Mountainous Tahiti and intimate encounter with manure

4/23/18

After arriving into Papeete, after a flight delay, we took a bus to where our next air bnb was to be. It was dark and the driver accidentally had us get off the bus at 5km early. We were kind of at a loss of what to do, it being dark, buses done for the evening, and not having a phone. But we met some nice people on the street. They called our air bnb hosts, and then they drove us to our airbnb. If I haven't mentioned this before, Polynesians are so crazy nice. One thing that always stuck out was how, even during rush hour traffic when there was a line of cars, as soon as a car would see you pull up to the road, they'd slow down or stop so that you could pull into the road with your car. Pretty much the opposite of rush hour traffic I'm familiar with. Our air bnb hosts were Tatiana and Robert. We were supposed to be at a different air bnb, but it cancelled due to a family emergency. But it turned out to be a great thing as Robert and Tatiana were so friendly and generous! Their English wasn't the best, but we managed. Tatiana works at a prison (and loves gambling and cruises). Robert is a retired policeman turned postal worker, and he loves his Hinano beer. They were both previously married and found each other later in life. They each have several children (not together), and said they are too old now to get married. They have a beautiful 2-story gated house with a nice patio and pool. Robert immediately took us to the store, and then he shared beer and lots of yummy cheese with us.

4/24/18

Robert and Tatiana offered to us to use one of their cars, which was super nice of them, but we had already paid for a rental car. However, they gave us their car so that we could go pick up the rental car at the airport without having to take the bus. They had a good breakfast of cheese and baguettes for us. After we got the car, we did a loop around Tahiti Nui, and drove the 2 roads on Tahiti Iti. The first stop was at a marae. It was the fanciest marae (ancient spiritual/community gathering place) we had seen. The next stop were some grottos with pools in them. We then went to a nice garden that had information in front of each tree and flower and what they are/were used for. It also had some healing springs, and a waterfall. It had been raining a ton and rained hard the night before, so the waterfall was chocolate colored. We had a snack under a pavilion, and then the rain finally stopped. We drove to a nice viewpoint on Tahiti Iti with nice views towards Tahiti Nui. I was super excited to see a view of the mountains after all the rain, so I ran out to a clearing and jumped onto what I thought was just greyish mud. Turned out it was a huge pile of manure, and I was now calf deep in it! No idea what kind of manure, but boy was it stinky. I had to fish my sandals out of the pile. I only had a small bit of drinking water to try and clean off, so it made the car smell terribly!

The next stop was Tehaapo'o, famous for its big surfing wave. We checked out the wave, it's black sand beach, and beautiful jagged mountain scenery. We then completed the island circuit in the rain, stopping to see a blowhole and getting caught in the rush hour traffic of Papeete. Robert was waiting for us back at our place with beers and some yummy stew that he had made. We had some nice conversation with him and Tatiana. They told us how very happy they were to have us staying with them.

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4/25/18

Our plan was to climb Mount Aorai, so we woke up at 5:00am, but it had been raining hard, and it looked cloudy (no stars or moon), so we went back to bed and woke up later to have a nice breakfast with Robert. After breakfast, we decided to drive to the trailhead since the trailhead itself was a viewpoint, and it had started to clear. We were following directions from Google Maps, but it led us in the wrong direction, so we had to get a lot of help from people, including one person jumping in the car to lead us.

When we got to the trailhead (known as O Belvedere) at 10:30, the weather looked good, so we decided to hike with the plan of turning around when the weather got bad. Well, the weather never got bad, so we ended up making it to the top! It was a great hike with beautiful views into the interior of Tahiti, the coast of Tahiti, and the island of Moorea. We passed 2 very basic huts on our way to the top that people use for attempting the summit in order to break up the long hike. Between the 2 huts was a pretty crazy knife edge saddle known as Devil’s Ridge (Rocher du diable). Because we had started so late, we made it down just after dark, and joined Robert back home for several beers and a fest of chicken, breadfruit, and pineapple.

4/26/18

We got up early, dropped off the rental car and Robert drove us to the ferry for Moorea.

Fakarava paradise

4/21/18

We arrived to the small airport of Fakarava and were driven to our bungalow outside of town on a very nice beach. Fakarava is another large atoll in the Tuamoto archipelago composed of skinny motus (strips of sand). We were welcomed to our bungalow with kisses and leis. We watched the sunset from the beach in front of our bungalow. Our bungalow is super cute. Traditional and open air, right on the beach. It has a coral floor and shell and coral decorations inside. The roof is traditional thatch and the sea breeze comes in at night. We have an open air communal place to cook on the beach, plus 2 hammocks right outside of our cabana. There are 2 really cute cats and 5 or 6 friendly dogs to keep us company. From the bed, you can look out the front door and see the beautiful blue lagoon, and out of the back window, you can hear the surf from the open ocean crashing onto the reef, as the motu is only about 150 meters wide at this spot. Man, think of if there's a cyclone or tsunami here!

At night it was super beautiful to see the moon reflected on the still lagoon. The family was very friendly and it was "Papi's" birthday. They opened a coconut for us to drink and eat.

4/22/18  EARTH DAY!!

We had breakfast (included in our place) on the beach. We had a slight bummer because the excursion we wanted to do wasn't going (no people or it was Sunday?). So we stayed all day at the beach and bungalow, reading, swimming, and trying to decide if I would take the lab job or not. The other choice was giving up the lab job and applying for the environmental job. We also made a cool Happy Earthday sign out of coral to put on the beachside picnic table. All in all, it was a nice day lounging by the gorgeous blue lagoon. I cooked some macaroni bolognese for dinner as we enjoyed a nice sunset. Around midnight, by light of the moon, I wrote an email to Megan saying I was declining the offer for the crary lab. We decided I would try to get the enviro job, and if I didn't, then that would be a sign to ski bum the next year, but if I got the job, it would be a sign to get back to Antarctica.

4/23/18

We walked to the ocean side in the morning. We then took a boat trip to Lagoon Bleu, which was really great. The water of course was super beautiful and the blue lagoon was a fabulous area of shallow water, sand bars, and all colors of the most gorgeous blue. A true paradise! We were served fresh fruits, juice, cold coconuts, fried coconuts, and raw clams with lime. They also gave us a cold hinano beer as we sat in chairs in the water of the lagoon. True island honeymoon style! From the boat we saw eagle rays, blacktip sharks, and a turtle. We cruised along a chunk of the atoll, and we stopped to snorkel 4 times, all at really nice places. The water was very clear, and the atoll had really good and healthy coral formations. The best so far that we had seen in French Polynesia. There was of course tons of tropical fish, including some large groupers. We saw some turtles snorkeling, but the highlight was all the sharks! There were so many! Mostly it was grey reef sharks, but some white-tipped reef sharks. Wherever you looked, they were there!! Elisha was scared, and she often clung to me in fear. So awesome!

After the tour, we said goodbye to the family, they gave us shell necklaces, and then we caught a flight to Papeete with a stop at Rangiroa along the way.

Rangiroa in the Tuamotus

4/18/18

The flight to Rangiroa in the Tuamotus island group was very nice. Rangiroa is the 2nd largest atoll in the world. The place where we were to stay was on a motu, about 12km long, capped off on each end by a passes (Tiputa and Avaroa passes). The airport was super tiny, with just 3-4 flights per day.

When we arrived, we waited for our air bnb host to pick us up, but she never came! She was supposed to be on one of the flights from Papeete. After the last flight arrived, they started closing the airport! We were kind of at a loss b/c we had no internet access, no phone number, and all we had was a name, Lucy. We asked around at the airport; however, and someone knew her!  She ended up having to stay extra in Papeete b/c of bad test results (she has MS). So a friend of hers gave us a ride to her place. The place was amazing! It was a beautiful and modern house, right on a gorgeous lagoon. Hammocks, beach chairs, nice deck, outdoor showers, floating chairs, and a standup paddle board were all part of the amazing place. The house also came with 2 nice cats and 2 cute cats. Because she felt bad, she also let us use her scooter for free.

In the afternoon we scooted to Tiputa pass to watch the sunset, and then we scooted to the main town for fish burgers.

4/19/18

We scootered to Tiputa pass in the morning as the lagoon was emptying at low tide. This makes for a turbulent pass (pass is where water is able to come and go from the lagoon to the ocean, between the motus of the atoll) with the incoming waves. The bottlenose dolphins love this, so we watched them jump around enjoying the waves of the pass. We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon snorkeling, lounging, and swimming at Lucy's place. Elisha made hamburgers for lunch, which were delicious to have on the deck while sipping beers in the hammock. Lucy's place is called "Maison les pieds dans de lagon" (House with feet in the lagoon), which is a perfect name. In the afternoon, I did a dive with Rais-Manta Club de Plongee in the Tiputu pass. Nice dive with LOTS of sharks! I saw 4 species: grey reef, white-tipped reef, black-tipped reef, and black-fin. Also some some big schools of barracuda. It's a super fast current through the pass. It's like flying! While I dove, Elisha went out with the boat tender and was able to swim with the dolphins. He did it by pulling her through the water in the deep part of the ocean with a rope, which kind of made Elisha a bit nervous, since you can't see the bottom, but she also enjoyed swimming with the dolphins.

After the dive, we watched at the pier as fishermen cleaned their fish and threw discarded bits into the ocean where we could see lots and lots of black-tipped, white-tipped, and grey reef sharks as well as some large nurse sharks. We watched the sunset from there and then had sausages, beans, and rice for dinner at Lucy's.

4/20/18

I did a morning dive with the dive shop. Some more sharks, a curious turtle, lots of tuna, giant bumphead parrotfish, and 3 cool eagle rays. I like this dive shop. They crack me up. Very old school and friendly. You carry all your gear and help out. The boat operator is a funny polynesian guy that doesn't speak much English and the dive master is a french guy who chugs coffee and smokes cigarettes right before the dive. But they're so friendly, alway gave me (and Elisha) free tea and also took Elisha around in the boat to swim with dolphins for free.

After the dive we scootered to the other side of the island. Back at our air bnb, we swam, floated, and paddle boarded around in our private lagoon. So nice! We had yummy hamburgers on the porch with hinano beer.

In the afternoon I did a second dive. We started out super deep in the ocean, then it was a really fast drift dive back into the lagoon. Lots of grey reef sharks. It looked like the ocean floor below us was crawling with them. Also saw a bunch of barracudas, a sea turtle and some white and black tipped reef sharks. We also got to see a large school of 20 eagle rays. While waiting for the dive, Elisha and I were admiring a girl's fishing and then she ended up selling us about 15 fish which she cleaned and de-scaled, all for 10 bucks.

In the evening we finally met Lucy who had arrived from Tahiti. She had dinner with us and helped us cook the fresh yummy fish!

4/21/18

We went snorkeling with the dive club I had been diving with. For a small donation to their tea fund, they took us out. First we chased bottle nose dolphins around and got to swim 3 times with them. Then we drift snorkeled the pass, seeing 4 sharks, 2 eagle rays, and a bumphead parrotfish. Then we got pulled by the boat to some nice coral gardens. It was all a lot of fun!

After the snorkel we had hot cocoa and coffee at Josephine's, which has a really nice deck overlooking the pass, where we waited for the low tide so the lagoon would empty. With the emptying of the lagoon, the waves would come and so would the jumping dolphins playing in the swells.

We went back to Lucy's for lunch where we cooked up more of our fresh fish. It was then off to the airport to catch our flight to Fakarava.

Bora Bora

4/15/18
After our ferry ride to the main island, we were met by Teava and Vaihere, our very friendly and very excited hosts. The car ride to their airbnb was filled with so much laughter. There place had 2 rooms, a bungalow, and 3 tents you could rent. We had rented a room, but they upgraded us for free to the bungalow b/c it was our honeymoon. It was a really cool airbnb, kind of like a small hostel. It was right across the road from a little beach and within walking distance of the famous matira beach. They are trying to be green with recycling, compost, rainwater use, and solar panels. They had a cute cat, gris gris, as well. At the pension was Martin (slovakian pro cyclist), a swiss guy, a french guy, and 2 Romanians. We went to dinner, as it was late, at a fancy wood-fired pizza place.

4/16/18
 Teava gave us a ride to Viatape with Martin where we started the climb to Mt. ???? and Mt. Pahia, 2 of Bora's iconic summits. We at first had some trouble finding the trail b/c we weren't dropped off at the normal place, but then we eventually found the trail. It was a steep and slippery climb, but ropes helped out on the rock climbing part. The views on top were absolutely stunning! We could see the shimmering lagoon, other islands and motus (including the heart island (Tupe), and the highest peak Otemanu. It's impossible to climb Otemanu, and it's never been climbed. We could also see the super fancy over-water bungalows, including the one where Rick and Shannon stayed on their honeymoon. We couldn't quite get to the top of Pahia b/c we didn't trust the rope on the last cliff portion with a 2,000 foot drop off below, but the view from the other peak we climbed had just as good of a view.

After the hike, we explored Viatape a bit. We were all pretty dehydrated. Elisha got a hot dog, and then we hitched a ride back to the pension. We went to a small market to get some food and made chicken curry for dinner. Vaihere played ukulele while we all sat around and had dinner and hinano beer.

4/17/18

We took a lagoon tour with Nono tours (yes-yes to Nono) w/ Martin and Mark (from Switzerland0. The tour was incredible! The water color, just indescribable. So many shades of blue! We snorkeled  at a spot in the lagoon where we could feed and pet stingrays. Really cool! There were also lots of black-tipped reef sharks. We continued cruising around the island with beautiful mountain and water views. We stopped for lunch at a private motu with a beautiful lagoon. The guide climbed a coconut tree, got us coconuts, and then cut them open for us. They prepared a huge, delicious polynesian feast of grilled (over fire) tuna, raw tuna salad, taro, breadfruit, manioc, plantains, and coconut cake for dessert. We also had banana, pineapple, watermelon, and coconut for fruit. The 2nd guide played ukulele and sang while we ate (something he also did while we were boating). After the meal, we all danced polynesian style, then headed out again. We cruised past an American WWII bunkder, fancy over-water bungalows (including where Rick stayed at the Intercontinental). We then went to a coral garden to snorkel where there was amazing tropical fish.

After the tour, we showered real quick and then we, along with Martin and the french guy, climbed the steep trail up to Otemanu cave (located at the bottom of the cliffs of the tallest peak on the island). It was a steep climb with lots of ropes, but had nice views. We hiked down after sunset and did the last 1/2 in the dark with flashlights. At the bottom of the hike we had some streetfood for a snack and then made a chicken and rice dish back at the pension.

4/18/18

We got up before sunrise and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise from the lagoon near the pension. We then took beach cruisers and road a circle around the island (20 miles).  We stopped at some US canons from WWII, which had great views of the peaks. We made it back for breakfast and then took off to the airport. The boat ride to the airport (this time during the day) was stunning, going through the surreal water and with views of the Bora Bora peaks. The airport is super beautiful with the clear turquoise water and the mountain views. I don't know if there is a more picturesque airport in the world!

We had a great time in Bora. The pension was amazing. It was well set up and the couple was so nice. Taeva had such a great laugh and sense of humor. And Vaihere was just so nice and sweet.  

On to Tahiti, French Polynesia and Maupiti

4/11/18

Our flight to Faa'a, Tahiti was super nice. They served beer, wine, and food all with the push of a button. We crossed the International Date Line, so we lost a day. We arrived to Tahiti and were welcomed by polynesian dancers and music. We were picked up by our air bnb hosts, Nui and Tea. They had a nice little house. We chatted and then walked along the ocean to a park with roullettas (food trucks) where we shared some chinese food for cheap and listened to a polynesian band.

4/11/18

We had breakfast then headed to downtown Papeete to the market where we did some shopping and bough some baguette sandwiches (chowmein and one with chicken and sauce). We then took a lot of money out of atms because there would be no atms on the next island we were headed to. We got a big french baguette for the road and then headed to the airport at Faa'a to fly to the island of Maupiti. The flight had sweet views over Moorea. It was a short flight of 55 mins, on a small prop plane. We also had views of the islands of huahine, tahaa, raitea, and bora bora. We also saw the really cool heart atoll. As we approached Maupiti, we saw the little airstrip for Maupiti, which was situated on a motu (sand bar), and also partly extending on a man-made strip out into the ocean. After we landed, we saw that the airport was just one little shade stand and a fire truck. The one luggage guy, unloaded our bags and then we loaded a skiff to be taken to the island. We motored along the beautiful lagoon. Some boys in Kayaks rode our wake in, which was fun to watch. We were picked up at the dock and given a 'hei' (= lei) of gorgeous flowers. Phirmin was who picked us up. We loaded into a pickup truck and driven to Pension Orovaru where we were met with kisses by Rose. Two Brits (Louise and Vinny) and a french family of 4 were also staying at the pension. We all sat together for dinner. Phirmin led grace, and then we ate yummy chicken and a fresh and raw fish salad w/ carrots. Dessert was a pineapple pie. After dinner Phirmin played ukelele for us. The accommodation was a small house with 4 rooms, a living room, kitchen, and a more or less open dining room.

4/12/18

We had a breakfast of doughnuts and baguettes, then took a tour around the island given by Rose. It's about 6 miles in circumference, and surrounded by a most beautiful lagoon and then a reef on the outer edge with a few coral islands (motus). Then we biked (the guest house provided free beach cruisers) to the a trailhead and climbed to the top of Mt. Teurafaatiu (380 meters/1247 ft), for the most amazing views of the lagoon below. We got a bit lost at first finding the trail, but eventually found it. It's really impossible to describe how beautiful it is, and pictures don't do it justice either. The water color ranges from pure white over the sand to every shade of blue and aqua until the cerulean blue of the distant ocean. We could see Bora Bora in the far distance as well. After the hike, we had a beer down by the ocean, then biked to a beach where we explored and waded around in the warm (bath water warm) lagoon. We then did some biking around the island before dinner. Dinner was red tuna filets, rice and sauce, and raw tuna as well. Then icecream for dessert!

Friday the 13th... 4/13/18

I got up early and did some biking during the sunrise. After breakfast, we did a loop around the island. It's a narrow and flat paved road (except for one small pass). There's fruit and gorgeous flowers everywhere and one small village. We went for a snorkel at the stunning Tereia beach. We had some baguettes on the beach then waded across the lagoon (1/2 mile in waste deep water) to Motu Auira where we first walked through a coconut plantation. We then walked along the coral and sand beach. So many hermit crabs! On the back side of the motu, we got close to the reef and the large crashing waves. We went for a nice snorkel in the clear water. We saw a young sea snake on the walk back. At one of the little guesthouses we saw some baby turtles that they were taking care of before being released. Again, the water is just spectacularly beautiful! And the rugged island is also stunning! A true south pacific island paradise! They say that Maupiti is like how Bora Bora was 60 years ago. There are few cars, mostly bikes, and no resorts or hotels (only family run pensions). Everyone is so friendly and as you walk or bike along the island you are greeted with many ia orana (hellos). There are only a couple of restaurants and a couple of small shops (that are closed from 2pm to 6pm). No ATM, no banks, and no credit cards taken.

Phirmin and Rose have 4 daughters and 5 grandchildren. Tehaa is 12 and lives at home, one daughter lives on another island, and Teka and Rose Jr live on Maupiti as well. Phirmin is a boxer and is quite good. He showed us a gold medal he had one and he had some huge trophies.

4/14/18

Saturday and Polynesian Party Day! Only Louisa and Vinny were left at the pension besides us. We all got up at 5am with the family and took their boat along with a whole lot of stuff. We went to a motu where we helped the family prepare a big polynesian feast. Elisha and I made a pumpkin dessert. Rose and members of her family chopped up chicken, pork, and mussels. Phirmin worked on the fire. Vinny and Louisa added sauce to the meats. Someone cut up Uru (breadfruit). Rose also weaved palm baskets the night before, and we put the meat in them and veggies and plantains between them. We then put the baskets on the hot coals, covered them with a bunch of banana leaves, then sand, and then let it all sit for several hours to cook. We learned to husk a coconut and then split it in 1/2 using our hands!

In the meantime, we went on a boat to Manta point where we snorkeled at a Manta ray cleaning station. We saw at least 4 individuals that were so big! We were really close and could just hover over them as they got cleaned by wrasses. We then boated to the other side of the lagoon, through the unreal and beautiful water to what they called the 'coral gardens' where we snorkeled and saw some lovely fish as well as 2 octopi! We then completed the circuit in the boat, seeing lots of stingrays and a school of eagle rays on the way back to the motu.

By this time, lots of people (locals and tourists) had arrived to the party. We had a cold beer and walked on the sand a bit. When the food was about to be brought out, they thanked Elisha, Louisa, Vinny, and me in front of everyone. Then it was time to dig into the delicious Polynesian feast. Super delicious pork curry, yummy chicken, a clam dish, raw fish salad, raw tuna with coconut sauce, taro, breadfruit, plantains, and our pumpkin dessert.

After the meal, we played a game with coconuts similar to cornhole, and then the boys and girls each did a fun polynesian dance let by Phirmin and Rose jr, respectively. We went swimming for a while in the warm lagoon. It then started downpouring, but we stayed in the water because it was warmer. Eventually we took the boat back. The locals on the boat were freezing in the rain! It was Saturday night relax night, so we had a fish and pork rice dish, and a really yummy pizza, along with Tahitian cola. And Phirmin and Rose also gave us beers. We were the only ones staying there now as Luisa and Vinny had taken a fisher boat to Bora Bora (they had made the mistake not to book a flight, and they were all booked up, but they got super lucky b/c Phirmin was able to arrange a fishing boat for them) and Phirmin and Rose were feeling very happy about a successful party. We know no French or Tahitian, and Phirmin and Rose's english isn't too great, but we still had a very nice dinner chat.

4/15/18
I started the day off with a pre-breakfast run around the island (5miles/40minutes). We hung out reading and swimming at the Tereia beach. We then got invited to a potluck lunch that some locals were having at the beach, put on I think by one of the island's churches. We then said goodbye to Phirmin and Rose. They gave us shell necklaces and kisses. We boarded the boat to the airstrip and boarded the 25 minute flight to Ra'itea. We had a few hour layover there, so we walked to a fancy yacht club and took a swim. We then had a 15 minute night flight to Bora Bora. The Bora airstrip was on a motu, so we took a ferry boat to the island.

Cape Reinga, boogy boarding down giant sand dunes, and bay of islands

4/8/18

After breakfast I body-surfed in the rather warm ocean by our campsite. We went back to Cape Reinga where in the brighter sun, we could better see the line in the ocean where the Tasman Sea collides with the Pacific Ocean.

We then went to Te Paki, which has monstrous sand dunes. We rented sand boards to slide down the dunes. We did some intensely fast, steep, and long runs. So much fun! And kinda scary at the high speeds. There were so many huge dunes! Really cool. We Then went to Exhibition bay, which had beautiful water and pure white sand dunes across the bay. After that, we went swimming and body surfing at Rarawa beach, a famous pure white sand beach. We camped on the beach of Doubtless Bay where we watched a nice sunset.

4/9/18
Saw the sunrise from our campsite, then drove up a bit on the Karikari peninsula. We then drove to Paihia, part of the Bay of Islands. We walked around the touristy town for a bit, then hiked up to a viewpoint. In the afternoon, we took a Catamaran cruise through the beautiful water of the bay of islands. We saw lots of bottlenose dolphins enroute, playing under the bow of the ship. Also some fur seals. We went out to a point where there is a hole in the rocks. It's barely big enough for the the ship, but we went right through!! In the late afternoon, we took a ferry to Russel, which was the first British settlement, then a whaling station, and at one point known as the "hellhole of the South Pacific" because of its debauchery. That evening we had fish and chips and Indian food and camped by an estuary and fancy bridge in Whangarei.

4/10/18
Woke up to sunrise over the estuary. We took a shower at the local community pool and laundry in town. We hit up the $2 sundae special at one of the gas stations and then headed to Auckland. We packed our stuff up in a park. We were then on hold for a super long time with air new zealand, trying to confirm a change we saw in an email. It was stormy and crazy windy! Trees were being blown down as we drove around. We eventually just went to the airport to check in with ANZ. In the end it was nothing. We stayed up pretty late and camped on an airport industrial park road.

4/11/18
It was pouring rain in the morning. We called for a taxi to pick us up at our campervan drop off point. A taxi came in and we got on. It took us to the airport, but was way more expensive than we'd been told on the phone. Turns out that it was the wrong taxi and was some fancy corporate one. What are the odds 2 calls to the same place would come in at once. The poor taxi guy got in trouble for it.

At the airport we caught our flight to Faa'a, Tahiti

Tongariro Alpine Crossing and Climbing Mt. "Doom"

4/5/18

Our plan today was to hike the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. Perhaps the most famous and most popular single day trek in NZ. It crosses a stark, treeless, alpine, and active volcanic landscape. It's a one way hike, and shuttles charge $35 per person for the transfer, so of course we were going to hitchhike. It turned out there wasn't many cars on the road, other than shuttle companies, so we started walking, knowing the road eventually intersected with a busier road. We walked about 3 miles before we were picked up by a nice woman who runs an Air BnB and was transferring her guests to the trail head. So we lucked out b/c she even took us up the dirt road to the trail head. When we got to the trail and started hiking, we could see the huge line of people (looking like tiny ants) climbing up the first pass, but because we started quite late and did a long side hike early in the trip, we actually got to enjoy this beautiful, yet usually crowded hike, mostly in solitude. At the top of the first pass, we left the trail and climbed to the top of the perfectly shaped volcanic cone of Ngauruhoe Volcano. This volcano is famous for being Mt. Doom in Lord of the Rings. From the top we had amazing views over the otherworldly volcanic landscape Ruapehu Volcano, and Tongariro Volcano. Mt. Ruapehu is an active volcanoes with some glaciers on it, as well as 3 ski areas. It's famous for having erupted during a ski day once. In the very far distance we could see Taranaki Volcano and Lake Taupo. It was a crazy steep climb to the top, but we were able to ski down the screen on the way back down, which was a lot of fun. The crater was pretty interesting. We walked around its rim and past some of the hot sulfur vents at the top.

When we made it back onto the trail, we hiked through the South Crater and then up to the Red Crater. I can also distinctly remember going to the red crater with my dad, and he being proud of how far I hiked as such a little kid. From Red Crater, we had views looking down on 3 super beautiful little lakes (called Emerald lakes), each a different shade of of turquoise/green. We descended down to the lakes to walk among them and the steam vents near them. We then crossed the central crater before climbing up to blue lake. Then it was all downhill back to the car. We were one of the last ones to finish and finished right before we needed headlamps.

After getting back to the car, we soaked in a hot pool before finding a place to camp.

The Galaxy in a Cave

4/6/18

Drove to Waitamo today. On the way we stopped at a nice viewpoint of the volcanoes we had hiked past (and up) the day before.  The drive was through rolling green hills, and this is where they filmed the Shire from the Lord of the Rings. In Waitamo we quickly booked a glowworm tour, then drove to Te Kuiti to check out the sheep sheering championship that was going on. Crazy how fast they can sheer a sheep. The fastest we saw was something like 18 seconds.

Back in Waitamo, our tour visited 2 caves. The first was a wet cave (Spellbound, featured in 2 BBC films, one with Sir David Attenborough). In Spellbound, we boarded a raft and floated through a galaxy of bright blue glowing glow bugs. Millions!! It's hard to describe how magical. There were so many that they lit a pitch black cave with enough light that you could see the water reflection, the cave walls, and each other.  Pure Magic! It felt like being in a cluster of stars. It really has to be one of the coolest and most magical things I've seen.

Glowworms aren't actually worms, but they are the larval stage of a small gnat called the fungal gnat fly. They create little silk strings that they hang from the ceiling of caves. The glowing attracts insects that get stuck in the mucus of the webs, which the glowworms then eat for food.

The dry cave was also nice with some cool cave formations, a few glow worms, and a moa (extinct bird similar to an emu) skeleton. Drove through Auckland at the end of rush hour and camped in Waipu

4/7/18

We had camped near Waipu caves, so in the morning we explored them. We walked through a creek (w/eels) in the cave. There were lots of big rooms and cool cave passages, and it was fun to wade through the water (though nerve wracking for Elisha with the eels). Because they were wet caves, there were some really nice glow worms.

After our caving adventure, we drove to Kaitaia where we had a fish n chips lunch. We then drove to the start of 90 mile beach, which is this 90 mile (actually 90 km) beach that you can drive on, but you need to be aware of quicksand and rogue waves. Our insurance didn't cover it, so we didn't drive it. Instead we took the normal road to Cape Reinga, the northernmost point of New Zealand. From here we watched the sunset from atop a cliff overlooking the ocean and adjacent to a lighthouse. That night we camped at Tapotupotu bay on the beach, from where we could hear the surf as we went to bed

The Guysers visit the Geysers

4/2/18
We had now finally made it to the North Island

We had a really chill city day in Upper Hutt. We did laundry got a new headlight for Bongo, shopped, had an India lunch special, and had McDonald's icecream (McD icecream is 75c in NZ and tastes way better than it does in the US). We drove to Taupo where we camped.

4/3/18

In the morning, we visited the super powerful Huka falls, which is a large volume of water flowing with crazy power through a narrow gorge before dropping 10m. This is another place that I had vividly remember as a young child visiting. Breathtaking and scary.

After visiting the falls, we drove to Rotarua, which is a very geothermally active area. First we visited Wai-O-Tapu, which was a large and really cool area. We hiked around and investigated the many multi-colored pools, bubbling mud, fumaroles, etc. The area had some fantastically colored pools, some of which almost seemed fake. We then visited Whakarewarewa village, an active Maori village right in the middle of a geothermal area. They would cook all of their food in steam vents and bathe in the hotsprings. In the winter, they'd heat their homes from the geothermal activity. While we were there we took a tour of the village and also watched a dance show. We also took a walk amongst their thermal pools and bubbling mud. At the end we watched their 3 geysers for a bit. We cooked dinner down at Lake Rotarua. We camped at a nice holiday park (RV park). It was very fancy for us. We stayed there b/c it included thermal pools that we soaked in.

4/4/18

Started the day with a soak in the mineral pools and a swim in the heated pool. We then went back to a section of Wai-O-Tapu where we watched the Lady Knox geyser erupt. They use a surfactant to coax the geyser to erupt everyday at 10:15am. The geyser would erupt on its own, but not as regularly if they didn't add the surfactant. It was discovered by prison work release camp. They were bathing after work and the soap (a surfactant) caused it to erupt while they were bathing!

Geysers have a special meaning to us b/c our last names together combines to Guyser. Throw in the first names, and it's Elvis Gusyer.

After watching the geyser erupt for nearly an hour, we dove to Taupo where we had lunch at the huge lake there. We did some business stuff in Taupo, then we soaked in some free hot springs near town along the river. We witnessed a beautiful sunset over the lake with volcanoes in the background. We camped high up on the plateau, and when the near full moon rose, it illuminated the landscape around us, and showed us that we were at the foot of some large volcanoes.

Abel Tasman National Park and the North Coast

3/30/18

Everything was closed, including supermarkets because of it being Good Friday. Luckily we had just enough food to get by. We drove to Totaranui where we did a hike on Abel Tasman National Park Coastal Trail. The hike went to some nice beaches, through jungly forest, and had us cross a large estuary at low tide to get to a hut where we turned around. We camped at a river near Takaka and enjoyed the nearly full moon

3/31/18

Drove to Farewell Spit and hiked in the rain to Wharanki beach. Wharanki was a desolately beautiful beach with sand dunes, interesting sand designs and arch islands in the distance as well as a few seals lying around. After this hike we drove to an area where we took a hike up to a a lighthouse viewpoint, and then we did a hike to Fossil Beach and got caught in a total downpour.

Farewell spit is a huge spit of sand extending from the North of the South Island. While here we went to the Northernmost point of the South Island. After exploring Farewell Spit, we drove to Marahau on a winding road. Marahau is the southern entrance to Abel Tasman National Park. There were nice beaches here that were crowded with the Easter holiday. Elisha had been dreaming of this burger place there that she had been before, Fat Tui, so we went there and both got big burgers that I think she really enjoyed. We spent the night in Motueka.

4/1/18
Easter Sunday, April Fool's Day, Daylight Savings Change, and Full Moon

We woke up really early and watched the sunrise and full-moonset from a beach near Nelson. Stunning and peaceful. From there, we drove to Havelock and walked to a viewpoint (Cullens Point) overlooking one of the sounds. We then drove on a crazily winding road along Kenepuru sound. It was a bit of a frustrating day in a way. It was a super gorgeous, completely bluebird day. These are not usual in NZ, so you want to take advantage of them when you can. Unfortunately, we had a deadline of a $200 ferry (for the 2 of us and bongo) to the North Island that we had bought tickets for, so we had to be at Picton town by a certain time. It's not the kind of thing you want to risk missing. The sound area appeared to be so beautiful. Nice mountains and beautiful water; however, the road seemed to always be just in the trees where you couldn't get a great view. And the roads were so slow and windy that it was taking forever to get to where we wanted to go. There was this amazing hike to the top of Mt. Stokes that would have had unreal view across the mountains and green/turquoise waters of several sounds, but we just didn't think we'd have enough time. It was hard to turn down a hike like that in such nice weather. We managed to drive to a few viewpoints, but they weren't great due to so many trees in the way. We tried climbing trees and cliffy areas to get up to get the beautiful views of the sounds, but we just never got anything great. Oh well. But it's frustrating when you are in a super beautiful area on a super beautiful day and feel like you didn't take advantage of it and spent most of the days winding around some crazy roads with a thin layer of trees between you and the beauty. If we hadn't had the ferry to catch, we could have climbed the mountain without any worry of finishing in time.

We ended the day driving along Queen Charlotte Sound, which was pretty. We cooked dinner in Picton and boarded the evening ferry to Wellington. Again, it would have been nice to have a day ferry to see the sights of the islands and sounds as we sailed by, but I think the night ferry must have been considerably cheaper. We just didn't plan it all very well for today, but sometimes you have those days

We arrived into Wellington after midnight, and drove to Upper Hutt to camp in a nice spot by a creek

Nelson Lakes National Park Treks

3/28/18

We drove into Nelson Lakes NP and had breakfast by ourselves on the shore of Lake Rotoiti. Under the dock we saw lots of these huge black eels. After breakfast we hiked the Robert Ridge Track to Lake Angelus. It was an awesome hike; all in the alpine and with great mountain views as well as a cool ridge traverse. We had wanted to stay at the Lake Angelus hut, but it was booked up because of the Easter holiday. The lake and hut were very beautiful : in a cirque with Mt. Angelus looming behind. We decided to hike up to Sunset Pass. The route went past some reflective tarns. From the pass, we hiked a nearby peak, which offered expansive views. We made it back to the hut just before sunset. It was then a 3 hour descent to the hut we'd be staying at (Speargrass Hut). It was quite tricky! We had to do 1/2 of it in the dark, and it had multiple stream crossing without bridges (2 of them we could find no other way but to take our shoes off and ford them). The trail was not easily marked, and we lost it a couple of times before having to backtrack. It was difficult route finding because of wash outs from floods and the dark. We saw a possum as well as saw the moonrise. We finally made it, and we were happy that it was a cute little hut and more importantly, we had it all to ourselves!

3/29/18
We had a chill morning in the hut. We started a fire for cozyness and relaxed after the long day the yesterday. We hiked back to the carpark, then drove back to the lake to have lunch. It was funny b/c we were sitting on this dock with a nice view of the mtns. Enjoying our lunch, watching the eels below us and talking to the ducks next to us. All of a sudden one of the big backpacker busses stopped. It was full of mostly british sounding people of about 18. They did the classic peacocking. The boys all jumped into the water and acted like it wasn't cold and the girls all took their sexy selfies. At one point they rudely asked us to get off the dock, despite us being in the middle of lunch, so that they could take pictures on it. We were nice and did it, and were amused at how they were all acting with their phones and the guy-girl interactions. Later, via ads on social media, I learned that the dock we were having lunch on is one of those must take a photo from locations in NZ, thus, the reason why the bus stopped there.

After lunch, I hiked/ran the S. Arnaud Range trail up to a peak above Lake Rotoiti while Elisha chilled by the lake and had some icecream. There were amazing views from the top! Mountains all around including the Travers Range and Kahurangi mountains in the far distance. And of course the huge lake Roiti below as well as several sparkling tarns. Because Elisha was waiting, I hustled as quick as I could up. I made it to the top in 1hr and 18 minutes (supposed to take 3 hrs). When I got back down, I of course jumped into the lake to cool off! We spent the night along a river near Matueka.

Elisha was driving to get to Matueka. We went past the turn off for our campsite, so she tried to turn into a driveway to turn around, but ended up smashing into a rock wall. It was shocking, but all it did was create a big dent in the bumper. We had bought the extra insurance for the car, incase something like this happened, so it wasn't a huge deal.