well, leaving the beautiful falls i headed towards rotorua.
getting there i contacted Craig and annett (the couple that took my photos with the dolphins in Fletcher bay).
they were so nice to me - we went for a dinner and then they took me to the thermal park in rotorua - incredible! bubbling mud pools, steaming pools and stuff like that.
just so weird!!!
the next day, Dec. 13th, merry (the American Jewish from thames and the pinnacles) came to town, and we went to Te-Puia, where we saw a few geysers! nuts! it's so funny! they erupted for about 20-30 minutes, spitting water and steam to some 20m high. incredible!!!
plus, we went into the kiwi house they have there, and we had the luck to watch it alone for about 7 minutes when it was nibbling just at the front window. it was so funny! it's such a funny bird! looks just like a feathered ball with legs and a weird beak.
later this evening annett and craig took us to the well known "secret spot". it was just so amazing! two streams joining together, one hot one cold, forming a pool with various temperatures along it. you can lie down so that your shoulder will freeze and your toes will burn.
but of course you don't have to freeze or burn - you can just have pleasant temperatures.
and it was so great!
and when it got dark craig and annett lit some candles, and it was just fabulous!
the following day i spent with merry, walking in the redwood forest just outside Rotorua. it was an easy stroll through quite a nice forest, with some nice vistas and the birds were singing beautifully.
in the evening i met Craig and Annett again, and had some dinner with them.
they were really so nice to me! it's truely part of the great fun when travelling - meeting such wonderful people!
anyway, the next morning i headed out of rotorua towards Whirinaki forest, to start doing what i came to NZ for.
hiking, treking and tramping.
so on the 15-16th of Dec. i had a very nice 2 days hike in the whirinaki forest, going to some hut and back out.
it was really a lovely forest, and since i'm not used to such forests, i enjoyed it very much.
plus, i was really hiking again!
on the 17th i started my next tramp - around lake Waikaremoana. i circled this beautiful lake for the next 4 days (until the 20th).
it was really a very nice hike, going through forest most of the time, but a different forest than the one in whirinaki.
during the first day the weather was ok, but towards its end it started drizzling, and in fact it didn't really stopped drizzling the whole time i was on the trail.
i ended each day completely soaked. but still, it was a lovely lake, an impressive forest (for an Israeli like me), and i saw black swans which was a great excitement for me back than (hint, hint).
most of the time i saw a lot of fog, but there were nice views of the lake as well, and the when the fog clears a bit but not completely it makes all kind of misty. it's really nice!
afterwards i had to rest a little.
i was after 6 days of hiking.
3-4 of them in the rain.
i had many bruises and wounds.
maayan (the israeli girl from hot water beach in the coromandel) said she'd love to meet me on the 24th and do the tongariro northern circuit (see below).
so i went to napier and did very little.
the only thing worth mentioning during my time there was that on the 21st I met Merry (see above) again, and we celebrated HANUKA by making really nice LATKES.
on the 23th i hitchhiked to Tongariro national park, and spent the night tenting in the park near whakapapa vilage, where the visitor center is located.
coming into the park we had magnificient views of the snowy Mt. Ngauruhoe better known (and better named) as Mt Doom from "The Lords of the Rings".
so briliant :)
the next day i did a little hike near the visitor center - an hour an a half trail where you can see the Taranaki waterfall.
it was really foggy, and a little wet but it was still nice.
and i went to Torangi, where i met Maayan and Emily (an american lady that maayan met that morning and it turned out they both go on the same bus, to the same backpacker, to do the same tramp and they share a lot more other things as well).
we met, made our plans, bought "great walk hut passes" and i thitchhiked back to the park, to tent there.
X-mas day was really very foggy and rainy.
we met, and went about 3 hours in the fog and rain.
it was nice, but just because the company. the trail itself was badly maintained, and we couldn't see much.
in fact we could barely even see little ;)
but we got to the hut, dried out a bit, and met two nice dutches called Maarten and Clemens.
we played cards (set to those of you that know the game) and it was really nice.
we also had a nice Austrian warden named Flow.
the next day was the day of "the crossing".
it's considered to be one of the 2 best day-hikes in NZ.
we started climbing up, and the weather was just perfect.
it was a sunny day, with clear views, and we had great fun.
we climbed to a saddle between Mt. Tongariro and Mt doom, and had just the most amazing views of Mt. Doom - with hardly any snow whatsoever. 2 rainy days just washed away all the snow, leaving the perfect cone lava-black, justifying the name Mt Doom.
awasome!!!
we stopped every few minutes to just admire the mountain from a slightly different angle.
near that saddle we could see the red crater. the name speaks for itself... it was very nice as well, but after climbing its northern edge we saw just below us the most amazing emerald lakes - 3 small lakes (more like ponds than real lakes) with a beautiful green-turqoise color.
further away we could see a bigger lake, named "the blue lake".
our trail took a right turn near the emeralds lakes, but we went to the blue lake for a little rest before coming back and start the descent from the saddle towards the hut.
and from the blue lake we could see the red crater, Mt. Doom and the snowy summit of Mt Ruapehu all in one row.
so beautiful!!!
walking down from the emerald lakes we passed through an area they call a desert.
well, it has sand, and there are no trees, but a desert?!?! let this kiwis come to israel to see a desert (they can checkout the australian outback as well).
anyway, that part was a little frustrating - we went for a long time hoping to see the hut just around the corner, but everytime -
"do you see the hut?"
"no"
"what's there?"
"marking poles"
"more marking poles"
"guess what - yet another marking pole"
but finally we got to the hut, and again it was very nice.
later this evening i played cards with the dutch couple and a swiss couple. we played assholes and presidents.
Maarten and i were the assholes.
almost through all the game.
but we had good time all the same.
it was one of the best days ever.
such great views! so much fun!
:)
next day i woke at 6, went out and saw the end of a fabulous sunrise.
we were standing a little higher than a blanket of clouds, and the sun rose above them.
it was amazing.
really one of the best sunrises i saw.
other than that the day was very nice, but nothing remarkable.
it was quite foggy, a little drizzling, not too hot, not too cold, climbing up, going down, a little bit through a forest, a little through a semi desert area.
we decided not to use the hut this night but rather to camp. we found a nice spot, and had a nice time cooking, eating, chatting and playing cards.
next morning was wet and cold, but after a little while it stopped raining - kept drizzling a bit every now and than but nothing serious.
we had a nice, relaxed walk back to whakapapa village, where we parted - i hitchhiked back to Torangi, and the ladies awaited the shuttle.
i got to torangi in ~50 minutes (it's ~45 minutes driving), checked in and dried a little.
in the backpacker i met the swiss couple from the 2nd hut, and Mark - a Welshman guy that also was in that hut.
going to the supermarket i met flaw - the Austrian warden from the first hut... i talked with him and invited him to come meet us at the backpacker later on.
later the girls got to the backpacker, together with the two dutch guys.
well, though that happened almost two weeks ago, and it seems very far away, i'll stop for now.
but i hope to update my post again quite soon...
so if anyone still wonders about it - for me NZ already proved to be what everyone keeps saying - so beautiful, magnificent, fabulous and all the other superlatives.
and the people here - both locals and travelers - are really so nice!!!
i'm really having so much fun!!
and of course - pictures
http://tomeraroundtheworld.shutterfly.com/action/?a=0AbNGzFq3Ys2LDIg
