Will's birthday has been a lot of fun starting with drinks in Auckland last Thursday night at Honey's champagne bar with some of his work mates (nice bunch of people) Highlights for me was talking about favourite movies and soundtracks :-)
Next day we set off for the Tongariro National Park - long drive, stopped for lunch at Otoruhanga, which had some impressive Maori totem poles (thanks to Kirsten for pictures!). We decided against black water rafting (3 hour trip) that day because it would have meant we arrived late at hostel - didn't have earliest of starts as Will wanted extra time in bed - must be getting old and can't hack the pace of drinking! ;)
We had the pleasure of listening to my i-tunes via speakers until the batteries run out - was a lot of fun mixing up drum'n'bass, rave, dance, indie, pop and rock'n'roll!
Nice to arrive in the mountains and see Mount Doom! (Film picture vs my own - not quite so scary!!)
We had a few birthday beers at the Schnapps bar and then went for dinner at the Station - lovely restaurant with recommendation of wine to match main meal, well worth it.
Next day we got up early to eat a full cooked breakfast before heading to the mountains to climb Mount Ruapehu. Climbing the volcano as seen from a distance ...
We did the summit climb for Sir Edmund Hilary - found a lovely bunch of people and guides doing the walk we wanted to do. This was just as well because it was tough going - very bleak landscape, difficult rocks, and freezing fog at top but we made it - hard to see craters! I was very pleased to have my new north face kit - all used in this expedition and some of my skiing stuff too (mainly thermals, silly hat and gloves) it was very cold!!
Other pictures = snow on ground near top, me looking out into fog, the narrow path, the summit, Will and Kirsten under hut shelter!
At top we heard two excerpts from Sir Ed's book and the sun shone briefly as if to mark the occasion. We held hands and hugged to share the moment and some warmth as cold wind blew. Climbing down was harder and I got lost at one point from the rest of the group because my glasses were misted up, could't see path and soon realised no one was in front or behind me. Luckily I spotted two people ahead of me, I shouted to them and they helped direct me safely back to the rest of the group and I caught up with Will and Kirsten. (I had a phone, food, water etc if I things had gone wrong but it made us appreciate that we should have talked more at start about what to do if we had been split up!) We all got lost as a group and I'm sure we took a more complicated way down (where guides had gone no one knows, shame that cameraderie spirit on way up had gone) - not good when tired, at least we'd stopped earlier for some lunch on route.
Hot tea and cheese scone was greatly appreciated when we got back to the chair lift. My quads hurt so much afterwards and still do (Monday!). We had a very quiet night drinking a few beers and enjoying a home cooked curry in the hostel.
On Sunday we set off early and had a cooked breakfast at the Copper Kettle cafe (much better than hostel) on route to Waitomo cave for 12 noon black water rafting. Listening to Lord of the Rings BBC Radio series on CD - rather fitting given landscape we were driving through. Kirsten wasn't feeling up to it - still exhausted from volcano walk - so Will and I head off to face the challenge of dark, wet caves and glow worms! It was awesome (albeit in freezing cold water) and I had so much fun entering the labyrinth with our guides Ryan and Steve (jumping in waterfalls, paddling in the dark towards daylight, etc). I loved it. Here are some fun pics from the event ...
Our reward afterwards was a hot shower, hot soup and bagels - yum! We set off and listened to more LOTR - just as well it's such a long book because we got stuck in traffic - got up to the breaking of the fellowship. When finally home in Auckland we had steak and kumara chips (or sweet potatoes) with Will's bday pressie of Sebastiani's Sonoma Valley Barbera 2005 - delicious.
All in all a great birthday weekend, plenty of adventure, drama and fun - the accommodation was alright but service could have been better, would not reccommend!
Next day we set off for the Tongariro National Park - long drive, stopped for lunch at Otoruhanga, which had some impressive Maori totem poles (thanks to Kirsten for pictures!). We decided against black water rafting (3 hour trip) that day because it would have meant we arrived late at hostel - didn't have earliest of starts as Will wanted extra time in bed - must be getting old and can't hack the pace of drinking! ;)
We had the pleasure of listening to my i-tunes via speakers until the batteries run out - was a lot of fun mixing up drum'n'bass, rave, dance, indie, pop and rock'n'roll!
Nice to arrive in the mountains and see Mount Doom! (Film picture vs my own - not quite so scary!!)
We had a few birthday beers at the Schnapps bar and then went for dinner at the Station - lovely restaurant with recommendation of wine to match main meal, well worth it.
Next day we got up early to eat a full cooked breakfast before heading to the mountains to climb Mount Ruapehu. Climbing the volcano as seen from a distance ...
We did the summit climb for Sir Edmund Hilary - found a lovely bunch of people and guides doing the walk we wanted to do. This was just as well because it was tough going - very bleak landscape, difficult rocks, and freezing fog at top but we made it - hard to see craters! I was very pleased to have my new north face kit - all used in this expedition and some of my skiing stuff too (mainly thermals, silly hat and gloves) it was very cold!!
Other pictures = snow on ground near top, me looking out into fog, the narrow path, the summit, Will and Kirsten under hut shelter!
At top we heard two excerpts from Sir Ed's book and the sun shone briefly as if to mark the occasion. We held hands and hugged to share the moment and some warmth as cold wind blew. Climbing down was harder and I got lost at one point from the rest of the group because my glasses were misted up, could't see path and soon realised no one was in front or behind me. Luckily I spotted two people ahead of me, I shouted to them and they helped direct me safely back to the rest of the group and I caught up with Will and Kirsten. (I had a phone, food, water etc if I things had gone wrong but it made us appreciate that we should have talked more at start about what to do if we had been split up!) We all got lost as a group and I'm sure we took a more complicated way down (where guides had gone no one knows, shame that cameraderie spirit on way up had gone) - not good when tired, at least we'd stopped earlier for some lunch on route.
Hot tea and cheese scone was greatly appreciated when we got back to the chair lift. My quads hurt so much afterwards and still do (Monday!). We had a very quiet night drinking a few beers and enjoying a home cooked curry in the hostel.
On Sunday we set off early and had a cooked breakfast at the Copper Kettle cafe (much better than hostel) on route to Waitomo cave for 12 noon black water rafting. Listening to Lord of the Rings BBC Radio series on CD - rather fitting given landscape we were driving through. Kirsten wasn't feeling up to it - still exhausted from volcano walk - so Will and I head off to face the challenge of dark, wet caves and glow worms! It was awesome (albeit in freezing cold water) and I had so much fun entering the labyrinth with our guides Ryan and Steve (jumping in waterfalls, paddling in the dark towards daylight, etc). I loved it. Here are some fun pics from the event ...
Our reward afterwards was a hot shower, hot soup and bagels - yum! We set off and listened to more LOTR - just as well it's such a long book because we got stuck in traffic - got up to the breaking of the fellowship. When finally home in Auckland we had steak and kumara chips (or sweet potatoes) with Will's bday pressie of Sebastiani's Sonoma Valley Barbera 2005 - delicious.
All in all a great birthday weekend, plenty of adventure, drama and fun - the accommodation was alright but service could have been better, would not reccommend!
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