There and Back Again

I spent three weeks in New Zealand over Christmas and New Years.  I was able to do this because my office was closed for two weeks over Christmas and New Years (woohoo, Australia!) and then I took an additional week off without pay.  My college roommate and one of her friends were visiting from the States and Ross was due back from Antartica in early January (right before I would have had to go back to work) so it just made sense.  It was the first time that I'd been back to New Zealand since I got my Australian work visa and moved to Australia at the beginning of May.

Pretending to be Hobbits at the Hobbiton Movie Set

I met my college roommate, Sarah, and her friend, Laura, in Wellington just before Christmas.  They had spent the previous week traveling around the South Island.  We hit the major Wellington sights - Te Papa, Zealandia, Botanic Gardens, Cuba Street, Wellington Zoo and Weta Cave.  There were a couple rainy days but overall the weather wasn't too bad for Wellington.

At Weta Studio

Zealandia

Lady Norwood Rose Garden

From there, we jumped in the car and headed north toward Auckland, sightseeing along the way.  The first day in the car was the longest as we drove north to Taupo with a stop at Tongariro National Park along the way.  We did a short hike out to Tawhai Falls (aka Gollum's Pool) and got some pictures of the volcanoes (Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu).  After dinner in Taupo, we went to the spa thermal park which consists of a hot stream that feeds into the river.  We were able to find a secluded section of the stream and basked in the warm water while watching the sunset.

Kiwi crossing in front of Mt. Ngauruhoe

Tawhai Falls

Lake Taupo

The second day on the road we went to Huka Falls and then it was geothermal time.  First we went to Craters of the Moon which was a small geothermal area with lots of steam but few other geothermal features.  That being said, it was well worth the $8 entry fee and there weren't that many people.  From there we went to Orakei Korako Geothermal Park and Cave. It was awesome!  You had to take a boat across the river (~5 minutes) to get to the park and then it was a geothermal wonderland.  Ross and I went to a bunch of geothermal areas around Rotorua when we first moved to NZ, but Orakei Korako was one of the better geothermal areas that I've ever been to. We didn't see a geyser go off but the colors were incredible and because it was a little off of the main tourist track, there weren't that many people.  Plus the track that you follow gave you great views of all of the geothermal features and you walked through a gorgeous section of forest.  All in all, two big thumbs up from me.

Craters of the Moon

Craters of the Moon

Orakei Korako 

Orakei Korako

The third day day we started off at the Waitomo Glowworm Caves.  There are multiple different tours that you can go on, depending on how adventurous you are.  We did the standard tour, which doesn't allow you to take pictures in the cave.  All that I can say is if you ever get the chance to go to New Zealand, even if they're out of the way, go to the Glowworm Caves.  The cave system is massive and has all of the typical cave features but the glowworms are one of the coolest things that I've ever seen.  It was like looking up at the night sky, if the stars had a slight blue tint.  Definitely worth it!

By the entrance to the cave

From the Glowworm Caves we went to Matamata which, at this point, is known for one thing - the Hobbiton Movie set.  We did the last tour of the day and it was great.  There are approximately 42 Hobbit holes and they are all totally different.  The level of detail in all of them is pretty impressive and the gardens in front of most of them are incredible.  I can't even imagine how much work goes just into maintaining the gardens. You can only go into one of the Hobbit holes and it's basically just a room where everyone abandons their borrowed umbrellas but the whole set is a little magical.  Your ticket includes a beverage at the Green Dragon, so we ended our tour with cider but you also had the option of a couple speciality beers or ginger beer.

Bag End

The last day on the road we hiked up to see Wairere Falls, which is just outside of Matamata.  It was a nice trail and a gorgeous waterfall.  We got a late start on the morning though so it was getting pretty hot and there were a ton of other people on the trail - not ideal hiking conditions.  From there we drove into Auckland.  During dinner, Ross called from Christchurch to let me know that he was back from Antarctica 6 days early and would meet me in Auckland the next day (NYE). After dinner Sarah, Laura and I hiked up Mt. Eden and watched the sunset over the city.

Sarah and Laura headed back to North Carolina really early on NYE and I picked Ross up from the airport mid-morning.  We then drove up to the Coromandel Peninsula and camped outside of Thames.  We also hiked out to Cathedral Cove and relaxed on the beach for a bit.  Since Ross was fresh back from Antarctica, he didn't have any camping gear and was a very good sport about sleeping on the ground without a sleeping bag or pad; he instead just wore a bunch of layers of clothes and actually was too hot a couple nights.  That being said, we made a bee-line back to Wellington, camping in Taupo on the way home.

At Cathedral Cove

We went for a bunch of day hikes around Wellington, went to some movies (Ross hadn't seen the new Star Wars yet) and were generally just lazy for a couple days.  We did the studio tour at Weta Cave, which was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be and got a new battery for the car.  You know, general life/adult stuff.  We were also watching the weather very closely because we wanted to go hiking and camping in Tongariro National Park and the weather wasn't the best.  Eventually we saw a break in the weather coming and jumped on it.

Walking out to Red Rocks (by Wellington)

We camped in Tongariro for three nights and got out on a couple long hikes.  The first day we hiked up to both Upper and Lower Tama Lakes.  The hike is about 17 km (~10.5 miles) roundtrip but doesn't have that much elevation gain.  It was really socked in and rainy until we got to Lower Tama Lake.  We had lunch there and, once the clouds had cleared a bit, decided to go up the additional 150 meters in elevation to see Upper Tama Lake.  We found a wind shelter and ended up sitting by Upper Tama Lake for probably an hour and a half, watching the clouds clear from Mt. Ngauruhoe and Mt. Ruapehu.  It ended up turning into a gorgeous day and our slog through the wind and the rain was well rewarded with great views of the surrounding volcanoes.

Ross and Lower Tama Lake

Upper Tama Lake and Mt. Ngauruhoe

Lower Tama Lake and Mt. Ruapehu

Mt. Ngauruhoe

Our second day in Tongariro we did the Tongariro Alpine Crossing.  It is a 19.4 km (~12 miles) walk with decent elevation gain (and loss) that is considered to be one of the Great Walks in NZ.  Given that it is the most well known day hike in the country, it is a highway of people.  We got to the trailhead at 6:30 a.m. in an attempt to beat most of the crowds but there were already busses dumping people off at the start.  It is a gorgeous hike and we had great weather for it but the number of people definitely detracted from the experience.  Honestly, I would say if you want to do one long hike in Tongariro, hike up to Upper and Lower Tama Lakes instead - it has great views and far fewer people.

Mt. Ngauruhoe

Mt. Ngauruhoe

Mt. Ngauruhoe and Red Crater

Emerald Lakes (R) and Blue Lake (above our heads)

Mt. Ruapehu (L), Mt. Ngauruhoe (center) and Red Crater (R)

Lake Rotoaira (close) and Lake Taupo (far)

On my last night in Wellington, we went out to dinner and then (partly because we missed the bus) walked back to our apartment through Central Park.  Ross had mentioned seeing some glowworms in the park so we decided to take the central path by the stream (also least well lite at night) to investigate.  We weren't super optimistic because it had been a pretty hot and dry summer so far but we were pleasantly surprised to see hundreds of glowworms along the walls of the valley on either side of the stream.  It made me a little sad that we hadn't ever taken that path at night before but it is incredibly poorly lite and probably not the safest path to take on a regular basis.

Sunset from our campground in Tongariro National Park

All in all, it was an incredible three weeks and it made me realize how much I miss New Zealand.  Australia is great but it just doesn't seem to have the same easy access to wilderness and rugged mountains that New Zealand has.  Plus, spending so much time with Ross in our home, made it infinitely harder to leave again.  I've spoken to my manager and it sounds like I will be able to work from "home" (aka NZ) for a week every couple months while Ross is still doing lab work but I don't think that I'll be able to make that happen until April at the earliest.  In the meantime, Ross is coming to visit in mid-February and then my parents are coming for three weeks in March so I have stuff to look forward to.