Day 17

After yesterdays Manic day we were really in no rush to get out and about

early today, yet the Sun did its usual trick of waking us up and at 0930 we

To Signal for help, not for potential Goat Rapists

were up and getting showered. we Drove out of the Camp two very happy people

and headed round the corner to the Kuirau Park. A free Park where they have

fenced of several Volcanic pools and mud pits which spend their days

bubbling and boiling away.  They really are fairly impressive to see

although i did find it slightly dodgy when you realised that the ground was

gradually giving in to these bubbling pools around you, it's obvioulsy a

fairly slow process but you can see where the ground next to a pool has just

collapsed fairly suddenly because of it.  It didn't look the safest of

places lets leave it at that!  It's back in the "Sabbath" and we're on our

way to Taupo, a fairly long drive but again it had spectacular views so it

wasn't that bad, although i'm still a bit worried about the roads and their

sudden drops into the sea from great heights...haven't they heard of

barriers or even fencing over here???.... Anyway, along the way we saw the

sign for the Huka Falls and thought why not, so a quick detour later and we

are admiring an amazing sight!

Huka Falls, At these stunning falls NZ's longest river, the Waikato, is slamme3d into a

narrow chasm and then makes a spectacular 10m drop into a surging pool.  As

Even More Bubbling water at Huka Falls
see all photos »

you cross the footbridge you can see the full force of this torrent that the

Maori called Hukanui (Great Body of Spray) an apt description of NZ's Niagra

Falls.  On sunny days the water is crystal clear and you can take great

photographs from the lookout on the other side of the footbridge. You can also take a few short walks around the area or poick up the trail

Some not so bubbling, but about to be come bubbling water at Huka Falls
see all photos »

from the Aratiatia Rapids into Taupo.

Lonely Planet - New Zealand Guide - page 306-307 So as you can see from the Lonely Planet guide the Huka Falls are fairly

spectacular!  On our way out of the Huka Falls we noticed a sign opposite

for the Craters of the Moon & deciding it sounded interesting we followed

it, parked up, saw how much it cost (only $5 but we were already $250 over

budget!) & left!  However, it was not a wasted journey as around the corner

we pulled over and through a gap in the fence we're able to see the Craters

of the Moon, or bubbling mud pools, & for free!

Unfortunatley it was not without problems as i managed to get a thorn in my foot but luckily for me i had help in the form of Luke and a pair of tweasers and in no time at all we were back on the road towards Taupo and the Tongariro crossing. the Crossing is a one day Trek that will take us thourhg the  mouth of volcannos, Craters and mineral lakes, it sounds amazing and the best part???? the mountain we climb is Mount Doom ala Lord of the rings!!

We wanted to get as close to the start of the crossing as possible so we could get an early start on it tomorrow but we managed to get a little lost and as we

we're running low on fuel we headed back towards the centre of Tuarangi

where we visited the isite (information site.)  We managed to pick up a map

of the crossing and also transport to the start of the crossing from your

accomodation and pick you up from the end of the crossing and take you back

to your accomodation, as the start and finish of the crossing is 10 miles

apart and a good 7 hour walk we decided this was probalby a good idea!

Now all we had to do was book some accomodation to stay at, the isite

recommended 3 sites, 1: Tuarangi Holiday Park, 2: Oasis Holiday Park -

including free use of their mineral pools and a third choice.  Obviously i

wanted to stay at the Oasis Holiday park, who wouldn't with free mineral

pools!  but Luke insisted on Tuarangi as it was closer so i gave in and

that's where we went to stay for the night.  It reminded me of an old school

camp & the not so great toilets (Luke doesn't aggree with me and thinks it

was ok but then he chose the place so...: ) ) Anyway, once we'd picked our

spot in the empty caravan site we had a walk around & found out that the

cabins you can hire we're old Army single mens quarters, (the site did go up

in my opinion then!) Once settled we headed back into town (2 minutes down

the road) to do a quick food shop & organise our lunches for the crossing

tomorrow. And here comes the most excitging part of the trip so far...Luke

finally bought Beer!!  The rest of the evening was spent chilling, updating

the blog, watching ugly Betty & packing for the crossing.  As the weather is

very changeable up there we took :

thermal top

jumper

rain coat as well

buffalo/snugpak

rations (just in case!!!)

camelbak,

cylums,

panic alarm (To Signal for help, not for potential Goat Rapists)

windproof matches(more for LUke's fags than anything else!)

torches

food (cheese & cucumber & ham & cucumber sandwichs!)

compass,

para-cord,

silk sleeping bag liner,

camera,

bandanna,

shemagh,

sunglasses,

sun screen,

mug& wets kit,

knives & multitools.

And some other bits and bobs... So as you can imagine we we're prepared for

anything!  All that was left to do was hit the sack for an early night in

preparation for an early start.

Caz xxx