Taranaki, Tongariro and Alpacas

Hello again from windy Welly! They are not kidding about this city, you could take flight with some of the gusts. 

Since I last posted, we've done two separate weeks of wwoofing and a four-day hike in Tongariro National Park in the centre of the North Island. Now we're in a smaller town just north of Wellington visiting a good friend of mine from high school, Kim Wiest, who is working here as an au pair for six months. She lives with a lovely family of five and it's been great to have a home base from which to explore the Wellington area and plan the next few weeks, as well as gather some much appreciated local insight and advice. 

Taking a few steps back here, we spent a week at the beginning of November wwoofing near New Plymouth on the west coast. The city and surrounding farm land are dominated by the impressive Mt Taranaki, a volcano that stands alone among the rolling hillsides and towns. Our hosts were a welcoming Kiwi family of Scottish and German parentage, and we got our hands dirty helping in the garden, chopping firewood and pulling weeds. 

The view south down the coast from Paritutu Rock, a short but steep scramble up a volcanic remnant near the city centre

The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, a funky reflective building in which we viewed 'This Ain't California', a documentary from a German film festival about the rise of skateboarding in East Germany under the shadow of the Iron Curtain. A random topic but a very well done film. 

Mt. Taranaki, from the hilltop on our wwoofing hosts' farm

After our week on the farm, we knocked an item off the bucket list: learn to surf! Lessons are offered at a nearby beach, and as the New Plymouth coastline is known as the Surf Highway, there were no shortage of wet suits and boards out on the waves. I found it to be as challenging as I thought it would be but also surprisingly fun getting creamed by wave after wave, and I managed to get up (without immediately falling back in the water) three times! Definitely hooked and can't wait to try it again!

Fitzroy Beach, our surf lesson location. Beautiful bluebird day too!

Lola posing with the other side of Mt. Taranaki. Not a bad spot to have a tailgate dinner post-surfing!

To get to the start of our hike, we took the Forgotten World Highway from Stratford to Taumarunui then onwards to Whakapapa in the heart of Tongariro National Park. Over the three hour drive we saw probably ten other cars... The road traveled through rugged, beautiful countryside on some seriously windy roads, some of which weren't even sealed due to low traffic volume. Scenic, nevertheless!

The next morning, we started our first of hopefully many multi-night treks: the Tongariro Northern Circuit! Definitely a highlight of my travels so far.

Off we go!

Mt. Ngauruhoe (aka Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings!), on day one. We were so lucky with weather!

Beautiful sunset from our first hut. Hard to spot, but between the clouds near the right side of the picture you can just see Mt. Taranaki. In Maori legend, that mountain used to live peacefully alongside three other mountains in the centre of the North Island, where this picture is taken from, but there was a conflict and Mt. Taranaki fled to the coast. Read more here!  

Sunrise over Mt. Ngauruhoe on day two

Summit of Mt. Doom! Not sure why Frodo and Sam made such a big fuss about it, the hike wasn't so bad...

Crater at the top of Mt. Ngauruhoe

On top of the world, wehoo!

Onwards on day two after summiting Mt. Ngauruhoe

Red Crater

One of my favourite views from the trek: Looking north towards Blue Lake (foreground), Emerald Lakes (lower right side) and Lake Taupo in the distance

Mt. Ruapehu on day three

Ohinepango Spring, bubbling out from what seems like nowhere. A very refreshing swim...
(translation: absolutely freezing cold)

Old school skis on display in the old Waihohonu hut, built in 1904 

Lower Tama Lake on day four

Taranaki Falls

We linked up with two other Canadians and a German on the hike, sticking with them for the last three days, and once we returned to civilization we beelined to a tavern in nearby Turangi for some well-earned grub and beer. Then we backtracked to Taupo once again to hit up the natural spa park that Antoine and I had visited a few weeks before. The hot water felt amazing on our sore bodies!

The next day it was time to head south to Masterton for our third week of wwoofing on an alpaca farm. It was for the most part a very relaxing week and we got to try out a few new activities: tractor driving and alpaca herding!

Channeling my inner farmer

Hey Pedro! The farm hosts 17 alpacas. These creatures are really cool and it was fun observing them for even a short time

Here come the boys

One of our projects during our stay was helping Richard build this wind shelter for the alpacas. This was no IKEA furniture and we definitely learned a lot over the two days that it took to get to this stage. I hope it stands once completed!

Now, back to the present: today is our last day in Wellington before we make a quick trip back up north to paddle the Wanganui river for four days! I'm looking forward to this adventure, having done some paddling trips with my parents as a youngster.

View from Battle Hill near Kim's host home in Whitby. This was the site of an 1846 battle between government forces and Ngati Toa, a Maori tribe, over land ownership.

Yesterday, Kim showed us around Te Papa, NZ's national museum. They had a feature exhibit called Gallipolli, The Scale of Our War, about NZ soldiers fighting the Turks in WWI. A very moving and extremely well done exhibition, complete with several larger-than-life replicas of soldiers and other war personnel in action that were almost impossibly lifelike. The giant squid and earthquake house were also highlights of this famed (and free!) museum! 

Oh yeah, I almost forgot: last night we saw ELTON JOHN in concert!!!!!! Major dream come true, I've loved listening to him since I was a kid. At 68-years-young he still rocks it on stage! 

Until next time,

Sonja