Hot Water Beach to Rangitata

Here's a recap of my first week with Flying Kiwi on the Ultimate Explorer tour. It's been a whirlwind of adventure!

I joined the tour on December 30 in Auckland, New Zealand's biggest city with approximately 1.4 million people. Several others joined at the same time, while others had joined a few days before and toured north of Auckland. There were less than 20 of us on the bus, which left the seat beside me free to spread my stuff out. Off we went to Thames for lunch, then to Hot Water Beach to set up camp. At Hot Water Beach you can dig pools of hot water to sit in, which is rather neat. We didn't have much luck at first, then Laurence, a fellow Canadian, and I persevered and found an abandoned pool of hot water. It was hot tub hot, which was rather surprising. The ocean, however, was refreshingly cool. We then hiked to Cathedral Cove, a beautiful coastal walk with lots of ups and downs. Cathedral Cove was spectacular, well worth the effort and the rushed walk back to the bus. It was a preview of the next day, when we kayaked (at 6am!) back to Cathedral Cove to catch it at sunrise. The light was amazing! I think I got some really good pictures, like this one:

Our guide Cam surprised us with lattes, cappuccinos, hot chocolate and tea on the beach (he had packed everything he needed in the kayaks beforehand). It was an awesome way to start the day, even with the 4:30am alarm!

Next we headed to Rotorua where Kath, Carmelita and I took a gondola up what I'm guessing was another dormant volcano to luge down, not once, but twice. You controlled the luge by pulling the handlebars toward you to slow down or away from you to speed up. It was fun! I might do it again in Queenstown. Later that afternoon, we biked into camp. It was a very hilly ride with lots of shifting to be in the right gear~ we definitely got a good work out that afternoon! Laurence and I were at the head of the group and we passed the camp and rode another 2km or so out. Grant, our guide, had to give chase and get us to turn around. That night was New Year's Eve and we were at a wilderness camp at Lake Rerewhakaaitu. We danced around the lantern to keep warm and Grant and Emma taught us how to dance to the Killers song Human. Now we all do it on an almost daily basis as a lark. Good times!

The New Year began by visiting Lady Knox geyser, which goes off everyday at 10:15am and Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Resort, where we got to see bubbling mud pools. On the walk to Taupo from Huka Falls we found a place by the river where there was warm water mixing with cool water, it was awesome (and it was free)! We then stopped at Taupo Bungy to watch three people from Flying Kiwi (four if you count Grant, our guide) bungy over the river. It was exciting to watch, especially Daniela, who got dunked on the way down.

January 2 was supposed to be the day of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, one of the world's greatest one day treks. Unfortunately, with 100km/h winds, the Crossing was closed and we had to 'settle' for Tama Lakes. The hike itself was great, with wonderful views of the both the upper and lower lakes. We also got to see Taranaki Falls, which were beautiful.  Afterwards, we settled in for a long bus ride to the Kapiti coast. This is me at Upper Tama Lake with Mount Ngauruhoe (Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings) in the background. It was really windy!

The following day had us arrive in Wellington fairly early. We visited Fidel's on Cuba Street (I had a delicious mango smoothie) and then off to Te Papa Museum. I didn't enjoy the museum as much as I did the Auckland Museum, but it did have some interesting displays on Kiwi culture and history that I liked. A couple of us also took the cable car up to the Botanical Gardens where we had lunch before going back to the wharf area. That evening we took the ferry to Picton, a picturesque town. Our hike the next morning was rushed, but the views from the top were well worth it.

From Picton we travelled to Kaikoura, a stop I had been waiting for as it meant I would get to swim with dolphins again. We were up at 4:30am to take down our tents before being picked up at 5:15. We donned wetsuits, snorkels, fins and masks for the swim and got on the boat. The swim was amazing! We got to see hundreds of dolphins swimming around us. Some wanted to play with us and literally swam circles around us, making us dizzy trying to follow them around. Others were content to swim through us, dazzling us with their grace and agility. It was quite a sight for spectators remaining on the boat as we mimicked the dolphins high pitched clicks and squeals while trying to keep up with them in the water! Unfortunately I have no stellar dolphin pictures, or I'd share them here. Sorry! It was, however, truly a memorable morning.

Stopped in Christchurch to pick up 6 new passengers and then it was off to Rangitata, the sheep shearers' quarters. Some of us decided to cycle to camp and it was an awesome ride. There was a deer farm two thirds of the way there and they followed us in their enclosure, with the head deer leaping at the front, it was really quite riveting to watch. We were scheduled to white water raft the following day in the Rangitata Gorge, but the water levels were too high, so it was cancelled. Better safe than sorry, right?

The second week of my adventures in New Zealand will hopefully get posted within the next week, but I'm going to be starting work on Thursday, so we'll see how much free time I have.