One of the clear perks of spending an extended amount of time in these new and unfamiliar countries is I get to, over the course of a stay, learn the layouts of their supermarkets. In New Zealand they've got it all worked out: Fruit; Booze. Bosh, done!
New Zealand roadtrip destination number one was Rotorua, a few hours southeast of Auckland. Rotorua is slap in the middle of New Zealand's most geothermically active region and houses steam vents and geysers and mud pools, some features in Kuirau Park in the centre of the city even unprotected, allowing you to walk right up to them. I spent a day in Rotorua and visitied Whakarewarewa (fa-ka-ree-wa-ree-wa) Thermal Village. Whakarewarewa is a living and working Maori village, built right on top of the hot springs and bubbling mud pots, with 60 to 65 people permanently resident at the moment. The natural phenomenon upon the doorsteps are utilised for cooking and bathing but, for the sake of their longevity, are not over-used. Current residents describe diminished activity and disappearing geysers following the introduction of geothermal power plants in the region, which came as something of a surprise as I hadn't heard of anything similar on my visits to Iceland. However, the NZ authorities are reportedly working to reverse the affect they have had.
I move a short way south, towards Taupo and the great lake there. On the way I stop off at Wai-o-tapu, another site filled with activity resulting from super-heated water under the Earth's thin crust. The centrepiece is Lady Knox geyser, which spouts on command at 10:15am every day. Watching this spectacle has the effect of making me feel rather cheap. (Or should that be cheaper?) Hoards of people are gathered to witness it and the event is supplemented by a voiceover commentary. Tourism is by far the largest source of income in the region, granted, but it gnawed at me that the geyser couldn't just be left to erupt as and when the pressures below ground dictated, rather than being triggered by the introduction of some foreign agent. To me, having visited two other famously geothermic regions of the world, it felt like unnecessary exploitation.
Around the third day out of Auckland, as predicted, the live Yellow Fever virus - introduced to my body on my last day in the city - started to bare its teeth. Fortunately those teeth were akin to baby milk ones rather than a full set of vicious pointy gnashers, and I suffered nothing more than a case of man flu as glands enlarged and white blood cells set about the task of sacrificing themselves in the name of immunisation.
After Taupo I made my way into Tongariro National Park. You could say I was a little excited about this part of the trip. Tongariro is home to three volcanoes and numerous other craters and is probably quite familiar to a great many of you, especially by its fictional name: Mordor. This is where Peter Jackson located Sauron's domain for his Lord of the Rings trilogy, Mt. Ngauruhoe doubling for the famous Mount Doom. There are a number of popular hikes in the region, with pathways punctuated by incredibly well-equipped huts for people to shelter in overnight.
Despite the yellow fever keeping me somewhat edgeless, I wanted to get close enough to Ngauruhoe to get a reasonable feel for it so, having fuelled myself, I struck out with the intention of walking the Tongariro Crossing trail as far as Soda Spring - reportedly ninety minutes from the car park. I got there in under an hour and found myself compelled to tackle the next section as well, given I still felt fresh and had made good time. This brought me upon South Crater, a remnant of a previous eruption of Mt. Tongariro, situated, quite tantalisingly, at the foot of the track up 'Mount Doom'.
It was only midday and I had reached South Crater in an hour and a half, a whole hour less than the signs suggested was par for the course. Get me. And the signs also suggested the round-trip to the top of Doom would be another three hours...it didn't take long to decide to give it a go. I mean, it's not every day you get to overthrow an evil dictator by dropping a ring into a volcano. Needless to say, the slog up the ashen incline was totally worth it. And I've got a whole new respect for Samwise Gamgee, no matter how light his malnourished companion might have been.
See a pan from the top by clicking here.
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