New Year in Wellington

  Wellington, New Zealand
Sunday, December 31, 2006

Hi all,

Tom and I left Auckland with our backpacks full on Wednesday morning, heading for the coach station to Turangi, a small town south of Lake Taupo and north of the Tongarriro National Park.  After 6 hours on the coach we arrived at Turangi, a small town with not much going for it appart from its proximity to the National Park.  We camped at a very 70s campsite for the night and set off early in the morning for the road with our thumbs and white board at the ready to catch a ride to Ketetahi, the northern entrance to the park.

After two and a half hours and 3 lifts later we set off on the trail up the hill through the bush.  It wasn't long before we were above the tree line and being hammered by the increasing winds and rain.  After just over 2 hours tramping we arrived at the Ketetahi Hut, which we stopped at for the night rather than putting the tent up.  The Department of Conservation have really sorted tramping (hiking) in NZ and have set up a load of huts along the track between 3 and 5 hours appart.  Each hut in the park has a gas fire, gas cooking, bunks with matresses, running water and toilets and for $20 (only $5 more than it costs to camp) it is a bargain and you get to meet a load of great people.

Ketetahi Hut

View from Ketetahi Hut

We set off on a very cold Friday morning from the hut on our way up the mountain, with a weather report that was for showers and high winds all day, worsening by the end of the day.  The weather ended up being great!  We got to the South Crater in clear skys with the sun shining and had some amazing views.

Behold! The volcano

We then dumped our packs and headed over the Red Crater (1900m) and walked to the base of Mt Ngauruhoe (which was used as Mt. Doom in The Lord of the Rings).  The mountain is a perfect conical volcano, peaking at 2287m above sea level and has uber-steep sides.

Climbing the north face of Mt Ngauruhoe

.  It took us an hour and a half to scramble up loose rocks and scourier (small rocks and volcanic ash) and it was the most difficult and tiring climb I have ever done.  The view at the top however was stunning - the clouds lifted and thinned enough to give us a great view of the top of Mt. Ruapehu, which was snow-capped and skiiable in the winter season.

At the summit of Mt Ngauruhoe

It took us only 40 mins to get back to the base of the volcano as we came down scree running, which basically involves skiing down the loose scourier all the way to the bottom - awesome fun.  We then hiked back over the Red Crater, picked up our packs and headed down the eastern side of the mountain to a hut for lunch, then tramped on for another 3 hours to our evening hut, which was in a beautiful forest and we bathed in the stream to get 9 hours of tramping sweat off us!  The walk was the longest I have ever done, especially with a full pack but it was absolutely amazing.  In one day we hiked up alpine slopes, across volcanic craters, ascended a volcano, hiked across a huge lava flow, tramped through a dester on the leeward side of the mountain and ended up in a stunning forrest.  I didn't realise that one day's walking could provide such a change in scenery!

We set off again fairly early yesterday morning and tramped for 4 hours out of the park, although this time we had high winds and almost constant rain!  It was then that I realised that my waterproof jacket and trousers are no longer waterproof!  That coupled with poor visibility and walking through moor-like boggy areas for 4 hours was pretty crappy but it was worth it when we reached Whakkapapa village and ended our 3 days in the National Park. 

Our mission was then to try to hitch down to Wellington and arrive there by the end of the day.  Seven and a half hours later and after 5 different rides and an our on the train we arrived in the center of Wellington and checked into the YHA (which I highly recommend if you are coming to Wellington), showered and got some much needed food and beer.  I slept extremely well last night!  It is now New Year's Eve and we've spent the day having a look around the shops (I've bought replacement jacket and waterproof trousers!) and are planning on meeting up with Jade, who I met way back in June in Rarotonga and is here for the holidays.  There is a live gig here in the centre of town, which Tom and I are going to scope out tonight to see in the new year.  A new year definitely brings excitement as we are booked on a short 25 minute flight from Wellington to Picton (for the same price as the 3 hour ferry journey!!!) tomorrow lunch so we will hopefully be in Blenheim by tomorrow night and plan to have a gander at a local vineyard.

Tom has then planned our next excursion as a 3-4 day tramp through the Nelson Lakes National Park before heading down the west coast, over Aurther's Pass to Christchurch.  I'll then head down to Dunedin to try and get an interview for the job with the University of Otago before bombing back up to the North Island.  It's great to get the chance to see this beautiful country, especially with Tom.

I wish you all the very best for the New Year and enjoy the celebrations.

All my love,

Tom xxx