The Waikito

We began our return journey to Auckland by travelling North to The Waikito region.  The landscape reflected the volcanic origins of the area with the hills rising in a succession of conical peaks upon conical peaks.  We visited the Waitomo glow worm caves, a truly magical spot where the highlight is an underground boat ride where the only illumination is provided by thousands of tiny blue pinpricks of light emitted by the glow worms.  We learned that in fact they are not worms at all, but maggots, and cannibalistic ones at that! In King Country, so named for its connections with the Maori King movement, we drove along narrow winding roads with stunning views to the relatively unknown

Kawhia peninsula. We walked 20 minutes from the road to a wonderful double natural arch, all that

remained of a vast 30 million year old cave system.  In the rocks were countless fossilised giant oysters.  A little further on we hiked to the thundering Marokopa Falls.  Of all the falls we had seen, including those at Milford and Doubtful Sounds, we thought these were the most impressive, perhaps all the more so because we were the only people there. At Kawhia beach we scooped a hole in the black sand and paddled as it filled with hot water, warmed by the underlying volcanic rock close to the surface.  Small bubbles rose up through the water and we were aware of the smell of sulphur.

For our last morning in New Zealand we were booked onto a 9am tour of the Ruakuri cave.  Descending 60m through a man-made entrance we emerged into a narrow, downwards leading, crevice in the rocks, that duly opened out into a passage festooned with delicate stalactites and stalagmites.  A shallow river ran through the cave and we could hear the sound of a distant waterfall.

Glow worm threads

This cave system was extensive: we walked for 2 or 3 kilometres observing amazing features.  At one point the guide turned off the lights and the cavern was illuminated only by the radiant light of hundreds of tiny glow worms. We were able to observe the threads that the female glow worm spins to catch her food.  And this was only one of 347 caves that have been discovered.  This had been a magical, awe inspiring end to our holiday in New Zealand.

Next stop, Melbourne!

Tongariro National Park

Lake Taupo is not only New Zealand's largest lake at 619 sq km, but also the crater of the biggest volcanic explosion known to man.  The lake bed is still active.   Tongariro National Park, where we spent the day walking, lies at the southern end of the lake.  The park contains 3 active volcanic peaks.  These are, in effect, the pressure valves for the lake, and were it not for them, the probability of another Taupo-sized volcanic explosion would be significantly increased.  One of the peaks, Mount Ngauruhoe, achieved fame as Mount Doom in The Lord of The Rings film trilogy. We walked for two hours from Whakapapa Village which is a winter ski resort in the north of the National Park, and later for two hours from Turoa, another ski resort on the southwestern slopes.

Rotorua

Popular since Victorian times, Rotorua is a thermal wonderland of hot mineral springs, boiling mud, geysers and volcanoes, and is one of the major holiday areas in New Zealand.  On our first night here

we succumbed to the full tourist treatment at Te Puia, a thermal area famous for the Pohutu (big splash) geyser. We attended a Maori hangi. - a traditional meal baked over hot rocks in a pit in the ground. Of course we first had to be accepted by the Maori warriors who threw down a challenge to determine if we were friend or foe.  We were first entertained to a demonstration of the poi by the Maori women, and then the Haaka was performed by the warriors and male members of the audience were encouraged to participate. Tacky, but at least the food was good.

Pohutu Geyser

There are many thermal attractions on offer making it difficult to choose, but we settled on a visit to

the Waimangu Volcanic Valley.  This comprised a 5km downhill walk through the area's youngest thermal park formed by volcanic eruption in 1886, and subsequent eruptions in 1900, 1904, 1917 and 1973.  The park contains the world's largest hot spring, Frying Pan Lake, which resembles a huge, boiling cauldron.  The water temperature averages 50 degrees centigrade. Algae and rare metals give

rise to some spectacular colours in the pools and on the rocks around the springs.  A little further down the trail is Inferno Crater Lake which rises over a 38 day cycle until it overflows then falls back by 8 metres.  The water is extremely acidic. Vents in the rocks shoot forth steam all around and in places the ground is hot to the touch.

Leaving Rotorua behind we travelled across the volcanic landscape to Taupo where we stayed for the night beside the Lake.  As is the norm here, our room had its own private spa bath, with water heated geo-thermally.

The Coromandel Peninsula and the Bay of Plenty

View from the Coromandel Peninsula across the Firth of Thames

Our driving tour of North Island commenced by motoring 2 hours east from Auckland to the Coromandel Peninsula.  This area was the scene of a goldrush in the 1870's, but is now better known

for its beaches and fishing, and is a popular week-end retreat for Aucklanders. We followed the winding coastal road up the west side of the peninsula, enjoying some fabulous views across the Firth of Thames towards Auckland, then cut across the middle of the peninsula on dirt tracks to the east coast.  Here are some of the best beaches, Hahei, Hot Water Beach and Cathedral Cove. Hot Water Beach is so named because at low tide it is possible to dig a hole in the sand and sit in your own bath

of near boiling water.  We walked across the cliffs to Cathedral Cove, notable for its vast rock arch that floods at high tide and enjoyed the stunning views from the cliff path. We stopped for the night at Tairua where the bay is dominated by the 178metre Mount Paku, an extinct volcanic cone, and an early indicator that we were moving towards a region where the landscape owes much to volcanic activity over millions of years.

Mount Paku

Continuing our tour next morning we breakfasted on the beach at Opoutere, reached by a 1km walk through pine groves.  The beautiful white sandy beach extended as far as the eye could see in each direction, yet including ourselves I only counted twelve people along its length.  We drove

southwards through the Bay of Plenty, a fertile region, where kiwi fruit are grown in abundance, before reaching our next destination, Rotorua.

Dunedin: The Otago Peninsula

We had a morning free before our flight from Dunedin to the North Island.  We shunned the city in favour of a drive around the Otago Peninsula. Much of the peninsula was shrouded in low cloud and fog, but here and there the clouds parted to reveal some stunning views. You can see the fog bank in the distance in the photos below.

We flew from Dunedin to Auckland and spent two nights there.  I haven't written a separate report about our time in Auckland.  Maybe we missed its charms, but we found it an unattractive city, providing few photo opportunities. We escaped the city by making the short ferry journey across the harbour to Devonport and spent the day there.

Southland

We spent two days travelling across the bottom of South Island on the Southern Scenic Route. As we left Fiordland behind the mountains gave way to gentle rolling countryside with expansive views over green pastures to the sea beyond.  The population drifted away from this area after the gold rush and the decline of the logging industry and now sheep, dairy or occasionally deer farming are the

main activities. We were in, and out of, Invercargill (pop 60,000) in 10 minutes, there being nothing of interest to detain us, and then we entered a beautiful area known as The Catlins.  We stopped at Slope Point, the most southerly point on South Island; Curio Bay, home to the rarest penguin in the world and the site of a petrified forest and Porpoise Bay, home to the rare Hector's Dolphin, the smallest dolphin in the world.

Our accommodation for the night was a farmstay B&B.  We sat in the garden and feasted on blueberry scones washed down with a glass of wine while the sand-flies feasted on us!

Petrified tree

This was my birthday and I know how to celebrate in style! From a mobile caravan we bought blue cod and chips wrapped in newspaper, served by the most heavily tattooed lady you have ever seen, then sat on the beach with a bottle of wine.  We watched a solitary sea lion defending his territory from inquisitive humans, then walked around the point to watch the Hoiho yellow eyed penguins return from a day spent fishing to feed their chicks.

The weather the following morning was beautiful so we decided to walk along the beach at Porpoise Bay.  We had been told that the local school-children often swam with the dolphins, but dismissed the

idea as unlikely.  Amazingly within seconds we spotted 5 Hector's dolphins surfing the breaking waves within yards of the beach.  This was an opportunity too good to miss. I waded in to join them and was surrounded by playful dolphins. For as long as I whistled they kept coming back to investigate.  This was a truly magical experience.

The Catlins continued to reveal their beauty to us.  McKay's Falls; Purakanui Falls and the amazing Cathedral Caves. The latter are only accessible two hours either side of low tide and the pristine beach besides them is washed clean every 12 hours.  It was with great reluctance that we finally left this area to complete our drive to Dunedin.

Doubtful Sound

We were booked on a full day trip with Real Journeys to Doubtful Sound.  Our journey began in Manapouri with a 45 minute cruise across Lake Manapouri which is surrounded by the majestic

Kepler Mountains.  The area is part of Fiordland National Park and has been designated a World Heritage Area. No building is allowed here, so it is hard to believe that the far side of the lake is the site of New Zealand's most ambitious engineering project, the Manapouri Power Station.  But this is

no ordinary power station as our guided tour revealed. Manapouri Power Station is an underground hydro-electric power station. It's an impressive achievement.  Our coach descended for 2 km through a tunnel hewn from the rock over 8 years by a team of 1,800 men to a point 178 metres below the level of the lake. Here we visited a massive turbine hall where 7 turbines generate electricity, drawing water from the lake above, and then sending it through two 10km tunnels to an outlet at the head of Doubtful Sound. The Hall resembled the set of a James Bond film. The power station was commissioned in 1972 and supplies power to an aluminium smelter in Bluff, some 200 km away. Incredibly this consumes as much power as would otherwise be used by the whole of the South Island.

Our coach then drove across the Wilmot Pass, New Zealand's most remote road, constructed in the 1960's to link Lake Manapouri to Doubtful Sound allowing access for heavy equipment brought in by sea to the power station site.

Doubtful Sound from Wilmot's Pass

At Deep Cove we boarded our vessel for a 3 hour cruise on the Sound.  The weather was better than on our trip to Milford the previous day, although many of the mountains were shrouded in cloud,

giving the place a very atmospheric appearance.  The Sound is three times longer than Milford Sound and far more remote.  The temperate rainforest on the mountainsides has grown in the absence of any topsoil.  The trees depend upon the build-up of lichens, mosses and leaf mould for nutrients.  Tree avalanches are common and scars on the rock face are the evidence of their existence. The area is

Fiordland Crested Tawaki Penguin

home to a variety of marine mammals, mostly dolphins and seals.  We were fortunate to see one of the world's rarest penguins, the Fiordland Crested Tawaki, of which only 3,000 pairs remain.

As we started our return trip the clouds lifted and the warmth of the sun penetrated the fiord.   This had been a great day!

Lake Manapouri