.

The picture doesn't look real. Neither did the mountain. It was very windy at the top; getting photos like these was scary.

We hope our reader appreciates the sacrifices we make to put this drivel together.
These are photos of the way back down.

This one was taken by the chair lift operator at the station between the two lifts.

We drove back down to the main road; this was the view behind us that we couldn’t see yesterday.

We went north to Taumarunui for a library session, then west along the Highway 43; the Forgotten World Highway, so called because many of the settlements in this difficult hill country were later abandoned.

This road is amazing. There is a sign at the beginning that says “No Fuel for 150kms”. The middle 50km twisty bit through the Tangarakau Gorge is unsealed

and this is the Moki tunnel; known locally as the hobbit hole.

We followed a sign for “Bushmans Camping Ground” 8kms up a little winding track and found a perfectly fine but totally deserted camp site. The gate was open, as were the toilets, but the power was off and we couldn’t find anyone to give any money to. We pitched up assuming that someone would be along sometime. By 9pm nobody had and as evening drew in and the stars started to come out it we realised we had the entire valley to ourselves. It must have been one of the most peaceful places on earth.

Waikite Valley to Whakapapa (Active Volcano)

31.01.2011
The weather wasn’t up to much today so we sort of had a bit of a day off. In the morning we went into Taupo, on the way passing Huka Falls which were very impressive. This is the outflow from Lake Taupo into the Waikato River, and it really thunders through here.

We had a short walk from the lookout to the falls themselves, then carried on into town. Taupo is a lovely city; we had lunch and spent the afternoon there. We had a look round a gypsy fair on the outskirts and Dave was very taken by this mobile blacksmith’s shop. He thinks it would make an interesting paint scheme for a narrow boat.

We left the city and drove round the southern side of Lake Taupo on the Thermal Explorer Highway. This is another crater lake, the biggest lake in Australasia, and a mecca for water sport freaks. But not today.

As the weather got worse and the visibility reduced we entered the Tongariro National Park, and drove up the road to the Whakapapa visitor centre and camping ground. Tomorrow, if we can see anything, we’ll go for a walk up towards the crater lake of an active volcano.

Awakeri Springs to Waikite Valley

30.01.2011

We turned away from the east coast today and headed towards the volcanic middle of North Island. As we drove round Lake Rotorua we came across Hamurana Springs, where thousands of gallons of crystal clear water emerge from the ground every minute. The stream running through the park has lots of waterfowl on it and it’s so clear they look as if they’re floating in mid-air.

We carried on round the lake, and after a stop for coffee and scones, we went to Rotorua itself. Kuirau Park is a Free Access Thermal Park on the edge of the town with lots of little boiling mud pools and hot water spouts with pathways between them.

At the end of the main street are Government Gardens, and this magnificent building which now houses a museum and art gallery.

In the afternoon, after much deliberation about what we should do, we finally decided to visit the Wiamangu Volcanic Valley. This valley was formed when a line of craters, totalling 16kms, erupted almost overnight in 1886. Part of it went off again as a geyser in 1900 which continued for 4 years, and in 1917 it went bang again reforming the lake at the bottom. Since then it’s been quiet. This is what it looked like shortly after the 1886 eruption,

And this is roughly from the same spot today.

There is a lot of sulphur in the air here, Hydrogen Suphide makes up a big part of the minerals that are dissolved in the water and the PH of this lake is about 3.5, so it’s hot acid.

The sort of thing The Joker is always trying to throw Batman into.

A bit further down the valley is Inferno Crater; more hot acid, but this time it’s blue. The level in this lake goes up and down in cycles, but nobody is quite sure why. Very encouraging.

After only just catching the shuttle bus back to the car park we drove on to the Waikite Valley Hot Pools for the night. We thought last night was heaven but this was even better.

We might have spent a bit too long submerged in warm water; Ann-Marie has gone deaf in one ear, and we’re sure we’re developing webbed feet.