The Road Less Traveled

Previously we had done trips East to the Coromandel, and up to the Northland. With Sarah and Cindy’s sister Sandy here visiting, we took off during Max’s school holiday to tour South. (Pictures and more details will be available soon - Check back for an update.)

We drove South from Auckland, through Matamata, Rotorua, Taupo, Palmerston North, Masterton, to Wellington. We took the ferry across to the South Island, then the train down to Christchurch for a couple days. Then we returned by train and ferry to Wellington for a couple days, then up the West coast to New Plymouth, and then back to Auckland.

Highlights included:

• Riding the luge, kiwi encounter, Maori cultural experience, and Wai-O-Tapu thermal area in Rotorua.
• The awesome Huka Falls and watching bungy jumpers in Taupo.
• Manawatu Gorge and Te Apiti Wind Farm between Palmerston North and Woodville.
• Enjoyed walking around Christchurch.
• Stunning rail/ferry trip back to Wellington.
• Tour through the restored and earthquake-reinforced Parliament buildings.
• Seeing the beautifully restored Embassy Theatre, and experiencing its leather seats, fantastic screen, and awesome audio.
• Seeing Mount Taranaki and enjoying the Coastal Walkway in New Plymouth.

Special Lord of the Rings highlights included:

• Seeing the Hobbiton set on a farm near Matamata.
• Brief stop (in the pouring rain!) at the location of Rivendell at Kaitoke Regional Park.
• Running into Richard Taylor in the lobby of Weta Digital.
• Going to the Lord of the Rings exhibit at Te Papa.
• Seeing the beautifully restored Embassy Theatre where Return of the King premiered.

We really lucked out on the weather, considering it’s the middle of winter here. The only sight we missed was seeing Mount Ruapehu along Desert Road. It was sunny in Rotorua, showers and mountains clouded over on Desert Road, just missed heavy rains in Masterton, though flooding caused us to have to detour around town. Pouring rain once over the Rimutukas and down to Wellington. The Interislander ferry was cancelled that day due to severe weather in Cook Strait. But by the next morning when we were due to catch it, it had calmed considerably, so our crossing was probably calm by Cook Strait standards. Pouring rain on the other side. But then sunshine in Christchurch, stunningly gorgeous weather for the train ride back up and ferry back over to Wellington. Mostly decent weather in Wellington (a bit windy, of course!). Clouds obscured Mount Taranaki on the way to New Plymouth, but the next day was clear and gorgeous sunshine, to see the mountain, walk along the shore, and drive back to Auckland.

We weren’t quite so lucky with booking places to stay, though it all turned out okay in the end. We hadn’t booked ahead of time, wanting the flexibility, and not thinking there’d be any problem in the middle of winter! Well it turned out that Palmerston North was booked up with teachers in town for recertification exams, Wellington was booked up with hockey tournaments, and Christchurch was booked up for a big rugby game between the All Blacks and the Aussies! We did manage to find places, but it definitely took time and caused some unexpected stress along the way. (We considered canceling the the whole South Island part of the trip at one point, between bad weather canceling the ferry and Christchurch being booked up.)

Sarah and I have gone on a couple caving trips recently, and Max joined us as well for a “caving” trip to the old army tunnels at North Head in Devonport.

The May meeting of the Auckland Speleo Group was a caving trip to a lava cave right in the heart of an Auckland residential neighborhood, the entrance of which was right under a house! No wine stored down there, but some good crawling around in nooks and crannies. No glowworms or cave wetas in this cave, but plenty of roots making their way down through the ceiling.
Sarah and I sat near one end with a couple other people for awhile with our lights off - peaceful, dark, quiet - very nice. Later near the entrance people took turns climbing up a wall and slithering through and sliding down a slot-shaped crawl. Photos here.

Then on June 3rd, Sarah and I went caving at Waipu, a couple hours north of Auckland. After waiting for everyone to arrive at the Waipu Tourist Cave parking lot, we drove up into the farm land, got into our gear, then headed off through the grass and gorse trying to find the cave entrance Trevor was looking for. We found one candidate, and started down a hand-line to check it out. It wasn’t the right one, so it was back up and off to find Bouquave instead. This one required an assisted descent to get down into the entrance - It was Sarah’s first time, but she tackled that (first) challenge well! Bouquave was a good crawl in places, including a couple more challenges for Sarah! First was a low narrow squeeze that was mostly in the stream (where I had just seen a ~2 ft. eel!) followed by a climb out. Others in the group were not able or interested in doing the wet squeeze, so while they retraced their way to where we had entered, Sarah, Trevor, and I made our way forwards to a climb-out exit I had scouted out. The cave did go on further, but lowered down to another wet crawl. Also, a sheep must have fallen in and died at some point, as the smell around this point was pretty retched! Time for fresh air. So, Sarah’s third challenge was a bit of a climb up and out, which Trevor made easier with a hand-line. We made our way above ground back to the entrance just in time to greet the others making their climbs back out.

From there, we headed back down to the Tourist Cave and lunch. As people finished eating, they made their way into the cave. This one has a large, walk-in opening to a large area where the stream flows through. Just around the corner from the entrance was the most awesome display of glowworms! The entire ceiling was lit up like the stars in a dark sky! Really incredible! Unsure of the way on, Sarah and I waited for Trevor, who showed us the way up-and-over, rather than down and through the stream. We spent the next hour or so all crawling around different passages and running back into each other. A tangle of passages and breakdown all at one end. On our way back out, Trevor showed us a slide-down tube, which I admit to have been too chicken to try, then we admired the glowworms again, and took a bunch of photos in the entrance cavern area. Trevor also showed us the wet-exit option, which we’ll save for a hot summers day! After coming out, Greg was doing a bit of target shooting with his .22, and he convinced Sarah to “give it a shot” as well. Check out the photos here.

Then came the “caving” trip at North Head in Devonport. The fortifications there were built starting in the late 1800’s to provide coastal/harbour defences for Auckland, very like the fortifications at Fort Worden, Fort Flagler, and Fort Casey in Washington State that were built to protect the entrance to Puget Sound. The North Head fortifications include the large shore batteries, and various tunnels that were presumably for ammunition and accessing the guns from protected positions. The tunnels also connect with a couple bits of “cave” that open out on the hillside. Photos here.

One of the fun things about New Zealand is meeting people from all over the world. There was a contingent of Russians on the Auckland trip. Sarah, with only a year of college Russian under her belt, was a bit shy about practicing with them. But when some of them also came along on the Waipu and North Head trips, she managed a few words of conversation!