The Whanganui River Journey

One of the 9 great walks of New Zealand is actually a great paddle, taking 5 days, and covering 130km between Taumaranui and Pipriki on the mighty Whanganui River.

We decided to do this one with a guide, partly because they bring along good food, beer and wine, but also to lead us through the rapids. These turned out to be a little bigger than Hannah was hoping for... More on this later.

The scenery was beautiful, with deep gorges, more tree ferns than you can shake a prehistoric stick at, and giant rata trees poking through the canopy. Some of the rata trees were in flower (unusual, as they should flower in December).

The river was much quieter than we were expecting, with only the occasional other canoeists and kayakers and a couple of jet-boats on the last day.

One of the interesting sights along the way was the Bridge to Nowhere. This is a road bridge in the middle of the jungle that doesn't have any roads joined to it. Very bizarre. It was built in the 30s (I think) before the depression ended the project and the actual road was never built.

We saw loads of wildlife, including deer, goats, pigs and various waterfowl including Hannah's favourites, the Paradise Shellduck.

Less welcome was the possum that did its best to keep us awake by scampering around on the roof of the hut. We thought that someone was outside stomping around on the deck. Who'd have thought that an animal the size of a rabbit could make so much noise.

So it turned out that Hannah and I are really good at canoeing.. We didn't fall in at all... erm..  honestly...  Ok we did. On a particularly nasty rapid on the last day, Hannah decided that it could not be canoed, and it seemed better to bail out. Dave wasn't of the same opinion, but it turned out that this wasn't a democracy, so in we went.

On the plus side, the waterproof phone did turn out to be waterproof, and we justified the purchase of the camera drybag. We even managed to keep hold of our hats!

Luckily it was sunny, and we had dry clothes. We only had one set though, which made the rest of the day a little more intense, and Dave insisted on a vote before each rapid.

Though we enjoyed it, we're glad to be back on dry land, and sleeping in a proper bed.

Ruapehu

We arrived at the guide centre bright and early, and the day was looking clear (apart from a worrying pre-storm cloud on one of Ruapehu's summits).

The guide (spud) however was looking a bit glum and only offering a 50:50 chance of going up due to the aforementioned impeding cyclone. To make matters worse, the chair lift was suffering with mechanical problems.

We hung around for an hour and then Spud said that we could go for it if we were happy to risk walking back down the chairlift run if they closed due to wind. He was still pessimistic about allowing us up to the crater-lake due to strong winds on the summit ridge.

So we went for it.

It was freezing on the chairlift and we finally needed the winter clothes that we've lugged around for the last 6 weeks.

Spud was in regular contact with the base station and their weather reports and was constantly checking his wind meter with a worried look on his face. At one point, he called his mate, who ran a scenic-flight company, and could see the south side of the mountain. Unfortunately his mate was in Taupo, not flying the aeroplane that had just flown over us.

We pressed on as it wasn't getting worse, and eventually made the ridge, to find excellent visibility, and no more wind than you would find on a typical British hillside. Spud looked a bit sheepish and explained how difficult it is to predict NZ weather.

We hiked up the ridge and finally found the crater lake.

Today, it was a metallic grey and steaming gently. The guides reckoned that it is about 25 degrees C, and pH 1.1.
It apparently fluctuations between 15 and 60 degrees on a timescale that depends on what mood Ruapehu is in.

All that remained was to head back down to the chairlift, safe in the knowledge that the light breeze will not have closed it.

As it turned out, there was an easier way down than we'd come up. Simply find a patch of snow and boot-ski down to the chairlift.

Tomorrow morning, we're heading off on the Whanganui river canoe, so you won't hear from us for a week or so.

The world-famous Raurimu Spiral

What do you mean you've never heard of it?

Ok, so neither had we. And after visiting it, we now know why.

To quote the Lonely Planet, "Trainspotters will marvel, while non-trainspotters will probably wonder what the hell they're looking at"... So we had to go and see it.

The Raurimu Spiral is a bendy bit of train track for getting trains up a steep bit of hill. It involves a big loop and then a spiral, with a couple of tunnels thrown in for good measure. Apparently an engineering masterpiece in its day (1906), it is hard not to be underwhelmed by the experience 109 years later. It doesn't help that you can't actually see any of it, even from the specially designed viewing platform! At least there is a model to give you a clue. Perhaps the photos will enlighten you, perhaps they won't. Either way, I wouldn't lose any sleep if I were you!

After lunch we went up to the visitor centre on Ruapehu to chat to the guys who are taking us up tomorrow. We also called in to the DOC office to check the weather forecast. Apparently they are expecting 120km/h winds in a couple of days. This is due to cyclone Pam which has just caused a major disaster in Vanuatu. 

If all goes to plan we'll be heading up here tomorrow (yes, we are taking the chairlift, at least some of the way). 

The guide said that we should be fine to go up tomorrow as the cyclone isn't due to hit until early evening.... Watch this space!

Tongariro day 4 : Simply 'walking out of Mordor'

The day dawned dry but foggy, so we didn't rush out. When we did set off, the sun was emerging, but rain clouds were threatening. Luckily, they held off all day.

The walk today was out of Mordor and through a gentler terrain. We crossed a number of old lava flows that were from Ngauruhoe's much larger predecessor. Apparently he was ground down by glaciers, and can only be seen out here where the glaciers didn't reach.

The highlight was the side trip up to the Tama Lakes. These were formed in old explosion craters. We're not sure exactly what explosion craters are, but they sound fun! Fortunately there were no explosions today. The water in these lakes was water coloured. After the Emerald lakes we hadn't known what to expect.

While we were up on the overlook, Ngauruhoe was kind enough to peep out of the clouds, giving us a chance to say goodbye to the mountain that we had been walking around all week.

Oh and we found a rock! Fortunately it was more stable than it looked.

Another pretty sight was the Taranaki waterfall. These are only an hour's walk away from the Whakapapa Village (and the end of our walk). Consequently, when we arrived, there were a load of kids there making lots of noise and generally getting in the way. Fortunately they soon left and we could get some photos :-)

Then on to Whakapapa Village for beer in the posh chateau and our ride back to the lodge where steak and more beer awaited.

Tongariro day 3 : A leisurely stroll

We only had 9km to do today, so we had a bit of a lie-in. We emerged from the bunk room at 8.30 and everyone else had gone. 

Fortunately, the hut warden was more than happy to sit and chat for an hour or two.

There were great views of both Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu from the hut (hopefully you can tell which is which by now). 

When we finally got away, the walk was through more of a mordor-like landscape, with Ngauruhoe coming and going through the desending clouds.

The hut was still a welcome sight, as we always seem to be hungry when we're on the tramps. Also, whilst we were sitting around this afternoon, the heavens opened, and we were treated to the heaviest shower of the year here in Tongariro.

We made it out for an afternoon stroll in the rain to visit a spring and also to visit the historic Waihohonu hut, built in 1904. This was the equivalent of what we're staying in until 1968. The current hut was built in 2010 and even has hot water! (if the sun is shining or someone has lit the fire...)

Hopefully the weather will have improved for the walk out tomorrow, when we will get Beer!

Tongariro day 2 - part 2 : The Emerald Lakes

By the time we'd descended Ngauruhoe, the hordes had caught up with us (day-walkers that is, rather than orks, goblins or any other denizen of middle-earth) but they tended to bunch into noisy groups so weren't too difficult to avoid. We were just grateful that there were only 700 today instead of the 5000 that sometimes take on the crossing. 

The next part of the walk involved crossing a massive crater and then climbing the steep wall of rock at the edge, much to the dismay of the knackered day-walkers who were starting to think that maybe they'd bitten off more than they could chew.

In all seriousness, the day walk is very hard. Over 15km long and climbing 700m up and down, without including the optional climbs to the summits of Ngauruhoe or Tongariro. It is mainly done because it features in the 'top 10 things to do in NZ', mostly by people who have not been told how hard it is, and are not really in the right clothes (scree running in shiny white slip-on trainers anyone?).

Tourists eh? ;-)

The kiwis, being an imaginative bunch, have called the big crater that we are walking through "south crater", others being "central crater", "north crater" and (after a good, long think) "red crater". I think that it would be better if they were called things like "despair crater" or "the crater of lost souls"!

Once we had climbed the crater wall, we had another optional extra to the summit of Tongariro. This was nothing like Ngauruhoe (just walking along a ridge really), but we had time/food and it gave the day-walkers a chance to get away (they all had to catch their shuttles by 3 or 4pm).

Heading along the Tongariro ridge took us back towards Ngauruhoe, and more opportunities to gawp at the morning's climb.

The exciting thing about Tongariro (other than its propensity for throwing out rocks that crush huts), is the amazing colours of all the rocks. There was everything from yellow to red to pink to bright blue. This was just a prelude of what was to come.

Once we'd wandered back from Tongariro, we rejoined the main track and looked down into the red crater (of the damned). This wasn't just red, this had all of the reds!

Then, just when things couldn't get any more colourful, we saw the Emerald Lakes. For once, these are aptly named, unlike those Blue Lakes in Mount Cook we told you about. In this case, even the word 'Emerald' really doesn't describe how vividly green the lakes were. You'll have to see the photos to get the idea.

From there, it was a gentle 5km down an old lava flow, passing more steam vents on the way, this time lined up in a neat row (presumably for geological reasons). 

Finally, we walked out to the hut through a valley filled with prehistoric lumps of lava.

With Ngauruhoe as a backdrop, this looked much more like Mordor.

Tongariro day 2 - part 1 : Ngauruhoe

(This was a somewhat epic day, and so we have decided to follow the Hobbit films and split the post into multiple installments).

The second day of the Northern Circuit can be done as a single-day walk, and this is advertised as the best one-day walk in New Zealand, therefore it can get very busy. Up to 5000 people can be seen trudging over the pass on a nice weekend day. So to beat the worst of the crowds, we got up at the crack of dawn, and were on the trail at 6.45.

By 8.30 we had climbed to the base of Ngauruhoe and had to decide whether to tackle the epic (and active) volcano that was looming over us. From this point the climb looked just ridiculous, a perfectly uniform cone rising over 600m above us. But we had got up early, so we decided to throw ourselves at it, along with an increasing number of the day-walkers (you'll know our opinion of day-walkers from previous posts).

The climb was at an almost perfect 40 degrees and was made pretty much entirely of scree. So it was 2 steps up, and 1 step back. Rocks frequently rained down from above, The Viking managed to get one nearly to the bottom. The climb was made a little easier in places by an old lava flow which gave better purchase, and eventually we made the summit.

As we came over the crest, Dave realised he was middle-aged when he told some youths off for having music blasting out! I mean, who takes speakers all the way up there??? To their credit, they turned it off without any attitude.

And then we could see down into the crater where (presumably) the one ring was forged. Apparently there are lots of rings down there as there was a bit of a fashion for carrying rings up and throwing them in... Something to do I suppose.

The view from the top was truly tremendous, we could see the numerous peaks of Tongariro poking out of a sea of clouds that were rolling in from the west. To the south was the giant Ruapehu, with a sprinkling of snow on his top.

Ngauruhoe hasn't erupted since 1975 but vents around the peak were billowing sulphorous steam to remind us that he is very much active (Tongariro by contrast is still technically in an eruption phase after flattening a hut 2 years ago).

And then the descent... You remember the scree mentioned earlier? Well it turns out that this is much better for going down than up. Taking giant steps away from the slope and letting the scree catch you meant that we got down in 1/2 hour and had lots of fun doing it.

Looking back at what we had just come down was more a little surreal, a sensation that stayed with us for the rest of the day. Whenever we looked over at Ngauruhoe, the sheer bulk of him just didn't sit comfortably with the knowledge that we'd just climbed him, and run back down, and survived - well, Hannah broke a nail :o(