More caves, more treks and a family get together!

Hello all

Before we arrived in Lake Taupo we paid a visit to more caves, in a place called Waitomo. I think we have had our fill of caves now but the gloworms in these ones were very cool, as were the streams rushing along below us. The gloworms appeared as tens of thousands of little luminous specks on the ceiling of the pitch black caves so it looked like a night sky.

From Lake Taupo we managed the trek known as Tongariro Crossing in about 6.5hrs. It wasn’t all that bad effort wise, although my legs were aching for a while after! The clouds remained stubbornly in place for most of the morning, so we didn’t see much of the Red Crater or Mt Doom but the Emerald Lakes lived up to their name. After that it was full sunshine on the way down past the hot springs and more egg-smelling thermal vents. The last hour was through a really pretty forest following a rocky stream. We both really enjoyed it.

After our walk we headed south on the desert road and got our great views of Mount Doom at last.

We stayed the night in Palmerston North. We only stayed long enough to sleep and eat, and suffered the worst chinese meal we have had in our lives – chowmein with no noodles?! and tons of cauliflower?! – yuck. Apparently, (Lonely Planet)John Cleese said that Palmerston North is somewhere you go if you want to die but don’t have the nerve to commit suicide. The town responded by naming the dump after him!

So we moved swiftly on to Upper Hutt, near Wellington, to meet Matt’s Aunt Maureen, her husband Wayne and their numerous wonderful animals! We have had a fantastic last couple of days there, including a day trip to Wellington and our first NZ BBQ. We were spoiled rotten with great food and a very cosy bed (which was a very welcome respite from the campervan ‘mattresses’).

Today we tore ourselves away from their great hospitality and took the ferry to the South Island. We are in Nelson, planning a day at the market and on the beach tomorrow and then on to Abel Tasman for some more walking, maybe some kayaking, maybe some boat trips.

I’m making Matt buy a lotto ticket tomorrow because he was the luckiest bugger today! His hat blew up, off and away out of sight on the deck of the ferry, and so he was in a bit of a grump. An hour later I stepped out the door on the other side of the ferry and instantly heard a guy say ‘there’s a hat there too’. So I looked up and a guy was climbing up on the roof to retrieve a
broken beer bottle – and this hat, which I swiftly recovered. What are the odds?!. ‘Matt the hat’ was best pleased.

Anyway I’ve written too much – sorry. Laters x