After a spot of skyping home from Hastings and a drive out to some of the beaches south of Napier at midday we got in touch with Roam located in Tongariro to see if the park shuttle service was operating for the next day. They answered with a yes and so we booked ourselves onto the 8am bus with the knowledge that the weather forecast was looking good for our hike.

The drive to Tongariro from Napier is via highway 60 which led us through some fantastic views across to the volcanic park and snow-peaked mountains. It took us 4+ hours or so to reach the campground in Mangahuia with a road-side picnic stop along the way. The DOC campground was already looking full and we found the last van spot. It’s only $4 per person at this campground but it does fill up quickly and by 7pm more and more people were driving in for the hike the next day. We ended up sharing our space with another van as they couldn’t get a spot. In anticipation of a very early start we were in bed by 9pm and wrapped up warm as we could tell it was going to be a chilly one.

It was freezing in the van over night and we did have frost on the windows in the morning for the first time too. We quickly changed from thermals to thermal layering and decided to get to Whakapapa village so we could get a parking spot early and have breakfast there. The campsite was packed so we figured it made sense to get out before the rest of the campground did the same. So we enjoyed breakfast as the sun was warming us up and we overheard locals talking about how good the weather would be today. Yes! We had picked a good day to do the walk which was confirmed when we got on the 8am shuttle bus and they kept going on about how it was the best day yet. After 30 minutes or so in the bus we arrived at the start of the track at Mangatepopo car-park and had a few safety briefings which took another 10 minutes or so. By which time more and more shuttles were turning up full of hikers so we could tell it was going to be a busy walk.

The crossing starts a little like the Miners path at Snowdon; very steady gravel paths and it’s pretty much like this until we reached the Soda Springs. We had both peaks surrounding us; the Mount Ngauruhoe Volcano aka Mordor in Lord of the Rings and the Mount Tongariro. We took the path out to the springs to get a few photos and then re-joined the main path along with what seemed to be around several hundred other hikers. It was busy! We zipped up the steps which has the name Devil’s staircase and at times does feel very devilish, passing by hikers along the way. It does get annoying as the paths aren’t that wide so we ended up backing up behind hikers who didn’t really let us by which annoyed Dave immensely. It took us around 2 hours to reach the first summit area which then gives you the opportunity to take the path up to the volcano. We decided to do the Mt Tongiriro Summit instead and so continued onwards along the plains below the two peaks. Its a flat muddy plain which leads you unto another steep path. This is where it starts getting volcanic. At the next rest stop we took the path toward the Mt Tongiriro Summit which is around an hour and twenty detour, not everyone does this so we got to avoid the busy paths and enjoyed less tourists making this crossing. We hiked along rocky to very unstable ash like terrain before eventually walking up the path on snow. The snow then led us back onto a rocky ridge and we enjoyed a little cereal bar break whilst taking in the views. We could see the car-park where we started from and across the valley to the mountain ranges.

On making our way back to the main path we skidded down the snow as others went down on their bums and rejoined the main path. At this point we came to the red craters which were different from the surrounding landscape and then along a very scree-rocky path which with the amount of hikers going down was really dusty. This path led us down to the Emerald lakes; a group of small aqua pools with sulphur smoking out from the rocks behind. We enjoyed another tuna lunch and then set off past the Blue Lake. This is the most volcanic and active part of the hike bringing in spectacular views all around. When we left the lake area we were on our way down.

It was a long path back to the car-park at Ketetahi and the terrain went from volcanic to grassy meadows and had a very Scottish highland feel to it all. We could see out to Lake Taupo and were really blown away by the contrast in landscapes from the start of the walk. We got down to the car-park at 3.45pm ready for the 4pm bus, the last bus was leaving at 5pm so we had given ourselves plenty of time. On the bus back to the main village we felt very satisfied with our hike, it goes on the list of epic hikes we’ve down so far. The shuttle service with Roam cost $35 each for a 2-way service. We didn’t really want to use the shuttle both ways but it’s difficult getting back to the car-park where the hike starts and its supposedly not as secure as leaving your car at the main car-park in Whakapapa so we decided to go for the easier option.

Back at the van we freshened up and decided to make our way to Wanganui which is around 100km south of the park. It took us a couple of hours to reach Wanganui and we stayed at Avro Motel and holiday park which cost us a measly $20, not bad with free showers and kitchen use. This was our second night of eating out since we made it to New Zealand and we opted for Thai Villa in the centre of town, the food was reasonable and it was nice to have someone else cook for us.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)

Helen has surfed once before but Dave never has, so today was the day to find out if we would be able to actually stand up whilst surfing a wave. The weather looked half decent with no rain so we booked ourselves onto the morning lesson which would start at 8.30am at the Raglan Surfing School located at the Karioi Lodge where we spent the night in the van.

Upon meeting with Al, our Newquay UK instructor, we started with the basics on dry land. The four step technique to get us riding those waves. A short van drive to the ocean and we donned our slightly damp wetsuits in the blustery gales on the beach front. With boards in hand and a final practice on the safety of land we headed in. Dave’s first attempt with Al aiming the board in the right direction, was actually pretty good with almost a full stand! But then it was a downward spiral of massive mouth-falls of salt water and plenty of wipeouts! The waves continued to crash in and their frequency was pretty intense. Helen found the cold a bit of a battle with numb feet and shivering knees but with Al’s guidance got up a few times onto her feet and surfed. We were all wiped out on the so-called team waves, but it was again a good laugh all round. Helen was a little disappointed not to have had more confidence but alas this was the first lesson and the sun didn’t even come out to help us along.

After nearly an hour and a half we headed in-shore for cold showers and waited for our mini-bus back to our digs. We are both looking forward to hiring some boards in the future to try and replicate what we have learned. After hot showers and some mighty baked beans and spaghetti in tomato sauce (a whole can of each shared between us) on toast we set off for a return to Hamilton via Raglan town centre to get the van its 10,000km annual service and ready for further southbound travels. Our camp site for the night in Hamilton was the Glenview Club, a donation only camp site located in the car-park of the club. It’s basically a social working mans club with onsite betting, machine based gambling, bar, grass bowls and we even got some free cups of tea. For cheap camping in a van its well worth checking out.

Not many photos as it was a miserable day and as we were surfing we were pre-occupied with standing on the surf board rather than taking photos!

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)

Our next destination was Hamilton which is only 50km or so from Te Aroha so no big drive today! We wanted to get to the Farmer’s market held every Sunday on River Road. We got there just after 10am and found a nice little bustling market where we bought some veggies at a very low price!

We didn’t really have any expectations of Hamilton so we decided to nip into the I-site to get some info on what we could do while there for the day. We were given the top things to do in Hamilton with the first on the list being to check out the Richard O’Brien sculpture in the guise of Riff Raff the time travelling alien from the planet Transsexual (The Rocky Horror Show). He lived in this town and this was where he wrote The Rocky Horror Show and where it was first performed! History! The original theatre is no longer there just his statue standing in its place. From there we wandered over to The Art House, a free art space playing host to local artists. They had some really cool gift ideas in their shop and we particularly liked the porcelain paper cups.

We then went to The Hamilton Museum which is also has free admission. They house historic and contemporary art both in the Maori and Western sense with the top floor showcasing a huge Waikato Rugby exhibition that was really well curated. So we were impressed with the art that we saw and then drove over to the Hamilton gardens where the New Zealand Rose Festival was taking place.

We enjoyed a picnic and then wandered into the the Rose gardens where awards were to be presented for New Zealand’s BEST rose! Apart from the fact that there could have been more support from the public and more interest for them to be involved in i.e. stalls and cake! There was a fairly good turn out, more so from the Rose supporting community! We learned why Lemon & Lyme won so many awards including the top dong; because it is very difficult to achieve that colour, each rose is always really well presented and the leaves are always in a good condition no matter what the age of the rose plant! So we watched and applauded whilst enjoying some local ale before finally leaving after some live jazz to explore the actual Hamilton Gardens.

We only visited the sculpted and landscaped gardens being the Indian Cha garden, Italian walled garden, the 60′s American garden, and the Chinese, Japanese and English Rose gardens. All of which are beautiful with the Italian garden standing out.

After an enjoyable afternoon at the gardens we decided to get over to the coast to Raglan with the hope of booking a surf lesson for the next day. It’s about an hours journey to Raglan from Hamilton and we drove straight through to Manu Bay home to one of the world’s best left hand surf breaks. We are complete novices to the surf-lingo but this is supposed to be one of the best spots in NZ for surfing which was good enough for us. We decided to stay at Karioi Lodge where the Raglan Surfing School is located, more for ease than anything. They are based at Whale Bay and have lodges, cabins and spots for vans and tents. They also charge $15 per night per person in a van on a loop away from the main lodge. There are around 6 spots up on the loop with a kitchen and shower block.

After choosing our spot and cooking dinner we went to explore the bay area. It didn’t look good for the next day weather wise but we were hopeful that we would be able to do a surf lesson first thing. Back at the lodge we sat in the main common areas, and logged onto their pay-for Wi-Fi. Why is it that free Wi-Fi hasn’t hit off over here? You have to pay for it nearly everywhere and not many places actually have it! Enough moaning, this hostel has a good atmosphere with the Stray travellers being bussed in every day. There is also a nice group who live and work there too. The fist Sunday Sessions took place in Raglan that night but we didn’t know about it until the next day, it sounded like a good event and the lodge were arranging drop offs and pick ups. We had a quiet one!

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)