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Excursions From Taupo

Apologies for the very long delay in updating the blog. We left Taupo 10 days ago and are making our way to Queenstown where we'll volunteer at the Queenstown Winter Festival. We'll be posting more updates from our past adventures while living in Taupo and our current ones. Thanks. (also, be sure to click on the scrolling pictures to the left to view many more pictures from our online google album)

I finally found work 2 weeks after Rachel started a Waterside. During my unemployment, I was a man of leisure and found a couple occasions to drive an hour north to Rotorua for some of the best mountain biking in the Southern Hemisphere. The vast network of trails was reminiscent of our epic mountain biking journey through British Columbia last summer. I also spent several lazy afternoons reading on our deck and looking across the lake towards the mountains. Jon and Amy’s deck is a perfect spot to watch the sun set over the hills. They laughed at me during our first week living with them as I scrambled on railings and hung on to the gutters to get the best sunset shot I could. I tried to capture the perfect sunset to show Rachel how amazing the sunsets were…until I found out her view of the setting sun was even more spectacular and panoramic from her restaurant.
Eventually, I found work with one of the skydiving companies in town. I was hired as part of the ground camera and video editing crew. It is a ton of fun and involves lots of interaction with the passengers before they go up and I am the first to welcome them back to earth, so I see a huge range of emotions with every group. It has been a perfect job, full of excitement. The employees are from all over the world and most have left a previous career to become full time skydivers.

Our first free weekend, we drove 2hrs east to the Hawke’s Bay region to visit the coastal city of Napier. Hawke’s Bay is known as the fruit bowl of NZ because the terrain and climate make a perfect growing location. In addition to growing the most fruit and vegetables in NZ, Hawke’s Bay is one of the finest wine growing areas in the country. There are nearly 40 wineries within a few miles of Napier’s city center.
Napier is unique because the whole city is designed in Art Deco style. There was a tremendous earthquake in the early 1930s and when the time came to rebuild, they decided to do it in a uniform contemporary architectural style, which happened to be Art Deco. The bright colors also help accentuate the beach atmosphere.
It is about 70 miles from Taupo to Napier, but the drive takes about 2 hours because the road twists and turns through hills and along ridges as it passes from the central plateau down to the east coast. You can see the ocean about 40 minutes before you arrive to Napier’s sunny beaches. (Hawke’s Bay receives over 2200 hours of sunshine a year)
The highway drives by several vineyards and ad hoc fruit stands. We stopped by one of the stands to get some fresh golden kiwi fruits, apples, and vegetables. The highway passes over a flat stretch that used to be under water, but the 1931 earthquake exposed more than 200 square miles of sea bed. The relatively new land is actually where many of the vineyards and apple orchards sit.
After grabbing lunch at a café on the promenade, we went for a stroll on the beach. The beach was a little unusual because there was no sand to be found. It was full of smooth, tiny, black rocks that were perfect for skipping across the calm ocean. We tried digging to find any trace of sand, but all we found were small stones.
Next, we drove up the very steep roads to the top of the Bluff Hill for look out over the port and straight down the beach to Cape Kidnappers, home of the world’s largest gannet population.

Our last stop in Napier was supposed to be a winery tour at the Misson Estate winery, which originally started as a French mission and is now the oldest winery in NZ. However, on our way we mistakenly turned into one of the other wineries on the same street – Church Road Winery. We walked in hoping to get on the last tour of the day, but it was overbooked so we settled for a wine tasting in the restaurant. This was only our fourth wine tasting ever, so we appreciated the sommelier helping us identify the flavors we were tasting while giving a very detailed history of the winery and surrounding area. After our tasting, we decided we’d try for a tour at our original destination at Mission Estate Winery. The winery is perched on a hill overlooking the Bay with a spectacular entrance passing between two plots of vines along a tree lined drive. Mission Estate didn’t host tours, but we guided ourselves through the historic building and gardens.
We got back in the car and meandered through the streets of Napier while eating our fresh fruits before heading back to Taupo.

Welcome to Taupo

We drove 50 miles south to Taupo on a Saturday morning to watch the Taupo Ironman and take a break from job searching in Rotorua. The drive into Taupo is stunning, as you see the three massive volcanoes of Tongariro National Park sitting neatly behind the equally impressive Lake Taupo. The views across the lake were so striking that we decided to stay in Taupo for a bit. Conveniently, all of our possessions live neatly in the van, so the only items left in our Rotorua hostel were two carrots and some milk. Taupo is smack dab in the middle of the North Island and it sits on a lake the size of Singapore, which was created by an enormous volcano eruption 1800 years ago. The eruption was so large – more than ten times the eruptions of Mount St. Helens and Krakatoa combined – the Romans and Chinese both documented dramatic changes in the skies which helped provide an exact date for the eruption of 186AD.

The huge influx of Ironman participants and fans from all over the world occupied all accommodations in Taupo, so we were forced to sleep in our van. We parked alongside four other campervans overlooking the lake and nestled in for the night. I woke up at 3am to a flashlight in the eyes. The city of Taupo employs a person to drive around to all desirable sleeping locations for campervan owners/renters and put a friendly notice on all illegally parked vehicles. No threats, no warnings – just a pleasant suggestion on better places to sleep. I took the notice to heart and went back to sleep.

We took a break from watching the Ironman on Saturday to quickly drive to Tongariro National Park (home to Mordor and Mt. Doom in Lord of the Rings) and explore the volcanic area. We made it just in time for an amazing sunset and I was overwhelmed with a renewed excitement for our travels in NZ. We snapped a hundred photos of the scenery hoping to capture the beauty, but still feel we were unsuccessful.

We spent Sunday exploring more of Taupo and visited Huka Falls, Craters of the Moon thermal area, and the somewhat famous Prawn Park where you can spend an entire day fishing for giant shrimp with a fishing pole. We opted for the kill-a-prawn golf experience, where we tried to hit a golf ball into one of 4 hoops in hopes of winning a cash prize. No luck.

The Waikato River flows peacefully for several miles from Lake Taupo until it reaches roaring Huka Falls before continuing northwest to the Tasman Sea. Huka Falls is a violent 33 foot waterfall that appears much shorter because of its width and ferocious churning. The river is 200 feet wide in places and it is suddenly forced into a 25 foot wide rock-walled channel. The combination of the majestic blue water and the sheer force of the water had everyone mesmerized in silence. There is a popular kayaking spot upriver from the falls and I hoped to see a kayaker try to paddle through the falls from my distorted view upstream. As soon as we walked into full view and read the anatomy of the falls, I realized it would be a death wish to try and paddle it.

After two lazy but enjoyable days, we decided it was time to do something a little wilder. Taupo is unique for skydiving because it is the only place in NZ where you can jump from 15,000 feet, which is actually the highest jump you can do as a tandem skydive (the passenger is harnessed and attached to a skydive master/pilot). From 15,000 feet, you can see the curvature of the Earth and on a clear day you can see both of NZ’s coasts. It is a 60 second freefall with a 4 min canopy ride. Because of the consistently good weather there are three skydive companies here, and the price wars between them make for one of the cheapest skydives in NZ as well.
The sleek flyer for Skydive Taupo bragged that they’d pick us up in a limousine, let us choose our own music for our video, and offer us a beer upon landing. We’re not ones to pass up a ride in limo, so we booked it. The driver picked us up in front of the hostel in a white 1990s err…limo with the boomerang antenna half-heartedly attached with black electrical tape. We hopped into the torn and tattered seats and hoped the quality of the parachutes were a little higher than this. The driver gave us the spiel that it was much more likely that we’d get injured on the way to airport than during the skydive...
We arrived at the airport safely, so it looked like it was going to be a good day. They showed us a sample video of the skydive and, as expected, had us sign our lives away. They put us in jumpsuits and harnesses while we watched others land and walk back into the hangar with faces of exuberance, panic, or shock. Before we knew it, we climbed into a bright pink plane and took off for 15,000 feet.
The door opened and Rachel and her tandem master scooted towards the door. We looked at each other and communicated through an awkward smile: “I love you. Hope to see you on the ground. If not, good-bye.” And then she was gone. It was one of the scariest moments of my life, but I didn’t have long to think about it because in less than a second, I was sitting on the edge of the plane looking straight down. [They say you can see the curve of the Earth and both coasts from 15,000 feet, but the only thing I saw was the ground directly below me.] The first second of the freefall was the scariest part to me – I totally freaked out. There was absolute silence and weightlessness. It felt like I was falling all alone. A second later, the sound and feeling of the wind rushing by eased my nerves and I loved the rest. After 60 seconds, the tandem master pulled the parachute and we started a the scenic float back to Earth with amazing views of the lake, Tongariro National Park, and the surrounding countryside (at this point we were at 4000 feet, so it was too low to see anything else).
I looked over to see Rachel flying just 50 feet away and we yelled hello and gave an air hi-five. We made it safely to the ground and ran to give each other a hug. Rachel was laughing hysterically and this continued for about 20 more minutes. Rachel had to sit down several times once back in the hangar because she was laughing too hard. She was walking and shaking so nervously that the staff had to relocate Rachel outside because she was freaking out the customers who were waiting their turn to jump. In the end, it was an amazing experience and I think we’ll be doing it at least one more time…

We finished the day by walking to a natural hot spring that meets the cool waters of the Waikato River. We had a perfect view of the sun setting over the hills while soaking in the hot water.

Unlike Rotorua, searching for jobs in Taupo was much more fruitful and helped to restore our self-confidence. We had been rejected so many times in the previous weeks that we started to wonder if we’d ever find work in NZ. Rachel was offered a job as a waitress at one of the nicest restaurants in town on her first outing. Waterside is in the most vibrant part of town, and as the name indicates, it is right on the water overlooking the lake with a guaranteed beautiful sunset every night.

My job search lasted a little longer and I was put in charge of finding our home in Taupo for the next few months. We responded to a couple of ads on NZ’s version of Ebay and I visited a couple while Rachel was hard at work. The second place I went by was perched on a hill overlooking the lake and within walking distance to the town center. It was perfect. Jon and Amy invited us into their home for the extent of our stay in Taupo. They are a young couple with similar interests and we’ve already shared some great memories with them.

Rotorua

All driving directions in Rotorua begin with “you’ll smell it before you see it.” Rotorua is one of the most active geothermal areas in the world and it is littered with boiling mud pools, hot mineral baths, and cracks in the Earth spewing steam. All of these cracks allow the smell of sulphur to seep out from everywhere, so you truly do smell it before you see it. The countless water sources mixed with the year-round warmth provided by the geothermal activity made it a perfect place for a large group of Maori to settle and it is still strongly influenced by the Maori culture. It also has adventures around every corner.
We called a hostel and requested the “Steal Deal” package which included a pass to the Polynesian Spa (35 naturally heated mineral pools ranging from 97 to 110 degrees), a white water rafting trip down the Kaituna River (Maori for ‘Eel Food’) complete with a 23 foot waterfall – the biggest commercially run waterfall in the world, and a ticket up the Skyline Gondola with 5 rollercoaster-like luge rides down three different tracks ranging from a 1.5 mile scenic route to the screaming fast ½ mile long advanced course.
We expected to stay 3-4 days in Rotorua before heading to the Hawke’s Bay region to find work picking apples/grapes for a few weeks. However, after one day in Rotorua we decided to find work and stay for a few months. It is an active city on the shores of Lake Rotorua and is surrounded by beautiful parks and gardens and it seems to host at least one event or festival each weekend.
We woke up for our rafting trip to a drizzling morning. All of my prior rafting experience involved frigid waters from snow melt and the thought of rafting in the rain with freezing river water sounded miserable. We crossed our fingers that they would cancel the trip, but no such luck. The bus picked us up from the hostel and the bus driver/rafting guide soon relieved our biggest fear – the river was actually over 80 degrees thanks to warm lake the river flowed from. Once on the river, we looked forward to getting flipped out of the raft so we could float in the warm water.
We were given a quick 3 minute lesson on how to paddle and what to do in the likely event that the boat flipped over on one of the three waterfalls – a very encouraging start. The trip only lasted one hour, but it was a very intense hour filled with rapid after rapid. It concluded with a 23 foot waterfall that frequently flips even the best guides. Right before plummeting over the edge, our guide yelled for us to drop to the bottom of the raft and tuck our heads. Our boat was the first to go over and we made it successfully. We watched from below as each of the next four boats flipped over, sending the passengers literally flying in every direction. We had a good laugh as we helped rescue the passengers while they waited for their boat to turned right side up.

Rotorua was originally set up as a spa town due to the multitude of hot pools in the area, so the obvious activity after rafting was to head over to the Polynesian Spa to soak our cold and sore muscles in the hot mineral pools. We were greeted by a Korean man who was eager to practice his English and trivia skills by giving both Rachel and me 30 facts about our home state. We gradually worked our way from the coolest to hottest of the Spa’s 35 pools. Even the coolest pool was 97 degrees, so I frequently hit up the extravagant outdoor cold shower that was beautifully designed with red, green and blue stones in the wall.

We headed to the Skyline Gondola in the morning, where we took a Gondola up the side of a mountain and got a breathtaking view of the town, Lake Rotorua, and the surrounding mountains and forests. From the moment we arrived, people told us how much fun the luge rides in Rotorua and Queenstown were. All pictures of luging look incredibly unimpressive and ours are no different. Pictures make this activity look like a lame carnival ride, but it is the complete opposite. The luge ride is basically a motorless go-kart that follows a winding track down a mountain and it can easily reach speeds over 30mph. As with a couple things we’ve discovered in NZ- the thrill of the ride is paramount and safety is secondary. There were no guard rails and with lanes 4 times as wide as a luge, racing was not discouraged. Rachel and I had a blast and survived with little more than a minor case of whiplash from an overeager 12 year old at the finishing line.

The next week was spent searching for jobs and exploring the city and its surroundings. The recession has not really hit NZ yet, but the fear of it has caused hiring freezes and with no hopeful leads, we drove 50miles south to Taupo. Taupo has been our base for the past month and met some wonderful people and have had some amazing experiences.

Waitomo Caves

There are very few happenings in Waitomo besides the glowworm caves. They have 2-3 hotels and a couple of cafes, so the reasonable option was to stay 20 minutes away in Otorohanga the night before our adventure in the caves. We pulled into a campground off the main road. The camp hosts were really friendly and gave us lots of helpful pointers…however, they forgot to mention the Kiwi House and Native Bird Park right behind the campground. We read the guest book in the kitchen and quickly got an idea of what our night would be like. One backpacker wrote “Loved the beautiful chorus of birds throughout the night.” Kiwis are nocturnal, but the kiwi houses try to reverse their schedules so visitors can actually see them during the day. Apparently, the new intern’s attempts to reverse the kiwis’ schedule failed miserably because they were talking ALL NIGHT LONG. By 4am, the whole bird park was engaged in excited conversation and any chance of sound sleeping was gone.

On the strong recommendation of our visa sponsor, we signed up for the Haggas Honking Holes tour. We didn’t really catch much of her description except “Indiana Jones in a washing machine”. After suiting up in 8-10mm thick wetsuits, helmets, and white gumboots/wellies (looking fabulous!), we took a practice run repelling down a small hill and headed for the cave entrance. The guides laughed that this particular trip didn’t allow for any time to get used to the equipment and repelling before the big stuff because the cave entrance started with a 65 foot repel down a jagged waterfall. Rachel and I were the last two to descend to the mysterious cave floor. Everyone before us had turned off their lights, so it was tough to tell how much further we needed to go until we dropped into a knee deep pool of water at the bottom. The pace of the trip didn’t slow down and the helmets and thick wetsuits were much appreciated as we bumped our heads, slid through holes slightly larger than me, and crawled on hands and knees through frigid pools enhanced with sharp and rocky edges. After several more repels down waterfalls, we came to a room full of glowworms where our guide (According to another guide, had earned a PhD in glowworms/fungus gnats...wow) gave us a humorous account of the fungus gnat's life. A glowworm isn’t actually a worm at all- it is the larvae of the fungus gnat that drops several sticky fishing lines, like a spider’s web, which glows a blue-green to attract insects for food. The insect flies towards the enchanting light and gets stuck in the fishing line. An adult cannot eat at all, so it spends its entire life (3 days) frantically searching for a mate. After they mate, the female goes off to lay her eggs while the male blissfully heads towards the beautiful glowing lights above and gets caught in a fishing line. After the female lays her eggs, she absentmindedly heads for another set of glowing lights and gets caught in another line, only to be eaten by her unborn niece.

We climbed through a few more tunnels and over some slippery and narrow natural bridges (that would not be allowed in the U.S. without hand rails) and popped out of the cave to a warm afternoon. We showered and headed for Rotorua

Auckland to Raglan

February 22 – March 1

Long story short: our Ford van’s glory days were back when Rachel and I were still in elementary school. We limped our way to Auckland where we traded up from our oil guzzling Ford van to an over-the-top but totally awesome 4x4 turbo diesel van (owned and cared for by a mechanic, but we got an independent inspection just to be safe). He loved our old van and had the parts to make it like new again, so we ended up paying much less for our new van than expected.

During our brief layover in Auckland before heading south, we stopped off at some of the sites we missed during our initial blitz after landing in NZ two weeks prior. We caught the New Zealand symphony in the park along with 150,000 others on a beautiful summer night.


With no plan in mind, we headed south and decided that we’d better take the requisite surf lesson before the temperatures dropped too low with autumn approaching. We headed for Raglan (home of the best left-handed break in the world…which still means nothing to us) and as Lonely Planet predicted, we only expected to stay for one day but ended up staying for several because the laid-back and simple surf town was too friendly and inviting to leave after a day. The small town of Raglan sits quietly on the west coast of the north island and the residents seem to have a hard time fitting jobs into their busy schedule of surfing all morning and lounging at the cafes lining the main street.

We checked into a friendly RV/campground park that sat on the water with a black sand beach. Main street was a short walk across a bridge that passed over a small bay. After finding our campsite, we ran into the kitchen and quickly prepared a meal so we could watch the sun set while eating dinner on the beach. Our timing was perfect and we watched with several others as the sun dropped behind a small hilly peninsula.

In the morning, we headed to the Raglan Surfing School, which had prime real estate perched on top of a hill that looked out on to the classrooms – three of the most popular surfing beaches in New Zealand. First, they led us through dense forest to an old aluminum building with ratty couches set up in stadium seating. They quickly ran through the basics of surfing and had us practice the steps on our own boards. Rachel was delighted to find out that we’d be using foam boards instead of fiberglass boards. She started worrying the night before about falling and knocking her teeth out on the board. With her biggest fear relieved, she’d have no problem standing up.
After our short lesson, we all hopped in the van and drove down the beach for the real thing. We suited up in thick full body wetsuits, grabbed our boards, and headed out into the surf. Unfortunately, there were no hilarious stories about us struggling to stand up. We both got up after a few tries and spent the next couple hours learning how to turn and how to look cool while sitting on a surfboard in the ocean. (We have some videos of surfing, but still need to get cable to transfer)
Tired from paddling all morning, we spent the rest of the day relaxing in town and jumping off the bridge into the bay with the local 6th graders. Our next stop was Waitomo for the world famous glow worm caves.

On our way to Waitomo, we saw a sign for Bridal Veil Falls. Rachel had expressed concerns earlier about not seeing a waterfall yet, so we didn’t even bother to open up the guide book for any wise words. Not knowing what to expect, we walked down a thin path that followed a tranquil stream until the stream abruptly shot over a cliff and fell 180 feet to a pool below. Needless to say, it was a pretty special surprise and we spent about 30 minutes marveling at how much water was coming from the little stream and how it had found its route down.

Dive with the dolphins, Karikari Peninsula, Cape Reigna, Tane Mahuta

Sunday, February 15
We woke up on Sunday to an unseasonably cold and rainy day. We both secretly hoped that our “Swim with the Dolphins” trip would be canceled because swimming in these conditions was not very appealing. There are several operators who run a swim with the dolphins trip and they all have the same guarantee: if you don’t see any dolphins, you get a voucher to come back anytime for a free trip. It was a 3.5hr boat ride that cruised around the Bay of Islands looking in the dolphins’ usual feeding/hanging out spots. If we were lucky and the dolphins were acting playful, we could jump in and swim with them.
Today, Rachel and I were content to sit in the warm cabin of the boat and watch the birds fishing next to us and extravagant homes hidden in private coves. After about 2.5hrs, the captain was looking more desperately and we were afraid they were going to ‘see’ some dolphins far off and call it a successful day. Soon, he came on the loudspeaker to say that the dolphins didn’t seem to be out playing and we’d be getting a free trip. Rachel and I rescheduled for Monday and tried to stay dry for the rest of the day in cafes and shops in Russell.

Monday, February 16
Monday’s weather was better and there were only about 12 people on today’s cruise, half of which were on yesterday’s failed mission, so the crew was especially excited to find some dolphins early and throw us into the water for a swim. It costs $30 extra to swim with the dolphins and from all the pictures we saw it was definitely worth it. We quickly found a pod of about 18 dolphins and we suited up in our masks and snorkels. The captain checked and confirmed that there were no babies in the pod and that they were acting playful. The plan was for everyone to slip quietly into the water (it was news to me that slapping/splashing the water – the way Sandy calls Flipper over – is actually a distress signal and keeps dolphins away) and swim over to the dolphins while making ‘weird and playful’ noises to keep the dolphins interested. Once the boat was in position, the captain told two of the swimmers to get in and swim over to the dolphins. They proceeded to basically do a cannonball into the water and by the time they surfaced the dolphins were 100 meters away. The captain repositioned the boat and had everyone get into the water making ‘interesting noises’. Rachel and I both sucked up a bunch of ocean water hearing the cacophony of the chirping, whistling, moaning coming from the group in unison. There was one especially talented lady who could make bizarre noises while both inhaling and exhaling. Most of the group was laughing so hard at her that we’d forgotten about the dolphins and were just trying to stay afloat.
The second time the boat dropped us off, I was the second swimmer in. I raced out to where the dolphins were and was lucky to see one pass 3 feet in front of me. It actually freaked me out. The water was pretty dark and I didn’t really expect to see a dolphin. As soon as I saw it, I popped up and swam back to where the rest of the group was swimming. I loved the idea of swimming with the dolphins, but not all by myself. By the time I gained enough nerve to swim back to them, they had temporarily disappeared again.
At this point, Rachel and I decided that the companies had come up with these “swim with the dolphins’ trips just to make a quick additional $30 per person because it killed about 1.5hrs worth of time and everyone was so excited about the prospect of swimming with dolphins that the crew didn’t have to continue reciting their script about the surrounding area and problems facing today’s marine wildlife. Anyway, it was quite exciting and we jumped in the third time more laughing at how funny we all looked piling in one after another desperately trying to catch up with the disinterested dolphins.
In the end, we didn’t get to swim and play with the dolphins like the pictures showed…but we ran into a fellow traveler in Auckland who gave us a secret hint about where do swim with dolphins down on the South Island unsupervised. We’ll get back to you about that in a few months. (I’ve gotten some video footage of several events, including swimming with the dolphins, but I just realized I left the cable to transfer video in the US despite the 100+ yards of cables I brought. I’ll upload it as soon as I find a new cable here.)

Tuesday-Friday (February 17-20)

Rain clouds descended on the Northland for our last few days up here, but it was overshadowed by our increasing concerns with our precious van. Our van was now consuming about 1 gallon of oil for every tank of gas. We nervously laughed about what we’d do with our beloved van. I was still baffled by how enormous the sunroof was. Anyway, we headed for the northern tip of NZ, with a two day stop in the Karikari peninsula – a tip given to us by a fellow camper in Russell. She told it was a quiet campground right in the middle of a beautiful cove. It was about a 15mile drive on a gravel road (something we’re getting more and more used to) and it was beautiful. We actually ended up spending an extra day because it was so tranquil. We went swimming and gave the skim board that came with our van a whirl.

Next we headed for Cape Reigna, where you can see the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean violently collide right in front of you…so we heard. It was raining and cloudy, but we walked down the beautifully designed pathway to the lighthouse overlooking the meeting waters. We were lucky to catch a glimpse of some waves crashing on the rocks of the west coast and barely made out the smooth beach on the east coast. At first, it seemed quite simple and unimpressive, but knowing that the nearest landmass was over 1000 miles away and the size of the waves had us frozen and speechless for over 20 minutes.

Despite the rain, it was time for some reckless fun, so we headed for the huge sand dunes along Ninety Mile Beach (actually only 56 miles) for some sand boarding. We rented the boards from a local guy who parks his van at the base of the dunes each day and rents boards to anyone wanting a super fast and fun ride down the steep faces of the dunes. When business is slow, he grabs a board and rides down the best lines himself. He showed us the best line.
Rachel quickly learned how to steer and control speed and beat the owner’s longest run on her third trip down the dunes. It was a long hike up the face and a quick and exhilarating trip down. My first two runs on the bunny slopes were ok but when I tried to keep up with the likes of Rachel and the owner, I crashed and crashed and crashed. My pockets were soon overflowing with sand and my back ached from repeatedly slamming and twisting after each crash.

Our last stop before heading south was Waipoua Forest for Tane Mahuta (God of the Forest). We pulled over at the trail head expecting to walk for about 15 minutes to see a big tree. We walked for less than a minute and saw some a clearing with some people looking at something. We walked out from under the trees and saw the biggest living thing I have ever seen. It was so big that Rachel and I spent 10 minutes trying to take a picture that would somehow depict its size. We were unsuccessful, but the picture below shows Rachel standing about 50 feet in front of the tree. SO BIG!