Volcanoes and Rivers: Hawke’s Bay to Wellington

Tongariro National Park

View of Mt Ngauruhoe

It's always been on our New Zealand bucket list and gifted with a clear forecast, we thought we would tackle the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. This tramp has been voted one of the best day hikes in the world. Before we hit the hike, we enjoyed the drive down to the Ruatiti Domain – a great free camping area with decent fishing nearby. The drive alone was pretty spectacular and we got our first glimpse of Mount Ruapehu. 

Glimpse of Mt Ruapehu from Ohakune

Ruatiti Domain Campsite

The next day we drove up to the ski fields of Mount Ruapehu and explored the volcano’s impressive geology. It felt like we were in Mordor, in fact we visited the filming location of ‘Gollum’s pool’. 

Mordor

Gollum's Pool

After a night camped close to the start of the Alpine Crossing, we woke up at 5am to get our shuttle at 6.30am to the start. To be honest, it wasn’t what we were expecting. We knew it was a very popular tramp but there were hoards and hoards of people emptying off shuttles in front of us. The scenery was incredible, seeing the volcanic landscape was something we will never forget.

Soda Springs - Side trip early on in the crossing

Emerald Lake

Unfortunately, you are unable to get away from the fact that it is a highway of people which  does detract from the experience as a whole; perhaps the DOC should limit numbers for this hike like they do on the Great Walks. It is quite a long tramp (19km) for a day, especially in the heat and we were quite amused to see some people attempting it completely underprepared - we even saw someone hobbling down the scree slopes in flip flops! The views from Mount Ngauruhoe (aka Mount Doom) which was a much quieter, optional side trip to the main crossing saved the day for us. It was a hard, hot slog up the unconsolidated volcanic scree slope to the crater summit but the views were breathtaking. We were lucky to have such a clear day that we could see across to Mount Taranaki and right over the whole of Lake Taupo. It was a fun scree-ski back down (3hrs up – 20 mins down)!

Mt. Ngauruhoe 

Nearing the crater summit with the Alpine Crossing below

Summit View

Whanganui National Park

Next we headed to the Whanganui National Park and enjoyed a one-day canoe trip testing our skills down the rapids of the Whanganui River. It wasn’t exactly raging white water but it was probably at about our limit of expertise. We used Taumarunui Canoe Hire, which was a very friendly family-run business (we even got a free coffee during our river briefing). A great day on the river and we are seriously considering doing the whole 5 day Whanganui Journey next summer.

Cruising down the Whanganui River

Riverside camping

Try and spot Nick the fisherman!

Whilst staying in the area, Nick found some great fishing spots. We even freedom camped by a river surrounded by glowworms one night which was magical.

Best Rainbow so far 5lb 6oz

Wellington

Our last stop on the North Island was a couple of days in Wellington. We arrived to heavy rain on Nick’s birthday so spent the morning visiting The Great War Exhibition and the Weta Cave (the prop makers for Lord of the Rings). As a birthday treat we decided on pizza for dinner – Nick even managed to persuade them to deliver right to the van door. 

Pizza delivery (cheating)

The next day we explored Wellington on foot, it is a really cool city and had lots to see including Mount Victoria (great windy views over the city and LOTR filming locations); Te Papa museum (amazing Gallipoli exhibition); Cuba Street (for coffee and brilliant Malaysian lunch) and a couple of craft beer bars to keep Nick happy.

"Get off the road! Quick!" LOTR

Te Papa Museum - Gallipoli: The Scale of our War exhibition

A few shots from Wellington

North Island – you’ve been great. We are really pleased we took the time to explore and seek out some quieter spots (but we still have lots of places on our list that we want to return to and see).