Day 22: Canterbury: Castle Hill + Cave Creek

As a part of working at the farm for our hosts they take us out once a week for an activity. This week we went to Castle Hill and Cave Creek.

Castle Hill is known for it's large natural rock formations, which provide a perfect place to practice bouldering. When we arrived there were a few people with mats bouldering. Apparently scenes from the Lion Witch and thr Wardrobe were filmed here.

We spent a few hours here climbing some rocks and taking in the view.

We then drove to Cave creek and had some lunch before caving. I didnt really know what to expect, so I just brought my gopro turned it on and went in. The water was cold, the cave was dark, but it was fun. Unfortunately I didnt have a headtorch so most of the video is dark, but going through was exciting.

Kiwis are so lucky to have places like these to experience nature in different ways: through tramping, caving, bouldering, rockclimbing. And the best part about all this is that you dont have to pay to do these things.

Heres a link to a quick video I threw together of the day: https://vimeo.com/m/90196520

Fire brigade van used for transportion

WWOOF!

Random scenic view

Castle hill path

Big rocks!

My sausage leg picture. Forget the beaches.

Dat view doe

Springfield, New Zealand

Day 19 - 21: Hidden oaks: Routine

These days are all grouped together since I had a routine.

After 2 weeks of being spontanious I felt having a routine was great. It was nice to have order in my day, and it was great to feel like im doing something productive to help the farm, even if it was just sorting hazelnuts. The job is actually really easy and I didnt really have to think much. I could just have my music on and let time pass by. I had food to eat and a bed to sleep at night. I liked how simple everything was.

The best part of all this was that I didnt spend any money for the first time since I came!

A few NZ beers the korean had left

A rainy day on the 16th of march. It means sorting in the shed

Sorting some nuts and learning 5 stones

How kiwis heat their homes. Most places dont have central heating

Real corned beef. My hostmother has never tried canned corned beef. 

Day 18: Hidden Oaks: My First Day

When I woke up I just basically followed my new roomies around since I had no idea how things worked or what I would do. I met a korean couple in the morning who also volunteered.

The schedule of the day was:

8:00 to 9:00 breakfast
9:00 to 10:30 work
10:30 to 10:45 tea time (break)
10:45 to 12:30 work
12:30 to 1:30 lunch
1:30 to 3:00 work
3:00 to 3:15 tea time (break)
3:15 to 4:30 work

And dinner at 6:30

Work basically involved sorting hazelnuts and picking them out of the husks after harvesting. They should basically just pop out, if the husks are hard to peel off then the hazelnut is most likely empty. Hazelnuts with dark red husks are generally empty since they are older. So educational!

After work we all swam in the pool. Unfortunately it was really cold... oh well.
I felt that it was nice to finally unpack my things a bit and know where I was going to be for the next few weeks...

Harvested hazelnuts

Day 17: Turangi to Wellington to Christchurch

I checked out of the hostel as early as I could since the drove was going tp be really long. On the way I stopped by a Macca s (Mcdonalds) for the free wifi and  then to Wellington. The drive wasnt as scenic as the other route I took to get from Wellington to Turangi but it was still nice.

I made sure to go through the Victoria Tunnel on the way back before returning the car.

The shuttle was free from the car rental shop to the airport so I took that but I was around 6 hours too early for my flight. I considered going back to the city to hang out with a friend but she wasnt free till later and I figured it wasnt worth the bus fare.

I would have loved to land in this airport from Canada because it had a bunch of Lotr sculptures...

I took the flight to Christchurch and met with my host farmer. We went back to the farm and I got to meet the other backpackers volunteering at the farm: 2 italians, an american and a french.

I was excited to be there, excited to try something new.

Day 16: Tongariro Alpine Crossing + Mt Doom

Today I completed the Tongariro Crossing. Apparently one of the best full day hikes in the world. The hike takes around 7 to 8 hours total, and climbing Mt  Ngauruhoe (Mt Doom) adds an extra hour or two.

I took the 4 am  shuttle to the National park with a few germans who requeated to get there early to see the sunrise. I figured it would be cool to see the sunrise from the mountain so I went for it. There were 2 hollandians a canadian, a brazilian and an italian who also went with us in the shuttle. Since I didnt know anyone I followed the people planning to climb Mt Doom (two dudes from Holland).

The good thing about getting there early is that the stars show so clearly. I have never seen the stars so clear in my life... and that there was a potential to see the sunrise.

The bad thing about getting there early is that we didnt really get tp see the first hour or 2 of hiking. Because it was dark, when we tried to climb the volcano,  we lost track of where exactly we were supposed to climb so we were trying to climb directly on the side of the mountain, where each step brought us down twp steps because the rocks were so loose. We literally spent 3 extra hours trying to climb the mountain, and spent all our energy getting to the top. It was really rewarding making it to the top, but really there was 5 more hours of hiking ahead of us......................

Luckily the loose rock made it a lot easier to get down. The rest of the hike was amazing. The hike included climbing a volcano, walking through a desert plateau, passing sulfur lakes, climbing rocks, walking through plain field, and walking through a forest. By the time I reached the plains my knees were killing me (If we didnt waste all our energy on the mountain I think I wouldve been fine). By the time we reached the forest I didnt even care about looking at things, I just wanted to get out. By the end of it I hated hiking. I never want to do it again... maybe one more time...

Morning on Mt Doom

Stuck on Mt Doom

Attempting to climb loose volcanic rock

Holland dude for scale

Finally made it to the top! Featuring the two Hollandians. It was an awesome experience climbing with Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee. (Hope they dont read this haha)

The view of a bit of the hike

Of course one of the Hollandians had the ring of power

4 hours into the hike... 

One of the many hazard signs enroute

Sulfur pools i think

Blue lake

Break with frodo and sam

Mordor

The volcano that erupted in 2012

Enroute

Plains 

More plains

Forest

Forest2

- mike

Day 15: Turangi: Relax

I took the morning to grocery shop for snacks for the next day, and to grab some burger king.

The rest of the day was basically driving and getting lost in the country. I also took the day to do some laundry.

Driving on the left side of the road was a bit awkward at first, but I quickly got the hang of it. I found it a lot easier to drove when more cars are present because I could just follow them. A lot of times I accidently switched the windshield wipers on because the signal lever is on the right side of the wheel.

Random scenic view near Tongariro National Park. If this is the view from a random pit stop, imagine the view of famous places in New Zealand...

Watchong LOTR the night before climbing Mt Doom (probably plays every night)

-mike

Day 14: Wellington to Turangi: Harcourt Park + Hutt river

I checked out of the Wellington hostel and went to the car rental place to pick up the car. I got there a bit early so I decided to go to a bakery near by to have lunch. I had some awesome steak and cheese meat pie. These things are fairly common here in NZ and they are relatively cheap compared to other foods.

After picking up the car I decided to visit 2 filming locations. I was planning to go to 3 but I didnt have time. I went to Harcourt park, which was Isengard in the movie, and Hutt River, which was the river Anduin. Harcourt park was just a regular park so I was pretty disappointed with that, but the river looked nice.

After visiting these places I drove tp Turangi, which was 4 hours drive north. Because I decided to see Hutt river and Harcourt park I had to take the long route to Turangi. But man was it worth it.... the drive winded through mountains and the view was amazing... I shouldve gopro d the drive. 

I made it to the hostel around 9 and was lucky the guy was in reception to take me. He is sortof an oddball owner but that just makes him interesting. He counts as the person I met for the day. Heheh. A kiwi that runs the hostel with his family.

Harcourt park Isengard

Hutt River / River Anduin

Water treatment

The rental car (41 nzd a day)

Random scenic view enroute to Turangi

Random scenic view enroute to Turangi 2

Excite

- mike