Maori Carvings

Even though this was on our itinerary last time, I completely forgot to carry through with the planning and we missed it.  There are Maori carvings on Lake Taupo. While they're not that old (1960s), they are carved using the traditional style by a Maori descendent.  There are only a couple of ways to get there to see them: charter a boat, or kayak out there yourself.  Naturally Jeremy and I chose to kayak out there ourselves.  We were a bit worried about the weather because it was cloudy and looked like a storm was coming through.  The waves on the lake can get quite large and we didn't want to mess with that.  We sat talking to the rental lady for a bit before just deciding to give it a go.  I'm glad we did because we had a perfect window of perfect weather.  

On our paddle out we had nice, smooth water.  I didn't want to take any chances on not reaching the carvings before the storm though, so we didn't take much of a break while we traveled.  I was almost getting tired when we finally turned around the last bend...and didn't see them!  We kept following the coastline in some more...and didn't see them.  Went in deeper and finally found them.  Whew!  It was so cool looking. We took robot with us on this adventure and brought him out to pose for a picture.  

The face on the large wall is the most iconic image of this site, but the smaller carvings on the rocks just to the left of it were just as impressive.  We beached our kayak and went exploring.  We were able to get up close and personal to the faces and animals there.  

We pulled out our PB&J sandwiches and dined on the rocks.  For some reason we couldn't piece together, there were no other boats on the lake at all.  We couldn't see any sail boats or pleasure boats out in the middle of the lake.  We also didn't see any tour boats near us.  It was a calm and perfect little picnic spot.  

About the time we were wrapping up, two tour boats showed up and it was perfect timing.  We pushed off the rocks and headed back to the harbor.  We were going with the wind by now so it was pretty easy going.  

We stopped in one cove just to listen to the animals on the shore.  It was basically silent and so nice.  

But as we turned around and saw the black clouds and heard the lightning behind us, we decided we needed to get going.  No joke, as soon as we pulled out our kayak about an hour later, the storm hit.  It stayed windy for the next two days so I'd say we timed that perfectly.

Tongariro Alpine Crossing

Our epic experience this trip was our hike over Tongariro Alpine Crossing.  It is listed as one of the best day walks in all of New Zealand.  It takes roughly six to eight hour,s and because the elevation gain is so great you can never really be too sure of the weather any given day.  Because of that, it's a good idea to watch the forecast carefully and there are multiple turn around points if the weather gets too bad.  Jeremy and I really lucked out and had fabulous weather that day.  We had to drive down to the trailhead bright and early so we could catch a shuttle to the beginning of the trail.  

As we started our walk I was just so impressed with the beauty I saw around me.  I don't know if it was the sunrise or the natural beauty of the terrain, but I just felt like relishing every moment as we walked through the heather.  

The first part of the hike was nice and easy, and we could see our destination in the distance, Mount Ngauruhoe, or more commonly known to Lord of the Rings fans as Mount Doom.  

It is a popular trail and we were being passed by crazy speed hikers at the beginning of our hike.  However, as we worked our way up the Devil's Staircase that was when our fitness came into play and we made it to the top in no time.  Up in the shadow of Mount Doom we ate our lunch, just grateful that there was no volcanic activity at the time!  

Showing off some Risas pride!

As we walked through the South Crater I couldn't help but think, "This is actually a volcano.  This is a little bit crazy!"  It looked like it could be featured on some type of alien landscape postcard.  It was pretty awesome.  

Jeremy and I used this time to look at the map given to our by the shuttle driver.  Each section of the trail was identified with a smiley face showing how difficult it was.  It was kind of fun and a little foreboding looking at everything we still had in front of us.  I kind of wish Dan would write our workouts this way!  

Up at the Summit of the Red Crater we got our first glimpse of what the weather could be like up there.  The wind was so strong and gusty.  If there was any type of rain or snow it would have been miserable.  But the views from the top were stunning.  

I love seeing a blanket of clouds below me.  It makes me feel like I'm walking in air or in my castle in the clouds.  

Mount Doom with just a hint of cloud before it was covered up entirely in a few minutes.

The Emerald Lakes were what I was most looking forward to.  The color of the water reminded me of Bear Lake or Yellowstone.  I love seeing the color that the minerals make the water.  It would have been so easy to sit and just stare at that water all afternoon. Unfortunately there were so many other hikers that it took some of the serenity away from the experience.  

We had to slide down a shale slope to get to the lakes, and found some vents on the far side of the second lake.  That smell brought me back to our trip to Rotorua with all of the vents there.  

Further down the mountain we found Blue Lake where we stopped for another little break.  We didn't stay long however because we were watching a front of clouds move in.

  The next portion of our trip was all in fog.  I have no idea what we were missing on the other side of the fog, but the walk through it was fabulous actually.  It felt like it was just me, Jeremy, and the trail.  

I could see little pockets of tundra landscape and it looked just as stunning as what we saw at the beginning of our day.  

The clouds cleared up and we had one last final push to the end of the trail. After miles of switchbacks we ended up in a forest with trees, boardwalks, and a river.  It felt worlds away from where we had been a couple of hours ago.  

When we made it back to our car, we had hiked 14 miles in about 5:30 hours.  Our legs were tired, but we didn't regret the experience one bit.  It makes me want to go find some more epic hikes, because New Zealand has so many of them. 

Hot Water Beach

After Cathedral Cove we drove down the shore to hot water beach.  There is geothermal activity near the surface here which means near high tide all you have to do is dig a hole in the sand to get your own hot tub!  It sounded so cool and worth the experience.  Something I forgot to look up though in all of my researching, was what time high tide was!  When we got there all we saw were giant abandoned holes.  If it dug my feet into the sand I could find some warmth, just teasing me because it was out of reach.  

I did find one with a bit of hot water in it, and it really was warm!

I decided to lay down in the hole anyway and pretend it was full of warm water.  

It was remarkably quiet and peaceful down in that hole...at least until a fellow beach goer and hole digger accidentally dumped a bucket of sand on mine and Jeremy's head!  He only spoke German and tried apologizing, but it was just too funny.  

After that we decided to climb the rocks to get a better view of the beach.  I can just imagine how great this is when the water is there.  We would have had to wait an extra hour and a half though.  We still had a three and a half hour drive to Taupo and couldn't stick around that long.  It was a fun, memorable visit though!

Cathedral Cove

Yes!  We have landed in New Zealand.  I love it here.  It is green, peaceful, gorgeous, unique, quiet, and calls for adventure.  Our flight landed at 8:00 AM so we had the whole day to enjoy when we landed.  Instead of driving south to Taupo immediately, we decided to drive out to the Coromandel Peninsula since we've never been there before.  Our first stop was breakfast at a great little cafe there at the Hahei Beach Cafe.  We were starving and ordered a great big breakfast complete with cake!  Afterwards we put on our swimming suits and started walking to Cathedral Cove.  It was about a 45 minute walk, which after the hours spent on the airplane felt just perfect.  The forest we walked through, and the views made getting there just as great as being there.  

When we first walked down the steps to the beach I kept looking at the cave thinking that it didn't look quite like I expected it too.  Still pretty, but too dark for excellent pictures.

  As we looked through the cave to the other side it looked a lot more appealing over there, mostly because it was less crowded on that side.  The price we had to pay was wading through the ocean-gasp! We had to get wet!  For those who were a little cold it wasn't a price they were willing to pay and as a result we had the beach mostly to ourselves.  The waves were a little rough and I was a little cold, so I didn't really want to spend much time swimming.  Jeremy doesn't let things like temperature get in his way and wandered out to a rock perched in the bay.  It is surprisingly large and the waves made a really cool noise as they broke against it.  

I sat up on a bleached tree for awhile just enjoying the view.  There are so many cool rocks out there in the bay.  I'd love to be able to spend more time on the coasts of New Zealand to explore all of them.  

So picturesque!  This is what I was expecting.

Back on the other side of the cave (tunnel?) we found a much more crowded beach, but still some things that we worth seeing.  This is Sphinx Rock.  I love how the seagulls are perched out there like they own the place.  They probably do!  

We also found these vines with ground water dripping down them creating a type of fresh water shower.  It was very cold and not worth it to me though.  What a great start to our week!