Sunday 12 July 2015
Midwinter Road Trip
It being the school holidays, I took a few days off for a short road trip around the central North Island with my and my brother's family --- two nights in Waitomo and two nights in Taupo. It is the middle of winter and we had a bit of a cold snap --- frosts every night --- but the weather was clear, fine and sunny. It was a thoroughly excellent trip all around: caves, rivers, countryside, mountains, board games, geothermal areas, tasty food, love and laughter. The South Island is more spectacular, but the central North Island remains dearest to my heart as a God-given blessing to all who live in and around it.
One highlight for me was "black-water rafting" at Waitomo: wetsuit, inner tube, helmet and head-lamp in an underground river. It's thrilling and a little crazy but not as testing as I'd been led to believe; highly recommended. Beyond the thrills, I will long remember drifting along underground in darkness and silence under the glow-worm-studded roof.
Another highlight was a hastily-planned trip up Mt Pureora between Waitomo and Taupo on Friday. We drove up Link Rd from highway 32 on the east side of the mountain --- it's gravel, but in very good condition --- and reached the trailhead a bit late at 3pm, but had plenty of gear and moved fast. We reached the summit by 4pm (beating the signposted time of 1.5 hours) and after 15 minutes at the top returned to the car at 5pm. There had been snow the previous night (closing the roads around Ruapehu/Tongariro --- otherwise we'd probably have been doing a walk there) and the walk was delightful, starting as a regular North Island bush walk and ascending into a winter wonderland with a light covering of snow and ice, opening at the summit into magnificent views of the central North Island --- Taupo, the Waikato, and the snow-capped volcanic plateau. There are many other tracks in the area, and I'd love to visit again.
