Day 10: Kaikoura

The past few days have been a blur, so let me see if I can recall the highlights….In Taupo, we did a little hike to check out the mighty Waikato River which, if I understand correctly, is the largest river in New Zealand. Many people come to Taupo to check out Huka Falls, which is understandable since it is the color turquoise blue that for some reason is so much prettier to look at than regular old blue. We then tried our luck at fishing for prawns. Sound strange? It is. Leave it to the New Zealanders to come up with such a thing. Apparently, the nearby geothermal plant discharges a lot of hot water, which is then piped over to the prawn farm, mixed with cold water from the Waikato, and is then channeled into a bunch of beds where they raise Malaysian Giant River Prawns, or something like that. After learning all about the life cycle of the river prawn and deciding that they are really a bunch of jerks, we were given a fishing rod and a cup of diced up ox heart for bait. The idea is that you hook your bait, drag it on the floor of the bed, wait for an unsuspecting prawn to grab it with his claws, then wait three minutes to be sure he or she has put the bait into their mouth, and then yank him or her up to the surface. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, the prawns are cheeky little things and proved able to take the bait off the hook with their claws, apparently. Andy did manage to catch one, and that was the extent of our success. The restaurant at the park will cook them up for you but it didn’t seem worth it for one prawn, so we pressed on. So much for my visions of a bountiful prawn lunch!

Our next stop was the Aratiatia Rapids, which is basically a gorge where the Waikato River used to run through in full force, but is now just a relative trickle since the river was dammed up. Four times a day, they open up the gates to let the dammed water run through, and the trickle is transformed into a gushing river. The action was a bit slow, since there are a few pools that need to fill up before the water really starts charging over the boulders. Pictures don’t do it justice, as is the trend with this country, but we are glad we got to see the show.

Before...

....After

  

After Taupo, we drove to Tongariro National Park. This park is home to what is touted as the best day hike in New Zealand, the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, and of course we had to do it. First off, let me set the scene—on August 6^th, Mt. Ruapehu erupted. The trail goes right through an active volcanic zone. Last week, there was a storm that caused a volcanic ash flow that took out a portion of the trail. Did any of this information deter us? No, but it certainly should have. The brochure pointed out two difficult stretches, and the rest was categorized as “easy”. We struggled on the easy parts and slowly crawled up the difficult parts, but the kicker was the snow. There were two craters that we passed through that were covered in slushy snow so that every step we took was like wading through mud. Then, the trail, hugging the side of the mountain and little more than a foot wide, was covered in snow. One false step would have sent us rolling down to the rocky ravine below. I might have preferred that to having to hike….. all…… the….. way….. down. I had said from the outset that I didn’t care how long it took, we were going to finish this hike. Little did I know we would literally be the last ones off the mountain. We got passed by everyone, even those that started well after us. I couldn’t believe these people just clipping along the trail like it was nothing. They were singing, chatting, smiling, while we were barely making it through. But, we made it and that’s all that matters. Sorry, no photos. My camera is barely working and Andy didn’t bring the cable for his to upload photos to the laptop. This stock photo will have to do for now.

Picture this, but with snow and frozen lakes. That's Mt. Doom in the middle (the cone shaped one).

 

After we finished the hike, we drove to Wellington, where we  learned why they call it windy Wellington. We thought the van might blow over with all the wind and rain but we were still upright in the morning. Yesterday, we did the all-day Lord of the Rings tour. None of the sets are still up, of course, but we got to visit at least a dozen filming sites and the guide helped us recreate certain scenes (again, sorry, no photos). It was surprising how many scenes are right in the city limits. The city is also in full Hobbit fever with the upcoming premier, so we also stopped by the Wellington airport to see the giant Gollum installation. I don’t know how big he is but the fish he’s trying to catch is at least three meters long. We checked out the Weta cave, which is a shop featuring a lot of props and such from the various movies Weta has done special effects for.  I managed to resist the urge to purchase a “the one” ring, but I couldn’t walk away empty handed so I bought a chain like the one Frodo wore to carry the ring.

This morning we took the ferry over to the south island, where we’ll be spending the majority of the remainder of the trip. Andy is still recovering from the hike so today I did some biking/wine tasting in the Marlborough region on my own. I picked up some really good bottles of Syrah and Sauvignon Blanc, and I promise to bring at least a couple home. We’re now relaxing in Kaikoura, enjoying a glass of wine (don't worry, it's from the grocery store) and doing a bit of gazing at the clear, starry sky, complete with full moon and snowy mountains in the background. This place just keeps getting better. Cheers!