Back on North Island we pay tribute to the Kiwi Carrot Capital, Okahune. It doesn’t bring us luck, though, when we go to the volcanic Tongariro National Park. After waiting out a day of rain, we attempt the famous Tongariro Crossing. Actually this mountainous tramp is so famous that it’s a little like the Chilkoot Trail during the Klondike Gold Rush where you couldn’t get out of line for fear of not being able to break back in. Nevertheless…we give it a go the following morning. As we climb up to the saddle, the temperature drops, the wind picks up lustily, and we are enveloped in clouds. Why are we doing this? For the stunning views? So we give it up (we’re not the only ones).
Whirinaki Forest Park and Te Urewera National Park with its Lake Waikaremoana (you think we’re making these names up, don’t you?) have stunning native podocarp forests with colossal trees. We don’t dare pause for more than a few minutes, though, or we, too, may be covered in moss and ferns.
Out on the East Cape we tramp to Cook’s Cove on Tolaga Bay. About halfway (after the UP part) we take this photo before hiking down to weathered sandstone formations on the Pacific.
On the way we encounter several feral goats. Check out the horns on this fellow!
Incidentally, here’s a catchy name for a mountain in NZ: Taumatawhaketangihangakoauauotameteapokaiwhenuakitanatahu. Do not try to pronounce it or you may have to be hospitalized.
By now we’ve spent time in every one of NZ’s nat’l parks and traveled to the most northerly, westerly, and southerly points. So here’s the easternmost, with its lighthouse, the first in the world to see dawn each day because of its proximity to the International Date Line. We look through the ground-level window to see a Fresnel lens stored there! (2nd or 3rd order, for those who care.)
How often have you seen cows lazing on a beach? It’s a first for us, too.
We spend our final few days before returning to Auckland and the airport experiencing Maori hospitality at this enchanting spot, nestled in among boulders and huge, twisted puhutekawa trees.
Farewell, Aotearoa, you’ve been more than wonderful. Next up: OZ!
