One last Hurrah on Waiheke Island

I had a wonderful second to last day in New Zealand. I made it to the beautiful island of Waiheke, just a 40 minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland. Waiheke is most noted for its plethora of wineries, of which I only visited one, the Cable Bay Winery.



I contemplated skipping this little one-nighter altogether, but was glad I made it. I almost ended up sleeping on the beach because I couldn't find the backpackers lodge in the dark, but ended up splurging on a more expensive place.

Cape Reinga

On Friday, I took a coach ride to the northernmost part of New Zealand, Cape Reinga. Had such a great time, you know how sometimes just the people that you are with make all the difference? Thats how it was. There was a mother and daughter from The Netherlands, a quartet of Germans, an English pair, a Korean girl, a family from Fiji and couple of Koreans. We sang songs and laughed with our driver, Murray, the whole way.

The Lighthouse and view from the top, where the Tasman and Pacific meet.




Took a visit to the Ancient Kauri Forest. These trees are now protected but in places have been preserved in the swamp and they are dug up and made into very expensive and beautiful carvings and furniture.



Well I think I can safely add boogy boarding down the sand dunes as a sport that is pretty hilarious to watch me fail at. For those of you who have never had the pleasure, golf, disc golf and skiing are equally as entertaining. Climbed up the steep hill, mounted the board and away I went...until about half way down when somehow I lost control, let go of the board and tumbled head over heels to the bottom. Twice I did that. I couldn't work up enough courage to try again. I think I had sand in every bodily orifice and I'm sure I swallowed a mouthful.


Now started our coach trip down Ninety Mile Beach (which is really only 64 miles, by the way.) How bizarre!! Riding in a big bus in the sand and surf.

A Day in the Bay

I arrived in Paihia Tuesday afternoon and checked into a little place called the Pickled Parrot. The weather was beautiful and I just relaxed and went for a walk along the beach. On Thursday, I took a boat ride out into the Bay of Islands to see dolphins and rocks.

So if you haven't noticed already, I'm a little obsessed with the geology here. The pictures below show the columnar jointing of basalt as lava cooled quickly, contracted and formed cracks perpendicular to the surface of flow.

The Hole in the Rock. Actually there are several of these. They are formed by the erosion of the soft mudstone while the harder graywacke remains.

Oh and the dolphins were cool, too.




So was the fantastic beach we went to for our lunch break.

Taupo Bungy

Let me just preface this entry by saying that as a child I couldn't even jump off the high dive at swimming lessons. Today, I jumped off a 47 meter high platform above the Waikato River. I won't lie, I had to be pushed a little bit and I screamed the whole time but it was definitely worth it.

This was the boat that picked you up at the bottom. Funny story...this other girl from the hostel, Zoe from England, and I went to do this together. As we're working up the courage we're watching these guys in the boat. They lost one of their long poles in the shallow water near the shore and one of them takes off his shirt and dives in to retrieve it. He does so, but as his mate is pulling him back in the boat, the pole he just retrieved promptly slides back into the water. We're watching the whole thing, the guys don't have a clue. We're anxiously awaiting the moment they discover it missing. So they are heading back to the dock area and about halfway there we see them look around for the pole and realizing what happened, they go back to fetch it again. After that, we decided we had to make the jump, if for no other reason than to tell these guys that we saw it all. It was the best free entertainment I'd had in a while.

The view from up river just a bit. Breathtaking, huh? The river is sooo clear.

Tongariro Crossing

For those of you Lord of the Rings fans, here is Mount Doom, known around here as Mt. Ngauruhoe.



Breathtaking is the only word to describe the Tongariro Crossing. The weather was great except at the very top when I actually got frosty eyelashes.

Its geological heaven. You can actually see the lava flow and where it stopped. So cool. Afterwards, James and I had an fantastic meal at BBQ place in Turangi. Best meal I've had in months.

Skydiving Taupo

Can't believe I really went skydiving!!! I went all out and got the video and everything. Its pretty hilarious - I'll show it when I get back. Its a rush like nothing I've ever felt before.


Luckily, the weather is cooperating and I'll get to hike Tongariro Crossing tomorrow. See you then!

Cheers!!

Whitewater Rafting in Turangi

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures to accompany this awesome trip, you'll just have to take my word for it, we had a fantastic time. Normally the river has an output of 16 cubic meters per second but with all the rain they've been getting and the dam being out of commission it was running more like 38 cubic meters per second. Talk about fun!! We had a super guide and they even gave us a white chocolate treat and fed us sandwiches and tea afterwards. Highly recommend it. If you are ever in Turangi check them out here.

Taupo and Huka Falls

I arrived in Taupo Thursday morning around 10 am, checked into Go Global Backpackers and took a hike to Huka Falls. The falls are on Waikato River which is the longest river in New Zealand. Waikato River is the only drainage for Lake Taupo, a huge crater lake formed thousands of years ago from a super volcano. The river cut into the soft bits of rock but then hit older silicate rock and found cracks and fissures to travel through. Eventually it cut deep enough into the hard bits to reach soft rock again and then collapse to form the tall walls of the river's channel.

Hell's Gate

This place is aptly named. Between the horrendous stench of sulphur and the bubbly mud pits, you'd think you entered Lucifer's lair.






Geologically, though, its heaven. The waterfalls above were once sacred Maori healing grounds. Warriors would come before fighting to mentally prepare for battle and afterwards to bathe their wounds in the medicinal water. People are still using the healing powers of the earth and indulging in mud baths at the spa, conveniently located at the entrance to Hell's Gate.

Apparently the cause of all this mess is the magma chambers that are as close as 2 and a half kilometers from the surface. Normally they are much deeper, around 15 km or so. The pools range in temperature from 40 degrees Celsius to more than 100. In Fahrenheit, thats around 100 to 200 degrees. The hottest is 138 C (about 280 F) The reason for this difference in temp has to do with how deep the vents are that release the gas and steam to the surface. Two pools that are right next to each other can, and do, have a difference of 40 degrees.

We were instructed by our guide to stay on the path since just that morning, we were told, a Japanese man left the path to get a close-up of the bubbly and the ground collapsed near the hot liquid and he had burns halfway up his leg. Needless to say, the scare tactic worked for me and I happily stuck to the trail.

Bentonite is found in large quantities in the area. Its been a while since my Physical Geology class but I remembered it in conjunction with kaolinite and the making of ceramics. But I'm fairly sure its found in the Bootlegger Cove Clay that underlies parts of Anchorage, AK. It looks like crumbly white rock but put under vibration or pressure, the liquid is released and it turns into a runny paste. Its the weirdest thing to be holding a hunk of white earth that turns into liquid right before your eyes.

Rotorua is situated around this entire geothermal area. Even in the center of town there are pools partitioned off so someone doesn't accidentally misstep.

This is my last night here, I'm off to Taupo in the morning. Cheers!!

The Maori Experience

I had a great evening at the Tamaki Maori Village. It was still raining so we didn't spend much time in the village but went directly into the Wharenui (the big house) to watch traditional Maori song and dance.



Later on in the performance, the men were taught some of the moves. It was hilarious to see these old white guys slapping their thighs, sticking out their tongues and bulging their eyes.


Afterwards, we enjoyed a wonderful meal prepared the traditional way in the earth oven. They heat volcanic rocks until they are white hot, put them in a hole, place the meat and vegetables on top, cover the whole thing with burlap and dirt and wait about 3 hours or so and PRESTO! you have a palatable treat. I was seated next to some very nice Aussies who were kind enough to share their wine with me. On the bus ride home, they announced where we were all from and we were supposed to sing a song. I didn't have a clue what to do, so I begged off. The Hawaiians sang a song, as did the Germans, English, Israeli, Irish and Swedish. A good time was had by all.

For more on Maori culture click here.

Rainy in Rotorua

I arrived by bus around 10:00pm last night and went to a hostel called Base Backpackers. Today the rain continues and its a bit discouraging. I did go for a walk along the shores of the lake and saw some of the geothermal pools (and smelled them, too) but by the time I came back I was soaked, even with my raincoat on. There are many different species of waterfowl, even though nothing much grows along the sulphur shores. The pools of muddy boiling water look like something out of a sci-fi movie.

Auckland Botanical Gardens

One of the many beautiful beaches

Rangitoto - New Zealand's Youngest Volcano

Views from the top and at the lava caves. I had to take a ferry to get to the island. Not much on it except for the trees and shrubbery you see in the crater.

Geologically its pretty cool. Its only about 600 years old so where there isn't green, its a sea of basalt.

Year Fours

I couldn't help myself. I had to spend some time with the younger kids. Teacher Sue Cattell is married to Bryce, who is a mathematics teacher in the senior school. Here she has her Octagon and Hexagon math group as she illustrates adding using tidy numbers (multiples of 10.) The Numeracy Project is meant to help children improve their thinking skills while acquiring the necessary knowledge and automaticity of basic facts.