A weekend in Taupo

The third weekend of January saw a good few carloads of us heading on a four hour road trip down to Steph’s family bach in Taupo. I’ve been to Taupo a few times before and absolutely love it (its one of my favourite places in the North Island for sure) but this time we were heading to the other side of the lake, to a tiny remote town called Omori. Most of us had arrived by 10pm and we spent the evening marvelling at how amazing  the bach was: A huge several bedroomed-house with an internal lift and a self-contained flat downstairs (which is where Alice, Jules and I were staying).

We had agreed that we would get up early the next day – 8am – to head off to complete the Tongariro Crossing (my second time – the first being almost exactly a year before). Once we had settled down, drink in hand, on that first evening, however; Steph informed us that the others had been debating whether to actually get up at 5.30am instead. My instant response: “Wait, can I be part of this debate? I say no!!”. But the debate had sadly already been concluded so very bright and early the next morning, Steph coaxed us up with coffees, and blurry eyed we headed out to the cars.

Steph and her sister had plotted an extremely complicated system of dropping off our various cars at the start and end of the walk so we would all be able to get back. This absolutely went over my head; it felt like one of those brainteaser scenarios  where you have a fox, a chicken and a boat; however, I blindly followed along and let the others direct what car I needed to sit in and where it would be going.

The Tongariro Crossing is up there in one of New Zealand’s best day walks, and for a good reason.. it is staggeringly beautiful, and there are so many different types of scenery. The day started off super cloudy (same as last time) but soon cleared and turned into a beautifully sunny and clear day. We had an awesome time.

The gang

Quiche by the lake

19.4km of mountains, lakes and Mars-like plains later, we had finished, and still had plenty of the day left to spend sunbathing at the beach, before returning to the bach for a huge BBQ 🙂

Post-tramp snack: cider and cheese board for one 🙂

Chilling on the deck

The next morning – not quite as bright and early as the day before but still early enough for a quick grumble about not getting a lie-in – Steph had yanked us out our beds and ushered us back down to the lake. This time there was an extra treat: We had their family speed boat to play with, and had managed to nab our only private bit of beach!

The sun was out in force and I got first dibs riding shot gun in the boat while Steph wakeboarded behind. Oh my gosh… this was 100% my highlight of the weekend. Ever since I arrived in New Zealand it was my mission to befriend someone who owned a boat. I guess I was thinking more of a yacht, but beggars can’t be choosers and I embraced the being-on-a-boat vibe full gusto. What an amazing experience, bouncing about Lake Taupo at full throttle.

Then we attached a rubber ring to the back of the boat and took it in turns to “biscuit”. I was a little terrified when it got to my turn and clung on for my dear life as I was thrown about all over the place, screaming “Stop! Stop! Back to the beach!” into the wind (I was supposed to indicate when I wanted to go back by raising one of my hands, but of course both hands were a little pre-occupied by death-gripping the rubber ring handles). In retrospect though, very enjoyable, if not a little wearing on the arms :-p

Me biscuiting

Woohoo on a boat!!

After lunch on the deck, Alice, Mark and I piled into Alice’s car and set off back to Auckland, via Hamilton Gardens for ice cream, strong coffees and a wander around the various themed gardens. And that was my weekend… another amazing trip away for the third week in a row 🙂

A little adventure to sunny Raglan

After hiding behind rain clouds for most of new years weekend, the sun finally put its hat on and came out full blast immediately after. I got together a little crew (including my brand new housemate!) one day after work and headed out into the Waitakeres for a sunny evening’s adventure. We clambered around a beautiful waterfall and then trekked to the top of a dam for a little picnic overlooking an incredible view down over the forest.

That Friday a carload of us headed on a mini road trip an hour north to the Saw Mill, a legendary gig venue in Leigh. Ryan’s friend’s band were playing there and we thought that was a good excuse as any to make the after-work journey. The band were awesome – great fun to dance to – and we got to hang with Ryan’s friend Charlie for a bit beforehand. He told us he was playing at Sound Splash festival in the surfer town of Raglan the next day and that he could probably get us free entry to the festival if we turned up with them.

We decided to take our chances so set off for another adventure in my Dingo, this time two hours down the West coast. I hadn’t been to Raglan before and was a little blown away. I was expecting a road with beach one side and some shops along the other but actually, it was a cool little town full of surfer shops and cafes, and then a HUGE beach approached from the top of the cliff. We found a spot to sunbathe overlooking the beach while we waited to hear whether had tickets to the festival, very much feeling it wouldn’t be the end of the world if we had to spend the day lazing on the beach instead.

But as luck would have it, Charlie arrived with our wrist bands and we were in! The festival was right next to the beach so we had a very relaxed day watching bands, swimming in the sea, and hanging out with Charlie’s band. The latter was an endless source of excitement for me – I have never hung out with one of the band’s performing at a festival – and I felt at least ten times cooler…even though they were the 3pm band and so about seven bands away from the main act! We had a blast, and a FREE blast at that (well apart from the beers and katsu curries!).

The band!

We camped over but awoke the next day to clouds and drizzle. We spent the morning hanging round in cafes, playing Monopoly Deal and waiting for the clouds to pass, but they didn’t, so eventually we admitted defeat and headed back to Auckland (but not before spotting the NZ Bachelor and girlfriend in a supermarket, which was highly exciting!).

 

Rainy fun in the Bay of Plenty!

What with it now being my second summer in Auckland, I’ve been determined to make the most of every minute of it by planning lots of weekend adventures and after-work hikes and explorations. I work out near the Waitakeres Ranges, a beautiful regional park full of breathtaking hikes, waterfalls, coastline and beaches. Sunny evenings will see me and whoever else fancies it attempting to tick off another hike from my book of Waitakere walks. There has been stream walking, treks up waterfalls, sliding down huge sand dunes, picnics on dams and the end of jetties. Ideal 🙂

The weekend of New Years a bunch of us decided to hire a bach and head down to the coastal town of Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty to check out a cool-looking festival there. So on New Years Day we packed up our cars and headed off for a two and a half hour road trip south east, ready for a weekend of sunshine and beaches!

Except there was no sun… the sun had been replaced with buckets and buckets of rain. Whaaat! But we were not to be deterred. On our first night, once everyone had arrived (via Warehouse to make a last minute welly purchase), we all headed off to the hot pools for a relaxing soak, then cooked up a mean risotto with grilled chicken, and topped off the night with some Cards Against Humanity and Monopoly Deal.

The next day was Bay Dreams festival and it was raining HARD. We downed a few drinks, donned our rain jackets and set off, trying not to grumble too hard.

But the music was fun and we danced our socks off (literally in some cases…) as we squelched around in the mud and relentless rain. Eventually, soaked to the bone and feeling the chill, we decided to call it a day and head home to warm showers and takeaway pizza.

Before and after photo

The day after, the weather looked slightly more promising – occasional drizzle inter-spaced with, if not pure sunshine, then at least, well … no rain. We decided to track down a secret waterfall that Pat had been to five years before and was only accessible through his mate’s back garden apparently. So we rocked up at his mate’s parent’s house for a cup of tea overlooking Mount Maunganui before asking whether he might be able to lead us down to the falls. “Yeah sure” he said. “It’s a fifteen minute walk” he said.

Our first hurdle was an electric fence. We umm-ed and ahh-ed about how to get over without electrifying ourselves and hesitantly settled on scaling a tree slightly overhanging the fence. It was touch and go with a few electric shocks but after a lot of squealing and hesitation we all made it over in one piece… only to be met with what must be the muddiest, steepest dirt track I’ve ever been on. After five minutes of tentatively lunging from one branch to another I gave up and managed the rest either in a crab squat or else on my bum. RIP brand new white shorts!

After what seemed like forever, we finally emerged out into a clearing, to be met by the most incredible scene, and not another soul in sight:

Wow. We clambered over the rocks and jumped into the pool for a refreshing  (read: cold) dip. As we made our way back to the rocks I commented warily, “Something just brushed past my leg!” to which Ryan started replying “Yeah mine too” but was cut off by Nai shrieking and pointing through the water to my leg , where a huge eel was lurking around my ankle. Cue a lot of screaming from the girls and desperate attempts to clamber back to the bank without submerging any more body parts. Ugh, eels are by far my worst New Zealand creature.

Our evening was spent at my friend Lindsey’s house in Tauranga, having pot luck dinner (for the second pot luck dinner in a row I brought homemade hash browns, never fails to go down well!), playing Citizen versus Mafia, and admiring the beautiful view from the garden.

On our final day the sun finally showed its pretty face and those of us who hadn’t headed back decided to trek up Mount Maunganui. We were on limited time as Nai had to catch the bus to Rotorua so we power-walked uphill  and made it to fifteen minutes from the summit before we sadly admitted we had run out of time and had to head back. The rest of the afternoon was spent sunning ourselves on what must be one of the prettiest beaches in New Zealand, while plotting to invent outside Monopoly Deal cards that don’t blow away in the wind.

Despite the rain, I had an awesome weekend in a beautiful city with the best bunch of friends… perfect way to bring in the new year!