New Zealand: North Island (part 2)

After we hung out there for a couple of days, we headed down to Lake Taupo. On our drive down we stopped in Rotorua (lots of thermal activity here...stinky) and at Huka Falls, where we watched kayakers shoot off of the 9 meter high falls...very cool.

The area surrounding Taupo is beautiful, mountainous and very volcanic. There are active volcanoes surrounding the area, and Lake Taupo itself is actually the crater of a super volcano that is also still active...kind of frightening as the lake is massive - 30 miles long and 20 miles wide and 610 feet deep at its deepest point (my own historical facts...are you impressed?). We spent our time exploring the town and sitting by the lake. We stayed in a decent hostel that made yummy, cheap chili for dinner.

The next day we decided to do part of the Tongariro Crossing trail. We were so bummed when we found out that we could have done the entire hike in one day. We had read in our guide books that it was a four to five day trek and didn't find out until late the night before that there are vans that will drop you off early in the morning at one side of the best part of the track and pick you up at the other. We weren't able to do that because we didn't know about it until super late, so we just hiked in as far as we could in one day and back out.

The reason we were so bummed is because it is supposed to be one of the best day hikes in New Zealand with volcanic and nearly other-worldly terrain, icy blue and emerald green pools, and huge craters and mountains. We hiked for a few hours to the first crater, but had to return because of the weather and the time and didn't make it up to the pools. It was still an amazing hike. The terrain reminded us a bit of parts of Iceland. We kept passing signs that explained what to do in the event of a volcanic eruption and told us that we were walking at our own risk which seriously began to terrify us after a while. But we made it in and back out without any any encounters with deadly lava...thank God.

(starting out the trail)

(at the bottom of the valley)

(warnings showing us all of the different ways the volcanoes could explode and kill us...and Tongariro volcano looming on the right in the distance - this area was also the set for Mount Doom in The Lord of the Rings)

(halfway up the mountain...we hiked from way down at the bottom in the distance...hardcore)

(the first crater at the top of the mountain...it was huge)

(the blue pools we didn't get to make it to...so sad! this picture is from the internet...)

Driving around the north island was so beautiful...I took so many pictures out the window and made Nathan stop the car often so I could get out and snap pictures. The sky is SO incredibly blue here and the grass is SO green...the colors are incredibly beautiful and vivid. There are wildflowers scattered along the rolling hills and dairy cows and sheep (and the occasional horse) everywhere you look.

After Taupo we drove south to a cute little town called Ohakune which is a busy ski town during the winter and is quiet and mellow (and cheap!) during the summer. It is right near Mount Ruapehu (another volcano) and was very beautiful. We stayed in a great hostel here and made a yummy dinner.

(Ohakune downtown)

(Mount Ruapehu)

The next day, we headed down to the Namba's...our wonderful friends who allowed us to stay with them over the holidays. The Namba's are our friends from Santa Cruz who moved out to NZ earlier this year, and they have three precious little boys who we had SO much fun playing with while we were there. We spent a few days with them, including Christmas, and it was great. We relaxed, chatted lots and caught up on life, watched Twilight #1 movie!! (which we hadn't seen yet...fabulous), blogged, Skyped with family, went box sliding with the kids, chased sheep, played with Legos, listened to Christmas music, ate yummy food, and just had a blast. It was wonderful and MUCH needed after our long time away from family and friends.

(Rob and Eliot)

(Dillon being adorable)

(Legos...Corban, the oldest, was buried in them the whole time! So cute...he's such a builder)

(Nathan with Rob and Jen and their wonderful friend Gail)

On the 27th, we headed down to Wellington (with Rob) and explored the city, went to the Flying Burrito for super good, but ridiculously expensive (albeit worth it and necessary), Mexican food, then went and saw Avatar that night. Great movie. Rob left that evening and Nathan and I stayed in the city for another day and night. We did some more exploring on our own, went to the free local museum, which was great, and went to another movie the second night...Sherlock Holmes. Another great movie. We got into a bit of a movie streak there...so fun! I think we've seen more movies in theatres on this trip than we had the entire year before at home!

On the 29th, we hopped on the ferry to get to the South Island!

New Zealand: North Island (part 1)

From Sydney, we flew to our LAST destination on our big adventure…New Zealand.

We started in Auckland and stayed with a friend of a friend for a few days. We visited the different cute districts and neighborhoods around Auckland, went up to Piha and Kerikeri beaches (which were stunning…reminded us a lot of Hawaii), hiked up to a waterfall and spent time planning for the rest of our time in New Zealand.

(the view over Piha Beach)

(the path to Kerikeri Beach)

(black sparkly sands at Kerikeri Beach)

After that, we drove our rental car (finally had a car to get around and it was wonderful) around the Coromandel Peninsula to Hahei. The drive follows the peninsula along the coast and is really beautiful. It passes through a few very cute towns…our favorite was Coromandel. They are known for their smoked fish and mussels, so we went to the local fish smoking shop and got ourselves the best smoked salmon and garlic smoked mussels...amazing.

(excited to have a car!)

(pretty coastline at Coromandel Peninsula)

(cute Coromandel town and the fish smoking shop)

(best smoked fish, ever)

We finally made it to Hahei and stayed in a great little hostel there. The area around Hahei is really beautiful...it is lush and tropical and near the coast. There are beautiful plants and flowers and tons of gigantic wild hydrangea bushes everywhere...very pretty.

Nearby Hahei is hot water beach, where you can dig a hole in the sand and it fills up with super hot water from an underground spring and then you sit in it like a hot tub. We went and did that until the tide came in and washed our warm little pool away. We also hiked to Cathedral Cove which is a beautiful secluded (actually, quite touristy...but you still have to hike to it) beach and hung out there, worked on our tans some more, and I immersed myself in Twilight novel #4 (almost finished with the series...so sad!!).

(cathedral cove)

(more of cathedral cove)

Sydney

We headed out from South East Asia to make our way to New Zealand, but first...we had a three and a half day layover in Sydney, Australia. Although we didn't have much time, we explored all that we could and just loved it here. We stayed in a cute hipster neighborhood that had great shopping, antiques and thrift stores (too bad we are "going broke" and couldn't afford to buy anything...so sad) and great pubs and restaurants. We wished we could have stayed and explored longer!

We spent time exploring downtown and around the harbor, walked through the botanical gardens, laid out at sunny Bondi beach and worked on our tans, walked the long coastal walk from Bondi to Coogee Beach, explored some of the different neighborhoods, and had some of the best nights' sleeps we have had in a long time.

(at the harbor in front of the Opera House)

(at the botanical gardens...notice the HUGE bats hanging in the trees?? Disgusting! They are everywhere...they are called Flying Foxes and there are approximately 20,000 hanging from the trees in the botanical gardens. So disturbing.)

(beautiful Bondi Beach)