Singing Above the Clouds on Mount Taranaki

/*More photos being added soon!*/

Kia Ora,

The afternoon was turning late. The day had been spent preparing, just as the day before. Whilst I was fighting with my pen in hand, others were on the field, hunting for crucial items which may secure their survival.

Yes that’s right, not for the first time I was studying all day for an exam whilst counterparts were preparing for a weekend tramp. This weekends destination:  Mount Taranaki. The team: Dannii, Pauline, Thomas, Loris (Lolo) and Ella. The research: formed thousands of years ago, Mount Taranaki is a still active volcano at 2518m high. It has a major eruption every 500 years and minor eruptions every 90 years. Its last major eruption was 1854.

“But Ben, what about this exam?” Well, it was worth 15% of one of my modules and I left the exam room happy with my answers and therefore able to enjoy the weekend fully!

We left Auckland at 8pm, arriving in New Plymouth for 1:30am. We had a chance for a few hours sleep before waking up at 7am to begin the day. The weather suggested the mountain may be suitable to climb, so we had to make the most of it! After finding breakfast pies in a petrol station en route we parked at the visitor centre 1km above sea level. Here all we could see was cloud, though we were informed after climbing trough the cloud layer we'd be treated to blue sky- so off we went :-)

It didn't take us too long to get through the clouds and get our first glimpse of Mt Taranaki up close. It looked amazing! We dumped our bags at about 1500m and took the bare essentials for reaching the top, just a mere 1000m higher.

Clouds down below!

It was an incredibly steep climb and everybody did really well pushing to their limits! The return journey from 1500m to 2518m was a challenging 5 hours. The gradient was steep and constant with varying challenges such as staircases and scree slopes. But the reward was high and the views were amazing! We were all ready to rest that night in Maketowa hut which was graciously quiet for Easter weekend.

Mini rainbow on the clouds below us!

The next morning a couple of us woke to watch Mt Taranaki in the sunrise. We also saw the completely clear mountain get swallowed by a cloud from the Tasman Sea within 5 minutes, but actually it provided some stunning effects in the morning light.

Mount Taranaki being engulfed

From this day we would take a slightly gentler route around Mt Taranaki, but to reach this path we had to conquer an early morning climb. Some motivation was needed around the camp after the previous days challenge. Que the singing! But for some the views of the walking around the volcanoes circumference was motivation enough: a dense forest wrapped around cliff faces and valleys was not a sight I expected here.

We arrived at Holly Hut and decided this would be our stop for the night. An added, unplanned bonus was a visit to Bells Falls. Of course we've seen plenty of waterfalls in NZ, so would this break the top ten? Yes, it would! After a gentle run there me, Thomas and Ella got right to the base of it after some (competitive) stream and rock crossing.

(crazy) Thomas having a swim to the right

Lolo chillin'

We had time here to test the freezing water (and obviously Thomas had to swim). We also watched Thomas go for an unintentional swim, falling whilst using the stepping stones. And we all watched Lolo stumble about trying to find a route back haha. Meanwhile, Ella even had the cheek to "steal" another Frenchman's "pants" (damn Americanisms) as he went for a swim in the stream haha.

That night we were in a much busier hut and so a little more crammed in. Still, we were up late playing cards using head torches and chatting before hitting the sack. There were about 40 people in the hut and plenty of snorers amongst them. But this is sometimes how it goes with huts.

I woke up very early and watched the moon descend from the sky. Mt Taranaki was once again completely clear in the morning and looking great! Back in the hut an enthusiast was wishing everybody a happy Easter Sunday, before awkwardly continuing his well-wishing by posing the question, "So, who knows what Easter Sunday is about?". Thankfully, his act was short, but he had time enough to tell us Jesus' apparent nationality was "Jewish"... Not so much of an enthusiast after all haha.

On with the walking and we set off at an incredible pace. Everybody seemed to find a surplus of energy after the previous days workouts and the steep climb to start the day was obliterated very quickly! We had a laugh at our first break point as Lolo's bag broke. With 5 hours of walking still to go, Lolo thankfully performed a quick fix and managed to continue!

Beautiful Taranaki once again!

A little treck later we came across the reflective lake and we enjoyed the view some more!

Then another work-out hill. The girls put their headphones in and we all climbed the winding staircase to once again live in the clouds.

We descended down a forest terrain for the rest of the day. This was a bit of a tricky walk and so me and Ella took bets on who would fall over first. I chose Pauline as the first faller and Ella chose Lolo. With a coffee on the cards, I was watching Pauline at every difficult stage to see if she would fall, but it was Lolo who went over first. Damn! Haha.

After more daily silliness (including Lolo joining in a conversation in Mandarin) the lads went ahead to fetch the car. There was some good power walking in the last hour, though the girls just missed out on beating us to the car after hitching a ride to the top. The ride was hitched from our previously mentioned Frenchman who we bumped in to constantly throughout the trip.

The girls, 5 minutes to go!

On driving home I was happily kept awake by singing away with Pauline, even if there were some complaints when Taylor Swift came on. We were also listened to a bit of Mt Taranaki radio which was playing 90 hours of the 90's for Easter weekend. The car was never more alive when the song of the trip, Haddaway- "What Is Love", came on. I've been singing this song so much over the past few weeks it's become a little theme song and the chances of it coming on after singing it all weekend were unbelievably low. Such a good moment!

And in recognition of a joke that is not dying, even though I don't like One Direction or how often I have to hear it knowing Pauline, I can quite happily say "it was the best weekend ever".

We couldn't get eneough of Mt Taranaki. It may be one of the most stunning sights I have seen in New Zealand, and one of the best trips! It completely surpassed all of my expectations and we were so lucky with the weather! And of course the people were something special!

Kia Ora,

Ben

Waiheke Island

Kia Ora,

This adventure took place a little closer to home than some of my other adventures- though it was definitely an overdue adventure. Me, Dannii, Ella and Tommy hopped on an early morning ferry to the very beautiful Waiheke Island, a 40 minute crossing from Auckland’s docks. We were making the most of what could be the near-end of summer sun- the perfect weather for the wine-cultured island.

Watching the distinctive skyline of Auckland fade away we passed by a couple of smaller islands before reaching Waiheke. At docking we walked over to Oneroa, one of a few villages on the island. There was a no real presence of Auckland here, instead it was a beautiful, untouched coastal village. And as the island is not sheltered from the Pacific Ocean, the sea breeze felt so refreshing!

After taking in some of the views over the ocean, we moved on to Onetangi and did a small bush walk. We spied a lot of Tui’s and heard plenty of other birds. We were all pretty hungry after this so parked ourselves at a café with a sea view and ate very well!

Then we partook in Waiheke Islands greatest attraction, wine tasting! We visited just one of the 17 vineyards on the island, because it was as far as we were willing to walk. The chosen vineyard: Obsidian. We got a little lesson in how the vineyard produces their wine and all pretended to look a little sophisticated and knowledgeable. We bought the Pinot Grois (2013) vintage which accompanied us for the rest of the day on the beach!

As obligated, we swam at the beach, worked on a tan and just talked nonsense! And this saw our day out until we were ready to go home via the ferry. A very relaxed day on beautiful Waiheke.

Kia Ora,

Ben

Spoiled, spoiled and spoiled in Waipu

Kia Ora,

Everybody loves to be spoiled. And everybody knows that you are spoiled most by grandparents (hint hint for when I come home guys :-D). And a few weekends ago we were invited to Ella’s grandmas and Aunts house in the Northlands.

I was so excited after getting the invite a few weeks prior when meeting Ella’s grandma and Aunt. They had asked us which foods we missed from the UK and I told them I haven’t had a real roast dinner since coming to NZ. And so this perk was added to the invite! So happy!

Me, Dannii, Ella and Scott took the bus on the Friday afternoon and were amazed at how beautiful their home was (well, possibly Ella wasn't as amazed as we were). They owned some farmland and managed a lot of animals and crops between them. And they had the most spectacular view, a view which we would be waking up too over the next two mornings.

We sat on their balcony looking out whilst eating our roast Pork (with crackling!) dinner. Ellas grandma had also made a chickpea curry for Scott which was also really successful, so much so we were all eating that too! We shared wine and stories also whilst planning our next day adventures, which would turn out to be amazing!

In the morning we woke and Ellas grandma so kindly entrusted me to drive her car for the day. And our first stop was the Waipu Caves. These are relatively unknown, non-commercialised glow worm caves, much like the Abbey Caves I visited in November. However on this occasion the water levels allowed us to get deep in to the caves. The glow worms were so clear that we could actually photograph them!

Scott was loving the rock climbing element within the caves and towards the end we lost him, only to find him in some very high, ridiculous position. Otherwise we were all wading through the caves and returned very wet and muddy.

After a quick shower and another well-prepared meal we drove to the beach at Waipu. We got to bring a friend to the beach, Mac the Welsh Border Colly! He enjoyed his beach walk whilst me and Scott enjoyed a little more rock climbing getting as close as we could to a secluded beach. We then moved to a second beach, played Frisbee and again took in the view.

In the evening we met Ella’s grandma and Aunt at The Pizza Barn. It appeared to be a local favourite of theirs and they served amazing pizzas. After deciding me and Scott wanted one each (of course) we chose a good mix between the six of us and ate the night away.

On the journey home some keen eyes in our car spotted another pair of eyes on the side of the road. With very little deliberation the car was turned around and a rescue mission was launched for two abandoned kittens at the side of the road. We were there for maybe 30 minutes, during which time we were approached by many friendly locals asking if we were alright!

Unfortunately we only rescued one of the kittens, even after a second search the next morning. The rescued kitten was named Seuss after living in a hat on the bus journey home and has now been rehomed in Auckland. A job well done on behalf of some ***** who decided to dump the kittens. Furthermore, in a country with so many endangered, flightless birds, dumping cats is just even more ridiculous and unfortunately this isn't an isolated case in NZ.

But before leaving with Seuss we were fed well once more and said our goodbyes. Ella’s aunt took us to a viewpoint over Whangerei, a view I accidentally found in November but was more than happy to visit again!

A lovely, well-spoiled weekend.

And that view! :-)

Kia Ora,

Ben