Our local celebrity

Some of you may have watched the Grammy's. If you did, you might recall a young girl called Lorde winning not just one, but two awards. Lorde is a local Auckland singer who has been the talk of the news since I moved here. It's a pretty big deal to have such a successfully world-wide famous Kiwi. We were lucky enough to catch her live as we were walking past the concert site downtown. Here's a glimpse (courtesy of Paul's Sony Cybershot HX20V):

 

I wanted to post a video clip, but it keeps timing out every time I try to upload it. I may try again later, but in the meantime you can look her up on Youtube. Since the Grammy's she's been ever still popular on New Zealand radio, but now with a new song; Ribs. Enjoy!

Taupo

There is actually a lot to see and do in Taupo, and we had a jam packed weekend exploring the sites. I will break them up here and put them in the order we visited more or less.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hole in One Challenge ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the long Tongariro day hike, we grabbed some dinner at a pub in Turangi, met some nice locals to chat with and then headed to Taupo for the night. Right along Lake Taupo, we saw a crowd of people gathered around the "Hole in One Challenge", so of course I had to check it out! Turns out it was a driving range into the lake. You could win vouchers for local attractions if you got the ball in one of the sand bunkers and $10,000 cash if you got a true hole in one! Unfortunately this guy didn't win anything, but he was close and fun to watch. Not a bad location for a driving range either. Apparently they go diving for the balls each day to collect them back, so you don't even have to use the weird floating golf balls.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hot Springs Heaven ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

I think I've found my new favorite hot tub (which probably isn't saying much as I'm not particularly fond of hot tubs in general- they're too hot!) in Taupo Spa Park.Right along the Waikato River there is a hot spring which feeds into it and creates numerous little pools and a series of waterfalls on the way down. We walked the 5 minutes through the field from the car park to find the river, a few people and the hot springs. At the merging of the river with the springs it can be difficult to find the right temperature and it's a strange sensation of being too hot and too cold at the same time. However, just under the bridge is a nice sheltered hot tub, totally enclosed and just the right temperature.

Upon returning the next morning, we found another series of pools up the path a short walk. This one here was beautiful; almost waist deep and nice and warm. Also no one was there so it was like our own little hot tub with built in waterfall jets for back and shoulder massage. Just what the doctor ordered after a long hike!

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Aratiatia Rapids ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After our Sunday morning dip, we drove off to see the sights, starting with Aratiatia Rapids. This is a funny little place that actually entertained me for longer than I was expecting. It's a dam built along the Waikato River, which results in a narrow lake- Aratiatia Lake. Every day at 10am, 12pm, 2pm & 4pm, they open the dam slightly for about 15-20 minutes to let some of the water pass through and fill the pools below. Here is a before and after shot:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Huka Falls ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Our next stop was to Huka Falls, which seem to be more of a rushing water slide than a water fall, at least that's the more impressive part to see. The falls are nice, but not very high and I must admit I'm getting a bit spoiled by beautiful waterfalls here in New Zealand. According to the signs I read, this current is so strong that the salmon and eels can't swim against it and so there are no salmon nor eels in Lake Taupo. Good to know that slimy sensation on your ankle whilst swimming in the chilly Lake Taupo isn't an eel!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Craters of the Moon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

We finally broke down and paid for our first geothermal park- up until this point we'd just been visiting the free ones and I must say they are pretty awesome. I wanted to see what we were missing with the paid entries. I was a bit disappointed. Not sure what I was expecting, but I was hoping to see some bubbling lava (not sure that ever really happens except maybe rarely?). Despite the lack of lava flow, it was a pleasant walk with some great views and some interesting plant life and thermal activity. Probably safer not having the lava!

 

Mount Doom

Those of you Lord of the Rings fans may recognize the volcano on the right above as Mount Doom (I wouldn't know as I've never actually seen the movies). This weekend we decided to take on the greatest day hike on the north island, right along the base of Mount Doom.

 
We had the option of climbing Mount Doom itself, but decided to save that for a trip of its own as it would have added at least 3 hours to our already lengthy hike. I'm more worried about coming back down!

The first stage of the hike was very barren and a bit Mars like. It made me think about what it would be like to live on Mars. Apparently there's a lottery going on now for the chance to colonize Mars. A Kiwi is in the running to win.

The next stage of the hike was a steep uphill climb.Luckily the weather cooperated so it wasn't too hot. I did find myself in tears a few times due to the high winds though, but my handy windbreaker (thanks Mom!) did it's job well.

Once reaching the peak of the pass, we had the opportunity to detour to the summit of Mount Tongariro. This one looked much less intimidating than Mount Doom (no crazy downhill scrambles), so we decided to give it a go. It was well worth it as it offered beautiful views of the Emerald Pools, a great angle on Mount Doom and we were well above the clouds!














The colors and rock formations never disappointed and constantly gave me something to admire. It was a good excuse to stop and take a break from the challenging climb to just enjoy the beautiful nature.

Coming back to the main trail after our summit diversion, we caught our first glimpse of the Red Crater. Such a beautiful deep color and intriguing formations formed from explosions and pressure build ups underneath the very ground we were walking on. 

I mentioned earlier how it was nice to have an excuse to stop and take a break and take in the scenery. Right here at the Red Crater and Emerald Pools, we started seeing lots more warning signs than before and notices that we were entering a highly active volcanic zone. Instructions were to minimize our stops and move through as quickly as possible, so this break for lunch at the edge of one of the emerald pools was our last break for a while.

As we walked through the active volcanic zone, to our right we thought could see steam rising from the mountains. We kept walking further and as we rounded the corner and the mountain moved out of the way, it became very clear where the steam was coming from and that it was not just normal clouds. The warning signs said the risk was 'normal' (the lowest it can be), but you still start to wonder if the scientist know what they're doing and if that steam is going to turn into molten rock at some point.


The rest of the hike was a nice downhill stroll and a bit exhausting. We finally entered the canopy of the rainforest and had some beautifully formed steps - a bit like cheating on a nature hike, but welcome at this point in the day. We practically ran through the rainforest to the finish line, caught our breath and continued the 900m walk to our car. A total of 23.3 km in all from 7am-4pm.