Long time, no post! Mom & Dad, here are the videos from our hike on the Tongariro Northern Circuit. First video is taken of Ngauruhoe and the South Crater.
2nd video shows the Red Crater, the Emerald Lakes, and Blue Lake.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Monday, January 4, 2010
Kaye's Parents Part 3 - Nov/Dec 09
For the last part of the South Island adventure, we flew up to Nelson, the closest airport to Abel Tasman National Park. Eric also took a few days off work and headed down to join us. We rented a house in Kaiteriteri with amazing views looking out over the water. On our first full day there, Eric and I did a huge hike. We took a water taxi to Bark Bay, and then hiked out to Marahau on the Abel Tasman Coastal Track. Adding in a few sidetrips to waterfalls and beaches, we ended up hiking about 24km (about 15 miles)! Luckily it is a fairly flat track. The morning was somewhat overcast, but it started clearing just after lunch. We had lunch on the little beach behind us:
The track continued through forests, skirting bays, and over sloping hills. Some of the bays were amazing greens and blues. And the tides here are enormous, parts of the track crosses right across bays at low tide; unfortunately we were hiking during high tide and had to go the long way around the coastline. The coast along Abel Tasman has some of the largest tidal ranges in NZ, of up to 5.2 vertical meters, which can lead to tidal change of hundreds of meters. When you pass one of the inlets when the tide is changing, the water is just roaring through there, very cool. The walk was beautiful though, great views everywhere and countless gorgeous beaches to stop and relax on. We wished we had more time to stop and relax and swim, but I guess we always think big on our hikes, haha.
The next day we drove up to the Golden Bay beaches and Farewell Spit, the NW corner of the south island. Unfortunately it was a rainy and overcast day (guess we were due that after having no rain in Fiordland!), so we didn't get to relax on the beaches too much. It did clear a bit while we did a short walk to Whaririki Beach, located on the NW coast. The beach was beautiful, with white sand as fine as powder. You had to hike over some dunes to get to the water. Normally there are nice walks along the beach and lots of seal, but that day the wind was whipping so bad that we all had sand everywhere almost immediately. You can hear the wind and see the blowing sand in this video. It was a gorgeous beach though!
The next morning I woke up to a beautiful sunrise out the window. Only about 5:30am though so after a quick picture I went right back to bed!
We spent the morning relaxing at Kaiteriteri Beach, a golden stretch of sand lined with some beautiful beach houses - not exactly the typical NZ bach over here, there were definitely some of the monstrosities we are more used to in the US, haha. I liked a little one on a cliff overlooking the bay. After Mom and Dad complaining about how it wasn't warm enough, they had to go hide in the shade when they felt the full power of the NZ sun! It gets hot!
In the afternoon we booked a last minute trip on a water taxi tour, to see some more of the Abel Tasman beaches up close. And wildlife - we saw seals sunning on the rocks, another seal hunting and eating an octopus, a sting ray swimming in one of the shallow lagoons, and lots of birds. Every bay and lagoon was another unimaginable color of blue or green. Here is a sampling of some of the views:
Totaranui Beach, towards the north end of Abel Tasman NP - the sand color was just amazing.
Another really big thing to do in Abel Tasman is kayaking. We didn't get a chance this time, but will definitely do that on our next visit. You can arrange all kinds of hiking/kayaking/boating combinations. All of the water taxi services make the park really accessible - but also made it more crowded than most of the other parks we have visited in NZ. And, unlike most other parks, there is private land w/in the park - how would you like to have a home on the Abel Tasman track? Awesome!
There are quite a few homes but not much else nearby - we basically had 2 restaurants for dinner within a 20 minute drive. Here is the 4 of us on the little deck off our rental house, heading out to dinner on our last evening.
We headed back to Auckland for Mom and Dad's last week. The weather really cooperated, it was crystal clear skies and temps in the upper 70s for the rest of their stay. We had a few more great dinners, and got into the Christmas spirit by visiting a street in Auckland where everyone does their lights up really well, AND they have lots of performers - carolers, musicians, even puppeteers. Except there was an ice cream stand, and it wasn't even dark enough to see the lights until after 9pm, which reminded us that we were a long way from a MD Christmas!!
More blogs to come about our first Christmas in summer and our East Cape trip! Trying to catch up here!
The track continued through forests, skirting bays, and over sloping hills. Some of the bays were amazing greens and blues. And the tides here are enormous, parts of the track crosses right across bays at low tide; unfortunately we were hiking during high tide and had to go the long way around the coastline. The coast along Abel Tasman has some of the largest tidal ranges in NZ, of up to 5.2 vertical meters, which can lead to tidal change of hundreds of meters. When you pass one of the inlets when the tide is changing, the water is just roaring through there, very cool. The walk was beautiful though, great views everywhere and countless gorgeous beaches to stop and relax on. We wished we had more time to stop and relax and swim, but I guess we always think big on our hikes, haha.
The next day we drove up to the Golden Bay beaches and Farewell Spit, the NW corner of the south island. Unfortunately it was a rainy and overcast day (guess we were due that after having no rain in Fiordland!), so we didn't get to relax on the beaches too much. It did clear a bit while we did a short walk to Whaririki Beach, located on the NW coast. The beach was beautiful, with white sand as fine as powder. You had to hike over some dunes to get to the water. Normally there are nice walks along the beach and lots of seal, but that day the wind was whipping so bad that we all had sand everywhere almost immediately. You can hear the wind and see the blowing sand in this video. It was a gorgeous beach though!The next morning I woke up to a beautiful sunrise out the window. Only about 5:30am though so after a quick picture I went right back to bed!
We spent the morning relaxing at Kaiteriteri Beach, a golden stretch of sand lined with some beautiful beach houses - not exactly the typical NZ bach over here, there were definitely some of the monstrosities we are more used to in the US, haha. I liked a little one on a cliff overlooking the bay. After Mom and Dad complaining about how it wasn't warm enough, they had to go hide in the shade when they felt the full power of the NZ sun! It gets hot!
In the afternoon we booked a last minute trip on a water taxi tour, to see some more of the Abel Tasman beaches up close. And wildlife - we saw seals sunning on the rocks, another seal hunting and eating an octopus, a sting ray swimming in one of the shallow lagoons, and lots of birds. Every bay and lagoon was another unimaginable color of blue or green. Here is a sampling of some of the views:
Totaranui Beach, towards the north end of Abel Tasman NP - the sand color was just amazing.
Another really big thing to do in Abel Tasman is kayaking. We didn't get a chance this time, but will definitely do that on our next visit. You can arrange all kinds of hiking/kayaking/boating combinations. All of the water taxi services make the park really accessible - but also made it more crowded than most of the other parks we have visited in NZ. And, unlike most other parks, there is private land w/in the park - how would you like to have a home on the Abel Tasman track? Awesome! There are quite a few homes but not much else nearby - we basically had 2 restaurants for dinner within a 20 minute drive. Here is the 4 of us on the little deck off our rental house, heading out to dinner on our last evening.
We headed back to Auckland for Mom and Dad's last week. The weather really cooperated, it was crystal clear skies and temps in the upper 70s for the rest of their stay. We had a few more great dinners, and got into the Christmas spirit by visiting a street in Auckland where everyone does their lights up really well, AND they have lots of performers - carolers, musicians, even puppeteers. Except there was an ice cream stand, and it wasn't even dark enough to see the lights until after 9pm, which reminded us that we were a long way from a MD Christmas!!More blogs to come about our first Christmas in summer and our East Cape trip! Trying to catch up here!
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Kaye's Parents Part 2 - Nov/Dec 09
Last January, Eric and I only stopped in Queenstown for lunch as we were passing through, so I was excited to see more of the 'adventure capital of NZ'. Not that I was really up for any of the crazy things Queenstown has to offer (don't think bungee jumping or jet boats are really my thing...), but you certainly can't beat the location! We started off with a hike called the Queenstown Hill Time Walk, which starts from town and leads to 360 degree views in all directions, of the city, the lake, and the mountains. That is Queenstown down below.
And Dad at the top:
Mom taking pictures along the way:
360 degree views from the top:
This seemed like a Lord of The Rings type setting to me, chasing after some orcs or something, haha. They have tons of Lord of The Rings tours around Queenstown (we were thisclose to going on one! It was in 4WD vehicles, so we figured there would be some awesome views...although some of the tours were really advertising the whole, you get to try on the costumes and play with the swords. We weren't really too eager for that part, we just wanted some nice views! Anyways, the day we were going to go ended up being really overcast and foggy so we decided against it), as a lot of the movie was filmed in the area. They have whole books you can buy that details where in NZ every scene was filled - you can even visit the Shire up in the North Island.
One afternoon Mom and I went to the Queenstown Gardens, located on a small peninsula right by town. Some beautiful rose gardens, probably the nicest lawn bowling club ever, and a frisbee golf course (I had never seen one of those before - tons of people were playing though). Here's Mom by one of the huge old trees.
On our last day, instead of going on the LOTR tour, we drove up to the Glenorchy area ourselves. A really windy road along the lake, with lots of multiple day hikes leaving from this area. Mark this one down as a place to come back to!
Queenstown itself was great too, we had some really great dinners overlooking the lake, did some shopping, I found more paths along the water to run along. And there is so much to do - we didn't make it up the gondola, or to any wineries, or on one of the Dart River tours that everyone kept recommending. Who wants to come visit next??
And Dad at the top:
Mom taking pictures along the way:
360 degree views from the top:This seemed like a Lord of The Rings type setting to me, chasing after some orcs or something, haha. They have tons of Lord of The Rings tours around Queenstown (we were thisclose to going on one! It was in 4WD vehicles, so we figured there would be some awesome views...although some of the tours were really advertising the whole, you get to try on the costumes and play with the swords. We weren't really too eager for that part, we just wanted some nice views! Anyways, the day we were going to go ended up being really overcast and foggy so we decided against it), as a lot of the movie was filmed in the area. They have whole books you can buy that details where in NZ every scene was filled - you can even visit the Shire up in the North Island.
One afternoon Mom and I went to the Queenstown Gardens, located on a small peninsula right by town. Some beautiful rose gardens, probably the nicest lawn bowling club ever, and a frisbee golf course (I had never seen one of those before - tons of people were playing though). Here's Mom by one of the huge old trees.
On our last day, instead of going on the LOTR tour, we drove up to the Glenorchy area ourselves. A really windy road along the lake, with lots of multiple day hikes leaving from this area. Mark this one down as a place to come back to!
Queenstown itself was great too, we had some really great dinners overlooking the lake, did some shopping, I found more paths along the water to run along. And there is so much to do - we didn't make it up the gondola, or to any wineries, or on one of the Dart River tours that everyone kept recommending. Who wants to come visit next??
Monday, December 21, 2009
Kaye's Parents Part 1 - Nov/Dec 09
My parents arrived on Nov 23 for a 3 week visit. Other than my Dad's weekend visit in March, this was the first time we had seen anyone from home in almost a year! They spent the first few days around Auckland. The weather was less than perfect - windy, cool, and fairly rainy. Dad kept asking, "I thought it was going to be warm?? Isn't this summer??" Oops, sorry Dad! We did a quick hike in the Waitakeres the day they got here; it was really foggy but at least it wasn't raining!
They spent a few days exploring Auckland before heading down to the South Island for a few days in Queenstown. I joined them 2 days later and we drove over to Te Anau, the main gateway to Fiordland National Park and Milford Sound. There was a beautiful sunset over the mountains that night - this picture was from about 10pm.
The next day we did a day hike along the Kepler Track. We had lunch on the beach under a beating sun; it was such a clear day, it didn't seem like we were in Fiordland National Park! I kept remembering the downpours and strong winds that Eric and I had when we hiked the Kepler last January.
It was so clear, you could see mountain ranges on every side of you. I found a nice trail right along Lake Te Anau and did a few morning runs, couldn't beat those views! 
We drove on down to Milford Sound, stopping along the way for short hikes and viewpoints. It was so different than the drive last January, when it was so foggy & rainy that Eric and I couldn't see a thing until halfway there, and then we were surrounded by waterfalls. This time, we had cloudless skies and mountains everywhere. Apparently, it was what qualifies as a drought in Fiordland - 6 days without rain! That meant we didn't see many waterfalls cascading down the cliffs, but we did enjoy some unbeatable views. Here's some from along the road:
Then Dad and I did a quick hike up to Lake Marian, an alpine lake. It ended up being a pretty tough hike, really steep with a rough trail; we were climbing up sheer rocks and clinging to roots. The view at the top was amazing though, Lake Marian was a beautiful blue/green color, surrounded by mountains on all sides. It's hard to tell how big it was from the pictures, but just to get from where we are standing down to the rocks at the lake's edge took a few minutes.
We ate lunch and then headed back down, and continued driving down to the Milford Mariner, an overnight cruise and our home for the night (along with about 40 other people). Once on the boat, we headed all the way out to the Tasman Sea, spotting a huge pod of dolphins on the way out, jumping and flipping alongside the boat. We also saw some Fiordland crested penguins along the shore, and a bunch of seals. The boat sheltered in a cove where we could go kayaking or out on small boats.
Like any other cruise, we were stuffed full of great food. That evening, we also watched a slideshow put together by the cruise director with some pictures and videos he had taken in the past year or so. He had pictures taken from the tops of many of the peaks surrounding Milford Sound (he was a big hiker/climber), as well as pictures of the Milford Road closed over the winter due to avalanches. It was a bad winter down there, with the road closed a lot more than normal, and once for 10 days at a stretch. The highlight was some video he had taken on another overnight cruise, where they had winds up to 140kph - waterfalls were going up instead of down, the boat was pitching wildly, and you could just see huge gusts of wind rushing up to the camera. We thought it was windy on our trip with pretty big waves at times, but apparently it was tame comared to what they can get!
The next morning was calm but cold. We saw a huge cruise ship - quite a few come over from Australia and go all around the NZ coast. It was a huge boat, but it looks pretty small next to all of the mountains surrounding the sound.
This is Stirling Falls, 146m tall. They took the boat right under the waterfall into the spray. This is also the waterfall in the Wolverine movie, I think it is the lab or whatever that is right at the top.
And the classic view once we were back on the shore.
We headed back to Queenstown for a few days. More on that in the next post!
They spent a few days exploring Auckland before heading down to the South Island for a few days in Queenstown. I joined them 2 days later and we drove over to Te Anau, the main gateway to Fiordland National Park and Milford Sound. There was a beautiful sunset over the mountains that night - this picture was from about 10pm.
The next day we did a day hike along the Kepler Track. We had lunch on the beach under a beating sun; it was such a clear day, it didn't seem like we were in Fiordland National Park! I kept remembering the downpours and strong winds that Eric and I had when we hiked the Kepler last January.
It was so clear, you could see mountain ranges on every side of you. I found a nice trail right along Lake Te Anau and did a few morning runs, couldn't beat those views! 
We drove on down to Milford Sound, stopping along the way for short hikes and viewpoints. It was so different than the drive last January, when it was so foggy & rainy that Eric and I couldn't see a thing until halfway there, and then we were surrounded by waterfalls. This time, we had cloudless skies and mountains everywhere. Apparently, it was what qualifies as a drought in Fiordland - 6 days without rain! That meant we didn't see many waterfalls cascading down the cliffs, but we did enjoy some unbeatable views. Here's some from along the road:
Then Dad and I did a quick hike up to Lake Marian, an alpine lake. It ended up being a pretty tough hike, really steep with a rough trail; we were climbing up sheer rocks and clinging to roots. The view at the top was amazing though, Lake Marian was a beautiful blue/green color, surrounded by mountains on all sides. It's hard to tell how big it was from the pictures, but just to get from where we are standing down to the rocks at the lake's edge took a few minutes.
We ate lunch and then headed back down, and continued driving down to the Milford Mariner, an overnight cruise and our home for the night (along with about 40 other people). Once on the boat, we headed all the way out to the Tasman Sea, spotting a huge pod of dolphins on the way out, jumping and flipping alongside the boat. We also saw some Fiordland crested penguins along the shore, and a bunch of seals. The boat sheltered in a cove where we could go kayaking or out on small boats.Like any other cruise, we were stuffed full of great food. That evening, we also watched a slideshow put together by the cruise director with some pictures and videos he had taken in the past year or so. He had pictures taken from the tops of many of the peaks surrounding Milford Sound (he was a big hiker/climber), as well as pictures of the Milford Road closed over the winter due to avalanches. It was a bad winter down there, with the road closed a lot more than normal, and once for 10 days at a stretch. The highlight was some video he had taken on another overnight cruise, where they had winds up to 140kph - waterfalls were going up instead of down, the boat was pitching wildly, and you could just see huge gusts of wind rushing up to the camera. We thought it was windy on our trip with pretty big waves at times, but apparently it was tame comared to what they can get!
The next morning was calm but cold. We saw a huge cruise ship - quite a few come over from Australia and go all around the NZ coast. It was a huge boat, but it looks pretty small next to all of the mountains surrounding the sound.
This is Stirling Falls, 146m tall. They took the boat right under the waterfall into the spray. This is also the waterfall in the Wolverine movie, I think it is the lab or whatever that is right at the top. 
And the classic view once we were back on the shore.
We headed back to Queenstown for a few days. More on that in the next post!
Various Spring Activities
We have been horrible with updating the blog, sorry! This spring has been really busy. Eric has been working crazy hours at his temp job (his last day is tomorrow! He got his official work visa a few weeks ago, so he will be looking for a permanent job after the holidays), and I have been really busy with work and everything else. We have had some time for fun though!
For my birthday, Eric took me on a sailboat ride around Auckland's harbour. You had to book in advance and it ended up being really rainy, so we had a private cruise! It ended up clearing a bit and turned into a great night. I got to steer and Eric worked the sails, it was awesome!
We've also been venturing back to our favorite hiking area, the Waitakeres, now that the trails are starting to dry out. The Te Henga-Bethells Beach Trail is another coastal track with dramatic views and black sand beaches. And some surfers on the huge waves. 
I've also had a few trips to Melbourne lately. I actually got to do a bit of sightseeing one day and headed over to St Kilda's Beach. I walked out on the pier, and noticed there were TONS of huge jellyfish in the water!! Apparently they weren't a stinging kind, but they were everywhere! Then I walked along the beach, and there were more jellyfish washed up on beach every foot or so. And there were still a bunch of people swimming in the water. I'll pass on that one!
St Kilda's is also known for the cake shops. At least 4 stores (almost right in a row) sell nothing but desserts...mmmm...
In early November we headed up to a holiday park at Pakiri Beach for the night. Another beautiful beach, and we got a one time use charcoal grill for dinner - it worked great! Then Eric tried some fishing in the morning but no luck. We've got to find some fish for this boy!
I'll try and post some pictures from my parents visit before the holidays - we visited some beautiful South Island spots!!
For my birthday, Eric took me on a sailboat ride around Auckland's harbour. You had to book in advance and it ended up being really rainy, so we had a private cruise! It ended up clearing a bit and turned into a great night. I got to steer and Eric worked the sails, it was awesome!
We've also been venturing back to our favorite hiking area, the Waitakeres, now that the trails are starting to dry out. The Te Henga-Bethells Beach Trail is another coastal track with dramatic views and black sand beaches. And some surfers on the huge waves. 
I've also had a few trips to Melbourne lately. I actually got to do a bit of sightseeing one day and headed over to St Kilda's Beach. I walked out on the pier, and noticed there were TONS of huge jellyfish in the water!! Apparently they weren't a stinging kind, but they were everywhere! Then I walked along the beach, and there were more jellyfish washed up on beach every foot or so. And there were still a bunch of people swimming in the water. I'll pass on that one!
St Kilda's is also known for the cake shops. At least 4 stores (almost right in a row) sell nothing but desserts...mmmm...
In early November we headed up to a holiday park at Pakiri Beach for the night. Another beautiful beach, and we got a one time use charcoal grill for dinner - it worked great! Then Eric tried some fishing in the morning but no luck. We've got to find some fish for this boy!
I'll try and post some pictures from my parents visit before the holidays - we visited some beautiful South Island spots!!
Friday, October 30, 2009
Cape Reinga Coastal Track - Oct 24-26, 2009
This past weekend we decided to do a multi day hike - the Cape Reinga Coastal Track. When we were up in Northland back in February, it was so beautiful that we thought we should try to go back and do some hiking. So with a 3 day weekend and decent weather in the forecast, it was a good fit. May have been a bit overambitious, as we have not had a lot of opportunity for day hikes lately with Eric working weekends, but we decided to go for it. After a long drive, we camped the first night at the Waitiki Landing Complex, and then got dropped off at the start of the track at Kapowairua, on the east end of Spirits Bay. We had a 17.5K hike that first day, the first half of it nice and flat and along a path just behind the dunes of Spirits Bay. The beach was beautiful, and like most beaches in NZ, totally empty. Looking back at Spirits Bay:
We had lunch at Pandora Beach, and then the afternoon hiking got much harder - tramping up and down ridgelines with our heavy backpacks until reaching our campsite for the first night at Tapotupotu Bay. We had great views in all directions, from Spirits Bay back in the distance, ahead to Cape Reinga and Cape Maria van Dieman, and across to the sand dunes on the west coast. You can see Spirits Bay behind us:
In the next 2 pictures you can see a light green trail along the ridgeline - that is the track, heading off into the distance! 
We were getting pretty tired, but seeing this view of Tapotupotu Bay (campsite for 1st night) spurred us on:
This was a DOC campsite, and it also had road access so most people had just set up camp for the whole long weekend, complete with bbqs, coolers of beer, fishing gear, and everything else needed for luxury camping. We were a little jealous! But Eric did manage to fish for about an hour (although no luck as we couldn't really carry live bait with us and the fake plastic fish weren't attracting the snappers). Then we had a nice dinner of pre made spaghetti with meat sauce, while looking out over the bay - couldn't beat the view!
It was a crystal clear night and the stars were amazing - more stars than I have ever seen in my life. But that also meant we were freezing - at one point I checked a thermometer I have on my bag and it was 45 degrees in the tent - brrr! I was wearing all of my warm layers, plus my raincoat, and my wool hat, with the sleeping bag completely pulled up over my head. The next morning we lazed around and had a bit of a late start, finally starting our hike out around 10am. More ups and downs, tramping along ridgelines and down to Sandy Bay, then straight up to Cape Reinga. Beautiful views of the coastline - sheer slopes, jagged rocks, turquoise blue water.
Here's a view looking back at the campsite:
For the most part, we had the trails to ourselves. There was one other guy going the same way as us, we passed 2 people going the other way on the trail, but other than that we saw almost noone hiking. We made it to the Cape Reinga lighthouse around lunchtime, our last stop with bathrooms and running water before the end of the trail. Also TONS of tourists and tour buses.
Us just as we reached Cape Reinga:
After a brief rain shower (good timing on being at the Cape Reinga facilities), we moved on and started the descent down to Te Werahi Beach and Cape Maria Van Dieman. This is a huge stretch of beach with perfect waves rolling in - ideal picture taking spot.
Once we got down to the bottom, we clambered over about 100m of rocks along the shoreline (you can see the rocks in the lower left corner of the above picture, between the grassy slope and the water), including a few tricky spots as the tide was starting to come in. Then it was nice and easy walking along the beach. This is what I had imagined when we decided to do the Coastal Track, not the up and down we have experienced so far! We spent a bit of time relaxing on the beach, eating lunch, and resting our tired feet.
At the far end of the beach, we crossed a small stream and that is where our problems began. The map/track descriptions/signage were not very clear about which of the 3 trails we were supposed to follow to our campsite for the night (and at this pt it was sunny and hot, and we were getting a bit tired and cranky, haha). Unfortunately we picked the wrong trail (actually as we later realized, not EVEN a trail, although it was matted down by many feet before ours and there were lots of footprints to follow in the sand). We plowed along for about 30 minutes, scrambling across rocks and climbing some steep sandy sections that seemed way too dangerous to be part of the trail (sorry mom!). Looking ahead, the footprints continued along the coast and then climbed straight up a super steep, super tall sand dune. It looked miserable. We decided there was no way this was the right way, and turned around to backtrack. We eventually found the right trail and continued on, but we had hiked an extra hour and were exhausted. And still had 2 more hours until our campsite. Ugh. We pushed on, hiking across red baked clay, sandy dunes, and through low scrubs, with views to Cape Maria Van Dieman and ahead to Twilight Beach. It was actually a really nice walk, now that we knew where we were going!
Twilight Beach, home for the 2nd night. Only a bit further!
Finally, we made it to our campsite on Twilight Beach at about 6pm (after 8 hrs hiking, supposed to be 15K but probably more like 17K due to our detour, oops!), and set up for the night. When we did the Kepler Track back in January, we finished each day at about 2pm, and were bored for the rest of the day. So for this hike, we brought along fishing gear, a frisbee (gotta practice for my ultimate frisbee team!), books, cards, etc. We imagined lazing around for several hrs each afternoon in the sun, fishing and throwing around the frisbee. Not quite how it worked out, maybe next time we will plan more of a relaxing hike! :-) Anyway, Twilight Beach was another beautiful location, and we ate our dinner (soup and rice) watching the waves crash on the shore.
Clouds and rain were moving in, so it was much warmer that night - I may not have even needed my sleeping bag, but it started pouring in the middle of the night and our tent started leaking on our sleeping bags. But at least we stayed dry! It was a major downpour, so we were actually glad that our cheapo NZ$50 (~US$35) tent held up as well as it did! The next morning we packed up in between rain, and set off for the last section of the hike - another 10K, to take about 3.5 hrs. Almost as soon as we started walking, heavy rain blew in and drenched us. It continued to rain on and off throughout the morning, ranging from light drizzles to steady downpours. We were completely soaked, even through waterproof jackets, and the water in my boots was sloshing around and causing some major blisters. The first half of the hike was along rideglines, but we couldn't see much due to the rain. The we descended down for an hr long walk along 90 Mile Beach, before turning inland and walking up the Te Paki stream bed for another hr. The stream bed is about 30m wide, totally flat sand, with water weaving all over. This made the last hr pretty rough - constantly crossing small sections of the stream (feet are already wet!) and walking on soft, wet sand (that is tough when you are exhausted!). We were passed by a few more tour buses - they drive along 90 Mile Beach, then up the Te Paki stream bed, stopping to let the passengers try the sand boarding that the area is known for (I have seen some major wipeouts on some really steep slopes, and decided that sand surfing was not for me!).
We caught up with one of the buses as they were handing out boogie boards to passengers. A few of the passengers came up to talk to us. Conversation went something like this:
Tourist #1: Oh wow, where have you two hiked from?
-small chit chat about the hike-
Tourist #2 (looking at Eric with concern): So, are you having fun?
Eric (laughing): Um, not anymore!
Tourist #2 (also laughing): I didn't think so by the look on your face!
I don't think they will be passing up their nice tour bus to hike the track anytime soon, haha. We reached the finish shortly afterwards, and sat munching on the remains of our trail mix while waiting for our ride. It was a really hard hike, much tougher than we thought, but the views along the way were beautiful and it was really rewarding to finish something that had been a challenge. Sometime during that last rainy morning, we decided our next weekend camping trip will be a bit more relaxing - driving right up to the campsite, lots of fishing and relaxing on the beach. But a day or so after we finished, Eric was already talking about how awesome the hike was and when can we do another?
We had lunch at Pandora Beach, and then the afternoon hiking got much harder - tramping up and down ridgelines with our heavy backpacks until reaching our campsite for the first night at Tapotupotu Bay. We had great views in all directions, from Spirits Bay back in the distance, ahead to Cape Reinga and Cape Maria van Dieman, and across to the sand dunes on the west coast. You can see Spirits Bay behind us:
In the next 2 pictures you can see a light green trail along the ridgeline - that is the track, heading off into the distance! 
We were getting pretty tired, but seeing this view of Tapotupotu Bay (campsite for 1st night) spurred us on:
This was a DOC campsite, and it also had road access so most people had just set up camp for the whole long weekend, complete with bbqs, coolers of beer, fishing gear, and everything else needed for luxury camping. We were a little jealous! But Eric did manage to fish for about an hour (although no luck as we couldn't really carry live bait with us and the fake plastic fish weren't attracting the snappers). Then we had a nice dinner of pre made spaghetti with meat sauce, while looking out over the bay - couldn't beat the view!
It was a crystal clear night and the stars were amazing - more stars than I have ever seen in my life. But that also meant we were freezing - at one point I checked a thermometer I have on my bag and it was 45 degrees in the tent - brrr! I was wearing all of my warm layers, plus my raincoat, and my wool hat, with the sleeping bag completely pulled up over my head. The next morning we lazed around and had a bit of a late start, finally starting our hike out around 10am. More ups and downs, tramping along ridgelines and down to Sandy Bay, then straight up to Cape Reinga. Beautiful views of the coastline - sheer slopes, jagged rocks, turquoise blue water.Here's a view looking back at the campsite:
For the most part, we had the trails to ourselves. There was one other guy going the same way as us, we passed 2 people going the other way on the trail, but other than that we saw almost noone hiking. We made it to the Cape Reinga lighthouse around lunchtime, our last stop with bathrooms and running water before the end of the trail. Also TONS of tourists and tour buses.Us just as we reached Cape Reinga:
After a brief rain shower (good timing on being at the Cape Reinga facilities), we moved on and started the descent down to Te Werahi Beach and Cape Maria Van Dieman. This is a huge stretch of beach with perfect waves rolling in - ideal picture taking spot.
Once we got down to the bottom, we clambered over about 100m of rocks along the shoreline (you can see the rocks in the lower left corner of the above picture, between the grassy slope and the water), including a few tricky spots as the tide was starting to come in. Then it was nice and easy walking along the beach. This is what I had imagined when we decided to do the Coastal Track, not the up and down we have experienced so far! We spent a bit of time relaxing on the beach, eating lunch, and resting our tired feet.At the far end of the beach, we crossed a small stream and that is where our problems began. The map/track descriptions/signage were not very clear about which of the 3 trails we were supposed to follow to our campsite for the night (and at this pt it was sunny and hot, and we were getting a bit tired and cranky, haha). Unfortunately we picked the wrong trail (actually as we later realized, not EVEN a trail, although it was matted down by many feet before ours and there were lots of footprints to follow in the sand). We plowed along for about 30 minutes, scrambling across rocks and climbing some steep sandy sections that seemed way too dangerous to be part of the trail (sorry mom!). Looking ahead, the footprints continued along the coast and then climbed straight up a super steep, super tall sand dune. It looked miserable. We decided there was no way this was the right way, and turned around to backtrack. We eventually found the right trail and continued on, but we had hiked an extra hour and were exhausted. And still had 2 more hours until our campsite. Ugh. We pushed on, hiking across red baked clay, sandy dunes, and through low scrubs, with views to Cape Maria Van Dieman and ahead to Twilight Beach. It was actually a really nice walk, now that we knew where we were going!
Twilight Beach, home for the 2nd night. Only a bit further!
Finally, we made it to our campsite on Twilight Beach at about 6pm (after 8 hrs hiking, supposed to be 15K but probably more like 17K due to our detour, oops!), and set up for the night. When we did the Kepler Track back in January, we finished each day at about 2pm, and were bored for the rest of the day. So for this hike, we brought along fishing gear, a frisbee (gotta practice for my ultimate frisbee team!), books, cards, etc. We imagined lazing around for several hrs each afternoon in the sun, fishing and throwing around the frisbee. Not quite how it worked out, maybe next time we will plan more of a relaxing hike! :-) Anyway, Twilight Beach was another beautiful location, and we ate our dinner (soup and rice) watching the waves crash on the shore.
Clouds and rain were moving in, so it was much warmer that night - I may not have even needed my sleeping bag, but it started pouring in the middle of the night and our tent started leaking on our sleeping bags. But at least we stayed dry! It was a major downpour, so we were actually glad that our cheapo NZ$50 (~US$35) tent held up as well as it did! The next morning we packed up in between rain, and set off for the last section of the hike - another 10K, to take about 3.5 hrs. Almost as soon as we started walking, heavy rain blew in and drenched us. It continued to rain on and off throughout the morning, ranging from light drizzles to steady downpours. We were completely soaked, even through waterproof jackets, and the water in my boots was sloshing around and causing some major blisters. The first half of the hike was along rideglines, but we couldn't see much due to the rain. The we descended down for an hr long walk along 90 Mile Beach, before turning inland and walking up the Te Paki stream bed for another hr. The stream bed is about 30m wide, totally flat sand, with water weaving all over. This made the last hr pretty rough - constantly crossing small sections of the stream (feet are already wet!) and walking on soft, wet sand (that is tough when you are exhausted!). We were passed by a few more tour buses - they drive along 90 Mile Beach, then up the Te Paki stream bed, stopping to let the passengers try the sand boarding that the area is known for (I have seen some major wipeouts on some really steep slopes, and decided that sand surfing was not for me!).
We caught up with one of the buses as they were handing out boogie boards to passengers. A few of the passengers came up to talk to us. Conversation went something like this:Tourist #1: Oh wow, where have you two hiked from?
-small chit chat about the hike-
Tourist #2 (looking at Eric with concern): So, are you having fun?
Eric (laughing): Um, not anymore!
Tourist #2 (also laughing): I didn't think so by the look on your face!
I don't think they will be passing up their nice tour bus to hike the track anytime soon, haha. We reached the finish shortly afterwards, and sat munching on the remains of our trail mix while waiting for our ride. It was a really hard hike, much tougher than we thought, but the views along the way were beautiful and it was really rewarding to finish something that had been a challenge. Sometime during that last rainy morning, we decided our next weekend camping trip will be a bit more relaxing - driving right up to the campsite, lots of fishing and relaxing on the beach. But a day or so after we finished, Eric was already talking about how awesome the hike was and when can we do another?
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