North Island, New Zealand: Not the Mother of All Ski Trips

For better part of the winter, Jason spent time working away from home.  He logged two trips to Darwin, and one to Thailand. Indonesia was supposed to be on his list as well, but that fell through.  So, instead of sitting poolside in Bali, I mean “working,” in Bali, he planned an unexpected ski trip for us to New Zealand.   

More commonly, skiers and snowboarders head to the South Island for this.  Not us, we chose the North Island for two reasons.  One, we already have a holiday planned to explore the South Island in November. So…why not see something new?  And two, Becky was unrelenting with her first and only reasoning.  Well, below are pictures and stories of what took place during the ski trip with next to no skiing. (I’m Sorry, Jason)!

The vacation started off without a hitch.  It was a decent drive from Auckland to the slopes so we allowed a few days to get there.  Our first stop was Hot Water Beach in Coromandel.  It’s one of the region's most fascinating places. For one hour either side of low tide, you can dig in the sand for hot spring water in order to create your very own beachside spa.   Don’t be fooled, hot water is not to be read lightly.  The temperature can be upwards of 140F.  It does require some engineering to generate the right flow of thermal water and ocean water when building your spa.  Otherwise, it’s an unpleasantly, scalding hot experience.  Once everything is in order, it’s super relaxing.  The beach itself has a concentrated area where the hot water pools can be dug so it’s not exactly a private experience.  Our “awkward private hot pool moment” comes later in the trip.  It’s interesting to note that when the tide changes, each hot pool is washed away.  In that moment, it looks like any other beach; you wouldn’t even know what it’s capable of.

Hot Water Beach

Searching for some hot water

Found it!

Just up the road from Hot Water Beach we did some hiking along the Coromandel Peninsula.  The one to highlight was the Cathedral Cove walk.  Everything about this day couldn’t have been more perfect.  The sun was shining, the air was warm and the walking tracks were nearly empty!  There’s something about the sight of emerald water that makes everything better.  While on the beach of Cathedral Cove, we witnessed the neatest thing.  Jason was taking pictures when Becky spotted a fin.  Of course, she assumed it was a shark.  Instead, it was a pod of killer whales!  Three of them were surprisingly close to the shore line while one stayed farther out.  It was exciting then slightly scary when the fins turned directly in front of us.  For a split second we thought they were going to launch a beach attack on seals; only we were the seals.  Thankfully, they turned away as quickly as they turned toward us. We sprinted down the beach screaming, "Killer Whales!"  Everyone who was on the beach starting running with us trying to snap a good photo.  We created quite a stir.  Looking back, that could have been a mean joke… 

Hahei Beach, Coromandel

Stingray Cove, Coromandel

Cathedral Cove, Coromandel

Living the good life!

Cathedral Cove

"Killer Whales!"

 A running photographer=blurred pictures

Having spent much of the day in Coromandel, we headed off to our next destination; Rotorua. The sun wasn’t far from setting, but we were hoping to squeeze in one more sight; the hotspot filming location of The Shire.  For all of you Lord of the Rings lovers, you probably already know the trilogy was filmed in New Zealand.  We’ll be the first to admit: we don’t know anything about it.  We’ve neither read any of the books nor watched the movies.  Despite that, we were already so close to being there that we figured why not?  Other plans were in place though.  We took a wrong turn, got stuck behind a slowly moving truck, and best of all, Jason was handpicked for his first RBT: Random Breath Test.  He passed. Thirsty Thursday must be big in the tiny town of Matamata.  The sun set before we ever made it to the filming location.  We’re no more or less versed on The Lord of Rings forum than we started out.     

 

Rotorua, endearingly known to Becky as “Rotten Rotorua” is the place for geothermal experiences.  It’s built in the heart of a giant volcanic crater.  In terms of geysers, boiling mud pools and thermal springs, it’s similar to Yellowstone National Park, but only on a smaller scale.  A thick sulpher stench lingers in the air most the time.  As foul as it is, it’s worth putting up with to take in the splendor.  WAI-O-TAPU THERMAL WONDERLAND (corny and straight from the brochure) was the first place we visited.  It’s New Zealand’s most colorful and diverse volcanic area.  Lady Knox Geyser, like Old Faithful, erupts every day.  The difference is that, without fail, Lady Knox erupts daily at 10:15 am.  Impressive!  It turns out that the lady’s volcanic eruption is much more dependable when detergent soap is poured down her throat to start the show.  Not so impressive.

Lady Knox

Later that day, we headed to Waikite Valley Thermal Pools.  The setting couldn’t be more serene…at first.  A river and green rolling hills speckled with sheep was the perfect backdrop.  We upgraded by purchasing access to a private spa, too.  We thought that meant we had a pool removed from everyone else, but still exposed in nature.  Instead, we were placed behind a locked door with 3 walls and a view to a pasture.  It was nice for a short time. (Insert "awkward private hot tub moment") A young bogan (redneck) couple was in the private pool next to us.   Unfortunately for us (and everyone else around), they confused private for soundproof.  Silly kids.

 

Most who read this probably aren't fans, but we should mention that NZ is host to the 2011Rugby World Cup.  During our stay in Rotorua, the first game kicked off.  Games were played at various locations through the North and South Island.  The only game that potentially lined up with Jason’s holiday schedule was Fiji vs a country we forgot even existed.  So no, we didn’t go to a game.  However, we did go to Rotorua’s Fan Zone for opening night.  It was a pretty big event.  Most of the town was there.  They had live entertainment, various ethnic foods, and the game on a movie screen.  Even though we’re still in the Rugby 101 course we had a really good time. 

Flags in Auckland representing the Rugby teams. Honestly, did you know USA was playing?      (We didn't)!

World Cup Trophy

Fan Zone hours before a game

Seeing if he has what it takes to make the team.  (Nope...must have been the shoes).

This is the day Jason had been waiting for!  We finally made it to Mt Ruapehu, an active volcano which is home to Whakapapa and Turoa ski areas. It’s known for huge snow filled basins, steep chutes, drop-offs and secret powder stashes.  That's according to the website and not our experience. We only skied one day before the weather rolled in with fresh snow, ice and gale force winds.  This system hung over Mt Ruapehu for 4 days.  Mt Ruapehu stands alone and is unprotected from such weather.  Thanks to the wind and ice the mountain was closed.  Consequently, our entire ski trip consisted of the few hours we were out on day 1…taking it easy; warming up our legs.  At least the conditions were great during our time on the slopes.  Honestly, if we hadn’t shown up when we did, we wouldn’t believe there was a mountain to be seen.  The rest of our trip was rainy, windy and the sky was heavy with low, gray clouds.   In order to make the best out of a not-so-ideal situation, we geared up, braved the elements and hiked through it. 

We navigated around volcanic rock instead of trees.

The weather rolled in at Chateau Tongario. 

On a clear day you can see the volcano right behind the lodge. 

 Ski report: all lifts CLOSED!

 Defeated by the ski report

...and not amused.

Random shots from our wet hikes...

The road to the snow.

Kiwi Crossing

In an effort to make up for the lack of skiing, we signed up for a caving adventure in Waitomo.  We were in a small group consisting of our guide, us, and 4 German girls.  As sweet as they were, we forgot how LOUD teenage girls can be…especially in Deutsche.  Anyway, we entered the cave abseiling down 90 feet.  We walked through the cave until we came to a cathedral sized cavern where we witnessed a massive display of glow worms.  The glow worms were attached to the cave ceiling.  They have a blue “star-like” light that comes from their tail.  When we turned our headlamps off, it was surreal.  If we hadn’t seen the glow worms up close we would have thought we were sitting in a planetarium.  It really was something to see.  After that, we did some black water rafting.  Our guide made us turn off our not-so-bright headlamps so we could watch even more glow worms as we floated through the caverns.  Navigating her way through a rocky, pitch black cave is something Becky will do once, maybe twice, but that’s it!  Half way through our 5 hour tour, our guide fed us chocolate and something that tasted like warm Tang.  After our nibbles, he took us caving.  Caving is not for the claustrophobic or for those with chocolate filled bellies.  It’s basically the act of squeezing through tiny passages until you reach the other side.  We did that the whole way out to the cave exit.  Now, the only way out of the cave was by rock climbing 65 feet to the top.  At this point it was 7.30pm, dark and raining, which made for an interesting and unnerving exit.  The tour was great fun even if it were uncomfortable at times.  Truth is, it’s probably better that the cave was pitch black.  If Becky would have seen that she was walking and swimming with eels, spiders, and who-knows-what-else, there’s a good chance Jason would have done that without her.  

Abseiling into the cave:

 

The view from where we lowered in:

 

Black water rafting: 

Caving:

The glow worms on the cavern ceiling:

The other bits:

 

 Finishing our trip was a day in Auckland.  Every 10 minutes it rained so we don’t have a lot of pictures.  Standing 1076 feet up in the air, we viewed the city of Auckland from the Sky Tower.  Neither of us are sure footed when it comes to heights.  The architects of the tower didn’t have us in mind when suggesting a glass floor be installed in the elevator.  Same thing goes for the viewing floors.  It needs to be said that the floors weren’t completely glass, but for people like us…it might as well be! 

Sky Tower

 Auckland from the tower

 

Looking through the glass floor

Auckland Harbor 

The trip wasn’t at all what we expected it to be, but such is life.   With Jason being away more than not for the past 3 months, it was wonderful having dinner together and talking face to face. We’d like to add that as soon as we came home from NZ, we invested in rain gear.  Here’s hoping we WON’T have to use it during our upcoming South Island holiday.

One last thing:  Three days after we came home NZ, we both ran a half marathon in Sydney.  It was a nice run that took us over the Sydney Harbor Bridge, through the Botanical Gardens, around Darling Harbor and finishing at the Sydney Opera House.  Too add, Jason decided two weeks before the event that he was going to register.  He prepared by squeezing in 1 training run.  Becky, on the other hand, registered in July.  She’d been running consistently for 2 months.  Jason beat her by 30 minutes!  Congratulations Jason! You call yourself “old,” but you still got it! Happy 33rd birthday!  May your knees hold out a little longer so you can have your redemption ski trip next year.