Hawke's Bay

Hey Folks,
We are back again after a couple of weeks "rest." We got away from base camp again this weekend after being on call last weekend. On Thursday we had a look at the weather forecast which said rain everywhere on the North Island except for Napier, so Friday right after work we headed to Napier.

It was a nice drive to get there that took us around Lake Taupo and to the east coast. Friday night we found a campground right on the coast and had a relaxing night watching the waves.

As you can see above, Napier is located on Hawke's Bay on the east coast.

It is in the heart of North Island wine country with hundreds of wineries in the surrounding area.

Napier is also the Art Deco Capital of the World. There was an earthquake in 1931 that leveled the city, so it was rebuilt in Art Deco that was popular at that time (much to Roberta's delight.) We spent a few hours on Saturday frolicking around the city and looking at the architecture with our self-guide pamphlet. 

A flower clock.

After our walk about, we headed to the National Aquarium. We got there just in time for the divers to feed the fish, sharks, and rays. There was a tunnel through the large tank so the sea life was all around you. They also had many of the native species of New Zealand including penguins, kiwis, and tuataras.

Dori!

After checking out the aquarium, we headed south of town and drove up Te Mata Peak which gave us some stunning views of the surrounding area. Pictures can never capture the vastness of the actual area. 

There were a pair of German backpackers setting up their tents right on the top. Later that night when we were in our campsite, the winds got quite strong and I found myself wondering if those two guys were regretting their decision. I guess I'll never know.

We were up bright and early on Sunday to see the sunrise. Hawke's Bay is on the first coast to see the sun every morning. We did go back to bed right away though. 

Evidence that Roberta even got up too. That is quite an 

accomplishment for her.

Once we were up for good, we decided that we would do the 19 km hike along the coast to Cape Kidnappers. 

We were the first two of the day to start breaking the trail. It was advised to start the walk around 4 hours after high tide so you could walk on the beach but we couldn't wait that long. We left about an hour after high tide and had to climb over the rocks and run in between spots, but it was all in good fun. 

The scenery was incredible with huge cliffs lining the coast. 

Cape Kidnappers is home of the largest mainland colony of gannets. Gannets are diving seabirds that are known for their interactions with each other. You may have seen them on shows like Planet Earth. They weren't scared of people at all so you could walk right up to them. 

Here are some facts about gannets.

When we finally got back to our van, it was time to head back. These weekends seem to fly by. 

On a different note, scientists think that Ruapehu might erupt in the next two weeks. It is the volcano we skied on and is around 40 kms from where we are currently living. We are supposed to be marshaling the "Goat Race" in two weeks which is a race around the mountain. It could be interesting!

http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/7970315/Pressure-builds-under-Ruapehu

Over and Out.

Skiing on Mt Ruapehu- Turoa Ski Field

Gidday mates!
That's right, the last day of the season and we finally made it skiing! Roberta had been pressuring me to go skiing, so I finally just agreed to go with her so she would quiet down plus it was half the normal price. It turned out to be a great day. There were breaks between clouds, and when it was clear you could see the whole valley. Beautiful. It was a little icy skiing in the morning, but luckily it had snowed overnight to cover it a bit. Not enough of a cushion to break the falls though as I soon found out. As the day went on, the snow soften up though and made for some decent conditions.

 

 Lots of rocks, a little different from Canadian skiing

A break in the clouds!                                

                 The valley below

Roberta needed a little bit of an afternoon nap at one point

The best run of the day was actually out-of-bounds! I know, rebels. This is girdleestone peak behind me, part of Mt. Ruapehu

 Pics by one of the waterfalls

Roberta was very excited about getting to ride

the chairlift down at the end of the day.

So now we can say that we have skied on a volcano and in the southern hemisphere.

I have a little bit of advice. If you ever go skiing in New Zealand, put on tons of sunscreen. My face has finally stopped burning today. Worst sunburn I have ever had. Now I have the coolest sunglass tan that all the clients love to comment about. Lesson learned.

This coming weekend we are on call unfortunately, so we can't get away for another trip. Oh well have to bring in some cash if we are going to continue. Until next time.....over and out.


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Waitomo Black Abyss Tour

Here at WorldVetAdventures, we take what few comments we get seriously. A short while back one Brandon Sparrow told us, quote: "You guys have to go back to Waitomo and go Caving. Do the Black Abyss tour... http://www.waitomo.com/caving-adventure.aspx . It was the 2nd best thing I did in NZ (after Bungy Jumping). Its not cheap but worth every penny! - Sparrow"

Well, we did it Sparrow and you were absolutely right it was awesome! This tour had everything: rapeling (abseiling), flying fox, tubing, caving/climbing. We started off at their base camp, where they got us geared up and went over some basic safety stuff. Our friend Ema was up for the weekend to see us- here's a pic of the three of us in our gear.

 Then we drove out to the cave and practiced rapelling while still above ground. We had some fun too, as you can see.

The first part of the tour involved rapeling down this 35 m hole into the cave. It was scary, some parts I just didn't look down. Jared said he wasn't ever scared. Bullshit. I wasn't very good at rapeling smoothly, so it was kind of awkward me jerking the whole way down. I'm sure it was entertaining for the guides.

Our friend Ema

Once at the bottom we walked through a tunnel with lots of stalagmites, stalagtites and glowworms. Then there was a big drop-off and the way to get across was a big flying fox. It was extra-crazy because they hook you on to the flying fox, push you off and turn off all the lamps at the same time. Then the second guide smacks something really hard at the bottom to make everyone else think you hit something really hard. They didn't get a picture of me doing it so I pasted my face on a different person, you'll have to use your imagination :)

We all made it down safe and sound and then we got to have a hot chocolate and a toffee square.

Next we jumped into the river on our tubes. The goal is to jump with your tube and land inside it in the river. I executed the move beautifully, might I say. Most of the group was jumping too straight and their tubes were shooting out behind them. Jared jumped too horizontal and his tube came out in front of him. The water was so cold!

Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!

After a word on glowworms and their lifecycles- our guide told us they are shiny shit on the walls produced by a maggot that eats for 3 weeks and then shags for 36 hrs and dies! We then started walking on foot upriver into the cave. We climbed through some tight spots. Here I am completely exhilarated- I think I look kind of frightening in this picture

And here's Jerry!

The last and best part of the tour was climbing up the waterfalls to get out of the cave. Here are some promo pics that demonstrate what we did.

When we finally emerged, some 4.5 hours later, it didn't even feel like we had been under that long. What a great time, I wanted to do it all over again!

Until next time!

Saturday in Tongariro National Park

Greetings!

This weekend our friend Ema was coming to visit us from Palmy. His bus came in at 4 pm so we went to the National Park again to do one more walk while we waited. I love the Tongariro National Park, it is just the absolute best place to be on a clear day. 

Mt Ngaruhoe- I know you've seen it before but it's just my favourite 

We stopped in at the visitor centre and looked at a few walks we wanted to do. When we have a clear weekend we will be doing the Tongariro Crossing. This is a 7-8 hour hike and you walk between Mt. Ngaruhoe and Mt. Tongariro. Hopefully more on this later. Instead we went out on the Silica Rapids Walk, which is only a 2.5 hr walk. The great thing about this walk is the stream changes color as you walk up it due to the different minerals in it. Here are some pics:

When that was done we picked up Ema and took him for a little drive. We drove up to Turangi, saw lake Taupo, and came back down via Taumarunui.That night we checked out some glowworms at Kakahi, the town our boss lives in. There is this random country road and a deep trench has been dug for the road to go through. On the sides of the walls there are tons of glowworms. It's kind of a spooky walk after dark, going through this dark trench, but I had Jared to protect me and Judo chop any bad guys. The pictures of course don't do it justice, you'll just have to come see for yourself :)

This is supposed to be a wall full of glowworms

The little webs they put down and reel up once something gets stuck in them

Until next time!