The North Island – April 2007

The North Island:
We drove north from Kaikoura to the northernmost tip of the South Island, where we took a ferry across the straits to Wellington on the North Island. From there we headed still farther north, to the thermal and volcanic central part of the island, where we visited the colorful deposits of the Thermal Wonderland and bathed in natural hot spring waters in a nearby river.

We also were fortunate enough to arrive at a time when the weather permitted the safe hiking of the Tongariro Crossing, which is reputed to be New Zealand’s finest one-day hike. It was indeed beautiful. We hiked through flowering meadows and past a volcanic cone to red canyons emitting hot steam and on towards the Blue Lake and the Emerald Lake, which accurately describe their very vivid colors. The earth ranged in color from red to orange to yellow to black or violet.

This was April, and in the Southern Hemisphere, we were heading very quickly into Fall and cold weather. In the high-altitude regions where we were hiking, it went below freezing at nighttime, making it almost impossible to sleep with our lightweight sleeping bags, even if we did wear all of our clothing to bed.

Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city and our last stop in Kiwiland, was by the sea and lower in altitude, and therefore much warmer. We stayed with Jarrad for our last week in the country, and he was very hospitable. It was great seeing him and hanging out again after 3 years!