I have been out and about and not good at posting about my trip! Last we left off I just finished walking Lake Waikaremoana.
After we stayed the night in Rotorua, we headed to Waitomo. We booked a Glow Worm Cave trip that included repelling, tubing, rock climbing, squeezing through rock crevices, and of course enjoying and learning about the caves. The "glow worms" are actually maggots that illuminate to attract insects to their webbing to consume during their growing stage. We stayed two nights camping at a free campsite and the second day Lindsay, Tessa, and I hung out in the town of Waitomo playing soccer with some local kids and reading at the library while Sandy went to the Auckland airport to pick up her sister.
The next day we headed to Tongariro and hiked for about 3 hours to our first campsite. It was freezing that night! With the wind chill it was about 15 degrees, but we stayed warm in the hut until we went to sleep in our tents. Our hut guide that night was Maori and led an educational night about the relationship Maori have with the land and how we should respect Tongariro so that future generations could enjoy it.
The next day we woke up to an insane sunrise and did the Tongariro Crossing which included hiking Mount Ngauruhoe. It was pretty much a straight 45 degree hike up around a 2,200 foot tall volcano. At the top, the volcano crater was one of the most beautiful things I've seen. See below for photos, I can't describe! Probably the toughest hike I've ever done but one of the most rewarding. The views at the very top were not great because it was really cloudy, but as you headed down you could see the whole valley. Mount Ngauruhoe is the same mountain as Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings! The way back down was pretty much like surfing down a hill of rocks.
After we hiked up the mountain we ate lunch and headed up another mountain! Ahh, it was tough. But once we hit the top of that mountain, we were overlooking the Red Crater and the Emerald Lakes. Again difficult to describe the beautiful and magnificence of the place, but the lakes were extremely blue and the crater was a red dashed volcano. Just look at the pictures, it almost looks like something from another planet. We reached the hut that night and took a bath in a local waterfall. We got a another great sunset that night between two volcanoes. The following day we hiked the rest of the circuit and it was thankfully very flat.
We stayed at a hostel in Tongariro that night and had some much welcomed beers. The next day we headed to Wellington which was a four hour drive and went out to some local bars and dancing pubs that night. It was a great way to part ways with the rest of our group as Tessa and I headed to Nelson to start working. Since then we have been working at Nelson Paradiso and doing adult activities like test driving cars and setting up bank accounts. We are trying to set up a farm to work on in the south island coming up soon and do the Abel Tasman before we leave.
Sorry for the overload of photos. Everything was so beautiful!!
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