The Adventures of Faye & Brent: Into the Eye of Mordor (and other cool things)

Tongariro Crossing

After leaving Elle's place in Oparau, we made our way to National Park Village, on the edge of Tongariro National Park, and made plans to do the Tongariro Crossing. The crossing itself is a stunning 8 hour hike, going through beautiful scenery, and one of the most visually gratifying hikes I've ever done, or could have imagined. At every corner and over every ridge was a completely different breathtaking view, and something new to wonder at. Unfortunately, it's accessibility and length, as well as it's stunning vistas makes it one of the busiest of the hikes in New Zealand. In the peak season, there could be a couple thousand people per day doing the crossing. Anyway, the hike takes you through some scrub land in the shadow of Mount Ngauruhoe, a volcano better known as the filming location of Mount Doom in The Lord of the Rings Films. Once you reach the base of the volcano you have the option to climb up the mountain or continue on. We started to climb it, then about half to two thirds of the way to the top, the wind came up, blowing sand in our eyes and faces, and dislodging rocks above us. After stopping for a break in the leeward side of a rock outcrop, we decided to turn around and just continue on with the crossing. We consoled ourselves with the fact that Frodo only had to make it halfway up the mountain...


Me and my Precious on Mount Doom

Anyway, after crossing a crater that looks like it could be on the moon, you climb a ridge to be met with a stunning view of a large crater with dark swamps and rocks swirling at the bottom. After climbing another 200m up the slope you suddenly come to the lip of a large red crater, creatively named, the Red Crater. After circling the rim of the Red Crater, you come upon another smaller crater that has collapsed into itself, and these bright green sulfur ponds called, again creatively, the emerald lakes. On the other side of the emerald lakes is a deep blue lake, which could be called nothing but Blue Lake. Seriously, that's what it's called. We took a lunch break at Blue Lake, then started the last part of the track. The walk from here is quite boring compared to the rest of the walk. You basically walk through beech forests down hill for a couple of hours, until you reach the car park.

Mount Ngauruhoe (mount Doom)

The view from partway up the volcano

Over the next ridge, a weird dark wasteland

Waiting for the school group to pass us...

The Red Crater!

The Emerald Lakes

Me next to the Emerald Lakes

By Blue Lake looking back to the Red Crater and Mt. Ngauruhoe

Looking back from the rim of the Red Crater

Blue Lake panorama

Taupo and Skydiviving

The following day, we made our way up to Taupo, where it was such a beautiful day, we decided to go skydiving! So, we strapped ourselves onto an experienced jumper, climbed into a plane to 15 000 feet, then jumped! And what an exhilarating experience! The scariest part was sitting on the ground thinking about it. Once I climbed into the plane, it was sit back, relax while our tandem jumpers did final checks, then it was green light, make our way to the open door and away we were. After a quick backflip, we were in freefall for about a minute, before the parachute opened. The day was so clear we could see both the east and west coasts of New Zealand. If it weren't so expensive, I would have done it again immediately!

Faye Skydiving

Backflip exit!

Starting Freefall!

All Smiles!

This is what happens to your face when you go over 200km/h

Havin' a Time!

Look at all that fun!

High Five!

There is no cure to the dry mouth you get...

Back to Oparau

After spending 3 or 4 days away from Oparau, we just had to go back. Elle was joking that we're the only wwoofers that she's had who know all the back roads into and out of Oparau. Anyway, the reason for going back was for a congratulatory party for Elle, who got a job she was working hard to get. She is now the recruitment adviser for Waikato University for Southeast Asia! Congrats, Elle!

Raglan

We only spent one night in Raglan, because we want to stay a bit longer when we come back to the North Island after Mary and Bob's visit, but what we saw, we really enjoyed. Our hostel here was called Solscape, and it was really cool. The rooms are old cabooses and boxcars, or you have a tipi option. Since it was raining, we were told the tipis weren't faring very well, and that we couldn't stay in one. Anyway, we checked out the beach, watched some surfers for a bit and wandered the town.

Our room at Solscape

Surf lesson at Raglan Beach.

Whangarei

After the party and a couple of days helping Elle and recuperating, we were on our way again. On to Whangarei, where we stayed two nights. We got a double room, that turned out to be our own little house to ourselves. How awesome is that. Anyway, we used our full day to explore the town, and go for a walk on the farm property that the hostel is on. The owner, Darren, spent some time helping us with our map, planning our route for the next part of our journey, through the Northland.

The cottage we had to ourselves

The backside of our little cottage

Ahipara

Ahipara is a tiny town on the south edge of ninety mile beach. The beach isn't quite 90 miles, but it stretches on for what seems like forever, and you are allowed to drive your vehicles down it during low tide. Everything from little hatchbacks to tour busses were on the beach, and of course, we had to try it. So, we took Leo down to the beach, and did a few doughnuts on a deserted stretch before heading back to the hostel. The hostel we stayed in was directly across the street from the beach, so we went down and hung out at the beach for a bit, before heading on.

The view from the hostel

90 mile beach, stretching as far as the eye can see

90 mile beach sunset

Cape Reinga

After Ahipara, we made our way to the northernmost part of the North Island, Cape Reinga. It reminded me a lot of Peggy's cove, with all the tour buses, a small walk down to a lighthouse, and not much else. The scenery was beautiful though, and it was a pleasant drive that made it all worth it.

Cape Reinga

Cape Reinga lighthouse

Maitai Bay

On our way back down the east side of the northland, we stayed at a DOC campground at Maitai Bay. We planned on just staying one night, but the weather was hot and sunny, and there was a beautiful sand beach not a 3 minute walk from our tent, so we decided to stay an extra day to soak up some sun and lounge on the beach. Another thing we decided would be a good idea was to use my beard trimmer to cut my hair. Unfortunately, beard trimmers were made for beards, not head hair, and when we tried, all that we succeeded in doing was cutting a small patch out of the front and one out of the back. We had a great time, but we packed it in early, as we had to pick up some books and prepare for our Advanced Open Water diving course in Kerikeri.

It's attacking me

The beach by the campsite

Faye playing in the surf

Kerikeri

After picking up our dive manuals, we had a full day to soak in the sun and study up for our course. The hostel we stayed at in Kerikeri is located on a mandarin orchard, and every day the bowls on the table are magically refilled with fresh mandarins. There is also a small pool, 3 dogs (Rocky, a geriatric German Shepherd with bad hips, Weewee, a roley-poley dog, and Nika, a 3 month old Black Lab puppy) 2 pigs and about 10 chickens, which provide fresh eggs. So, the plan for our dives was to do 3 dives the first day, to get our Advanced Open Water certification, and then two more dives the second day, out to the Rainbow Warrior. As in all things though, plans tend to change. We got our first day in as planned, doing a dive to practice our Navigation skills underwater, another to practice buoyancy control and a third to take some pictures with underwater cameras. For our second day, the weather was less than cooperative, and so it was postponed for two days, then postponed again for another day, and then when we went to dive, the owner of the dive shop forgot to tell us it was postponed for one more day. So, we got up super early for nothing. We decided to visit Rainbow Falls instead, which is a pretty falls close to Kerikeri. Over the last couple of days, we've also seen the Stone Store (New Zealand's oldest stone building) as well as checked out the free samples at the chocolate factory and the fudge factory (multiple times each).