On the Friday we woke up early and headed down to Te Papa, the national museum in Wellington. We spent a few hours in the museum, learning about the geological forces that shaped, and continue to shape New Zealand, from the volcanic nature of the fault, to earthquakes and glaciers. We then spent a while looking at the different native and introduced animals found in NZ as well as the famous colossal squid caught of the coast of NZ and donated to the museum. We then passed through the section dedicated to Maori culture and history before deciding it was time to get a shop done and head on to our next destination. We stocked up on noodles and other healthy dry foods…NOT! And headed on to our over night stop Paraparaumu, a small seaside town an hour north of Wellington. We arrived, settled in and went for a nice long walk along the beach, astonished by the size and amount of driftwood washed up. Whole trees with rocks embedded in to their roots had been washed down by powerful rivers and then washed up ashore, along with all sorts of shells and other sea life remnants, which Laura enjoyed photographing. We cooked up a bolognese, which felt like a treat after finishing up what we had left in the South Island and having nothing but kiwis to eat the night before and headed to bed in preparation for our sundowner horse trek the next day at River Valley Lodge.
We headed off to River Valley Lodge arriving perfectly on time for our 3 o'clock check-in with a drive through NZ's worst and finest weather all mixed in to one! We were so glad that we decided to stay at the lodge rather than in the nearby town as it was a fair drive to the lodge and the lodge itself was in an incredible setting next to a river enclosed by steep valley walls and varying shades of green of grass and forest land. It was then a waiting game for the ride as it was meant to be at five, then six, then six thirty, eventually we were told that the stable girls had finally arrived back and we could head up to the stables to meet our steads. We were met by a nice English girl called Lizzie who had been working there for four years and would be our guide for the evening. Laura was introduced to Honcho a cow coloured horse (insert correct term here Heather or Katie!) with one blue eye and one brown eye and Charlie met Honey the mother of the group. With a quick lesson in a new style of riding with no bits or anything in the horses mouth (again correct term?!) and we were on our way in to the hills of this picturesque part of New Zealand. The trek was through a working deer, sheep and cattle farm and we were met by all of these along our way, the most entertaining being a hyperactive calf trying to act like a big bad bull, and the scariest being confronted by not one but two real big bad bulls! We continued our trek up and around different valleys until the sun began to set, Lizzie was hoping for us that the flat topped mountain would turn red as it had done all the time last season, but not once this season and for once the weather was on our side and the mountain turned a bright and deep red, an incredible sight! As we had begun our trek so late Lizzie asked if we would be comfortable riding under moonlight, and we very much obliged as we were enjoying ourselves so much. We stopped for our bubbles, cheese and crackers as the last of the light faded away before getting back on to the horses in the dark with no sign of the moon! We then made our way back to the stables under starlight and ended an amazing experience ready for a quick beer in the lodge and then bed!
Our next stop was a short drive along Desert Road, through flat desolate plains towards Turangi and the Tongariro National Park and arrived at the hostel with a lot of the day still ahead. We decided, due to the sore legs from riding that it was justifiable to chill out and watch a film or two whilst getting some washing done along with the fact we had a 19.4km hike planned the next day! After an early night, praying for good weather in order to catch the amazing views promised by one of the worlds greatest one day hikes we woke up to, yep, you guessed it…RAIN! With little else to do and a lift to the beginning of the trek already planned we continued on and did the Tongario Alpine Crossing over a still active volcanic in what can be said as the worst conditions to do it in! With sideways rain and next to know visibility until the last three kilometres, we can't really say much other than we only saw a bit of volcanic rock, smelt some sulphur, got very wet and arrived at the end with very sore and tired legs! BUT we did it, in 5 and a half hours, well under the guided 7-8 hours and we are glad that we did, with a great sense of achievement! After trying to explain rugby to some Americans we headed off to bed.
We woke up pretty much unable to move stiff from the hips down after our marathon trek the day before, packed our bags and set off for a scenic drive to Taupo. We stopped off at some naturally occurring thermal pools, which apparently bubble away at 110 degrees celsius accompanied by mud pools blowing mysterious characters up out of the chocolate resembling gloop and visited Kinloch for a view of the the Great Lake Taupo. The reverse in New Zealand's weather is apparent yet again with it not deciding whether to rain or clear so we are currently residing in our hostel equipped with a jacuzzi and a swimming pool planning our last 10 days in this beautiful country.
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