New Zealand - Central North Island

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  Central North Island, New Zealand
Wednesday, January 10, 2007

We left Wellington and drove northwards through the centre of the island to Whanganui, a large town straddling the Whanganui River on the coast below Tongariro National Park. We stayed in a cabin that had everything we needed; an en suite, kitchen and most importantly TV and free wireless Internet (well $15 for our entire stay - so almost free). We decided to stay a couple of days, even though there isn't much to do in Whanganui, so we could take advantage of the internet and plan some more of our journey into Asia.
 
We continued our travels through to Tongariro National Park, stopping to take in views of the three Volcanoes that make up the focal point of the park; Mt.Tongariro, Mt.Ruapehu (PIC) and Mt.Ngauruhoe, the latter was used as 'Mt.Doom' in the Lord of the Rings movies (PIC). There are a couple of ways to view the volcanoes close up - either on a scenic helicopter flight (expensive) or via the Tongariro Crossing (a famous and demanding hike across to Mt.Tongariro)

001 Mt Ruapehu

. We were planning to go to a much more active volcano later in our trip (White Island) so opted to do neither of these.
 
Instead we progressed northwards towards Taupo, a town situated on the edge of New Zealand's largest lake, funnily enough called Lake Taupo! After checking into our accommodation we found that we were just in time to get to the Aratiatia Dam and Rapids for the opening of the dam. The dam is part of a chain of Hydroelectric dams in the region, utilising the immense power of the water that is held in Lake Taupo. Aratiatia Dam is the first in the chain after the lake and is actually the smallest of the dams. It is opened three times a day and gives a brief 30 minute surge of water into the river beyond - enough so that a local jet boating company can ride the rapids during that half hour spell.
 
We stood on a bridge over the dam and watched it erupt - letting millions of gallons of water gush into the river below us (PICS). The water rose so quickly, turning what was previously a trickling stream in a roaring river in a matter of minutes.
 
Just down the road from the dam we arrived at Huka Falls, considered to be perhaps the most impressive waterfall in New Zealand - mainly because of the volume of water that flows through it constantly

002 Mt Ngauruhoe (Mt. Doom)

. The falls were extremely imposing, dwarfing the spectators alongside it (PICS) and creating an enormous bellow as they crashed into the basin underneath. Apparently some crazed lunatics actually kayak over these falls - unfortunately we didn't get to see anyone attempt this!
 
Next we took a look at the source of the Huka Falls, Lake Taupo. Like many other lakes in New Zealand's North Island, it is a volcanic lake based in the crater formed during a previous eruption. This particular eruption was in 186AD and was the largest ever-recorded eruption in the world, and thought to be the largest in the last 5000 years! It is a world renowned location for trout fishing (hence the giant trout statue (PIC)) and draws fishermen from all around the world - even though it is illegal to buy or sell trout in New Zealand! The unsettled weather gave a moody appearance to the lake as we sat on the banks and enjoyed an evening ice-cream (PIC).
 
The next day we took to the waters and had a boat trip on Lake Taupo. The weather was miserable (once again!) so we stayed inside the catamaran for most of the journey, taking photos through an open window (PIC) - the weather seemed to affect Andrew somewhat (PIC)! The views weren't great but the mood soon picked up when a clever local duck realised he could get fed even while the boat was travelling at full speed! The captain gave it its first feed before Andrew took over and Verdi stood by with the camera (PICS). The boat took us out to some volcanic rock formations created by the last eruption (PIC) and then around to some Maori rock carvings (PICS). They aren't actually as old and authentic as you might assume, they were commissioned to be done in the 80's but nevertheless they are still interesting features that you won't see on any other lakes

003 Aratiatia Dam

.
 
Taupo marks the southern end of north islands geothermal activity and has a large thermal park known as the 'Craters of the moon'. The landscape immediately explains the name of the park, as the scenery looks decidedly extraterrestrial with clouds of steam rising from various craters and fumaroles dotted around the area (PICS). The drizzling rain added considerably to the steam billowing from the ground, making the whole place much more dramatic but unfortunately making most photographs look like a thick fog had descended over everything!
 
 
One place we really wanted to get to was Waitomo, an area famous for its 'blackwater rafting' through glowworm infested caves. The problem was that Waitomo is quite out of the way of any of the destinations we were planning on visiting; being fairly equidistant from Taupo, Rotorua and Auckland. We opted to use the rainy weather to our advantage and went to Waitomo in between Taupo and Rotorua. It seemed that we would get wet in Waitomo regardless of the weather, whereas Rotorua's attractions are mainly outside and would benefit from a fine day.
 
We began our blackwater rafting adventure by donning some rather fetching rubber outfits, namely a wetsuit, jacket, booties, shoes (PIC) and a pair of protective shorts - of which Andrews looked like they had seen better days

004 Aratiatia Dam

! (PIC) The final additions of a hard hat and a rubber ring and we were ready to go. A quick practice leap into a nearby river (during which Verdi momentarily thought she had lost a contact lens!) and we entered the cave.
 
Blackwater rafting is basically just as it sounds, rafting (or tubing in this case) down a river in what is sometimes pitch-blackness. There are other ways to see the glowworms, such as gentle walks and boat trips, but this seemed much more our cup of tea! We started with a waterfall jump backwards into the stream running through the caves and then floated for a while until we had to climb through some narrow, shallow sections. The lack of light led to some pretty unsure footing and Verdi noticed the effect on her knees and ankles, especially when her foot slipped into a crack and the rest of her leg wanted to keep on walking - luckily her knee held!
 
After a couple more waterfall jumps and a fair amount of caving we came to the glowworms - they were spectacular! They look like tiny green stars dotted in the nights sky, except they are only a few feet above your head! The worm itself is about 2 inches long and glows at one end to attract its prey (normally any type of flying insect). The worm sets up dozens of mucus-covered strands, which hang down from the cave roof like tiny pearl necklaces and provide an impenetrable forest of sticky threads to catch the fly. The worm then reels in the thread like a fishing line and devours its prey. The process is very similar to that of a spider and its web, thus giving the glowworm its Latin name - Arachnocampa Luminosa.
 
After stopping and staring at the glowworms for a while we then settled into our rubber rings and floated down a long section of the stream in complete darkness - with only the clusters of worms above for illumination, it was amazingly calm and relaxing despite the fact that we were in freezing cold water

005 Aratiatia Dam

!
 
Emerging from the cave we floated down the shallow river to our minibus pick-up. Back at the tour centre we showered, grabbed our free soup and bagels and headed out to see some Angora bunnies! For some rather random reason Waitomo has a small Angora rabbit shearing centre so we decided to pop in and take a look. A huge bunny was on display, twitching its nose wildly in an attempt to cool down (PIC). It's hardly surprising that they are always hot with that amount of fur all over them. They actually get sheared every three months so the bunny in the picture has only 3 months worth of growth! The picture doesn't actually give the size of the rabbit much credit, it is as big as a medium sized dog; even a 3-month old baby we saw was the size of a cat!
 
With Waitomo's main attraction covered we made our way back inland to Rotorua.

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

006 Huka Falls	007 Huka Falls	008 Huka Falls	009 Verdi at Huka Falls
010 Taupo Giant Trout	011 Lake Taupo	012 Lake Taupo boat trip	013 Andrew driven to despair by more rain
014 Teas Maid	015 Clever Duck	016 Andrew feeding flying Duck	017 Lake Taupo boat trip
018 Lake Taupo volcanic rock	019 Lake Taupo Maori Carvings	020 Lake Taupo Maori Carvings	021 Lake Taupo Maori Carvings
022 Craters of the Moon Panoramic	023 Craters of the Moon	024 Crater	025 Andrew at Craters of the Moon
026 Craters of the Moon	027 Craters of the Moon	028 Captain Cave Man	029 Cheeky cheeky
030 Angora Bunny

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