Moon sights and volcano expeditions

Well I've had a busy few days recently. After leaving Napier (on whatever day it was - I've lost count I can hardly work it out from the fact that today is Sunday) and travelled back to Palmerston North. There I stayed in the Grannie flat again which was quite cool as I was on my own, again. It was however very cold. During the night I had trouble sleeping because it was so cold. I then went to Taupo the next day and that is where I am now - but only till tomorrow morning.

It was a long-ish ride to Taupo but the view was worth it. I am now in volcano country and it was spectacular watching the land change. Going round the 'Desert road' past 4 volcanos was something like awe-inspiring. The next morning I took the free ride (which the hostel I'm staying at offered) to the 'Craters of the Moon' and 'Huka falls'. Craters of the Moon is a thermal site where lava below the Earths crust heats up water nearer the surface which turns to steam and then going through cracks pushes out into the air. It is mixed with a lot of chemical as well so it smells sulphurious (or like boiled eggs)! It is amazing seeing all of these jets of steam issuing from the ground, there is also a fizzing or hissing that goes with it which is quite cool. In some of the craters there was boiling mud. In one of them - the most recently formed crater and the largest - the mud was bubbling so madly that it was spewing it out of some of the holes and sounded like the roaring of the tide as you stood above looking into it's depths. It is a whole area of steaming craters and crevices. And from one of the viewpoints high above you can look out over the whole land and see that it appears that this area of 'Moon' is in a big crater itself. The entire land is formed due to volcano erruptions and what a sight to see. I also visited Huka falls which is a large river squeezed into a narrow gorge-like passage and looks a bit like rapids but not really interesting. At the end of a riverside walk is a thermal spa. This is a river which has been heated up due to volcanic activity below the ground and it runs into a river but before that is stopped in a few rocks where you can go for a free spa.

The next day - yesterday - I did the Tongariro Crossing. This may not sound very interesting to you back home but it is one of the more amazing walks in NZ. It involves (as I found out on the bus there - not before as I forgot to ask) climbing the side of a volcano, crossing another and then scaling it's heights before coming down the other side. Easy enough you may say but wait till you've tried it then you'll know the effort involved. The first part is easy and flat. Then all of a sudden you're climbing and scrambling up a mountainside. This is called 'Devil's staircase' and it was a right little ******** devil that put it there. It's meant to take 45 mins what a laugh - I took about 1 hour to 1 and a 1/2 hours. I nearly gave up but for the thought that I would have to try hopping over those 'god-forsaken' rocks to get back down. Eventually I made it and to the SOuth crater. The view was worth the climb! Then we crossed the crater and started climbing again but up mud, scree and other horrible things. Leaving the ice in the shadows where the sun had not turned the soil to mud. There we reached the Red Crater and then another short climb took us to the top. In 3 hours we reached the top! By this time i had found a friend who likes climbing as much as I do - like hell! her name was Toi from Holland. We decided to stop at the Emerald Lakes (sulphurious - so no drinking or swimming) for lunch. This, however, involved going down a lot of tiny wee pebbles - scree! Two British guys going down commented that it was the sort of run where you could do with a tin tray. It was hectic! You went down digging your heels in, or stepping from side to side - I did both! You put your foot down and lifted your back foot quickly before you got into a splits position - not very comfortable. The whole way down to the Emerald lakes. It was fun especially when you got the hang of it! After lunch we crossed round the Emerald lakes and watched the impending clouds closing up behind us. I was slightly worried for 2 reasons by this time. We could get stuck in fog and then have to be rescued off the mountain - only there were a few hundred people climbing that day - or we'd be late down and miss the bus which does not wait past it's departure time and you have to find your own way back before Search and Rescue are despatched. We climbed down through the fog and clouds. Some of it turned out to be steam as well from some of the thermal activity. It was easier going down as it was mainly well stepped but you had to be careful you didn't slam your heels down as you'd never make it to the bottom easily. We stopped at the hut on the way down and got some water and toilets. There are no trees or grass further up so to go to the toilet there would have involved doing it in everyone's view because the only place to hide was inside a crater and you didn't want to jump down there because you'd never see the light of day again! The toilets at the hut were well used and very busy. All outside toilets in NZ tend to be long drop toilets; for those that don't know what this is - it's a hole dug very deep in the ground and a toilet placed over it. When you lift the lid of the toilet seat you see everything else that's gone down before you and you can smell it. The smell is not really as bad as it could be thankfully. When the hole fills up it gets covered over and a new hole built or the 'droppings' sometimes are removed. I took a video of some of the people that were at the hut at the same time as myself and Toi - quite a varied bunch and quite a number of us. Then after 15 mins off again as we'd cut the expecetd time to the hut in half we hoped to do the same again and catch the earlier bus or take our time and catch the later one. After going through some rainforest area at the bottom the carpark was suddenly upon us - I was one of the few that was not looking for the carpark round every corner so the last section did not seem quite as long for me as it did for others. As a person on the last bus there I was very surprised to be the 2nd or 3rd person back out of the entire group gone. I managed it in 7 hours where most are expected to be between 8 to 10 hours so I was very surprised. I was very tired and exhausted when I got back.

Today has been relatively lazy after yesterday. I got up early - for some unknown reason! And walked to where I'd heard a church was - almost an hour it took me. It was however an Anglican church and after walking another 1/2 hour cross-spotting I gave up. 'Cross-spotting' incidentally is what I've named very aptly an adventure at trying to find a church as you walk about a town searching all the roofs of buildings to find a cross or spire and then keep on going when you find none or one of a different faith. I've found some interesting places 'cross-spotting' before! Today, however, I gave up and after checking the White Pages found that there is no Roman Catholic church in Taupo. Therefore as my last cross today happened to be a Gospel church I went to that service instead which was quite good - loads of songs!And after getting my washing done and out and dried (which I need to check now about 5 hours later or more - it's dark outside) I went for a bathe in the thermal springs I talked about earlier which was gorgeously hot and very relaxing - along with a number of others doing the same thing on a sunday afternoon :-)

Now I've got to go and rescue my washing from the cold and get dinner, pack my bag for tomorrows trip to boiled eggs country - it seemingly smells really bad from all the sulphur gases in the air!!!