New Zealand Part III - Huka Falls or Lothlorien

When we arrived in Taupo, it was late in the afternoon. We found our awesome hotel which we had originally booked for two nights but because of our schedule rearranging would now only be staying at for one night. At the time we didn't realize just how bummed we would be about not getting that second night. All we could really think about at that point was how much we already loved Taupo. It was a beautiful city sitting on the banks of the huge Lake Taupo. Plus it had the best road sign I've ever seen.

We decided that if we ever talked our family into moving to New Zealand, Taupo was where we would want to live.

After dropping off our luggage, we drove downtown to check out the shops and eat dinner. We also needed to figure out what we were going to do the next day--the day we had originally planned to hike the Tongariro Alpine Crossing--the day that heavy rain was predicted. Back when John had been making all those phone calls in Rotorua, he had contacted the tour company that was going to bus us to and from Tongariro National Park to see if they would still take us on the rainy day. We had ponchos, so we didn't mind if it rained a little while we were hiking. They pretty much told him, "No way". They were already planning on being closed that day because the amount of rain that was expected was going to make the hike too dangerous. So, now we had a rainy day with nothing to do.

Fortunately, while we were in one of the touristy shops, we struck up a conversation with the lady that was working there that evening. She was really nice and kind of reminded us of our mom. We told her all about our foiled plans, that we were thinking about trying to find some hot springs, and that we really wanted natural springs, not a spa. That's when she (with only slight reluctance) told us about Spa Thermal Park--the location of the natural hot springs the locals use. She said the park used to be a big secret, but more and more people were finding it. She suggested we go to the hot springs in the morning when it was raining the most (more rain equals less people) and then continue along the trail that would take us to Huka Falls. She also warned us to stay out of the Waikato River because of it's strong currents.

The next day we found ourselves running down a trail through icy cold rain in search of the hot springs. 

Once we were nice and toasty and relaxed, and the rain had mostly stopped, we trekked back up to the car to dry off a little and grab sweatshirts. We then headed back down the trail toward Huka Falls. I think it was about a three mile or so hike total--a perfect warm up for our 12 mile adventure that was coming up the next day.

The scenery around the trail was very pretty. The falls were a bit different than what we'd pictured. We were thinking tall waterfall when in reality it was a pretty short waterfall. What draws people to Huka Falls is the amount of water spilling from it:

"The Waikato River, normally up to 100 metres wide, abruptly narrows to just 15 metres as it crosses a hard volcanic ledge north of Lake Taupo. This causes a huge volume of water to collide and funnel through the rocky gorge, forming the spectacularly powerful falls and rapids. The sheer volume of water flowing through the rock face of the mighty Waikato River amounts to 220,000 litres per second; enough to fill one Olympic sized swimming pool in 11 seconds!"

On our hike back we stopped to take some pictures. 

At one point John told me to act natural--like there wasn't a camera in my face. Apparently this is what I look like when I'm "acting natural!" I'm admiring the Silver Fern I suppose. John and I both ended up bringing home Silver Fern necklaces to remember our time in New Zealand.

Roadblock! This was on our way back. By then someone had cleared out a lot of this fallen tree. On the way there we kind of had to pick through it. It was super prickly and John ended up with the first of several flesh wounds he would incur in the next 24 hours.

Aside from the prickly tree, it was a fantastic day! So fantastic, that after cleaning up at our hotel, we went back to the touristy shop we'd been at the night before to thank our new friend for the great advice she'd given to us. As fate would have it, our conversation at the shop turned to a death that had occurred the previous Saturday--the death of a man who had been hiking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing--the very hike we were scheduled to take the next day. I couldn't keep my eyes off the newspaper that held the story. As John was browsing the store I read the story. Anxiety set in. I had been so excited to visit Mordor, but now I didn't know if I could do this. Surely this was a sign that we should stay away.

At this point in our trip, John had developed a bad case of Montezuma's Revenge (must have been a virus since he got it too). He was a little worried about a 12 mile hike with no bathrooms and was kind of letting me use that as an excuse if I wanted to back out, and yet we still went shopping. We still bought the recommended amount of water and Gatorade and snacks. We still packed our backpacks. We still planned for an early bedtime. But, we still weren't sure if we were going. 

That night John told me all I had to do was tell him I wanted to back out, and he would cancel our bus ride. I knew how badly he wanted to hike Mt. Doom, so I couldn't make a decision. I didn't want to disappoint him, but at the same time I didn't want to die! I just knew I was going to be the next victim of Mordor (anxiety can do crazy things to a person). We set the alarm for 5:00 am and went to bed not knowing whether or not we were going to take the One Ring through Mordor the next day . . .

Note: While none of the Lord of the Rings filming took place in Taupo, we decided this part of our journey was Lothlorien because it was quite relaxing and very beautiful. Really, most of the filming was done on New Zealand's South Island, and we were staying on New Zealand's North Island. Guess we're just going to have to go back some day! Also, I know, we're total nerds!

New Zealand Part II - Waitomo Caves or The Mines of Moria

Our plan for the rest of the time we were in New Zealand went as follows: Wednesday-Maori Cultural Center in Rotorua, Thursday-Tongariro Alpine Crossing near Taupo, Friday-Waitomo Caves in Waitomo, Saturday-possible beach day near Auckland but still undecided, Saturday night-catch an airplane back to the USofA.

When we arrived in Rotorua the smell of sulpher surrounded us, and we noticed sulphuric steam streaming out of gutters and man holes all over the place. New Zealand as a whole is highly volcanic, but it was definitely more pronounced in Rotorua. It was raining but not heavily, so we figured the next day would be fine at the cultural center. We checked out the forecast for the rest of the week, which is when we realized our plans were maybe not going to come to fruition. Heavy rain was predicted for Thursday-the day we were going to take our 12 mile hike on difficult and rough terrain through an Alpine environment. At first we had no idea what to do. Our hotels were booked, our plans were made. We had come all the way to New Zealand for this. If it rained too much, our cave tour would be cancelled. We were feeling pretty down, but then we took action. While I went to start laundry, John got to work making phone calls. We spent the rest of that day figuring out how to make our plans work.

We came up with several ideas, but none of them seemed like the best idea. We were tired, and we couldn't make a decision. Finally the decision was made for us around 9:00 that evening. I had just climbed into bed for the night when I heard John say, "Oh crap! The Black Water Rafting Company (Waitomo Caves) emailed me back and said we're booked for 8:00 tomorrow morning!"

John felt bad. It was a two hour drive to get there, we were tired, we were supposed to bring towels with us, we didn't have towels, and everything was closed for the night. We asked our hotel if we could buy some of their towels. They said no. We thought about taking just one towel. We could share it, and we'd totally bring it back when we came back through Rotorua. But, then we decided it would be bad karma. Plus, you know, it would technically be stealing even if we were going to bring it back. We set an alarm for 5:30 am and went to sleep.

The next morning we got up, left our hotel as quickly as possible and headed out into a stormy predawn. I was feeling nervous. We were making our way to the Black Abyss tour, and I had a family at home that was expecting me not to die. When I'd first read about the tour it had sounded totally and completely awesome:

"Black Abyss is the ultimate Waitomo adventure and is the caving tour of choice for natural born adrenaline junkies everywhere.

Descend into the seemingly bottomless black depths of the glow worm studded Ruakuri Cave. This five hour expedition combines abseiling the 35 metre tomo, climbing, whizzing down a flying fox and cave tubing underneath glow worms into one unforgettable journey."

But, now that we were actually headed to the tour I started thinking about the reviews I'd read. Reviews that claimed you had to be the kind of person who would jump out of airplanes to enjoy this. Reviews that claimed the water was full of eels. Reviews that talked about how scary and cold and dangerous this was going to be. Anxiety had set in.

Fortunately, I didn't have a ton of time to dwell on my anxious thoughts because we were on a schedule, I was navigating, and we were hoping to find an open store that had towels for purchase before our arrival at the caves. We did end up finding an open grocery store. We parked the car, hoped there would be towels (even a dish towel would do at this point), ran, found over-priced towels, purchased them, raced back to the car, got back on the road and arrived at the Black Water Rafting Company with only a few minutes to spare.

We were going to do this! We met our tour guides and the rest of our group. The guides outfitted us in very fashionable (not really) wet suits and other safety gear, and then we headed out for some training in how to not kill ourselves while we abseiled into a black pit of nothingness. It was awesome!

John and I with our super fun tour group. The two next to us are from Switzerland and the girl in front of them (Vanessa) is from Germany.

Practicing for abseiling.

Headed down into the caves.

Getting ready to jump off this cliff into the icy, eel filled water.

Glow Worms!

Sliding into the abyss.

The only eel we actually saw. He didn't really care about us. 

We got done with our tour so quickly that our guide took us on part of the dry tour as well. We climbed through crevices, got muddy, climbed a couple of waterfalls and eventually made our way out of the caves.

Looking fantastically blubberous in our wet suits! 

We had so much fun on this tour! The anxiety I had felt was all for nothing. I'd do this again in a heartbeat. What a great adventure it was!

After rinsing off and drying off (hence the need for the towels), we met up with our group again and ate a yummy lunch of tomato soup and bagels. Before long it was time to say goodbye. We drove Vanessa back to the camp she was staying at (she was on a back packing trip), and then we drove for two hours to Taupo--the beautiful city that lives in the dark shadow of Mordor.

Note: Even though filming did not take place in these caves, John aptly labeled this part of our Lord of the Rings journey, "The Mines of Moria."

A Once in a Lifetime Trip to New Zealand Part I - Hobbiton

The flight from Tahiti to New Zealand was five and a half hours, and we lost a day along the way when we crossed the International Dateline. That was a bit odd--leaving on a Sunday evening and arriving late Monday night. I wrote one more email to Chris the night we arrived in Auckland. After that we were so busy that I didn't get a chance to write again. Our first experience in New Zealand was kind of hilarious and is best described in the email I sent to Chris:

"We arrived in Auckland about an hour and a half ago, and I am now sitting in our hotel room with my back to the shower while John showers. Why? Because it's see through! We just about died. There's a 'privacy' screen, but it's still see through enough that it's more than a bit unnerving. 

Today was just packing and traveling. It was a little sad to leave Tahiti behind, but it will probably be good to get out of the constant sun. Despite all the sunscreen I've used, my forehead is peeling. John electrocuted himself again today. Not as bad, but still not good. We need to figure out why he keeps getting electrocuted by the adapter. My tummy is feeling better, so that's happy. Must have gotten some mild food poisoning."

After a good night's sleep in Auckland, we rented a car, and John prepared to drive on the wrong side of the road. My job was to navigate and keep reminding him where the car should end up as we made turns and entered and exited roundabouts. He got so used to driving that I ended up not driving at all. He said the hardest part was getting his blinker and wind shield wipers mixed up. Everything was on the opposite side from what we're used to. 

Our first destination was a two hour drive to Matamata where we began our Lord of the Rings journey. With the One Ring in hand we made our way to Hobbiton. The drive was gorgeous. Almost immediately, we both fell in love with New Zealand.

Party Tree! 

 

Bag End!

Samwise Gamgee's House

The Green Dragon

Hobbiton was awesome and pretty much exactly what we expected. After our tour we jumped back in the car and drove for another hour to Rotorua where we planned on staying the night and spending the next day. That's when things became a little bit complicated . . .