New Zealand - North Island

Our trip to New Zealand starts in Auckland on the North Island, and will finish in Christchurch on the South Island.

My parents, Del and Cathy, also came out to spend time with us on the North Island.  It was great to spend time with them (Alex and Katie really appreciated spending time with them, and not just us!).  

The North Island

Most of the North Island is rolling green sheep pastures like this

Karekare Beach looking across the Tasman Sea towards Australia

Trail maintenance on the North Island is done with a lawn mower

These giant flowers are called loudspeaker flowers, and are toxic

Abbot Caves

These caves north of Auckland are free and open to explore.  It's hard to imaging caves like this with unrestricted access in the U.S.

The light is from the camera flash; otherwise the caves are completely dark

Intrepid cavers

We used red lights to keep our night vision and spot glow worms

Cylon Attack Force

Glow worm galaxy behind Alex

Waiting for Katie to be swallowed by the Watcher in the Water

Glow worm selfie

Waitomo Caves

We also visited the famous Waitomo Caves for "blackwater rafting" and spectacular glow worm caverns.

Katie blackwater kersplashing

Keri spelunking

Watch out for the blackwater photo bomber

Not our picture, but a good idea of the amazing glow worm show

Rotorua area

Rotorua is the most active geothermal area in New Zealand.  Not coincidentally, it's also the cultural center of Māori traditions.  The Māori (their name for the area, "Te Rotorua-nui-a-Kahumatamomoe", just rolls off the tongue) settled the area in the 1300's, and have used the geothermal vents for cooking, cleaning, and heat ever since.

Fly fishing near Stryker's base

Geothermal power plant outside Rotorua

Grandpa Del cranking at Frotgatt's Edge...

...and grinding the cool redwood forest trails outside Rotorua

Geothermal steam sunset in Rotorua

Maori "living village" with meals being cooked in the geothermal steam box

Artist's Palette

Champagne Pool

Grandpa and Grandson

The moment before the giant gecko attack

The Devil's Bath

The Shire

Candidly, almost all of the North Island looks like the Shire.  But we couldn't visit without spending an afternoon at Hobbiton.

Welcome to the Shire!

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door. You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off too."

Bag End

Grandpa Del and Grandma Cathy at home in the Shire

The woodcarver hobbit at work

Rosie Gamgee played by Katie

Unfortunately, we couldn't stay overnight in the Hobbit holes

Family party at the Green Dragon

Halflings of the Corn

Tongariro

Tongariro is a National Park in the center of the North Island.  Here, the pastures, hills, and forests give way to volcanoes and windswept terrain.

It's unbelievably difficult to get pictures where Katie isn't making goofy faces

Gollum's Pool

Thanks for coming down, Grandma and Grandpa!

Katie's plan to avoid hiking is a success!

Katie and her new friend

New Zealand Cicada...big...and loud

Duckling on an attack mission

Tongariro Crossing

The top of every "to do" list on the North Island is the Tongariro Crossing.  It's a 20 kilometer one-way hike across Mount Ngauruhoe, an active volcano that was the setting for Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings.

"I can't recall the taste of food, nor the sound of water, nor the touch of grass..." - Frodo

"He was looking at Sauron's Road from Barad-dûr to the Sammath Naur, the Chambers of Fire.... [It] climbed at last, high in the upper cone, but still far from the reeking summit, to a dark entrance that gazed back east straight to the Window of the Eye in Sauron's shadow-mantled fortress." - LOTR

Emerald Lakes, with a helpful warning not to drink the volcanic water

It turns out that one does simply walk into Mordor.

Rangitikei River

Tbe Rangitikei River is one of the top paddling rivers in the world, but quite different from big rivers like the Futaleufú.  It's tight, with technical rapids.  Our guide was from Japan, and was here because he found a large number of the best guides he'd met in 20 years of guiding had all learned their craft on the Rangitikei.  We spent a day having a great time paddling a small raft through it.

The narrow gorge of the Rangitikei

Relying on Alex and Katie to guide our team...

...maybe wasn't the best plan.

Worth it.

Small rafts and big drops!

Wellington...and off to the South Island

The local headlines while we were there described a family from England that caused so much trouble that they were actually deported from New Zealand.  We were glad that it wasn't us (or even an American family), but this cave troll let us know it was time to leave the North Island.

Time to go!