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Going Down Under

January - March 2020
A 52-day adventure by Michael Read more
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  • TravelerGoing Down Under
    Day 10

    Waitangi Festival,Ziplining,Night Market

    February 6, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Another day with a mix of culture, action and beautiful nature😀 After a good breakfast again at the same place as yesterday, I made my way down to Lake Rotorua to the Maori village Ohinemutu. A little Waitangi Day Festival took place there with music, food and a market. Furthermore, guided tours in the village were offered. I visited the church and the cemetery and learned a little bit of Maori history in the village's meeting house which you are only allowed to enter without shoes. I spent some more time at the festival, which actually was not very different to a German "Dorffest". Then my next adventure was about to start. I got picked up to do ziplining in a forest close to Rotorua. After getting the safety equipment the group and our two very nice guides, Cheyenne and Mitch, headed out to the forest. Again, such a beautiful forest! After a short walk we stopped on a bridge and Cheyenne had some larves with her to treat a robin. The bird was a little shy and, though coming very close to her, did not pick up the larve from her hand. Second try: I took the larve on my hand and, yes, after a while the bird took it😀. Then we arrived to the first zipline. I was a little excited, but then it was so much fun😁 About 90 minutes of action and fun in the gorgeous forest, fand five more ziplines and a hanging bridge were to follow. One zipline was really long, another one really high and at the last one I even zipped upside down for a little while. I wished there would have been more ziplines to come. In between we also walked again through the forest and were provided with really interesting information about the conservation of the forest. They have many traps to kill possums and rats which are not native to New Zealand and are a massive danger to the native birdlife and flora because they eat eggs as well as leaves and other parts of the trees. The conservation program is mainly financed by the ziplining parcours. After I got back to town I treated myself on the Thursday Night Market - a streetfood market - with tasty Chinese dimsum, some lamb sticks as well as a banana caramel cake.Read more

  • TravelerGoing Down Under
    Day 11

    Hobbiton

    February 7, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Would you have thought that me - "the biggest Lord of the Rings and Hobbit fan ever" (having seen only one out of six films, not having red more than 80 pages of the Lord of the Rings, however the hobbit in the age of 11 or so) - would visit the filmset of Hobbiton? Well, I did it, and guess what, I enjoyed it so much😊First of all, it is located in a gorgeous landscape of the Alexander farm and, furthermore, Hobbiton itself is really pretty. Unbelievable how detailed everything is designed. Additionally, we got many interesting information about the making of the films. After the three films of Lord of the Rings, Hobbiton was removed completely and then rebuilt again for the three Hobbit films. An area, where they turnt a bunch of apple trees into plum trees by cutting of all leaves and fruit and replacing it by artificial ones was only to be seen for a total of seven seconds in all six films. In the whole filmset is only one tree completely artificial. This is due to the reason that this tree has to look sixty years younger in the Hobbit-films in comparison to Lord of the Rings. Peter Jackson considered it the only way to realise that. All 200,000 artificial leaves had to be repainted manually within a week after the filmtaking had to be postponed because Jackson had fallen sick and the original ones had bleached out. I spent very nice two hours in Hobbiton. In the end I enjoyed a free stout in "The Green Dragon Inn". After my visit to Hobbiton, I'd actually be up for watching the films, at least the Hobbit ones. Let's see whether I keep this feeling until my return to Germany😄Read more

  • TravelerGoing Down Under
    Day 11

    Waitomo Glowworm Cave, Ruakuri Bushwalk

    February 7, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    After Hobbiton the tour continued to the Waitomo Glowworm Cave, a cave where thousands of glowworms live. The entry of the cave was not that spectacular - a "standard" limestone cave with some stalagmites and stalaktites. Could be similar in Europe... But then, we entered a boat and were taken through the part of the cave where the glowworms hang at the ceiling. That was beautiful and also fascinating in a way (there are many of them), however had expected that there would be even more. Anyway, it was really decent to see them! Unfortunately, it was forbidden to take pictures in the cave. Before heading home our guide took us on a short walk on the Ruakuri Bushwalk - once again, I am repeating myself, in a nice environment. Then he drove us back to Rotorua. In total, we were driving almost five hoursall over the day, I'd say, but it was worth it! The day ended with some beers with three of my roommates in the bar next door.Read more

  • TravelerGoing Down Under
    Day 12

    Hamurana, Okere Falls and more

    February 8, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Gorgeous nature anywhere - that would be kind of a good description for the day. I've spent the whole morning and afternoon with Stephen, who operates "Real Rotorua Tours" and takes travellers to non-crowded nature spots. In the morning, when a french girl was also joining, the focus was on forests, rivers and lakes, in the afternoon, when I was the only customer, the focus was on geothermal spots. The absolute highlight of the day already was the first: Harumana, an amazing forest with native New Zealand- as well as Redwood trees, a beautiful river and at the end of the trail the Harumana springs that make up the river. The three of us were the only people over there and could enjoy the colors, the birds singing as well as the silence. For the first time in my life, I saw black swans, but there were many other birds as well. We spent more than an hour over there, I could have stayed way longer! The next stop was Okere Falls, the highest waterfalls in New Zealand that are commercially rafted. We followed a nice trail in that valley. After some hot chocolate and biscuits that Stephen provided, we drove to a viewpoint between the Blue and the Green Lake. The light was not optimal though, the differences of colors were not to be seen clearly. We stopped by two more lakes and then made our way back to Rotorua. Séverine, the French, and I had lunch together at a Vietnamnese take away, then she headed on to her afternoon program and I met up with Stephen again.Read more

  • TravelerGoing Down Under
    Day 12

    Kerosene Creek, crater lakes, mudpools

    February 8, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    After some twenty minutes of driving out of town, Stephen took me on a trail up to a crater lake. The difference in vegetation was pretty interesting; from one step to the next the vegetation changed because the ground was getting hotter: moss instead of grass, plants with smaller leaves that have adapted to the hot surface... The crater lake had a wonderful color. We saw two more lakes and then drove over to "Kerosene Creek" a natural hot spring where you can have a bath. We only put our feet in though. The water temperature was almost 40°C. Our next stop were quite impressive bubbling mud pools.Read more

  • TravelerGoing Down Under
    Day 12

    Waikite Valley and Red Wood Tree Walk

    February 8, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    Stephens last stop were the Waikite Valley hot springs and thermal pools that are fed by the springs. The springs are on the area of the pools. Quite impressive, the amount of hot water coming out of the earth there and making up a little creek with beautiful flora and mineralic sediments. Then, we enjoyed like half an hour in the pools. It is pretty settings, no question, but, honestly, I probably would have enjoyed it more on a cold autumn or winter day. The water temperatures in the different pools are between 36 and 40°C - just too hot for a summer day😄. Well, before heading back to town, Stephen had prepared some cold ice tea and some crackers. That was nice after the hot bath. Back in town, I felt hungry and treated myself with fish and chips and a Guinness in an Irish Pub. That was not the end of the day yet: I had the crazy idea to walk 5 km to the Red Wood Forest Treewalk (not the same forest like in the morning). The Treewalk consists of hanging bridges between the Red Wood tress, approximately ten meters above the ground (one section - the Highwalk - maybe 20 meters). By night, they have lanterns and light effects. It was nice, a bit crowded though. However, maybe it would have been even more impressive in daylight because in the dark you did not realize the height that much. After the 5 km walk back to the hostel, I felt that it had been a long day😉Read more

  • TravelerGoing Down Under
    Day 13

    Huka Falls

    February 9, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    I started the day with an early morning walk just after sunrise in the Kuirau Park in Rotorua. The Kuirau Park is an area of geothermal activity almost in the middle of Rotorua. Everywhere steam rises and there is also mudpools - very nice in the early morning atmosphere. Afterwards, I went to Taupo by bus. That is just one hour south of Rotorua. Lake Taupo is quite big and pretty nice. For me, it felt a little like Lake Garda or so, when I first came to the lake shore. After some hours of doing not so much I started an about 7 km hike (one way) along Waikato river to the Huka Falls. It is a beautiful trail along the river with gorgeous views, but also a little demanding with some elevation. Furthermore, the sun was quite strong today. Anyway, I enjoyed the longer hike and it, hopefully, was a good preparation for the 20 km alpine hike I am going to do tomorrow. The Huka Falls themselves are relatively powerful, not very very high though, and nothing I would not have seen before. I have to admit, I got a little tired on the way back, but nothing to worry about... Back in town, I had to do some grocery shopping for the day hike tomorrow and the rest of the evening was rather relaxed.Read more

  • TravelerGoing Down Under
    Day 14

    Tongariro Crossing

    February 10, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    I had to get up really early. A few minutes before 6:00 am I was picked up by the transport service to the start of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing - one of the most famous day hikes in New Zealand. At 7:30 I started my journey through the scenic volcanic area. It was cold, I can tell you, mabe 5°C. I started out wearing a bonnet and gloves. After maybe half an hour the sun was high enough to reach the trail and then it got warmer every minute. Many people do this trail every day, so sometimes you feel like being in a big caravan on its way through the mountains. After about three quarters of an hour I took the opportunity to do a little extra walk (300 meters) to the "soda springs" - almost no people there which was wonderful. Then, the trail got steeper, until I reached a high plateau after maybe 400 meters of ascent. At the end of the plateau there is the beautiful South crater where I had a little break. Then, the steepest ascent came, another maybe 200 meters, a bit challenging, but more than doable. At the top you arrive at the highest point of the crossing, a ridge at Red crater some 1,800 meters above sea level, and can enjoy a stunning view. Volcanos, Lake Taupos, Emerald Lakes, Blue Lake and more... When you are up there, you know why you wanted to do the Crossing! 😄The descent to follow is quite tricky because it is pretty slippery with sand and gravel. I passed the Emerald Lakes and after short ascent I reached the Blue Lake where I had my lunch break. After the Blue Lake there is just one direction: down. You have a beautiful view on Lake Taupo but with the kilometers moving on it gets a bit monotonous. For some kilometers the environment does not change very much, you walk through heathlands. I did not enjoy this that much, but the last two, three kilometers were in the forest which was very nice again. Overall, it was a very beautiful 20 km hike with some 800 meters of ascent and some 1,200 of descent. Unfortunately, I had to wait very long for my transport back to Taupo. Back in Taupo, I was rather tired🙃Read more

  • TravelerGoing Down Under
    2
    Day 15

    Maori Rock Carvings

    February 11, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Today, was kind of a more quiet day. I slept relatively long and did not very much in the morning, except for planning the next days a bit and booking the respective busses and accomodation. In the afternoon, I went kayaking on Lake Taupo. In total, we were a group of eight including the guide Laura. I shared the kayak with Laura. It was really nice to see the surroundings from a different perspective and the kayaking was fun in general. We went to the Maori rock carvings that were only made in the 1970's but are beautiful anyway. The big carving shows one of the great maori ancestors, the small ones e.g. show Maori spirits. The lizard is quite nice as well. After admiring the carvings we went to a beach, had a swim and some coffee as well as biscuits. Then we paddled the 4 km back to our start. I enjoyed being on the water and it was good to use the arms instead of the legs after the hike yesterday😉 Tomorrow I gonna move on to the east coast.Read more

  • TravelerGoing Down Under
    Day 16

    Hastings

    February 12, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Today, I have not so much to report. I kicked off the day with a nice 10 km-run at the lakeshore of Lake Taupo - the first run since the strep-throat had knocked me off (from sports) for basically the whole January. At 1:30 I took the bus from Taupo to Hastings in the Hawke's Bay close to the Pacific coast. We drove through a landscape dominated by hills and forests. For the first time I saw way more sheep than cows😄 From a longer distance, one meadow looked like there were white rocks on it, but, when we came closer, I could see that it were sheep😂In Hastings, I walked some kilometers through the city center and some neighborhoods up to some rural area with apple trees and other agriculture. Hastings seems to be a rather unspectacular town with some pretty corners though. Maybe I should have gone to Napier instead, but seeing a rather "normal" New Zealand town is not so bad either. Tomorrow, I'll be going on Winery- and Wine Tasting-tour anyway🙃Read more

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