We had arrived, Wellington, the capital, what next? Heading through the town we did a not so quick drive around town, got semi lost and thoroughly enjoyed being in what felt like a very big city (it really isn't though). Parking was reassuringly expensive, parking spaces were few and far between, people seemed to be in a rush. So we parked, and went for a wonder through the shopping area and then down to the harbour. The hardly frenetic activity died down quickly, and by the time we found a little Mac's brewery and tried some of their homebrew the city was almost entirely still. The Kiwi's love to party it seems, and when we got out of the cinema a little later on, the streets were almost full of Thursday night revelers. Not really being able to camp in the centre of town, we headed off into towards the Botantical gardens in light rain. Wellington is built on some pretty steep hills and the van struggled to get up some of them them, cursing us as we pushed it up in 2nd gear in some places almost having to change to first in others! We found a nice quiet space in a parking lot near the botanical gardens and did the usual free camping. The wind was picking up … and seemed to keep us awake all night as it was buffeting our van with gales that rocked the van back and forth. How lucky we were to have crossed the Cook Straights 12 hours earlier! In the morning we woke up to find out van, with hand brake on, had been moved a good meter backwards and the wheels at the back sat outside the parking bay in the very quiet road- torrential rains and wind what a combination. Looking around we saw other vehicles in a similar position and heard on the news that some vehicles had been turned over. Apparently these winds were typical though and could get far worse in their spring, 1-0 for the wind as it pushed us out of town heading off first east then north in the pissing rain.
In character, the north island is very different to the south island, the mere presence of people in the north and the flatter landscapes have meant that it has been the more densely populated of the islands. This still doesn't bring it to anything near European levels of population densities though. We drove through small towns and villages, many it seemed supported only by tourism and/or agriculture- i.e. sheep farming. The bungalows type houses in the villages and dotted along the road usually resembling converted caravans, with metal walls and roofs, the occasional house was built or perhaps just clad with more solid brick structure. The wealth is not invested into buildings in New Zealand it seems, as we learnt later on, very few houses have central heating and some of the poorer ones might only have portably electric heaters, the majority having wood burning stoves. We had 500 kms on the one day to drive so didn't take too many stops as we headed north, a little shopping, fuel and lunch was pretty much it until we drive past a honey shop.
There are actually a lot of honey shops in New Zealand, this being the first we came across; it's a very nice way of getting to know the various honey products that you wouldn't really expect to have like skin creams, ice cream, mead candles etc. The tasting of manuka honeys was great, they have such a distinct flavor, I would have loved to buy some but didn't think I'd be able to finish it in time for our departure. We ended up with Ice Cream, honey and cream based… very very tasty before heading off.
As the day drew on, the light grew dimmer and it rained more heavily- heaven on earth for driving, well maybe not. The landscape was changing though as we drove closer to Lake Taupo, more rugged and desolate- the national park area with volcanic peaks, snow covered had apparently also been used in the making of the Lord of Rings- and somewhere around the was Mt Doom. It was sadly too dark for us to stop off and have a wander so we enjoyed from the car and motored on around increasingly windy roads, cornering slowly again, the driving that we'd become so used to on the south island.
We arrived in Lake Taupo and it was fairly chilly. Having spent the last night in quite wet and windy conditions we thought we'd look for a campsite for a change and use their amenities, things like our three daily shower were certainly necessary! Lake Taupo we'd arrived!
So after carefully backing into a tree (no damage to car or tree) we took to our usual evening occupation, eating and drinking and listening to the patter of rain on the van roof. It stopped in the morning and we read about hiring some bikes which to our delight, were cheap only 30 NZD for the day and definitely fine for what we had in mind! There is a specific mountain bike trail heading to see the local waterfall/gorge and it as it was the first real exercise in ages, the path was a little tough in parts, but seriously good fun. Starting off in pines and light forest, we'd head down through valleys dark and damp with plenty of mud in them on narrow trails up and down hillsides with steep drop offs and little bridges and then back into pine woodlands with views over the river. We'd decided to make a day of it and carried on up to see "craters of the moon" which was the first of some fairly putrid smelling hot air vents or mud pools. The entire area was superheated and even down by the river there was warm water here and there. The smell of sulphur was the constant accompaniment to the environment which we later drove through. The day of biking was great fun and we're feeling it that evening.
The next day was set to be exciting, we'd decided it was a must to go rafting and had made some enquiries about the rivers open. Apparently, even though there was lots of rain, it wasn't enough for some rivers to be opened as they need much more snow melt, meaning the ones we'd wanted to go on and had spent time increasing our insurance levels for were closed and we could only go on the smaller 3-4 rivers which are largely damn controlled apparently. The Rafting van picked us up early in the pouring rain and it never stopped raining all day, however, kitted out as we were it wasn't exactly cold! 5mm thick wetsuits and various apparel meant we were warmer wet than most nights dry in the van. The Rafting was south and the into the mountain, we'd picked up a fairly hungover backpacker on the way so we totaled 3 customers and one guide- perfect I suppose for getting a flavor of the rafting. We rafted 12kms down the river which picks its way through a national and unesco heritage listed site, and it was breathtaking in parts, the river was never too quick and the whole trip was a definite great fun day and I'm looking forward to faster and bigger rivers! Following the drop off after the day we revved up the van and headed north again to find a pool called "Butchers Pool' which was good to camp at and would be a nice hot bath to relax in. We found it eventually. The next morning it was beautiful sunshine and we took our time leaving the pool, having a good long soak in what seemed to be around 40 Celcius water- which in some parts was not suitable for standing in as the ground felt somewhat hotter than that! That was pretty much the last of Lake Taupo and area, so onto the next bit! (MT)
Bits we missed:
- Tongario Crossing- 17km walk closed due to snow fall and poor conditions.
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