The Northern Lights...

So last one in NZ for a bit before heading up North for a bit more winter. Spring is trying to push into summer here and the rugby posts are down and its now all about cricket on the local sports ground! The exam time is over, but last week was a not to be missed opportunity to head out into the depths of the North Island for some exploring. Here is what happened on the little circuit:

The Steam excursion at Dannevirke

Tuesday 23 November left Wellington for Napier, however the first challenge was walking down to the rail station to pick up the InterCity Coach - a strong northeasterly was about and I think it beats even the winds of Geal Charn and Fionn Beinn two most ‘fine munros’ which have been bagged on two particularly miserable end of LUHC winter trip days! The Wellingtonians heading to work found themselves blasted along the cavernous streets at high speed! The weather became even worse once we crossed onto the Wairarapa and headed for the East Cape and upon arriving at Dannevirke (a New Zealand settlement with Danish roots) we advised that the state highway to Napier was closed. This gave a fine opportunity to experience smalltown NZ, however I was distracted by the smell of a coal fire on the wind and headed to the station. Here I was greeted by a steam loco in with a excursion train. The line out to the East Cape is of course now closed to passenger traffic, the once ‘Bay Express’ (Wellinton-Gisbourne) being victim of the 2002 massacre! However the odd steam special heads out, this one awaiting to pass a freight train. After some waiting in Dannevirke, it was decided to head back to Palmerston North and wait for the wind to ease and hopefully get through on the later coach. The waiting paid off and we made it through on the later coach and arrived in sunny, mediterranean Napier early evening.

Art Deco Napier, complete with palm trees and clear blue sky

Napier is New Zealand’s ‘Art Deco’ city and is an important sea port. An earthquake in 1936 flattened the old town and altered the terrain - requiring a complete new build, hence the colourful collection of modernist Art Deco style buildings. The seafront sports a fine assortment of palm trees emphasising the fact that this is one of the warmest parts of New Zealand, being out on the east cape sheltered by from the rain by the North Island’s mountain spine. Although not as pronounced or well known as the ‘Alps’ of South Island, there is a near continuous frontal range of 1000-2000m peaks running parallel to the pacific-Australasian plate boundary, this having always formed a barrier to communication with the Eastern parts of the Island. It was time for shorts and t-shirt, suncream, the works in a very tolerable 25C, unfortunately the beach was not quite safe for a dip with a steep shingle bank and strong rip! Wednesday afternoon it was back on InterCity for the journey inland through first through the Hawkes Bay wineries and then cutting inland through Eskdale - without a L’al Ratty!

The destination was Taupo, up on the North Island volcanic plateau on the shores of the great caldera of Lake Taupo. This really is active Earth with hotsprings, geysers and smoking vents. Also the great Waikato River drains from lake Taupo - NZ’s longest. After heading out along the riverbank of the Waikato River for a little jog, I came to the Huka Falls where the full force of the river is channeled through a narrow chute of resistant rock. From here it was only a short detour to the ‘Craters of the Moon’, an area of smoking vents that formed recently as a result of a the construction of a geothermal power station down the valley - this having altered the works underground. Unfortunately by the time I got up there, they were closed so I only got to peer in from the edge. Instead I headed back towards Taupo, stopping off for a soaking at a thermal stream that plunged down into the Waikato River, rather exciting in the evening sun, whilst watching some kiwi nutters doing backflips of a bridge into the river!

Thermal Stream at Taupo

Thursday was time for a fairly long stint on InterCity to the City of Sails, Auckland! The Waikato region leading into Hamilton being very Devon like with rolling green hills, plenty of dairy farms - with the addition of the odd extinct volcano or volcanic neck protruding rather unexpectedly from the terrain. From Hamilton its a two hour run into Auckland and the state highway even becomes a motorway for parts of the way! This is New Zealand’s population centre with just over a million people living in the Greater Auckland region. Thats larger than the entire South Island, the population of which, was announced to have just tipped the million mark this year! Disregarding the city buzz and skyscrapers of downtown, Auckland is quite a baby city by global standards, the centre can easily be done on foot, and the complex array of tidal inlets restrict the centre to a thin strip of land between the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean. From the downtown quay, ferries fan out to various suburbs across the Waimata Harbour including some of the islands of the Hauraki Gulf. Friday I picked up a city transport rover ticket which includes the ferries and headed out to some of the suburbs to bag as many of the little extinct volcanic cones as possible. Firstly heading across the harbour to Devonport with great views back to the city from Mt Victoria and North Head - both former fortifications. Then it was a ride over the Harbour Bridge on the bus and time to head out to the south on the suburban railway to One Tree Hill, a little country park amongst the vast sprawl of outer Auckland. The centrepiece of the Auckland Skyline is the Sky Tower, constructed for the Millennium. Friday evening I popped back across the Devonport on the ferry to see the city lights from the Mt Victoria viewpoint.

Downtown Auckland from Devonport Beach


The lights of Downtown Auckland including the pink Sky Tower from Mt Victoria above Devonport

Saturday was another day of sun for heading out to the 600 year old Rangitoto Island, the most recent of the basalt cones forming a perfect ring shaped island in the Hauraki Gulf. There are a number of tracks on the Island leading to the points of interest, the island has a fairly young and limited vegetation cover as well as vast open patches of broken basalt lava. The summit crater is the high point and a track leads the day-trippers up to the rim. the island is riddled with tunnels but those most accessible lie along the ‘lava tunnels track’, where there are many fine tunnels heading off the beaten track to be explored with a headtorch. Although the sea looked very inviting in the sunshine, it was low tide, exposing thick mud at the otherwise sandy beaches. Saturday night the plan was to head up the Sky Tower, however a monsoon came in and so was confined to a brewery/ pub.

Ragitoto Island - looking up at the summit crater, with broken basalt in the foreground

One of the lava tunnels on Rangitoto Island

Sunday was time to head back to Wellington, but the trip was by no means over, for the 600km Overlander rail journey lay ahead. Running down the Main Trunk line through the centre of New Zealand from Auckland to Wellington - a journey which most Kiwis would make in an hour with Air New Zealand, we left the shiny new Britomart transport centre at 0730 for the 12 hour journey! Back through the rolling Waikato and up on to the Volcanic Plateau. After a chat with the driver at Hamilton I managed to grab myself a seat in the loco for the hour long assent from Taumarunui through the Tongariro National Park including the Rangotoi Spiral. This was definitely the highlight, although the Overlander also has a viewing lounge in back carriage with a big window looking out backwards.

The Overlander at National Park Station

After the final week in Wellington its back off to Auckland on the overnight InterCity Coach, and then for the NZ2 via Los Angeles will bring me into Heathrow on Tuesday 6 November. Just to finish off with - something that got me excited in the sidings just outside Auckland were some ex-UK Mark 2 coaches (don’t worry about the details) from Virgin and Anglia, as stacks of them were shipped over here when they finished their turns with XC on the West Coast and GE Mainline. Many of them have been completely gutted and churned out on the Wellington/ Auckland suburban routes, so we finish with a picture of a couple of them sat around de-bogied, awaiting a New Zealand lease of life!

Ex-Virgin Trains Mark 2's! The go faster red/ black is almost unreconisable with the scribbles, pehaps its a new livery - Branson Pickle!

Exotic Birds, EGG...MONT (Taranaki) and Wellington City...

Its is the end of term here at Victoria and we are officially in what is known as Exam Study Time! So here is some revision...of what has been happening over the last 6 weeks of Southern Spring.

An Inquisitive Weka on Kapiti Island.

One fine sunny Sunday in September I took the first tranz-metro train to Paraparamu where I took the bus from the station down to the Beach, it could have been walked (which I did in fact do on the way back) but feeling like it would be worthwhile to support the local service, as I was the only one around I boarded for the tour of just about every backroad in Paraparamu with a rather enthusiastic driver who told me just about everything you need to know about ‘Paraparam’ and whose bach (holiday house) it was tucked down there on the left etc... So that was fun! Down at the beach it was onto the boat, which you board in a car park) to be towed into the sea by a tractor and then make the 15 minute crossing to Kapiti Island. Kapiti is essentially a bird reserve and has successfully eradicated all European pests (excepting the tourist type) such as mice, rats, sheep along with the worst offender, the Australian marsupial of the Possum. The rainforest is also quite impressive with it gradually maturing since replanting after the end of farming on the island. Most of the rarities were seen except the Kiwi - of course being nocturnal.

Now time for a quick side report on the Welsh Baa, the only Welsh Bar in the Southern Hemisphere! It is pretty much as Welsh as it could get attracting not only the Welsh tourists but also most of the English too. The walls are draped with tea towels depicting things such as Welsh Castles, the Ffestiniog Railway, Legends, Snowdonia and of course a number of Welsh rugby shirts and things signed by Tom Jones. The only dissapointment is no Welsh beer (on tap that is). There is the opportunity to have Brains Bitter and SA, but only from cans!

Looking into the crater of Mt Taranki, with Sharks Tooth on the left and the main Summit on the right.

The last weekend of September was a chance to see the last of the winter with a trip to Mt Taranki. Also known as Egmont, it is out on the bit of North Island that juts out into the Tasman Sea and is surrounded by a near perfect volcanic ring-plain! This is emphasised even more by the fact that the Egmont National Park with its protected native forest is almost perfectly circular in shape and forms an approximate 10km radius right around the volcano. You certainly know whether your in or out of the National Park as the boundary is extremely abrupt farmland - dense vegetation! Due to fine settled weather a group of us headed up on Thursday 27 September and after some issues with punctures in tyres ending up with a local farmer lending us his spare car! We were on our way up to Syme Hut on Fanthoms Peak, again for the geologists a subsidiary vent on the South side of the main cone. Arriving up at the hut at 4am it was time for a decent rest while we awaited Ben to re-join us after getting a new tyre sorted out first thing! At midday we left the hut and headed aux summit. A rather steep 500m of ascent over just about a kilometre. Arriving up at the summit crater in the afternoon sun we of course bagged the summit and spent plenty of time absorbing the warmth! Tents were pitched and dinner was had at sunset just before the temperature plummeted well below freezing, a good excuse to climb into the sleeping bags. Saturday we awoke at sunrise, about 6am and spent some time climbing up the other high point on the crater rim, Sharks Tooth while everything was still nice and crisp, with great views of Mt Ruapehu, Tongariro and Nghaurhoe. By lunchtime some other tramping club members (who had decided to leave Wellington at 11pm the night before and make the 4 hour journey to Taranaki and then climb to the summit starting at 4am) joined us on the top. We descended back to Syme hut, where the others were to spend the night, before heading back down to the car park and back to Wellington.

The campsite atop Mt Taranki, from the summit!

Fanthoms Peak from the Crater Rim.

And now to finish off with some Wellington stuff, as I haven’t included any pictures of my accommodation and the city yet, so here we go...

Flat 2, Everton Hall - the lounge featuring Jake (L) and Jon (R).

Wellington Waterfront featuring Jon (L) and Jake (R)

Downtown Wellington, (Photo: Jake C)

A taste of summer...down on the icy South!

Part 2 of the Mid-Semester Break was time for some proper exploring of the South Island. Departing on the fine sunny afternoon of Friday 24 August aboard the ‘Aratere’ interislander vessel, the South Island greeted with crisp clear skies at sunset through the Marlborough Sounds to Picton. Then it was quickly onto Nelson for an overnight stop in the little seaside city, where I found myself sharing an all British dorm at the City YHA! No time to hang about however as the West Coast was calling with the 0715 Saturday morning departure of the Inter-City Coachlines Nelson-Fox Glacier service, which I was to take for most of its journey, to the little town of Ross. Gliding over the frosty passes between the Kahurangi and Nelson Lakes National Parks, we soon descended into the deep Buller Gorge, home of White Water rafting, the ‘Flying Fox’ wire bridge and various Lord of the Rings river locations. Soon we were out on the Tasman Sea at Westport, from where the road almost hugs the coast all the way to Ross. The first section passes along the rugged limestone coast of the Paporoa National Park, where steaming temperate rainforest rises steeply from the thin strip of battered rock and sand. The lunch stop was made at Punakaikai, with enough time for a whiz round the Pancake Rocks, a limestone headland with spires, caves and bays carved into the pancake-like layered rock formation. Back on the bus, it was on through Greymouth, Hokitika and the gold rush township of Ross, my destination for the day.

Pancake Rocks at Punakaikai, the dense rainforest of the Paparoa National Park rises straight from the Tasman Sea

Like many of the sleepy West Coast towns, the golden days seem all but over, however unusually Ross is still gleaming with the stuff and digging began again in 2004 - if the miners had their way the town would be shunted a few miles up the coast in order to scrape out every last nugget. Spent the night just outside Ross with a glaciologist from Victoria University, Brian Anderson to get in the know with the New Zealand glaciers and get tips for my dissertation. Sunday afternoon I boarded the Coach at Ross to continue South to Franz-Josef Glacier, the village named after the big icy cascade that descends from the main divide of the Southern Alps right down to 300m above sea level. Various activities are on offer at Franz-J, including walking on the glacier, ice climbing, sky diving and ‘heli-hiking’ (buzzing up to about 2500m to stand on the upper glacier)! Rather than exchange a panful of west coast gold to partake in one of these activities, my plan of action for the full day (Monday) I had in Franz-J was to go on a jolly good tramp - totally free, and with views that you’d struggle to get even from the helicopter! The main objective was the ascent of Alex Knob, 1303m for fine views of the glacier and the main divide of the Southern Alps. According to a Department of Conservation (DOC) leaflet, it was best to arrive on the summit a.m., as there was a tendency for cloud to roll in off the Tasman in the afternoon. Arriving on the summit at approximately 1127 and sitting down to admire the views and recuperate, it was not long before two big fluffy white things became trotting up-valley to obscure the scene - most unfortunate for the group of Americans that arrived a couple of minutes after midday to find the, as promised by DOC, thick mist (however it did clear again later)!

Franz Josef Glacier from Alex Knob 1303m

Tuesday morning I headed north out of Franz-J back up to the port of Greymouth. This being the western terminus of the ‘tranz-alpine’ railway to Christchurch, my pathway across the Southern Alps. The ‘tranz-alpine’ along with the ‘tranz-coastal’ are all that is left of South Islands passenger railway network, heading west and north from Christchurch respectively. The suitably named ‘southerner’ to Invercargill ended in 2002, and judging by the number of passenger on the tranz-alpine (7 carriages worth) I’d call for its re-instatement despite the NZ government favouring internal flights! Heading inland and away from the Tasman, the line trundles alongside broad braided river valleys before climbing steeply and diving through the Otira tunnel and emerging at Arthurs Pass at 743m. Then its all downhill before the flats of the Canterbury Plains leading into Christchurch.

Christchurch, South Islands largest city, English by name and very much English by nature. The city sits on the River Avon which complete with punts makes it the Oxbridge of the Southern Hemisphere. Wednesday morning I visited the disappointing Antarctic Centre, where you get to stand in a freezer and experience -20 wind chill or something, although I’m sure standing high on Rannoch Moor in shorts and t-shirt in summer would feel colder! The Little Blue Penguins were entertaining though. Wednesday afternoon, I attended an NZ Snow and Ice research group meeting at Canterbury University, as recommended by Brian, which was very flash with video-links to people all over the country. Just before sun-down I nipped out of town to get the Christchurch gondola up to the crater rim of the extinct Lyttleton volcano. This is the first of two basalt cones forming the craggy Banks Peninsula, extending East from Christchurch out into the Pacific. At munro-worthy elevation, the view is not surprisingly amazing, and the crater itself has been filled by a deep tidal inlet, forming Lyttleton Harbour. Thursday was moving on day again, but not before checking out the Canterbury Museum with far better Antarctic displays than the National Antarctic Centre and an excellent stuffed bird display. Then I nipped out to Sumner Bay for lunch with a swarm of Red Billed gulls before catching the 1600 northbound Inter-City Coach.

Sun rises from behind Christchurch Cathedral spire

Two hours later I was in Kaikoura (meaning ‘to eat shellfish’ in Maori). Out of all New Zealand destinations so far, this must score as the top, if only for the amazing setting, a little peninsula jutting out into the Pacific with the impressive backdrop of the Seaward Kaikoura Range. Like with many NZ places, it has a two phase history, starting out as a Maori settlement who were drawn by the abundance of shellfish (hence the name), the arrival of the Pakeha (Europeans) in the late 1800’s soon led to the town becoming established as Whaling settlement. And today its all about Whale Watching! Friday morning I boarded the Maori owned and run ‘Whale Watch Kaikoura’ high speed catermeran ‘Aoraki’ for the trip out to the Kaikoura trench. This is the 1500m deep trench where the up-welling occurs bringing all the nutrients up from the deep and attracting all sorts of marine life. All in all saw four Sperm Whales and numerous Albatross, the much hyped by our commentator highlight being the ‘showing of the tail’, as the Whale heads down into the deep for a 45 minute feeding session. Thursday afternoon I checked out the seal colony out on the peninsula, the usual collection of NZ fur seals hauled out all over the place to the point where you almost trip over them! And in the evening I sampled the best local establishment, complete with live music from a good old checked shirt clad bunch of blokes, perfect for post card writing!

Sunset behind the Seaward Kaikoura Range, from the north bay

Well this really has ended up a long’n however Saturday was a perfect last day, to be back on the ‘tranz-coastal’ and see the Pacific coast in 20°C sunshine all the way up to Picton, where ‘Kaitaki’ was waiting to cruise us back across the Cook Strait into Wellington. Managed to keep the waterproofs safely in the bottom of the rucksack for the whole trip to the summery South, with the only drop of daytime rain falling for a few minutes at Sumner Bay, Christchurch! However despite the warmth of the South, winter is well and truly still up and running here in Wellington as I sit here in down jacket!

A Sperm Whale dives into the 1.5km deep Kaikoura trench

Snow, Sun and Sulphur Dioxide...

Friday 17 August, was the first opportunity to head into the depths of North Island, with the destination being the barren central volcanic plateau area of the Tongariro National Park. Arriving at the village of Whakapapa, Ollie, Andrea, Simon and myself sharpened our ice axes and donned the waterproofs in preparation to head up and make camp in the ski fields of ‘Mordor’. Plodding up through the ski highways, avoiding the tractor like ‘groomers’ we selected a secluded valley, in which to pitch up. Then we spent a fine couple of hours in torrential drizzle digging a pit in which to pitch the two tents. Awaking Saturday morning to just as pleasant weather (which hadn’t put off those keen skiers and boarders) we continued on our plod to gain more height on the mountain. At some point in the afternoon we reached the area known as the summit plateau of Mt Ruapehu, a 2600m high ice plateau. Having decided the weather was not favourable to camping and after a few minutes of attempting to dig a snow cave in the side of Dome Ridge before hitting rock hard layers in the pack, we decided to head to the Dome Ridge Hut, a fine little shack complete with all the facilities you would need including a steaming spa pool just minutes walk (the highly acidic Crater Lake). After digging into the metres deep snow drift in front of the door and removing the plated steel armour from ourselves (the rain from lower down had gradually turned to snow as we headed up mountain, and thus our waterproofs/ rucksacks had frozen solid) we settled into our home and cooked a fine stew!

The Entrance to the Dome Ridge Hut

Sunday turned the weather gradually started to get better, and we spent the day ice bouldering on the hut roof, and admiring some fine views of the icy, volcanic scenery. Kieran and Craig headed up to join us, whilst Simon and Andrea headed back to Wellington. Monday myself and Kieran headed out for the Crater Rim traverse, whilst Craig and Ollie headed to Cathedral Rocks to find an ice route. The Crater Rim traverse was indeed what it said on the tin, a fine circuit on the airy ridge up above the bubbling lake. It included the highest point on Mt Ruapehu and the North Island, Tahurangi! We also had the opportunity to cross the hot Crater outlet stream, by means of a perfectly stable snow bridge! Monday evening it was time to head down to a more comfortable accommodation, that of a bach (pronounced ‘batch’, the Kiwi word for a prefab-like holiday home) on Lake Taupo, belonging to a friend of Craig’s.

From the Crater Rim and summit ridge of Tahurangi, the Crater Lake steams in the midday sun!

On Pyramid, the final peak of the Crater Rim route, with Cathedral Rocks (R) and the summit plateau (L) in the background.

Tuesday was another fine day with clear skies and blazing sunshine, so while Kieran and Craig headed out to ski the Whakapapa routes, Ollie and myself headed to climb amongst the snowy Whakapapa Pinnacles. Ended up nipping up a fine neve filled scoop onto a col between two of the pinnacles, for the view over the Mt Nghauruhoe (Doom) and Tongariro volcanic complexes. Then it was back down the same way and nipping across the ski highways to the Waterfall cafe, where we managed to grab a lift down the mountain on the Waterfall Express chairlift, a fitting finish to the trip, with fine late afternoon sunny views across to the Pinnacles.
So that was Ruapehu, ‘The Andesite Beast’.

At the Northern End of Dome Ridge, above the Whakapapa Ski Fields, with Nghauruhoe and Tongariro in the background

Christmas...in the middle of Winter!!!

The first half term of study is drawing to a close and a whole two weeks of holiday looms after Friday. Have some exciting plans, but more about those after they have happened. A few weeks ago I went on my first trip to the Tararua Range with the tramping club. The theme of the weekend was ‘Midwinter Christmas’ - anything strange about that, well for Kiwis yes! Christmas for them usually consists of visiting a beach in the sun and having a barbecue in the long light evening. It is also possible to have a white christmas if you’re keen, on the summit of Mt Cook for example. The Tararuas are the first range of sizeable mountains to the north of Wellington, having said that, however they are largely a vast jungle of temperate rainforest. The bush line lies at 1000m+ the highest summit being ‘Mitre’ at 1571m. And unfortunately we didn’t manage to scale any significant summit despite climbing to the grand height 600m (but still being in thick undergrowth). The lack of summit ‘ticking’ on this trip might have something to do with the amount of supplies we had in our rucksacks. No luxury was spared for this christmas meal - even a pressure cooker was brought to the hut! There were probably about 40 on the trip and the aim was to walk down the Mangahao River track to the Hut of the same name, cook christmas food and do other christmassy things, like receiving presents from Santa and drinking mulled wine. The Sunday involved the reverse of the valley route, however not wanting to miss the opportunity to see a bit more of the Tararuas, Nicolai (Germany), Sam (Alska) and myself decided to walk further up-valley from the hut to get some views from a ...clearing... of the snow dusted summits. The trip of course involved some interesting river crossings (thigh deep), where the track had been taken out by a landslide. Some even decided to swim complete with pack through some deep sections of river on the walk out! Plenty of bush-whacking skills were practiced too, as some sections involved crawling through dense vines and ferns. At times it seriously felt like we were discovering unchartered regions of the Amazon basin.

The tent sees the first action - campsite next to the Mangahao Flats Hut, Tararua Range

Even Santa made it on 'Midwinter Christmas', in a trampers' rucksack!

Some members decided to 'swim out' down the valley! Photo by Kieran (at the time I was somewhere up-valley exploring the undergrowth, however this is a classic 'mad-tramper' shot, thanks Kieran for capturing the moment)

So that was ‘christmas’ - the last few weekends have been spent sampling the trad rock climbing on some of the sea cliffs out at Titahi Bay, which was most excellent if a bit loose in places. Have also used the spare sunny days to continue explorations of the Wellington region coastline. There was a plan to head to Mt Ruapehu for some Ice Climbing this last weekend, but a rather frisky storm that lasted from Friday through to Saturday night put a stopper on that - 110km/hr winds on North Island with torrential downpours. Surely would have made the climbing somewhat epic. It felt like our little shack of a hall of residence was going to succumb to the elements on Saturday - but in true NZ spirit, it fought on through.

Breaker Bay on the Miramar Peninsula, the narrow expanse of water is the entrance to Wellington Harbour. According to Maori legend the peninsula is body of a beast that used to live in Wellington Harbour!

Hopefully the weather will be slightly more forgiving for the coming weekend where the plan is to dig a 20 man snowcave on the summit plateau of Mt Ruapehu, have a barbecue on Saturday night (on snow) and then play cricket against the Auckland University Tramping Club on Sunday. Whatever will these mad trampers have me doing next? All is good fun though!