Volcanoes and sheep

Where's Forrest Now???

New Plymouth managed to keep me for one more day than I had anticipated.  I spent most of the last day inside on the computer, unfortunately, dealing with job applications and setting up a cell phone plan.  But the day wasn't entirely lost.  I managed to get away and went for a bike ride up Mt. Taranaki as far as I could go.  It was beautiful.  Farms are everywhere, taking advantage of the rich volcanic soil.  The slope was just slight enough so that I didn't notice it too much, inspite of the fierce headwind I was pedalling into.  The road eventually took me to the edge of Egmont National Park, where birdsong was manifest through the lush, rainforest vegetation.  This side of the island gets more rain, so the forest is starkly different than the drier Gisborne Peninsula which I'll be biking around on my return to Wellington.  When it was time to turn around and return to New Plymouth at sea level, I found myself at about 1400ft, with a stiff tailwind to boot.  The gradual downhill of the old volcano was, without doubt, one of the best downhill rides I've ever had...
I'll definitely be back to visit New Plymouth!

`Mt Taranaki, covered in cloud, with the Ponakai and Patua ranges extending to the right. This photo shows farmland, but the dark green of the National Park surrounding the mountain is quite evident.

By way of the Forgotten Worlds Highway, I made my way east towards Tongariro National Park and the fishing mecca that is Lake Taupo.  The highway brought me up and down steep hills, most of them filled with loud 'baaa-ing' sheep and mental male bulls that wouldn't keep quiet about being separated from all the ladies.  They did make it a little hard to sleep at night...  The native bush that I pedalled through was full of birdsong - an environment that I wish was not just excluded to small conservation areas.  Why has western civilisation destroyed so much of what is naturally beautiful in the world???  Can there be no profit in keeping an area clean and green and as it was before the arrival of humans?  When will the destruction that quenches our thirst for modern unnecessity end? (sorry, I get frustrated sometimes...)

I did spend one excellent night in a sheep paddock.  It was a lookout off the road which was supposed to give a nice view of Ruapehu.  Unfortunately, clouds quickly rolled in, leaving me with the hope that morning would show me beautiful views.  I awoke to rain... which lasted all day...  But it was a nice campsite!  As I biked along the next day, I pedalled by a farm that had a crew there sheering its sheep.  I stopped to check it out and have a chat, and was ushered into the sheep holding pen and shown how to subdue a sheep and hand it off to the guy with the razor.  He would shave off all the wool in about a minute, and I would hand him the next sheep.  The wool was removed from the area and packed into a machine that would compress the it into bales.  The shearing went quite fast and at the end, the razor was handed to me and I gave it a go... It's a lot harder than it looks...

My campsite with a tremendous view in the sheep paddock.  My white tent is in the middle of the photo.

I spent a wet day cycling up to the Volcanic Plateau, and after a night drying off in a backpackers, the clouds cleared for a brilliant day of volcanic vistas.  I ended up climbing Mt Ngauruhoe (2,291m), now more commonly known from the Lord of the Rings movies as Mt Doom.  The climb was brilliant and quite challenging.  The scree-covered slopes made finding stable footing quite tricky.  But the arrival at the crater was well worth the trip, and getting back down was quite enjoyable as I was able to utilise the patches of soft spring snow to boot-ski my way down.

Stopped for a photo op, on the way to climb Mt. Ngauruhoe (left).  Mt Ruapehu is the large snow-capped peak in the center, and the third volcanoe, Mt. Tongariro is to the left of Ngauruhoe and is not pictured.

Me at the top of Mt Ngauruhoe with a vista of the Red Crater and Mt. Tongariro in the background.  Lake Taupo is hidden by the haze on the horizon and came into view occasionally.  It was very cold and windy at the top!

Massive hole and the run-in to Huka Falls

Huka Falls

The weather remained nice for me for one more day as I made my way along the eastern side of Lake Taupo to the city of Taupo where I camped near Huka Falls on the Waikato River.  Lake Taupo was absolutely beautiful and I stopped to swim a couple times in its crystal clear waters.  Huka Falls itself was quite a sight, especially after I had watched some youtube videos of people kayaking it (check it out, it's absolutely ridiculous.  I guess people die in the hole at the bottom of the falls if you don't clear it right...  Looks pretty fun though!)

It then proceeded to rain on me for the next three days as I pedalled down the Waikato river.  It's the longest (425km) and hardest working river in New Zealand with 9 hydro facilities, supplying 13% of the country's energy demand.  To see such a beautiful river full of dams - its deep canyons stripped of rapids where water now turns stagnant in ponds and reservoirs - brought a mix of emotions.  This is the cost of 'clean, renewable' power I guess...  There is hope for the river now, however, as the "Waikato River Cleanup Trust is spearheading an effort to return the polluted lower reaches to their former cleanliness.  The pollution is mostly agriculture runoff from the dairy farms in the region, as well as increased silt from the conversion of native bush to farmland.  The Waikato River Authority aims to work with farmers and landowners to develop sustainable land use methods that will improve water quality.  What an endeavour!  It will be interesting to see how things end up 5-10 years from now.

The first hydro-power station on the Waikato River near Arapuni.  As I gazed down from the dam (further upriver) into the gorge, upstream slackwater from this powerhouse sat in a stagnant pond where the river used to gush through the canyon.

As I pedalled down the river towards Auckland, I was confronted by a headwind yet again (it's either headwinds or hills in NZ...) It seemed that the world just didn't want me to make it to the city - especially on the third day when my rear derailleur cable snapped, locking me in the hardest rear gear, 70km outside of Auckland.  After a break at a dairy that involved the purchase of 2 small chocolate bars, an ice cream treat, and a large bar of chocolate to go, I managed to adjust the derailleur limit screws to a middle sprocket that made it possible, with the help of the 3 gears on my crank, to limp into Auckland.

What a trip!  I've been resting up here for the past 3 days at the apartment of Alex Borden, a Wisco friend from Hoofers, getting ready for the beaches of Northland.  The days are getting quite a bit hotter as is the ocean temperature.  Summertime in New Zealand!  Check out my latest pictures HERE