Our NZ adventure continues on from Rotorua to a town called Turangi. The drive to Turangi was full of more cows, rolling hills, and a beautiful lake called Lake Taupo. Wish I had chosen to stay in Taupo even though it was a little further from our big hike location... Turangi was super small and didn't have a whole lot going on (apparently trout fishing is the big thing there).
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| Lake Taupo |
We stayed three nights in Turangi to give ourselves a choice of two days to do the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. We decided on the second day, and so began our journey!
Tongariro Alpine Crossing
This hike is said to be one of the best day hikes you can do in New Zealand, and it definitely lived up to the hype. The track is 19.4km (a little over 12 miles), and includes plains, volcanoes, mountains, lakes, craters, a rainforest, and even a waterfall. The first half or so is climbing up to the highest peak, and the descent is really just as tough. We were over prepared with food and water, but I figure it's better to have it than go hungry!
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| The beginning, showing the breakdown of the path |
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| Step count before the hike... |
To Soda Springs
The first 5k-ish is a pretty flat trail, winding through the bush and then climbing up some smaller hills towards a waterfall called Soda Springs. Great views of the surrounding mountains!
After a quick bathroom stop (last one until you reach the other side of the mountain 😨), we took the detour to check out Soda Springs. Really muddy on the way to it, but it was a nice little pit stop.
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| View looking back on where we started |
After the waterfall, and before a set of steeper stairs, you are then hit with this sign:
We decided to push on! By the way there are hundreds of people on this track, even though some of our pics may make it look deserted.
To Red Crater
The track gradually gets steeper, climbing continuous stairs and through more volcanic rock. Up, up, into the clouds we go :)
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| Checking out the view, aka need a breather! |
Finally, we reach the first plateau and our legs get a slight break from the continuous uphill. Felt like we were on Mars with the surrounding views here. The clouds were coming in at level with us, and the wind was swirling them around.
The track was just joking though, it was back to more climbing as soon as you got used to the flat ground!
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| Steel cables and more climbing (also getting very chilly / windy) |
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| View looking back on the Mars like area |
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| Justin loves to get ahead of me and take a pic of the struggle bus.... |
And finally, we made it to about the halfway point! (And what I thought was the peak height... 😶).
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| Cloud coverage made for some pretty awesome pictures |
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| Pumpkin soup as a reward :) Soo cold here... |
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| Bit of wildlife, even up here |
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| View of where we were headed, the Emerald Lakes... |
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| We are walking to Keetahi, so a little over halfway to go! |
To the Emerald Lakes
We had lunch, the clouds were rolling in, and I realized the path was still going upwards! But it was a steep small ridge, and then you were negotiating down scree (loose volcanic rock) to make your way to the lakes from red crater...
Clouds rolling in:
https://youtu.be/WfH44hEGGjI
Top of the hike!
https://youtu.be/KQALwJRzj5o
Making our way down:
https://youtu.be/6KZXoNWEvuY
Justin really enjoyed this part... me, not so much. I think the key is to walk forward and let your foot slide with the scree, but the ridge was so narrow I felt like I would do that and fall right off the side of the mountain with my clumsiness. So I was basically going sideways down the slope, and it took a while. Amazing views from here though, and kind of funny watching everyone move along haphazardly. I fell backwards once, but I can tell you I was not alone! Justin ran down part of it, and several others were doing that too.
Justin's method:
https://youtu.be/AT72_bFwFn0
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| Steam coming off the walls of the path, reminders that, oh yeah we're near a Volcano! |
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| Pausing on the way down, Emerald Lakes in the distance |
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| Justin with the Emerald Lakes, matching them :) |
As you reach the bottom of the volcanic scree, it's like a flashback to Rotorua with the rotten egg smell. Definitely not as strong, but there's some geothermal activity going on around here for sure! The track flattens out for a bit, and you get the jaded feeling it's only down hill from here, easy... right?
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| Here I reward myself with a peanut chocolate bar :) |
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| More craters, definitely get the volcanic feel from this photo! |
The Final Stretch
Looks like we didn't get a picture, but there was one last ascent after those lakes. I was thinking "I thought we were done with hills?!?", then realized I said it out-loud and a German girl laughed and said she was thinking the same! But, it wasn't so bad and we climbed up.
We now enter into what we'll later call, the longggggg, longgggg, did I say long... path back down to the carpark. Granted, the views were amazing. But, at this point you've been walking and climbing like 4 hours and the bathrooms have since become a distance memory...
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| Looking out over Lake Rotoaira, and in the distance the great Lake Taupo |
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| We could see the carpark! So close, yet so far... |
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| My attempt at an artsy pic |
Ok, that part in pictures seems really quick but it took FOREVER (ok maybe we were just tired). We even lightly jogged down parts of it to make it go faster. Basically the trail winds one way then you turn, and then winds the other way, slowly making your way down the mountain. But there were bathrooms on the way back down, and we ate the other half of our lunch :)
The final stretch takes you through the rainforest...
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| Pretty waterfall lookout at the end |
And... about 6.5 hours later, we completed the Tongariro Alpine Crossing! I have to admit, that was tough. So worth it though, I'm really glad we did it and we remained in good spirits the whole time for the most part. I could feel my legs screaming at this point, and was ready for the heating pad that our airbnb had on the bed back at the house :-P
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| About 32,000 steps later... most we've ever done! |
Leaving Turangi the following day, of course the skies were clear and Mt Doom is sitting there perfectly in view... just smirking at us. But, you can't predict the weather and the clouds did make for some cool pictures. Also, there is an option during the track to actually climb to the summit of Mt Doom (an additional 2 hours up to the summit, and 30 min return back to the main track...). Justin was considering us doing this, but since Mt Doom was covered in clouds during our hike, we decided it wasn't worth it. If it had been perfectly clear like this, we would have done it, and I may not be here right now writing this... 😝 #thankful #thankyouclouds
We both said we would do it again... next time though we would just hike out to the summit (before the downhill volcanic scree), climb Mt Doom, and then walk back the way we came. It's slightly shorter, but also just seems to go by faster instead of winding and winding down that other side, and going through the forest. We passed a few people going to the halfway point and turning around, so it is a thing. Anyway, we passed the Tongariro Alpine fitness test!
And now, on to Welly!
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| Views on the way to Welly... had to hobble out of the car I was so sore |
Wellington
Wellington is the capital of New Zealand, and has so much charm and uniqueness to it. Where some cities just feel like a city, Wellington seemed to overflow with personality even though it's on the smaller side population wise. Known as "windy Welly", we definitely learned where that nickname comes from, and it was just fun to relax and enjoy the city for four nights. As much as we've loved the rural parts and hiking, Justin and I will always be city kids. And I could tell Justin just lit up when we turned the corner, seeing Wellington sprawled across a hilly landscape with the waterfront as it's center.
Not to mention, he really lit up when he saw one of the ships in the harbor, The World. He had sent me an article before about this ship, and it was cool to see it in person. On this ship the passengers buy the cabins, and travel continuously around the world, stopping in all kinds of locations. That's one way to retire! It was in Welly for a couple days while we were there.
After meeting our airbnb host and dropping off our luggage, we returned the car and decided to walk back through the harbor area. Legs were sore, but it helped to walk around a bit especially after driving for 4 hours.
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| Diving board in the middle of the downtown harbor area |
Our second night here we stumbled into the night market on Cuba Street, and enjoyed trying different street foods again.
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| This was a Chinese style crepe... YUM |
One of the days we explored Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand. It was interesting reading about the English settlers arriving and their conflicts with the Maori people. A bit like our own history, not surprisingly. I found it really sad reading how the settlers burned large portions of New Zealand's land to make it suitable for farming. There are now measures in place to restore parts of New Zealand, and ensure environmental protection for the native species and parks. It was also sad reading about how big the whaling industry became with the new settlers. And then there was this weird giant squid:
Justin had seen a cool Wellington sign while on one of his runs, so we set out to take a picture of it one day. This day is when we really learned the term "Windy Welly", and how fitting for the picture of the sign we were trying to get.
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| Personal house gondola tracks |
Evidence of Windy Welly:
https://youtu.be/cFSzaRp6a6g
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| A take on the Hollywood sign, since Welly is the NZ center for movie making |
We enjoyed just walking around Welly, I enjoyed trying the coffee, and just getting a feel for this city. We both agree we would come back, so much more to explore that we didn't have time for!
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| Meat pies, the best thing ever |
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| Valentine's Day by the harbor :) |
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| Sunset view from our airbnb on Valentine's Day |
Interislander Ferry
After four nights in Welly we came to the end of our north island journey, and I had us booked on the Interislander ferry to get to the south island. This is about a 3.5 hour ferry, and it was neat seeing more of the bay Wellington is in, and then approaching the south island via the Queen Charlotte Sound.
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| Bye for now, Welly! |
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| A passing, smaller ferry like ours |
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| The color of the water is so pretty |
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| Kola goofing off on the ferry |
Picton > Nelson
The ferry drops you off in Picton, where it's then a little over a 2 hour car ride to the city we were heading to, Nelson. Our rental car place suggested we take the winding scenic route, and joked that hopefully no one gets sick on car rides. Well, it was definitely winding! The road weaves right along the edge of the sound, which offered amazing views but both of us were a bit tired from traveling. Justin got a headache from the turns, but eventually it straightened out closer to Nelson.
Nelson
Nelson is a quaint town that's located next to the Marlborough region of New Zealand. Just driving into Nelson we were blown away by the views, the city lies right along the waterfront of Tasman Bay.
Abel Tasman National Park
On arrival we checked the weather and saw that for 3 out of our 4 full days there, it was supposed to rain. Wanting to have the best weather possible, we headed out to Abel Tasman the very next day. Abel Tasman is New Zealand's smallest national park, but we still only saw a tiny fraction of it. The popular thing to do here is a 5 day hike where you stay in huts along the track. I have a lot of respect for people who do that, but Justin and I just don't see it being our thing. So instead, we took a water taxi to one of the main beaches and did a short hike to a lookout.
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| Seals hanging out on the way to Anchorage Beach :) |
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| Anchorage Beach |
Exploring Nelson
We really enjoyed Nelson, it was a pretty quiet and laid back town that didn't feel overly touristy. The area itself kind of reminded me of the Coromandel on the north island, being the warm, beachy part of the south island.
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| Airbnb sunset views, love the chapel in the distance |
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| Saturday markets |
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| Sign we saw while waking through downtown LOL |
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| We discovered these ciders in Wellington, so good!! |
Archway Islands at Wharariki Beach
This excursion ended up being one of my favorite parts of NZ so far. We had never heard of the Archway Islands, and I hadn't read anything in the travel blogs about them either. It all started from me thinking that Cathedral Cove was where the Windows lock screen photo was taken (if you have a Mac, you probably don't know what I'm talking about). It's this picture:
After taking the sunrise photos at Cathedral Cove Justin realized the location wasn't quite right. Turns out while Cathedral Cove looks really similar, the actual location is a place called Wharariki Beach and it's the archway islands the photo is of. I said we'll be near there when we're in Nelson, but it's a three hour drive out to the beach. Justin still wanted to go. We planned to go right after Abel Tasman, but the weather just wasn't holding out, so we waited until the last day hoping it would clear up.
Justin had the idea to turn it into a road trip, and leave with plenty of time to stop along the way to break up the drive, making it to Wharariki for the sunset. The drive took us along the edge of Tasman Bay, past Abel Tasman, and along Golden Bay.
Our first stop was Rabbit Island, which is right outside Nelson. Really expansive beach and the views of the bay looking back on Nelson were beautiful! The water was actually warm too!
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| Kaiteriteri Beach, right before Abel Tasman |
Getting around Abel Tasman involves driving more inland and climbing a mountain, which offered some amazing views back towards Nelson. We definitely lucked out with the weather!
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| Love the shadows from the clouds |
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| Hawks Lookout |
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| Lord of the Rings-esque rocks |
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| Comin' down the mountain |
Our airbnb host had a trio of pictures hung up in our apartment from different places near Nelson, and one was of a place called Te Waikoropupu Springs (Pupu springs). I believe these springs are sacred to the Maori people. The water is so clear, and you could see the bubbles coming from the springs beneath the sand.
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| Dancing Sands Spring |
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| Ok at first I thought this might be a kiwi bird, but it's a Weka! Pretty cool |
Continuing into Golden Bay....
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| Dinner spot :) |
And, after a long gravel road full of ginormous potholes, we made it to the parking lot of Wharariki beach! Apparently you only see cool birds in parking lots...
This beach is now so special to me, and part of that feeling is just the walk to get to it. You head up a grassy hill, pass by some lambs just staring at you, and walk along rolling hills. I swear this location could have easily been the shire, it was so peaceful and felt very New Zealand-y... whatever that means :)
The 1k walk through farmland leads to a sandy hill, where your anticipation builds knowing the beach must be on the other side. It then opens up to this...
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| *wow* |
Now we were on the hunt to find the exact location the lock screen picture was taken... and almost trip over a seal LOL. He was not phased.
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| Sleepy time :) |
Justin speaks seal 😂 :
https://youtu.be/esRG3FBY6gg
Views around Wharariki:
https://youtu.be/hjYvTLUmw8c
Walking down the beach to the left we see some caves, and it was like the three bears... that cave is too small, that one too big, let me check this one... and Justin lights up because we found it! The lockscreen picture! It's also just a cool view of the archway islands :)
We then walk along some more to see the actual arches in the left most rock.
Low tide meant some cool caves were opened up for exploring.
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| He's trapped haha |
Then, we watched the sunset...
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| arches of the right most rock |
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| Freezing this moment in time... |
I am so glad we decided to make the trip out to Wharariki beach. It's definitely one of my top experiences of New Zealand so far, and of this whole trip. Justin and I have found it's the free, non-tour things that we really enjoy the most and get the most out of. It often feels way more adventurous and like your discovering this part of the world in you're own unique way.
This was definitely a high note to end our time in Nelson on. Made for an early morning getting to the airport, but totally worth it. The next day we flew to Christchurch, and drove to Lake Tekapo to begin our more southern south island exploration. Into the land of lakes and fiords and glaciers...
Thank you for following along with my blog! The end of the trip feels like it's drawing near-ish, and we both miss our family and friends so much. Justin's dad will be joining us in a little over a week, so we are really looking forward to that! Sending love to everyone back home :)
Sarah
"The best things in life happen unexpectedly
The best stories begin with "and, all of a sudden..."
The best adventures were never planned as they turned out to be
Free yourself from expectations.
The best will come when and from you least expect it."
💗
We decided to push on! By the way there are hundreds of people on this track, even though some of our pics may make it look deserted.
