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| Erin lounging as we take a break from our hike to enjoy the Tawhai Falls and the sun!!!. |
| Glenn's Journal 01-15-03 & 01-16-03 New Zealand The weather is improving as today we can see the sun. Yeah!!! We had planned on taking some hikes in Tangariro National park but only hikes less than half a day. The "best one day hike in New Zealand" is the Tangariro Crossing which was not recommended yesterday due to bad weather and poor visibility. Some of the hikers we overheard at the information center and at the hostel mentioned that the wind gusts were "killer" and that it was even snowing at above 1600 meters, or at least felt like it. Bitter cold was the verdict from yesterday. Today seemed nicer but Erin is not the biggest fan of hiking so we agreed on shorter hikes. To start our first hike of the day we had to drive out to Whakapapa and the main information center and carpark. The first hike was the Taranaki Falls which was listed at 2 hours return. E departed from the information center around 11:00 am and arrived at the waterfalls around 11:40 am. The falls were really neat as the snow melt crashed over the edge of a cliff and pounded down on the rocks below. We sat and enjoyed the waterfall and the sunny day for about an hour before finishing the walk. We had chosen a great time as we were not bothered by anyone during our stop. On the return section we passed many hikers whom we determined had just gotten off of the Kiwi Experience bus. What a crowd!!! We drove down the road to the start of the Tawhai Falls track where we ate lunch (Yes, peanut butter and jelly, Again!!) and read our books before hitting the trail. Once on the trail it took us less than 20 minutes to reach the falls. We both thought these falls were more spectacular than Taranaki Falls just by the nature and surroundings. We sat on the rocks enjoying the col spray from the waterfall while we continued to read our books. We must have read for better than an hour before returning to the car. We felt good as we had fit in a couple of simple hikes while enjoying some time in the sun. We returned to town around 4:00 pm so we could make some phone calls and set up other accomodations and activities for the next few days.We arranged for new accomodation in Taupo for tomorrow night and Waitomo for Friday and Saturday nights. We also arranged for a kayaking trip for tomorrow and blacdk water rafting for Saturday in Waitomo. Once back at the hostel we both sat outside enjoying as much sun as possible before Erin went in to prepare dinner. (By the way, dinner was excellent, again!!) After dinner Erin got caught up in the television (where she watched Lord of the Rings I) until well after 10:00 pm while I sat and chatted with a British couple about travels and life on the road. The British couple are traveling around New Zealand for one full year until their work visa's expire and then they will move on. Erin and I finnally crashed around 11:00 pm. This is pretty early for Erin and I am surprised but not complaining. 01-16-03 New Zealand What a way to wake up, to another wonderfully sunny day. It definitely seems sunnier than yesterday and the temperature is warmer this morning than the previous mornings around here. We are very pleased as we are spending the afternoon kayaking on Lake Taupo. The whole day went well. In the morning after enjoying a relaxing breakfast and checking out on time at 10:00 am without the feeling of rushing around we drove to Taupo. We found our new hostel by 10:30 am and by 11:00 am had dropped our backpacks off at the hostel before venturing into town. While at the hostel we overheard a clerk talking to a mother and daughter about horseback riding in the area. Erin enjoys riding horses and we had talked about it but had not made the time. We introuced ourselves to Sue (Mother) and Sarah (Daughter, 10 years old) who are from Perth and were traveling around New Zealand for 4 weeks plus a week in Brisbane. Sarah was going horseback riding later today so we asked for some feedback upon her return. Prior to meeting the kayaking company at 12:50 pm we had time for a few things in town. We found free parking behind the information center in town (We would be gone for 5+ hours and most parking is for 1-2 hours maximum.). The kayaking company would not take responsibility for damage of personal property, like camera's, so we stopped in to a Kodak store and bought a disposable waterproof camera for the trip. We also stopped into Subway (Yeah, no PBJ's today!!) for a hearty lunch before the 4+ hour kayaking trip. We met up with the Kayaking Kiwi van right on time at 12:50 pm where we met Rob and Chris who would be our guides for the day. We also met Mathew & Mellig from Melbourne, Juanita from Colorado, Tom from the U.K., and two other ladies (I am sorry but I do not remember the names) who were taking the tour with us today. We drove to the point of entry, and the guides helped unload and prepare the kayaks for our adventure. The day was beautifully sunny and the waters were calm. Erin and I shared a kayak with Erin in the back (in control) while I had to sit up front due to the length of my legs (according to Rob). It took us 45 minutes to kayak along the shore of Lake Taupo to reach the Maori Cave drawings. All during the trip Chris and Rob were very informative on the creation of the lake and the surrounding volcanoes and their history. They also provided a little insight into the Maori Cave drawings that we were admiring. The drawings were only recently created in 1979 but do tell of a local story from some hundreds of years ago. After our visit to the drawings we stopped along the beach for a swim and refreshments. The refreshments were good and the water was cold. It took a few minutes to actually get into the water but once you were in it was not so bad. The water was very clear as it is a fresh water lake being filled from the volcanic mountains surrounding the lake. After our swim we kayaked our way back to the entry point in a slow leisurely fashion and landed around 5:30 pm on shore. We arrived back into town around 6:00 pm, thanked our guides, and said goodbye to the folks that we had met. We returned to the hostel, cleaned up, and talked to Sarah about her horseback riding experience today. She was overly excited and wished she could have gone for longer. Erin and I agreed we would try to book it for the morning. Erin said that since we were in Taupo (a somewhat "big" town) that we had to eat out tonight. We ate at the Mole 'n Chicken which provided really good food for a decent price. After dinner we continued into town to check e-mail until almost 10:00 pm before returning to the hostel. We didn't stay up too long tonight as we retired by 11:00 pm. |
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| Overlooking one of the many beautiful streams towards Mt. Ruapehu. |