coroneljan.

Saturday, 29 March 2014

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.

Sunday, 16 March 2014

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

Saturday, 15 March 2014

Day 13: Wellington: Coffee + Dragonboat + Parliament

I decided that one week was enough time to see Wellington so I booked a car rental for the next day. I think what motivated me to move on and see more was how everyone I met was moving on to the South Island or moving on to somewhere else. Since I was planning to fly to Christchurch in 4 days I felt like Id rather spend on a rental and see Tongariro National Park rather than spend on staying in a city that Ive explored already.

I spent the afternoon with the taiwanese student I met recently and the spanish girl I met the night before. We went for brunch on cuba street, went to check out a dragonboat competition, sat in front of parliament , had coffee again, the brazilian from bar crawl came by, then we checked out a capoeira circle nearby.

Unfortunately the spanish girl had to fly back that night so she left, and the brazilian decided to stay in the capoeira circle so I went back to the hostel.

For dinner I had 99 cent spaghetti in a can (tastes bad when its not warm), and had some beer with some randoms that came by. There was a brazilian, a swedish dude, 2 german girls, 2 german dude, 3 other canadians and an english couple. A nice international mix.

3 best friends that anyone can have

Parliament chillin

Waiting for dragonboats

Parliament building looks like it was made from egg cartons. Big art attack?

Beehive

Dragonboat competition

Capoeira

Drinks with a bunch of people featuring Swedish dude's legs

- mike

Day 12: Wellington: Waterfront

I woke up at 1pm. I didnt realize that I got back to the hostel at 3:30 am.

I went to go pennyboarding along the waterfront and when I got back a few of the guys from the bar crawl wanted to check out the waterfront too so this time I ditched the pennyboard and walked with them.

There were 2 argentinians so they introduced me to this drink called Mate (mateh?). Its sortof like a tea that you drink from a gourd cup with a metal straw. So educational! Should ve taken a picture...

After cooking dinner i decided to say hi to a random person and eat with them (lent). She is a spanish girl working as a nanny in auckland, and she liked how I randomly decided to say hi and eat with her. I didnt realize how easy it would be to make new friends...

After that she invited me to have mcdonalds with her swedish friend and on the way out I invited the french guy from the bar crawl. After mcdonalds we bought some beers from the supermarket and played some pool. Yey to new friends.

Wellington civic square

French, brazilian, swedish, spanish, canadian

-mike

Day 11: Wellington: Mt Victoria

My goal for today was to climb Mt Victoria and go hunting for some LOTR filming locations.

On the way up to the top I happen to pass by a german from the first hostel I stayed in, so I went up with him to the top (There are a lot of germans travelling in New Zealand).

After reaching the top I decided to ditch him and his friend to look for the filming location. It was pretty difficult to find since I didnt really look up where it was exactly. I eventually found it by following the road until I saw a tour bus parked in one area. I followed them to get to the location and waited for them to leave to take some pictures and geek out on my own.

After my little geek moment I went back to the hostel and got ready for a bar crawl that was set to happen that night. This made it so easy to meet new people. The first bar was a nice chill sit down bar. 30 dollar pitchers... yeh expensive... the next bar was a fancy lounge, also with expensive beers so I stuck with buying just one glass. The next bar was a bar with a live band, and the last bar was actually a club. It was an interesting night with full costume pirates... and beer... and yeah.

I met 2 canadians, 1 french, 1 swedish, 3 germans, and 1 brazilian.

-mike