The hidden valley as it is called, is only accessible by a short ferry across the lake. Once there you follow the walkway round the reserve, which only takes about an hour. The main draw card is a geothermally active cave, one of only two known geothermal caves in the world. The water in the cave is supposed to be green coloured, and was once used as a mirror for Moari females in the area. When we saw it however, we were rather disappointed as it looked like an ordinary coloured puddle of water. Perhaps it needs the sun to shine to make it look green.

The geothermal areas were still very colourful, with plenty of fumeroles, geysers and bubbling mud pools, though the area is not as extensive as Waimangu, and the price is a little high.

Headed back to Hastings in the evening, with word that work is now picking up.

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Its only a short ferry across the lake to the geothermal area.

The main area is streaked with colour

Diamond Geyser, unfortunately not going at the moment.

More bright colours

Hot springs flow across the rocks, leaving coloured deposits.

Steam emerges from a boiling lake.

Looking over the valley from a lookout.

Rainbow Terrace

A stunning white wall.

You can see the cooler spots which have clumps of plants growing in them.

An area known as the Artists palette

The Cave

The colour of the water comes out better in photo than in real life!

A bubbling mud pool.

Looking back across the lake from the thermal area.

The Taupo Bungy

I finally got the courage up to attempt a bungy jump. Headed to the Taupo Bungy site first thing, before I lost my nerve, and was lucky to find some people jumping. After some reassurance that it is a smooth ride and not a jerky one, I was persuaded to part with my money. Standing at the edge is a terrifying experience for a first timer. Some how I managed to jump, or at least fall forward, and must have had my eyes closed as the next thing I remember is plunging into the water. A few more bounces up and down, while spinning round at the same time and I was feeling thoroughly disorientated. With my hands tingling from being upside down, I was lowered head first into a boat which took me to shore. Unable to wipe the grin off my face, everything else I did today pales in comparison.

Crators of the Moon

 After a change into some dry clothes, I got a transfer up to the Craters of the Moon, a thermal area with lots of fumaroles (gaps in the ground from which steam emerges). You can do a short walk through the area and up to a lookout with views back to Taupo and the lake. Next I hit the Honey Hive where you can taste lots of different types of honey and start to appreciate just how mad for honey New Zealander’s are.

Maori carvings on Lake Taupo

In the evening I went on a sailboat cruise with a group of Canadians out to some Maori carvings on Lake Taupo. It was great fun, and I got to steer the ship for a while and bring in one of the ropes. The carvings are relatively recent, and were done by abseilling down a cliff face, meaning that you can only see them from the water. I was the only one brave enough to go for a swim, and found the water the same temperature as the air.

On the trapeze.

When I got up this morning I was hoping to go on one of a couple of tours, but alas since no one else is booked on either of them, they are not running. Hopefully will have better luck tomorrow. Anyway, while I was waiting to hear whether the afternoon tours were going to go ahead, I took the opportunity to go round the Taupo museum and art gallery. More to the point I chickened out of doing the Taupo bungy today – I’ll do it when the sun is shining!

The Taupo museum had some interesting displays, the highlight of which was probably the Ora garden of wellbeing, which won a gold medal in the Chelsea Flower Show. The plus side of visiting the museum is it is a super cheap thing to do.

On the swing

With no tours leaving in the afternoon, I settled for a trip to Rock ‘n Ropes, an aerial assault course, similar to Go Ape back in the UK. The main difference however is that there is someone on the ground belaying you the entire time, meaning that if you fall off, you fall about a metre down. The first obstacles I tried were really easy, but these got progressively harder. A vertigo inducing high balance beam could cause people a lot of problems, but I found it wide enough to cross without feeling too unsteady. The hardest obstacle was the trapeze which required a jump off the top of a rather unsteady pole. I just missed the first time, thinking the jump looked impossible, but managed to catch it the second. The highlight is definitely the swing, which gives enough free fall to get a good adrenaline rush.

The hole in one challenge on Lake Taupo

Arriving back in Taupo, I went for a walk along the lake front and had a go at the hole in one challenge. The object of the game is to get a golf ball into one of the holes in the nearby island in the lake. I gave up after a really good hit only got the ball half way! There are some excellent prizes on offer if you succeed.

The river at the Aratiatia rapids when the power station gates are not open.

With no work to speak of in Hastings I decided to take a trip to Taupo for a few days of sightseeing. For my first day in Taupo I got a transfer up the Waikato River to Aratiatia rapids, with the intention of walking all the way back to Taupo, stopping at some of the tourist spots on route.

Aratiatia Rapids

I got to Aratiatia Rapids just before 10am, which is one of the few times you can actually see the rapids in all their glory. The building of a hydroelectric power station just upstream from the rapids, turned the river into a trickle, except for certain times of the day when they open the gates and allow the water to cascade down the rapids as they used to. There are a couple of viewing platforms a short walk from the power station, the mid viewpoint giving the most spectacular view. It takes a while for the rapids to build up, but it is pretty amazing to see all the rocks on the river bed gradually submerge. The spectacle only lasts 15 minutes, after which the water levels slowly return to the thin trickle. I started the long walk back to Taupo on the Huka Falls to Aratiatia walking track, seeing no-one for several kilometres. On reaching a road, I followed it across the river to the Huka Prawn Farm.

Shawn the Prawn from Huka prawn farm with one of his 7 wifes in the foreground

The Huka Prawn Farm is a unique prawn farm which uses heated waste water from the nearby geothermal power station to keep and grow tropical prawns. The guided tour was quite interesting giving several facts about prawns and their lifestyle. In the nursery, we got the opportunity to hand feed the young prawns, an experience a bit like plunging your hand into a jar of insects and have them walk all over you. At the end of the tour, we got a lesson in how to fish for prawns and given as much time and bait as we wanted to try and catch some. I was completely unsuccessful, and not for lack of trying. For those that catch the prawns, there are facilities to cook them up immediately.

Further along the road, I visited the small but interesting Volcanic Activity Centre. It is quite interactive in places, and the have a room where you can experience an earthquake. They also have a lot of films streaming back to back on the likes of the Christchurch earthquakes, and other volcanic activity.

Huka Falls

Just past the Volcanic Activity Centre, I joined the Waikato River walkway, which led me to Huka Falls, past a rather disappointing hot water beach (the water was hot at the edge of the river, but a couple of centimeters in and it was cold). Seeing Huka Falls from the opposite side to all the other tourists allows you to actually see the falls at the end of the rapids, and truly appreciate the power of the river.

I took the Huka Falls walkway back into town, stopping at a natural hot spring for a soak on the way.

The first winery of the day was the oldest winery in New Zealand, Mission Estate Winery. It was originally owned by catholics as a non profit winery. We then proceeded to the second oldest winery, which was started by one of the founders of Mission Estate Winery. Now called Church Road winery, it used to be called MacDonald’s winery up until the fast food restaurant of the same name took over the world.

Both these winery’s were over run with sheep which seem to have replaced workers in the leaf plucking industry here. The sheep are confined to a field of vines and left to eat all the lower leaves off the vines allowing the sun to get to the grapes. They do a much better job of it than human workers as well.

We made our way around 3 other winery’s, one the only vegan winery in the Southern hemisphere, and two larger winery’s. It all got a bit fuzzy towards the end of the day, as they often poured us about a half glass of wine per taster! I must admit to throwing a lot of wine out of my glass towards the end. Hawkes Bay is an ideal wine producing region as it has so many different soil types and micro climates that practically any variety of grape can be grown here. This unfortunately for me means that each winery has a lot of different wines to taste.

At the last winery we stopped for a very welcome gourmet platter of locally produced food. There was salmon, calamari, steak, chorizo and wood-smoked mushrooms. The food tasted amazing and was eaten at the same time as the fifth wine tasting session allowing us to pair the food and wine.

After a half hour walk to the outskirts of Hastings we arrived feeling hot and in need of some cooling off. We headed straight for the water and spent the next hour or so trying out all the different flumes and slides. At first appearance there seems to be a lot, but on closer inspection there is only really 4 unique rides, all of which have rather long queues. By the indoor pool we found a 5th water ride, this one with a 20 minute queue and plenty of young boys trying to push their way in front of you.
We spent the afternoon trying out the various other attractions which the park has to offer. The mini golf was OK, but not the most exciting course I’ve seen. There are also lots of other rides including a flying fox, a train ride and some Go Karts. The Go Karts were the highlight of the day, this being my first time ever on a go kart track. I did quite well overtaking at least 3 other people, but with the queue being so long I only had the one shot.

Had quite a fun day in all, though was quite disappointed with the waterpark in general as I was expecting something a bit bigger, and certainly wasn’t expecting to queue so long for a flume ride.

We set off early, arriving in the car park just as 4 tractors with trailers full of people head out onto the beach. This is the option for more well-off or lazy people. With the tractor tracks marking the route along the beach, we follow past a campsite, and then on to a narrow strip of beach hemmed in by sea and steep cliffs. The rock formations and deep colours make this a photographers paradise, and the hard packed sand make for an easy, but rather long walk. The route seems to be never ending, as rounding each set of cliffs we find that we have much further to walk. We eye numerous motorcyclists and 4 wheel drives longingly as they pass us in an almost constant stream. We finally reach a headland with the first of the gannet colonies, and its then a short scramble over rocks before reaching the path up to Cape Kidnappers.

Cape Kidnappers itself affords expansive views along the coast and out to sea, along with the famous gannet colony. The gannet chicks, although quite big now, are still easily identified by their fuzzy white down feathers. Its quite weird how undisturbed the birds are by having people walk within a metre of their nesting site, which is on the ground and not on a cliff as one would imagine.

All too soon we have to turn back in a race to get back before the tide comes in and cuts us off. The tide came in unexpectedly fast near the cape, almost cutting us off at one of the headlands. The rest of the walk however is a little more protected giving ample time to make it back. Back at the car park, I treated myself to a Rush Munroe ice cream, a delicious Hawkes Bay speciality – some of the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted!

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Steep cliffs

Looking ahead

As the tide goes out the beach gets wider.

Cool rock formations, and the site of the first gannet colony

Gannets!

The sun finally comes out and lights up the coast.

First glimpse of Cape Kidnapper

An unusual green pool left behind by the receding tide

Turning tracks in the sand

Scrambling over rocks, we look back at the first gannet colony

Looking ahead to Cape Kidnappers

Finally catch up with the tractors which are left parked on the beach while the tourists head up the path to Cape Kidnappers

Cape Kidnappers pathway

Gaining height

Looking down to the cape

Gannet Colony

Gannet Colony

These birds have are huge!

Views along the coast

A stream bed

The colour contrasts are amazing

Heading back

Got a phone call in the evening about work for the next week. Seems I’ve got a job leaf plucking for tomorrow at least, and maybe a few more days if I’m lucky.

Lake Tutira

Almost got work today, but the employer was very specific in that he only wanted guys. They’re often very sexist in that way in New Zealand with employers thinking that only guys can hack the physical outdoor work, and only girls can handle working in the pack-houses. The group of us are therefore left having to drive ever further away from Hastings to find something new to do. Today we opt for a visit to Lake Tutira, an idyllic lake with lakeside campsite and walks along the edge and up the surrounding hillside.

A bird of prey

On arriving we are struck by the beauty of the area, and the plentiful bird life on the lake. The brilliant blue of the lake stands in contrast to the lush green surrounding vegetation. But all is not as it seems on the lake, as this habitat is under serious threat from weed which grows out of control, destroying all in its path. Conservation efforts are underway in the area to eradicate this weed.

Waipatiki Beach

We start walking around the lake, and are surprised to see a bird of prey just sitting on the grass verge completely unfazed by our passing! We next head through some cow fields before climbing up the hillside on a good path. It doesn’t stay good for long though, and we eventually completely loose it and find ourselves in a meadow on the open hillside with no indication as to which direction we should take. We eventually give up and return back the way we came, with a slight variation on the lower section. While walking Sandra keeps us amused with various riddles.

Pontoon

After a late lunch by the lake we drive to nearby Waipatiki Beach, where we enjoy the last of the sun. I go for a dip in the sea, but find it a little to rough, and switch to the river instead. After a couple of hours of chatting, we decide to head back, but having dried off and finding ourselves on the wrong side of the stream, we look for a dry way back. Luckily we find one at the nearby campsite where they have built what they call a pontoon which allows campers to cross the river. A pontoon is a boat attached to ropes, allowing you to pull yourself across the river.

Looking back accross Loch Long towards Arrochar, with Ben Lomond overshadowing.

Looking down Loch Long towards where it connects with the sea.

First views of the peaks of the Cobbler.

The summit of the Cobbler is a unique shape.

Scrambling up the harder path from the valley to the top of the Cobbler, this path is by no means easy.

Steep rocky North-Eastern face of the Cobbler

Looking up towards the summit.

Rock Climbers spotted on the sheer cliffs of Ben Arthur

We park the car at the already heaving car park just North East along the road from Arochar. It’s a hot summer day, hence the large number of cars and large number of walkers going up Ben Arthur. Across the road and we join the tourist track up the cobbler which zig-zags up the steep lower slopes. There are some coloured markers on posts directing the less fit or quick visit tourists around some short walks around the lower slopes. The zig-zags are a bit tedious but potentially better than the old path which headed straight up the steep slope and resembled a riverbed more than a path.

Higher up we start to get some good views down Loch Long -  which is actually a fjord! We also pass a few people pushing mountian bikes up the path with the intention of a thrilling ride back down.

Over a ridge and we start to get views of the summit of the Cobbler, though it is still a fair walk away. The path ascends gently up beside the small stream of Allt a’ Bhalachain.

On nearing the rocky protrusion known as the Cobbler, the path splits in two. We take the direct path which is a hard scramble up the steep slopes directly towards the summit. The alternative path goes around the back of the Cobbler and climbs the grassy Northern slopes by means of many man-made steps – a very tedious and boring route. The direct path can get tough in places as it is mainly loose stones and rocks. We passed many tired people on this section.

We spot some rock climbers as we pass vertical rock walls to our right. The steep path comes out onto the grassy plateau where you can head up the various peaks of the Cobbler, such as the Cobbler, and the Cobblers wife. An easy climb to the cairn at the top of the cobbler.

The views from the cairn on top of the cobbler are spectacular. You can see Loch Long and Loch Lomond, and across the rest of the Arrochar Alps, which is what the mountains around Arrochar are called.

The true summit of the Cobbler is not where the cairn is. It is a rocky protrusion known as the needle, best climbed by going through the “eye of the needle” a hole through the middle of the rock, and following a narrow ledge round and up a short scramble to the top. Sounds easy enough until you factor in the 30m drop beside the narrow ledge. This is of course very dangerous and should only be attempted in good weather and at your own peril! A good head for heights is a prerequisite, along with a lot of confidence in ones own ability. It is worth remembering that people do fall to their death here every year.

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View toward the pyramid peak of Ben Lomond overshadowing Loch Lomond.

Looking across the Arochar Alps to Ben Narnain

Looking through the eye of the needle.

Looking from the cairn on top of the Cobbler across to the rocky needle which is the true summit of this mountain.

Jo sits uncertainly on top of the needle - the true summit of the Cobbler

Jo is victorous on conquering the Cobbler.

In the eye of the needle.

Looking South down Loch Long.

We take the easier route down the Cobbler, which despite being tonnes of steps which are hard on the knees, is a lot easier than attempting to scramble down the steep slopes we came up. It also offers different views over to Ben Narnain – a Munro we have previously climbed with cloudy conditions on top. The path through the valley is quite a long slog back, but we made it quite quickly and were soon back down at the car park.

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Loads of steps on the way down with good views across the Arochar Alps

Ben Narnain

Large boulders deposited by glaciers 10,000 years ago in the last ice age.

Heading down, Ben Lomond dominates the view.

The Allt a' Bhalachain stream.

We hit the tree line with some last views down Loch Long

The start of the path up the Cobbler

A woodern carving found by the car park.

We spend our evening in and around Arrochar, buying a celebratory chippy which we eat by the shores of Loch Long. This area is spectacularly beautiful in the evening light.

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By the shores of Loch Long near Arrochar

By Loch Long

Another woodern carving which we pass on our way home, with Ben Lomond behind.

Te Ana Falls - a very cold place for a swim

Another day without work, so a group of us looking for something cheap to do for the day, drove to Tangoio Scenic Reserve for some walking. There is a very pleasant walk which goes from here, past two spectacular waterfalls and on up to White Pine Scenic Reserve, where a further loop track gives a full days worth of walking.

The first waterfall, Te Ana Falls, is at the head of a steep sided gorge. We went swimming in the waterfall pool there on the return trip in order to cool off, and found the water painfully cold. The second waterfall, Tangoio Falls, is viewed from a platform high on the valley side with spectacular views out over native bush. The rest of the walk is through woods, and the path became quite a challenge in places due to a lot of mud and a lack of proper walking shoes in our group. We almost gave up at one point where a tree had fallen over the path, but managed to find a way through eventually.

Tangoio Falls

The loop track at White Pine Bush Reserve was a lot easier going, a lot of it on wheelchair friendly paths. There are a lot of information boards talking about the different native trees, birds and conservation efforst in the area. The highlight of the walk is a huge White Pine tree with buttress roots which is apparently over 800 years old.

On the way back to Hastings we stopped in Napier for a coffee and I showed the group the way up to the top of Bluff Hill which I have already climbed.