Mt. Taranaki - Pouakai Circuit - 2 days - 25km

Our 2nd multi-day hike was around a dormant volcano, Mt. Taranaki in Egmont National Park on the west coast of the North Island. A stunning conical shaped mountain, although elusive as Taranaki is often shrouded in cloud just as in this photograph:

Day 1: We experienced wind, rain and hail as we made our way along the narrow track. You can see our route in this photograph, including a heart-racing land slip we traversed one at a time...

The trail was wonderfully varied with swamps, forests and high alpine views. 

Day 2: After a very cold night spent high in a hut (little more than a wooden shed) we woke to find a dusting of snow and spectacular views of the path we had followed previously:

The snow and the mountain looked fantastic in the early morning sun, although still no glimpse of the summit behind the cloud. 

We found the tarn (small lake/puddle) from which the photograph on the front cover of the NZ Lonely Planet guide was taken. Still no summit view...

... then a magical (fleeting) moment as a gap in the cloud allowed us a peak (pun intended) of Taranaki's icy crown! Yay! 

The views in all directions was awe-inspiring. 

The two day tramp was really tough on the legs and lungs and included some challenges such as river crossings, steep climbs, huge tree roots and high swing bridges - not for the faint hearted! 

This tramp currently holds the title of our favourite walk since we left the UK!

The Desert Road

A scenic drive from Taupo to Taranaki: we passed Tongariro National Park via the alpine desert road providing spectacular views of the snow capped Mt Ngauruhoe and Mt Ruapehu all the way round.

Since Frodo cast the ring into the fires of Mordor the mountain has cooled somewhat and developed an icy crown!

Te Puia - Maori Culture Experience

Today we visited New Zealand's premier Maori cultural centre and home of the Pohutu geyser:

It was a feast of cultural story telling, entertainment and Maori cuisine. All the buildings were beautifully carved with original designs depicting the stories of the tribe's ancestors.

We got to visit the Maori carving school and see one of the students at work.

Dave was inspired!

We then watched as they opened the underground 'Hangi' oven where our food had been cooking for hours... It smelt and tasted amazing!

We were given a traditional welcome by the Chief and treated to a show of dance, singing and the intimidating war dance: the Haka...

Dave joined several of the men to be taught the Haka. This was his best attempt to intimidate despite only being hobbit sized:

We went back out to see the geyser erupt one more time after dinner, impressive both day and night!

We thoroughly enjoyed our experience and learnt lots about this expressive culture.

Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland - Rotorua

Step 1: Before you read any further go and collect a rotten egg and place it under your nose... Now you're smelling what we were and have the full effect :-)

Lady Knox geyser erupts at 10.15am each day after it is coaxed into life with soap. It erupted for nearly an hour so we were able to get lots of photos.

We next wandered around the geothermal 'wonderland' and right up to the rim of Champagne Pool, an amazing coloured sight. This Champagne was not on ice though, it bubbled and swirled at over 100 degrees C!

The area was full of different colours and textures making for some smashing abstract photography - Mel is excited to get on Photoshop with these:

Step 2: replace your egg with a rancid one...

The sounds smells and sights of these mud pools are difficult to describe or fully capture, it was hilarious!

Away from the smells of the day we were glad to camp in the fresh air at a beautiful location by Lake Okareka.

Maori Carvings

We couldn't visit Lake Taupo and not spend some time on the lake, so we hired a sea kayak and paddled out to a Maori stone carving in the rock.

The weather was more than kind and we were rewarded with super views of the three volcanoes.

Dave nearly went for a swim but fortunately for him we just ran out of time!

We took a trip to Whakapapa, in the heart of Tongariro NP, to visit the DOC site and investigate our planned four day great walk through the volcanic landscape with Vic & Jord in a couple of weeks time. The information centre was beautifully carved with Maori mythological figures, scary but very cool!

Taupo - Huka Falls & the Hidden Valley

Huka Falls are created where a river meets a bottle neck, the volume of water rushing through the gap is staggering (enough to fill 5 Olympic sized swimming pools every minute)!

The sound of the water rushing was thunderous!

This afternoon we visited Orakei Korako Hidden Valley, a geothermal hot spot. It was like visiting Mars - with hot steam, mud pots, geysers and the eggy smell of sulphur, or was that Dave?

The colours were striking.

We had lots of fun trying to time our photos to catch the mud bubbles popping. These were some of our more successful attempts. Look forward to our less successful attempts in the 10,000,000 photos we intend to drag you through when we return to the UK...

It was another great day in this uniquely varied country.