Top of the North Island - Enter my future wife!
Trip Start
Feb 21, 2003
1
8
10
Trip End
Nov 21, 2003
Rotorua,
North Island,
New Zealand
Tuesday, September 30, 2003
Next aim was to get out of there, leave all the strife behind and make for Taupo. Taupo lies on the shore of the lake of the same name that is new Zealand's biggest lake and allegedly the biggest vulcanic caldera (i.e. crater) in el mundo (Careful, another one of these Kiwi superlatives!). Here there are a million crazy things to do, most notably (again allegedly) the world's cheapest Skydive. I settled for an adrenaline squeezer closer to earth called Rock'N'Ropes. This consists of telephone poles with wires, handrail-less swingbridges and logs spanned between them at 15m (50ft) height. You're secured with a climbing harness and a buddy on the ground. But still scary and potentially embarrassing when you fall. I didn't fall and mastered all the hideous contraptions front and backwards and even successfully did the Trapeze which has you climbing Karate-Kid like onto the top of a telephone pole and then jumping through 3m of air to catch a Trapeze
Lake Taupo and the volcanic plateau
. Crazy! Thanks for the Tip, Hannah. Another beautiful sight near Taupo are the Huka Falls. The nearby Aratiata Rapids are to be missed as they are ridiculously silly for the following reason: Formerly impressive rapids had a big dam built right above them so that they are dry for most of the day, but as the Kiwis cherish their tourists they open the flood gates twice a day for 10 minutes to let the rapids swell up like a theatrical performance for the assembled crowds. I saw it and didn't know if I should laugh or cry. Don't find yourselves in the same predicament. Stay away from there.
The area around Taupo and Rotora are the thermally most active area New Zealands. The thermal energy is used to create electricity. As a reminder, New Zealand is at the forefront at utilising alternative energies. The main power source is hydroelectric, there's a bit of coal and then wind and thermal energy to fill the power grid. New Zealand is completely nuclear free and does not even allow nuclear subs or other craft to venture within 200km of their coastline. Go New Zealand! (And the All Blacks I may add!!)
Great thermal stuff can be seen in this area: Lots of hissing steamy cracks, bubbling mudpools, multicoloured mineral bubbly hot pools, silica terraces and geysers such as Craters of the Moon, Orakei Korako (Hidden Valley), Wai-o-tapu, etc
Rock'N'Ropes
. All quite exciting. They cheat a bit with the periodic eruption of the Lady Knox geyser in Wai-o-tapu by dumping a few pounds of surfactant (soap) into it to break the surface tension of the hot water till it goes Ka-boom. But the coolest thermal activity is jumping in one of the hot pools and streams in this area. There are quite a few great thermal spas in the area and most hotels and even some hostels have their own thermal spring. But let me tell you what really rocks. Finding free pools out in nature. There's a hot and cold stream mixing waters next to the wooden bridge on the access road to Wai-o-tapu so you can find whatever temperature you prefer depending on where you plonk yourself, then there's Kerosene Creek and Butcher's Pool. You might also remember me telling you of the Welcome Flat springs on the Copland track in the southern Alps near Fox. These were definitely the mother of all hot springs. We met up with Sumeshni, Sarit and Silash (damn, still can't spell the brother's name right, apologies, my man) in Rotorua and had a great time with them, although poor Sumeshni had to work a lot. We went Zorbing together which is one of these mad little Kiwi thrill gadgets. It's basically a big plastic ball that rolls down a hillside with you inside it. You can either strap yourself in Da Vinci man style or, like Kathryn, Silash and I did, share one with two other people and a few liters of water and get that authentic feeling I would like to call "the cat in the washing machine"
Rock'N'Ropes parcours
. Great fun, lotsa screams and limbs all over the place. At the end you flop out of a narrow opening with a gush of water sloshing out after you like your own birth relived. Great fun! We also met two lovely German travellers in Rotorua, one of whom, Regine, was so lovely, I couldn't help myself going out with her and selling her our car. It's great to reminisce New Zealand via her tales, as they are doing a similar trip as we were, only backwards. So our car is retracing its steps, going full circle.
Still in Rotorua, we attended a traditional Maori cultural evening with song, dance and a hangi, a traditionally cooked meal in an earth oven. Very touristy, but worth it as we had never been invited to a Maori marae (gathering) during our time in Invercargill. Rotorua is a very traditional region with a large Maori population who are proud of their heritage. Rotorua is a nice place if you don't mind the fact that the whole place persistently reeks of rotten eggs. Apparently the locals don't smell that anymore, though.
The last thing we did up here is go white water rafting in the Kaituna River which culminated in us plummeting down a seven meter waterfall (23ft) in our rubber raft. Major juicy backside was kicked here! Sweet as... the Kiwis would say.
Our journey continued with our next stop going to be black water rafting Waitomo which is sitting on a car tyre inner tube floating through dark caves only illuminated by glowworms
Aratiata Rapids
. Sadly the water levels after strong rains were too high in most of the caves so instead we went caving again with headlights on abseiling down pouring waterfalls, squeezing and climbing through a limestone cave system. Lots of Glowworms her, too. I don't think I've revealed much about these glowworms yet. They are translucent larvae of a fly (hence the equivalent of maggots) that lack an anus, but to make up for this flaw have glowing poo that attracts flying insects in caves or grottos by fooling them into believing they are flying towards the sunlight. The unsuspecting insects then get caught in the sticky threads that the glowworm has dangling underneath it's perch. The stuck insect then gets pulled up on the thread and devoured. When the glowworm is big enough it builds its cocoon and out comes the fly. This fly has a different anatomical flaw: no mouth! This quite effectively limits is lifespan to three days. Now what would you do if you knew you were going to starve to death within 3 days. Right! Sex. Fornicate. Reproduce. And big time! So these randy little flies go loose on each other and when the eggs are fertilised they lay them in little patches and fly out into the sunlight. Wait! Yup, that's right. Most of the stupid little critters end up in their cousin's or aunt's sticky trap and can't complain, cause they don't have a mouth! So to sum things up: glowworms are canibalistic arseless maggots with shiny poo.
While in Waitomo we also went to a pioneer and farm show held by a completely insane redneck kiwi guy
Aratiata Rapids
. It all sounds a bit tacky when I tell you he displayed pigs, cows, chickens, sheep dogs, sheered sheep with old methods and told us how the old-timers would chop down trees. But actually it was very absorbing and highly entertaining and we laughed till our jaws hurt. Next Kathryn and I met up again in Auckland after I had already gone ahead and met up with Regine on her birthday while Kathryn had spent another day with the Singhs in Rotorua.
Auckland is a big 1 million inhabitant city (1/4 of NZ's total population) and has a nice setting in a big bay with islands, recently hosting the catastrophic America's Cup (NZ lost to landlocked but rich Switzerland (I guess that's not really a controversy) in the most prestigeous yacht race on the face of this planet) and priding itself of having the highest building in the southern hemisphere with it's communications building, the Sky Tower. Good view from up there and mad hatters can jump it bungy-style. Other nice spots in Auckland are the war memorial museum and the seaside. Mt Eden is great for night time views of the city. More on Auckland in my first entry from yonks ago.
Kathryn and I did not want to end our trip without travelling to the (allegedly) northernmost point in New Zealand, Cape Reinga, having for 6 months lived at it's (allegedly) southernmost spot. To get up there we travelled first to Whangarei, an interesting place. Next to the very beautiful Whangarei Falls there is one of the (allegedly) 10 best diving spots du monde at Poor Knight's Island. Here you can also dive down to the wreck of the original Rainbow Warrior. Remember the french secret service blew up this Greenpeace Flagship in Auckland Harbour in response to anti nuclear test protests. The ship was then raised and re-sunk near Whangarei so the tourists had a nicer place to dive down to it (!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Huka Falls
. We stayed with Peter and Leone in their BBH hostel and Leone is an avid diver and caver. She can give you instructions for a self-guided tour of the Abbey Caves right outside Whangarei which just is so much more fun than guided tours cause you have that eeriness of being ON YOUR OWN and also truly have the feeling of discovering the whole cave with really pretty remarkable formations in it. You can tell, we got the cave bug and absolutely loved it. Again glowworms galore and a nice grotto where the glowworms reflect in a lake. Ace! Next stop for a history lesson in Waitangi near Pahia where we stayed in the cozy Mousetrap hostel. Pahia is a really cheap backpacker place where we got ridiculous amounts of beer for incredibly little money. Pahia is in the beautiful Bay of Islands where you can cruise around in a boat and go through the terribly tacky "hole in the rock" in a boat. We missed out and rather went to Waitangi which marks the site of the historical signing of the "Treaty of Waitangi" in 1840 betwen the English Crown and over 500 Maori chiefs giving the Queen sovereignty over New Zealand and at the same time guaranteeing land rights to the Maori. This treaty has been exploited and abused numerous times by settlers, but still forms the basis of Pakeha (Europeans) and Maori integration. There is a comitee that decides on property and other claims falling under the treaty by the Maori. Large sums of "Reparation"-type money are paid to Maori annually for successful claims. The big issue right now is the claim of the Maori for possession of all Sea and Shore rights which would have big implications on the fishing industry. The historical site of Waitangi is an interesting place with beautiful views, New Zealands biggest war canoe, the old treaty house and an intricately carved Maori meeting house.
Next stop was Cape Reinga at the Maelstrom (confluence) of the Tasman Sea and the South Pacific where you can get waves of up to 10 m crashing together in a storm
Huka Falls
. The waves were pretty boring, but the wind there was incredible. It rocked the car in the parking lot and made our progress outside difficult. For me the most interesting site there is the ancient forked tree that forms the entrance to the underworld in ancient Maori belief. Nearby are a couple of high sanddunes that you can boogie-board down. We didn't have a board and the wind was too wild to seriously consider stupid stuff. We did it anyway, rolling down the hill. I suspect I've still got sand in body recesses out of my reach.
Last stop in Northland were the ancient Kauri Forests. The Kauri tree is an ancient, giant tree that only grows here in massive trunks of hardwood that have been standing erect here for over 2000 years. Respect. Circumference is up to 13 meters, height up to 55 meters. Traditionally used for Maori canoe building.
That's it for my trip through New Zealand with Kathryn. We had our "last supper" together in Auckland, before she flew to Australia to do her PADI open water diver course with Ping on the Eat Coast. I was on my own now. Boohoo. We had a great time, the two of us and Ray. Kathryn is now keeping me up to date with what it's like being back home with all it's pro's and con's.
So I packed up and drove myself and Ray (the car) back down to Taupo to meet up with Regine and her friend Karin
Craters of the Moon
. We then went back to Tongariro National Park where we skied for a day at Whakapapa, NZ's biggest and very cool ski field, and then did the Tongariro crossing again, this time the right way, not without me taking a photo of the aforementioned whopping great signpost I initially missed when I got lost. Then time had come to leave New Zealand, Regine and Ray for that great big continent that is...
AUSTRALIA!
still reading? tip my hat. Go get a life! Or some coffee...
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...or try yourself at German:
Nächster Stopp war Taupo. Das liegt an Neuseelands größtem See, dem Lake Taupo, der, glaube ich, etwa so groß ist wie der Bodensee und wahrscheinlich die größte Vulkancaldera der Welt ist. Die Gegend zwischen Taupo und Rotoroa ist thermisch hochaktiv und es gibt hier mehrere heiße Quellen, blubbernde Schlammlöcher, Geysire und Silikatterassen
Craters of the Moon
. Die Erdwärme und der thermische Dampfdruck werden hier erfolgreich für die Deckung von etwas 10% des neuseeländischen Strombedarfs genutzt (Der Rest wird hauptsächlich durch Wasserkraft gedeckt, zur Erinnerung: Neuseeland ist komplett atomfrei und lässt noch nicht mal Atom-U-Boote in seine Gewässer).Hier gibt's die Thermalgebiete Craters of the Moon und Orakei Korako (Hidden Valley) und die Huka Fälle zu bestaunen, außerdem die Aratiata Rapids: Stromschnellen, die nur 2mal täglich zu bewundern sind. Den Rest der Zeit ist das Wasser aufgestaut in einem der vielen Wasserkraft-Stauseen und das Flussbett ist trocken. Den Touristen zuliebe werden 2 mal täglich 20 Minuten lang die Schleusen geöffnet. Echt spannend! ;o) In meinem ganzen Leben habe ich noch nicht etwas annähernd albernes erlebt wie das!
Außerdem kann man hier einen Seil- und Balkenhochparcours in 15 Metern Höhe absolvieren, der seinen Kulminationspunkt darin findet, a la Karate Kid auf einem Telefonmast in 15 Metern Höhe aufzustehen und durch die Luft an ein 3 Meter entferntes Trapez zu springen. Spitze! Ist natürlich alles durch Klettergurt gesichert. Trotzdem aufregend, vor allem einen Balken rückwärts entlang zu balancieren.
Orakei Korako
Dann haben wir in Rotoroa unsere Freunde Sarit, Sholash und Sumeshni besucht und mit denen Wai-o-tapu, ein weiteres Thermalgebiet, besucht. Die haben da einen Geysir, dessen Wassererguss sie durch Herabsetzen der Oberflächenspannung des unterirdischen Wasserreservoirs mittels Seife triggern. Ist zwar ein bisschen geschummelt, nicht gerade Old Faithful, dennoch aufregend. Da haben wir dann auch Regine und Karin kennengelernt, mit denen wir dann nach Baden in einem heißen Strom (klasse!) abends eine Maori Kulturveranstaltung in einem Showdorf mit Kriegershow, Tänzen und Gesängen sowie traditionell zubereitetem „Hangi", einem in der Erde gekochten Mahl, verbracht haben. Danach waren wir so in Stimmung, dass Regine und ich die halbe Nacht durchgetanzt haben!
Zwei weitere Spässchen, die wir uns erlaubt haben, waren Zorbing und Weißwasser Rafting. Beides extrem zu empfehlen.
Zorbing kann man entweder Da Vinci-artig aufgespreizt im Inneren einer Plastikkugel angekettet einen Abhang runterkullernd verbringen, oder, wie wir, zu dritt in einer Plastikkugel mit einigen Litern Wasser an Bord besagten Berg herab durcheinander purzelnd. Ein echter Einblick für diejenigen, die immer schon mal wissen wollten, wie sich die Wäsche so im Schleudergang fühlt
Orakei Korako
. Jetzt weiß ich, dass ich verwirrte, aber glückliche Wäsche besitze und werde mal genau hinhören, ob meine Wäsche in der Maschine auch so laut schreit wie wir...Weißwasser Rafting hieß für uns 6 Mann in einem Schlauchboot auf dem Kaituna River. Da gab’s Stromschnellen zu meistern, doch der Hit war der mal eben 7 Meter hohe Wasserfall, den wir lässig gemeistert haben, ohne umzukippen, was keineswegs selbstverständlich ist. Da gibt’s unschlagbare Bilder von. Falls ihr das machen wollt, macht’s mit „Kaituna Rafting“, die heben einen Spitzenfotografen.
Am nächsten Tag ging’s dann nach Waitomo („Wasserlöcher“), einer Gegend mit zahllosen Höhlen und Heimat des Black Water Raftings. Dies beinhaltet das Gleiten entlang unterirdischer Wasserströme in einem Autoreifen-Schlauch. Klang spannen, aufgrund der vielen Regenfälle waren aber die meisten Höhlen wegen Hochwasser gesperrt, so dass wir wieder Spelunkern gegangen sind: in einem abwechslungsreichen Höhlensystem, in dem wir uns mehrfach abseilen mussten, zum Teil durch prasselnde Wasserfälle, und das übliche Robben, Klettern und Glühwürmchen gucken beinhaltete. In Waitomo gab’s auch eine Pioniershow zum Totlachen, in der ein echter australischer Buckaroo die Farmtiere und alte Methoden zum Schafscheren und Bäume Fällen aus der Zeit von vor hundert Jahren vorstellte
A massive ancient Kauri tree
. Klingt langweilig, ich hab mich allerdings die meiste Zeit juchzend am Boden rumgekugelt.Darauf habe ich mich noch mal mit Regine in Auckland getroffen und bin Tags drauf mit Kathryn nach Northland gefahren. Wir haben an der Südspitze Neuseelands gewohnt und wollten das Land komplett von Süd nach Nord durchmessen, mussten also bis hoch nach Cape Reinga. Der erste Stopp war Whangarei, wo wir noch mal eigenständig in den Abbey Caves Höhlenforschen gegangen sind und uns die schönen Whangarei Falls angeschaut haben.
Weiter nach Pahia und Waitangi, die Stätte des „Partnerschaftsvertrags“ zwischen 500 Maori Chiefs und den Briten, „das“ historische Dokument Neuseelands, das nach wie vor Gültigkeit noch vor der neuseeländischen Verfassung besitzt. Es gibt in Neuseeland ein Regierungskommitee, das Klagen der Maori anhört, vor allem bezüglich unrechtmäßig entwendeten Landes und ähnlicher Besitzklagen, und über Entschädigungen bestimmt. Zur Zeit ist das heiße Thema in Neuseeland der Anspruch der Maori auf sämtliche See- und Fischfangrechte. Explosiv! Aber insgesamt haben die Maori viel mehr Akzeptanz und Integration als die australische Aborigines.
Cape Reinga, wo die Tasmanische See und der Pazifische Ozean zusammenfließen, war so windig, dass der arme Ray (unser Wagen) auf dem Parkplatz bedrohlich schaukelte
A bubbling mud pool
. Hat aber Spaß gemacht, uns bis zur Landspitze vorzukämpfen, um den Baum zu sehen, der für die Maori den Eingang zur Totenwelt darstellt. Hier in der Nähe gibt’s auch riesige Sanddünen, die man mit einem Boogie Board runter surfen könnte, wenn man denn eins hätte. Wir versuchten dies mit einer Plastiktüte zu substituieren, mit überaus magerem Erfolg (nicht zu empfehlen, hab wahrscheinlich immer noch Sand in unerreichbaren Rezessen meines Körpers).Auf dem Rückweg nach Auckland haben wir noch Stände der mächtigen Kauri Bäume besucht, traditionell zum Kanubau verwendete bis 2000 Jahre alte Urwaldriesen mit z.T. 13 Metern.
Dann haben Kathryn und ich unser letztes gemeinsames Abendmahl eingenommen uns sind getrennter Wege gegangen. Sie nach Australien, einen Tauchkurs machen und dann heim, ich zurück nach Taupo, um dort Regine unseren treu gedienten Wagen zu vermachen und noch ein paar schöne Tage mit ihr und Karin im National Park Village zu verbringen bevor es weiter über Wellington nach Australien ging.
Wir sind noch am Hang des Ruapehu in Whakapapa Ski gefahren und ich habe mit den beiden einen zweiten Anlauf auf das Tongariro Crossing gewagt, diesmal richtig, und mich sehr über die offensichtliche Grösse des übersehenen Wegmarkers geschämt.
Ray ist inzwischen so richtig mit Flasche umgetauft worden und steht den beiden auf ihrer weiteren Reise treu zur Seite. Er ist inzwischen wieder auf seiner geliebten Südinsel angelangt und wird Regine dort bis März an die schönsten Stellen führen.
