From Hobbiton to Mount Doom

Wow, where to start? It's been about three weeks since our last post and I think we've managed to pack more action into those three weeks than we did in all our three months in Fiji. But, of course, that's why we came here. That's exactly what you expect to get when you come to New Zealand - ACTION. We haven't done any of the expensive adrenaline stuff like skydiving, rafting, bungee jumping or paragliding, but we've walked over craters, soaked in thermal pools, floated down rivers, took a tour of a sheepskin factory and - well, now we're picking apples in the wine country. Not bad, isn't it?

I should start by saying that some of our new NZ pictures are up, so check them out.

Also, I would like to apologize to the Auckland Museum - it didn't cost NZ$30, but just a "suggested donation" of $5 to get in. So we did and we learned a few things. Not surprisingly, Auckland Museum had better Fijian artifacts on display than the Fiji Museum itself.

So, two weeks ago we bought a car - a golden Ford Laser station wagon (used cars are probably the only real bargain in NZ- that and wine) and the next day we packed our "Golden Bullet" full of canned food and took off to see the rest of the country. Unlike in Fiji, this time we didn't bother to buy the hugely overpriced Lonely Planet and decided to be guided only by our compact NZ road atlas with the very promising green campsite symbols and the pink dots for tourist attractions. We'd hop around from one free campsite to another and see whatever we could afford on the way.

Our first stop on the "Thermal Explorer" highway was Rotorua, a town unfortunate to be sitting right in the middle of a lot of geothermal activity and therefore smelling very strongly of boiled eggs (i.e. sulfur). We got there after driving through very quaint countryside with funny little grassy mounds that seemed oddly familiar.... Of course - a pink dot on the map confirmed my suspicion - we drove right through Hobbiton! Well, the actual film location was a few miles north of us, but trust me, this was the real stuff.

Rotorua sits on a large lake of the same name, but we didn't get to see it, we headed a bit further down to a free campsite by a smaller lake Rerewhakaite. The next day we headed to a very intriguing pink dot on the map called "The Buried Village." The $25 entrance fee shocked us a little bit, but we sucked it up and paid - we had free accommodation after all! We didn't regret it. The little museum we entered was interactive, creative and told us all about an 1886 volcano explosion that obliterated the famous Pink and White silicone terraces, a Kiwi self-proclaimed 8th Wonder of the World, and buried a few villages, including the one that we were about to see. We took a walk through the remnants of a village - the tops of Maori houses peeking out from about 3m of ash - then took a walk along a quaint stream full of rainbow trout and ended up by a 30m waterfall and a sweeping view of the native bush that grew back on this devastated land. It was really worth the money.

And we also learned that the volcano that blew up was Tarawera, a mountain that we could see right behind our campsite. Oops, we couldn't run if it blew now. We also wanted to see some local geothermal valleys with boiling mud, geysers and steaming lakes, but our wallet couldn't take another $50, so we found a local thermal hangout - Kerosene Creek. It was hot and it was free - just what we needed.

At our campsite we met two fellow backpackers from Chicago, Mark and Erica. We got along immediately so we decided to meet up later at our next destination, Taupo, at a free campsite they told us about.

Taupo is a popular backpacker spot right in the middle of the North Island - it's again a huge lake and a town of the same name - surrounded by thermal activity, nice walks and a whole lot of cool stuff to do, most of which we couldn't afford. We set up camp at Reid's Farm, the free camp spot on the bank of a fast flowing and crystal clear river. The water was flowing almost at our doorstep! We jumped in and let the strong current take us down to the nearest shallow exit spot. It was a little bit nerve-wracking because the current was really strong and not too far downstream from us were the Huka Falls - a massive channel of foaming water that leads up to an even more massive waterfall. Actually, the waterfall wasn't probably all that close, but the thought of being dragged helplessly anywhere close to it was enough to make me scramble out of the cold river very very fast!

We met up with Mark and Erica, made an illegal campfire and celebrated life and travel with a box of local wine (wine here is not only cheap, but it's good, too!) At midnight, pleasantly inebriated, we got the idea to go on a full-day (7-hour) hike the next day at Tongariro National Park, which wasn't too far away from Taupo. It was an exciting idea - we would see both Mount Doom and the Plains of Gorgoroth (whatever they may be, we don't remember the Lord of the Rings that well) in one day. At least that's what our road atlas promised us.

The next day we took off for the mountains. By the time we got to the park and made our PBJs it was already mid-day, but we had no idea what sort of torture awaited us, so we enthusiastically set out on the most famous hike in New Zealand. And probably the hardest. At first we walked comfortably underneath Mount Doom (it's just easier to say than Mount Ngauruhoe), which is a sinister looking cone volcano covered by black lava and creepy looking rocks. Then we got to the Devil's Staircase - a steep pass between Mount Doom and a neighboring volcano. We were climbing it almost on all fours and kept looking back at the ever more beautiful view of the valley behind us. We had no idea that this view was nothing!

On the top of the pass we got a break and had an easy walk through an eerily yellow plain, which, as it turns out, was actually a crater itself! After that, we were sad to see more climbing on a steep rocky incline. At this point, the low clouds were blowing over us and were adding to the eerie atmosphere of this volcanic moonscape. We had one more little climb and then we got to it quite unexpectedly - the Red Crater opened up in front of us like a massive gaping wound. We were all amazed to find ourselves standing on the very top of a volcano, looking down into the abyss of its crater. The walls of the crater were red and black molten rock was hanging over their edges. The earth underneath our feet was saturated with hot water and we could smell sulphur. We were all in awe - together with about a dozen other hikers from all around the world who were there with us.

This was the middle and the high point of the hike. We were only about 3 hours into it and we thought that no way was it going to take us 4 hours to finish the hike! First, we had to climb down - or, more precisely, slide down a scary gravel sluice - 300m on the other side of the Red Crater. Then we traversed the Emerald Lakes, passed another large crater, negotiated the bank of the large Blue Lake and then we thought it was going to be an easy stroll down hill on the grassy Alpine meadows. How wrong we were! We trudged downhill for 4 more hours on this endless slope before entering a forest where we foolishly expected to see the parking lot at any minute. But we kept trudging down for another hour and our legs were getting shaky with the strain. I was almost delirious from fatigue and one of my knees refused to cooperate any longer. In other words - it was a tough hike. But it was worth all the effort in the world!

After this feat, we definitely not only deserved, but desperately needed a good soak in a hot tub. Fortunately, Mark and Erica knew about a hot spring that flows into the Waikata River only a few hundred yards upstream from our campsite, so we picked up a few beers and headed straight for it. See, the beautiful thing about living out of your car is that you always have everything you need with you: swimsuits, towels, soap, bottle opener... By the time we got to the spring, it was half past eleven at night, so we had to disturb some giggly skinnydippers by scrambling in utter darkness over slippery rocks towards the noise of gushing water. There, we slowly slipped into a scalding hot pool and enjoyed its therapeutic effects on our sore limbs. It was a great day to remember.

Our friend Matt and his girlfriend Alina happened to be in Taupo the following day and they wanted to visit this same hot spring where we relaxed the night before, so we joined them and had a chance to see this popular spot in the daylight. It was a lively spring that bubbled over some irregular rock formations with small pools and then cascaded in a small waterfall into the frigid Waikato River that was bending majestically right next to it. This time, we didn't have to fear a sprained ankle and we crawled all over the spring, testing the different pools, getting a gentle shoulder massage under the waterfall and even alternating between soaking in cold, hot or lukewarm water, depending on how far from the hot waterfall you wanted to go. Wonderful!

That night, Matt, Alina and I attempted to have a campfire with our beer at Reid's Farm, but we were so sadly unsuccessful (really, we couldn't even get paper to burn!) that Matt resorted to the most desperate option - the boat petrol tank that, for some reason, lives in his car together with a boat motor. As you can imagine, this wasn't such a good idea, since we ended up with a huge, but short-lived, bonfire that ignited the tank itself and Matt had to throw it into the river. For a few seconds, a minute maybe, we finally had our fire. Then we sunk straight back into the cold dark night. That was Saturday. Matt and Alina left back for Auckland on Sunday and that night, for some strange reason, we had no problem having a nice little campfire with Mark and Erica all night long (not that we are implying it was Matt and Alina's fault).

On Monday, we decided that it was time for a night in a bed. Our campsite by the river was hard, lumpy and close to a dirt road that produced clouds of dust with every passing vehicle. After four nights at Reid's Farm, our backs were sore, we were covered in powdery dust and our iPods had to be recharged. Not to mention that Monday night was going to be the Oscar night and I could not stand the thought of missing the show! So we drove to Taupo and took a room at the first motel we could find. Amazingly, at this motel we got two bedrooms and a full kitchen, so we invited Mark and Erica over and we had an Oscar party together. And that was after we treated ourselves to very long hot showers and a sumptuous dinner from Pizza Hut. (It's amazing what you come to appreciate after a week of camping!) Tuesday morning, we all cooked up an amazing breakfast feast with eggs, sausages and toast - all the foods that become so precious to you when you're on the road and a shoestring budget. Here we split with our new friends - they were heading to the South Island and we were going east to Hawke's Bay to visit another friend of ours.

And here we are now - Hawke's Bay, the "fruit bowl" and major wine country of New Zealand. It is a sun-soaked land of endless vineyards, apple orchards and windy pebble beaches of the Pacific coast. The towns of Napier and Hastings here were both devastated by a 1932 earthquake and were rebuilt completely in Art Deco style, which gives them a very charming and photogenic air. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be many people to enjoy it. Both towns are weirdly empty and quiet at any given time of day. You see 5 people on a street and it's a crowd. It's unfortunate because these are both really lovely small towns that should be teeming with tourists and lively outdoor cafes and street performers. But good luck getting a cup of coffee in Hastings after 5pm! Even the 5 people go home after 5pm. It's odd.

We are now camping in the backyard of Nathan, a friend we made in Prague a few years back, in Haumoana - a little beach settlement located roughly in the middle between Hastings and Napier. Nathan and his Czech girlfriend Hanka own a little house here only one block away from the beach. They also own a 3-legged dog, a cashmere-smooth cat and a goat. Now they have us to take care of...

For the last 7 days, Ryan and I have been picking apples at one of the local orchards and chilling out with Nathan and Hanka. We will tell you more about this exciting job in the next post.