Taupo to Wellington
Sunday - Free day in Taupo
As I had a free day in Taupo, I used this as a quiet day, due the the previous heavy night. However, we did manage one activity as a group - a trip to the local hot springs. These had a big advantage over the other hot springs we've visited before - they didn't stink of Sulphur! It was a very hot stream running down to join a river. You could only just about get into the stream - it was like a very hot bath. However, where the stream and river met, the water was a comfortable enough temperature, and consequently there were many people there.
Although we'd been out the previous night, tonight was the last night we would see some of the people on our bus as they were leaving for other trips, hence another night out was required, albeit significantly quieter than the previous night.
Monday - Taupo to River Valley
Today was pretty much the longest lie in we've had on a bus pickup day - 9:30! Although I'd not been able to do the Tongariro crossing, a one day hike in the Tongariro national park, we did stop off on our journey to do a shorter walk through the park to Taranaki Falls for lunch. On the way we could see some of the volcanoes in the park, including Mt Ngauruhoe (Mt Doom!).
Our final destination for today was River Valley, a lodge on a river (yes, in a valley!). This was probably the most remote location I've stayed in here, and was really nice. Our reason for staying here was to do whitewater rafting the next day.
Tuesday - Whitewater Rafting & Return to Wellington
Although I did whitewater rafting at the start of my trip in New Zealand, I enjoyed it enough to do it again with the people I've got to know on the bus. So early in the morning, we all got suited up in wetsuits and squashed in a bus to head upriver. This rafting company seemed to do more training than the previous company I'd been with, which I didn't appreciate too much as it involved flipping the raft and pushing us out so we'd know how to handle it if we did fall out! Again, the river was bloody cold! After a few short rapids, we reached our first big rapid. However, as we were about to start, we heard a whistle from the photographer, who was nipping about in a little kayak. He'd gone downriver to take photos, and noticed a tree had fallen into the river and was blocking the path. We had to walk down that bit (this is the reason the photos contain some pictures of an empty raft - we hadn't all fallen out!). This wasn't the only bit of drama - one of the staff (the trainee) who was out in a smaller raft had cut his finger quite badly on a rock, and we had to wait for them to sort out first aid stuff. However, after that it was on with the big rapids again! I've put all the photos from our boat up here.
We left River Valley after lunch to go back to Wellington, ready to end my time in the North Island. Our only stop was a small town called Bulles, who are quite proud of their name, and have called many of their business after it - e.g. the police station is consta-bull, the toilets were relieve-a-bull etc.
As I had a free day in Taupo, I used this as a quiet day, due the the previous heavy night. However, we did manage one activity as a group - a trip to the local hot springs. These had a big advantage over the other hot springs we've visited before - they didn't stink of Sulphur! It was a very hot stream running down to join a river. You could only just about get into the stream - it was like a very hot bath. However, where the stream and river met, the water was a comfortable enough temperature, and consequently there were many people there.
Although we'd been out the previous night, tonight was the last night we would see some of the people on our bus as they were leaving for other trips, hence another night out was required, albeit significantly quieter than the previous night.
Monday - Taupo to River Valley
Today was pretty much the longest lie in we've had on a bus pickup day - 9:30! Although I'd not been able to do the Tongariro crossing, a one day hike in the Tongariro national park, we did stop off on our journey to do a shorter walk through the park to Taranaki Falls for lunch. On the way we could see some of the volcanoes in the park, including Mt Ngauruhoe (Mt Doom!).
Our final destination for today was River Valley, a lodge on a river (yes, in a valley!). This was probably the most remote location I've stayed in here, and was really nice. Our reason for staying here was to do whitewater rafting the next day.
Tuesday - Whitewater Rafting & Return to Wellington
Although I did whitewater rafting at the start of my trip in New Zealand, I enjoyed it enough to do it again with the people I've got to know on the bus. So early in the morning, we all got suited up in wetsuits and squashed in a bus to head upriver. This rafting company seemed to do more training than the previous company I'd been with, which I didn't appreciate too much as it involved flipping the raft and pushing us out so we'd know how to handle it if we did fall out! Again, the river was bloody cold! After a few short rapids, we reached our first big rapid. However, as we were about to start, we heard a whistle from the photographer, who was nipping about in a little kayak. He'd gone downriver to take photos, and noticed a tree had fallen into the river and was blocking the path. We had to walk down that bit (this is the reason the photos contain some pictures of an empty raft - we hadn't all fallen out!). This wasn't the only bit of drama - one of the staff (the trainee) who was out in a smaller raft had cut his finger quite badly on a rock, and we had to wait for them to sort out first aid stuff. However, after that it was on with the big rapids again! I've put all the photos from our boat up here.
We left River Valley after lunch to go back to Wellington, ready to end my time in the North Island. Our only stop was a small town called Bulles, who are quite proud of their name, and have called many of their business after it - e.g. the police station is consta-bull, the toilets were relieve-a-bull etc.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home