Mount Ruapehu

 A leisurely weekend away planned for a change?..not a chance! this weekend we set out on a trek to find the highest geocache in New Zealand.
On the top of Mount Ruapehu, overlooking Crater lake is a a small shelter, inside of which is hidden the cache. Mount Ruapehu stands at 2,700M, (twice the height of Ben Nevis in Scotland), and is used for skiing etc.. in Winter. Unfortunately in winter, the hut is often buried under snow, and to access the cache you can climb down the chimney (hence the name 'Santas suprise').
This volcano is NZ's most recently active volcano- last eruptions were 1996, and 2007! The active vent is filled by the famous Crater lake, which is frequently ejected across the ice and snow during eruptions,causing Lahars


We went with a small group of geocachers, and stayed overnight at the 'Skotel', so we could get an early start on the Sunday morning

The Team

                                
The ski lifts were active on this calm, sunny blue zinger-sky day, and we started the long ascent with a wee lift!
Man it was a tough climb!. All vertical apart from a very narrow ridge near the top, with lots of boulders, rocks and loose scoria to negotiate.

Above the clouds

the hut on top of Ruapehu

 We got great views on the way up, climbing higher than the clouds, and lots of interesting rocks, in fabulous colours- purple, pink, blue, yellow, red etc..
                

crater lake

When we reached the top, we were rewarded with amazing views of Crater lake.

yey we made it to the top


                                                                      

Extreme ridge walking..don't look down! 

It was quite cold at this altitude, so we quickly located the cache and signed the logbook to say we had found it. Then there was a quick lunch break, and a few photographs, before we started the descent.. but not before we were treated to the unusal sight of a half naked youth, running along the ridge and past the hut, to perform some Yoga poses!! ...
                  "Only in New Zealand"- is the phrase that springs to mind!

Mount Dooommm!

Extreme yoga

Yoga for the brave

few more pix for you......

Huge melted holes in crater floor

no need to climb down the chimney today

but these poor guys did....

Santas suprise in winter!!!

and link to rest of FLICKR fotos     here!

East coast

tired and a bit jaded, we drove east and visited Neslon, (sunniest place in NZ!) and Kaikoura (famous for whale watching) there are organised tours by boat to see whales and dolphins, but we just chilled and did a nice coastal cliff walk with some good view points to view Sperm whales, and Pilot whales- which must have been a bit shy today :(...saw more sealions though!
then back to Christchurch to catch a plane home in time for dinner lol!
what  a great holiday- we need another one for a rest now though.

no whales today!

view from plane

more seals

Jax's birthday suprise!

I opened my birthday card at breakfast, to find info for a 2 day Kayaking trip along the Abel tasman coast! how cool was that!! very exciting. We arrived at Kaiteriteri, where our adventure would begin. Altogether there were 7 in our party and the guide 'Darryl' who would be looking after us for the next 2 days. Weirdly, most of us were ex pat Brits!
So we had instruction on how to pack out kayaks, paddling technique, and a discussion of where our journey would take us.
 We were then taken by water taxi, to our starting beach, and loaded our belongings, camping gear and food/.drinks onto our boats.                  

loading up

chez matt&Jax

                                   We had great fun kayaking along such beautiful coastline. dipping in and out of hidden coves, stopping off for lunch on a secluded beaches, only accessible by Kayaks. It was tough going when the wind got up and made some decent waves to paddle through, and were were very relieved when we made our final stop for the day on Tonga quarry beach, where we would camp for the night.

wine cooling in our 'fridge'

the gang getting ready for dinner

happy b'day Jax
By now, the others had cottoned on to Jax's birthday, and the atmosphere became quite party-like. Darryl set up tables, and cooked a curry and rice, followed by sticky toffee puds, a makeshift birthday cake with candles- and plenty of wine and beer to go around .
it was great camping on the beach, we were all aching and tired from kyaking, slightly tipsy,with full bellies and crashed out in out little tents!                                   

sunrise

 Morning time- and we were greeted by birdsong, and a glorious sunrise. Our shoulders had a good rest, and we ready for the second day. a fantastic breakfast of warm muffins, cereal, fruit and yoghurt and filter coffee set us up for the day. (we still don't know how we managed to bring so much food and drink!)
Today the sea was  forgivingly calm and we spent a lot of time in peaceful lagoons, spotting sea birds, sting ray, fish and seals!
                            
                                                

 My best birthday ever- thanks Matt- xx!

north western coast

we hot footed it up to the Farewell spit. an amazing natural penomena
the spit
and stayed in a very eco friendly lodge (the day time loo was a 'compost toilet' ...you can use your imagination as to what this entails!) the friendly owners gave us some pointers as to what to do and see in out limited time here. high on the list was the baby seals in a rockpool at low tide on the beach. we went to the beautiful and vast Wharaniki beach and found the little darlings. so cute. 3 of them playing in a large rockpool, chasing trapped fish and each other. The parents were basking in the cliffs behind, keeping a watchful eye on them..and us.. that we didnt get too close to their babies!

matty on Wharaniki beach

seals pups @ Wharaniki

practicing being grown up

aw!! cute az

next day was Jax's birthday, and Matt had been noticably evasive as to where and what we were doing the next day. I was told to pack a rucksack and we'd be setting off early next day....

west coast

next stop Punakaiku- famous for its pancacke rocks and blow holes. we stayed in a great lodge in the middle of the jungle, with a little track just 8 mins down to the beach. we stayed for 2 nights and went to watch a lovely sunset on a clear clear sky...and hopefully spot some fairy penguins...well  we managed the sun set..:(

Thar she blows!

  next day we went to see the pancake rocks and blow hole and timed it for high tide. quite impressive! that western sea is wild and mighty!

we didnt see any penguins (except dead ones washed up by the sea- yuk!), but saw lots of seals. there are many colonies dotted around the shore- some with good view points. we didnt realise we would get much closer to them during the rest of the holiday

seal colony

              

south island tour

a week off work, cheap flights and a Tiki-tour planned of the Upper half of the South island.

holiday route

Akaroa- was a volcano

we had just the first nights accommodation booked and then we'd make it up as we go along. we landed in Christchurch and picked up the hire car. we didnt want to linger too long due to the recent Earthquakes, so we zoomed off to the Banks Peninsula, and the French influenced town on Akaroa. we booked into a lovely back packers there called Half moon cottage, but due to the weather taking a turn for the worst and the grim forecast, we decided to only stay the one night and head West, and follow the sunshine.

walked along the rim- partially submerged at high tide.

swirls of Lava

a long but beautifully scenic drive took us along Porters pass and Arthur's pass highway. amazingly there has been the first snowfall the night before and some of the mountains had a light dusting. the locals said this was unusually early for this to happen

Green gryke, with snowy mountains behind

we saw these amazing stone sculptures and had to make a stop- there was also a cache there would you believe! we had fun exploring these amazing vast sculptures

ant people at stones

jax at stones

Next stop was 'Greymouth'. just to prove to Jacqui that its not as grim as its name suggests, andnot always as we had seen it on TV- grey, and rainy. it was a blue zinger sky day and Jacqui had to admit that Greymouth was'OK'