Westport

A couple of short walks on the way and with the weather now good after the storms the idea of some outdoor activities sounded pretty appealing, on offer there is a range of things from jet boating to quad biking which is what we decided on, these were rear wheel drive quads so lots of fun and liked to do doughnuts.

Now incredibly muddy we continued to the hostel to find our bags waiting there, we were staying at Basils hostel which isn't like any other I have stayed in; the bedrooms and showers are pretty standard however the kitchen looks like a house kitchen, with herbs & spices by the oven and with all wooden side and hanging pans you wouldn't be shocked to find a Rayburn in the corner. That night Kane (our driver) had organised a 3 legged pub crawl, not to a lot of pubs just 3 but it was a great way to meet new people and be led into different friend groups. The next day a large group from the bus stayed behind to spend an extra night so that they might go surfing or mountain biking which were available as long as that is what the owner wanted to do that day.

We headed south stopping at a few places on the way where we could look over a cliff down to a small fur seal colony, from a distance they could often be almost impossible to determine from the rocks until they moved. Then further down the cost we stopped at the Pancake rocks (Punakaiki) where the sea has worn away at the layers of rocks to create some spectacular shapes

We were then given our fancy theme for the night and were told we would soon be stopping in Greymouth to collect supplies.

Kaitiritiri

The translation of this would be Food Plenty Plenty, being on the coast this was originally a Maori fishing village however it is now a holiday area with mini golf and boat rides. It is a short stop from the abel tasman national park with boat taxi's taking you right into the heart, however we arrived just as a large storm was approaching the north island as was on it's way south, with all activities postponed or cancelled the bus decided to leave earlier the next morning to try and outrun the storm as we headed south. We had time for a short walk in the evening along the coast passing through a small woodland that had trees with trunks black as though burnt and wasps roving all over them, we didn't stick around long.

The plan of our coach driver paid off and as we drove south towards Westport the weather cleared although we heard the news about the country to the north and it didn't sound like fun, ferries cancelled, 12m swell and trees being blown over.

Wellington

We only stopped over a night, arriving late and leaving early however the short time there was good, on going to make dinner a lady walked in to the kitchen with with two large parcels, she was with a school and these were left over fish and chips and it was tasty. Some pool with a few of the guys I had met up in Taupo before off to bed for an early start, there were a few things that looked good to do in Wellington, however we head north in a couple of weeks so will see these again when we return.

We wake early and go on the ferry to Picton passing through areas that looked like Norweigian fjords before continuing our journey on coach and off to Kaitiritiri.

River Valley

We continued our drive south passing by hills that looked remarkably like the ones near Hobbiton and in the movies, Kane our driver said it was one of his top drives in NZ, it was super windy, especially for a coach to be going down, ending in a steep valley at the foot of a mountain.
Here you can go white water rafting, horse trekking, yoga or swimming in the river which I can tell you is rather chilly, they have a device that you use to go across the river which is pretty much a hanging platform on a pulley.


We had pretty bad weather when we were there so most activities were off and you can't trek too far up the mountains without getting to signed telling you to stop as your entering hunting area. The cheaper option for beds are in dorms of 16 although it's nearer to one big bunk bed than anything else, this would be a good place to come back to with nice weather but you would quickly run out of activities if you stayed for more than a few days.

Taupo - Tongariro Crossing & Mt Doom

We left Rotarua in the morning, this time it's a new bus and new people including Kane our bus driver. On arriving in Taupo we meet Adam looking rather tired and not too happy, he tells us about his crazy day getting lost on the Tongariro crossing and that Miles had to go home in the middle of the night. The Base Hostel where we stay is nice however being over the top of the bar isn't good when you have a 5am wake up planned, even with earplugs in you can feel your bed move with the base.

Up and on the bus it's time to take on the 17km crossing, this sounded fairly short and easy to me however in hindsight I should have thought a little more about the inclines involved, the first hour was pretty much flat, gently working its way up the valley following the stream to the base of the Devils stairs, this was stairs all the way from the valley to the saddle of the mountains I'm not sure on the number but it felt like at least 666 of them. The map we were all handed states that one those who find the stairs easy should attempt mount Nrepahue (mount doom) the stairs were ok but I’m fairly certain that no one finds that many stairs at altitude easy.

I left the others and started the assault on the mountain alone, the clouds had closed in so I only aimed to reach the cloud line and head back so I started with a bit of a jog, this only lasted a few minutes before breathing became an issue and it slowed to a quick hike.

As I climbed the lower slopes I met others doing the same and we all joined together to form a group of around 9, a couple of which were guys I had met on the Kiwi Experience buses on previous days. On reaching the ever lowering cloud line we all decided to continue to head up the slope until visibility was a little less, the guide map clearly stated to not go up the mountain if you could not see all of it due to cloud cover however once you start climbing it's hard to turn around and give up, although a couple of people started to head back. With the fellowship already falling apart and the angle of the slope ever increasing the intensity of the climb was getting to a lot of us, the footing was so loose that you would often slip and spent most of the time scrambling up the slope with our hands.

We had climbed for around an hour and a half now and visibility was exceedingly poor, occasionally you would hear others around but not see them so there was often a lot of calling around the mountain trying to work out where we were and how much further there was to go. At this point we were notified that it was about 40 minutes, then with everyone getting near breaking point one of the others cried out “For Frodo” and then started scrambling quickly almost at a run up the hill which had everyone laughing again.

At our next meeting we were told if we headed left then there was an old lava flow we could walk up that was stable and so less scrambling in the scree, so we shuffled across to this and then had a little rest and time for a snack. At this point the group had greatly depleted with just 4 left and Anders was worried about missing the bus so he turned back leaving 3 remaining, I shot on ahead wanting to reach the top soon as snow had started to fall. With the slope feeling endless I reached a point that was comfortable to wait for the others and on arriving I said I would go to the next lip and then we'd have to head back to reach the bus in time.

The cloud cleared slightly to show a dark ridge about 50m above we decided that we'd have to check that out to see if it was the top just in case, so Tyll went on to have a look. He called down that he was standing on the craters edge, hearing this I ran up to the summit leaving anders to follow up behind as he had all the way up the mountain doing a superb Gollum impression.

Photo's taken and with an Englishman from Tunbridge called Tim joining us it was time to head back, the snow was now falling hard and settling quickly so the priority just became to get off the mountain. Names exchanged it was time to run, Camera fixed to hand and loose footing, running and sliding through the scree had Tim and I back at the bottom in 20minutes.

The rest of the walk we were just playing catch up as I had Bex's lunch and Tim's wife had walked on ahead when he climbed the mountain, the weather furthered it's efforts against us, seeming to throw at us everything imaginable, with the occasional break for us to take some photo's and look at the view.

A long day on the trek continued passing by other craters, some still active and the emerald lakes before the routes winds it's way around the mountains and into the valleys descending down what feels like a never ending slope into a thick woodland, crossing many now fast running streams before emerging into an opening filled with buses and we had finished. Another pool tournament & night above the bar in base hostel wasn't amazing but with everyone so tired it was less of an issue.