Octopus changing colour

Found this guy outside his den, he put on a bit of a show for us

Dolphins at Whitianga

On our way out to the dive site we had some company

Emerald Lake Swim

This was our swim, 1700m up, just about Lake Louise Alt. Was about 10 degree's, not too bad.

Tongariro Alpine Crossing

It was a clear blue sky and a perfect weather to cross the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. It took us about 6 hours to walk a total of 19.5 km from start to finish. The highest peak of the crossing was 1700 m which was the red crater. The paths were clearly laid out and even well boarded. The views from start to finish were definitely magnificent. Mt Tongariro is still an active volcano and last erupted in 1975. There were evidence of geysers, sulfur, and volcanic rocks. Amazingly enough there were snow caps around the mount. We managed to make our very own inukshuk. We swam at one of the Emerald lakes (the big one) which was about 1400 m altitude up the mount. The water was about 10 degrees centigrade, being Canadians we certainly tolerated the cold. It was a great day.

Objective: Mt Tongariro from a distance.

Brodie and Robert practicing the hakka.

Waterfall a few minutes walk behind our cabin.

Our cabin before the long journey, nothing like nice cold beer. Life is GOOD.

So it begins....

We started off at Mangatepopo car park.

Inukshuk.

A view of Mt Taranaki (the small white triangle on the left).

Brodie's hakka on top of the mount (1700 m altitude). Who da man???

We are not there yet. Red Crater (1886 metres) on the background.

Red crater

A little tired.

Central Crater

Three water filled explosion craters called the Emerald Lakes. Their brilliant greenish colour is caused by minerals which have leached from the adjoining thermal area.

Blue Lake.

Blue Lake leading to central crater.

View of Taupo from Ketetahi hut.

A view of Lake Taupo.

Finish.

Ketetahi Carpark. End of track.

Current Map

View Myla & Brodie's Blog in a larger map

Baltic Clipper

Got aboard the Baltic Clipper this morning for it's maiden voyage. Taking a load of Kiwi to Europe

Here you can see them being loaded into the lowest hold on the ship. You can see three levels above the bottom. The hold is refrigerated to keep the kiwi cool until it's unloaded. I believe this load is headed to GermanyHere is an image of one of the coolstores on the wharf. The kiwi's are stored here before being loaded onto the ship. I think this coolstore holds 6000 pallets which is... about 57 million kiwi's. There are 3 coolstores on the wharf, and a larger one just down the road.

The bow of the Baltic Clipper with kiwi pallets lined up in front of it.

Coincidentally this is also the port where tourists are let off for day tours.

Lots of updates to the map

Pic of me in a hardhat

Seals at the Mount

It's Spring time, and it seems that the babes are born at this time of the year. I was fortunate to watch a family of seals (mostly napping, sun bathing on the rocks, and being bothered by the sea gulls). I noticed that seals sleep on their back. The pup also seems to have hair/fur.

Sleeping baby seal

More sleeping seals... Mama seal looks like the dark one.

Annoying seagull waking them up to play.

Grooming time

Adorable lambs...

Baby seal swimming

World Cup here we come...

We finally got our official tickets to watch the Canadian Rugby team play at the 2011 World Cup. They will be playing against France, Tonga, Japan and New Zealand.

Our first All Blacks experience was quite an experience. We also heard for the first time the Kiwi's national anthem. The display of fireworks left us in awe. Nothing beats the experience of watching the All Blacks do the Hakka live. It left me astonished and adrenaline pumped. Unfortunately, we did not have the greatest seats (we weren't even sitting - lesson learned)! Result 29:10 (All Blacks v Wales)

Anyway, enjoy the videos.

Maclaren Falls

The park borders Lake McLaren, formed behind a dam built for hydro-electricity generation. There were small waterfalls and rocky pools. We also encountered a rooster at the parking lot guarding our car!

He couldn't possibly shoo away the rooster!

Te Rerekawau Falls (aka Kaiate Falls)

This area was probably the shortest track (about 30 minutes). There are many swimming holes and small waterfalls. At the bottom of the loop was a waterfall of about 7 feet high. Brodie was brave enough to jump off and swim the cold water.

Can you see Brodie?

Ananui Falls

The track was about 4 hours walk (return). We could not get to the bottom of the falls, but was able to walk all the way to the summit where we saw lush forest and the Mount (where we live).

At the top of the falls.

Bottom of the falls.

Wairere Falls

The Wairere Falls track was about 4 hour walk round trip. The falls is about 153 m high, has a fine grove of nikau, puriri and kohekohe, and an upper section of track takes you through tree ferns and totara in native forest. The falls lookout and summit has amazing views of the valley and the Waikato Plains.

Water Falls of Bay of Plenty

We have visited most of Bay of Plenty's water falls. The water was certainly cold (brr) but with 3mm wet suite, it was tolerable.

Whataroa waterfalls - favourite spot - about an hour loop into the Rimu Loop Walk , one would reach the falls of Whataroa waterfalls. There are many swimming holes around this track. Kiwis pronounce "Wh" as "F". The predominant trees around this mountain is called "Rimu" where the loop walk was named after. Rimu forms a very tall forest canopy tree growing to a height of more than 35-50 metres with a wide distribution throughout New Zealand.

Kiwi Update

A quick update here, with an interesting pic.

I was out at one of the kiwi packhouses today and picked up some samples.

Below is a comparison between an egg from my fridge, and a kiwi I brought home from the packhouse.

The variety is Gold, for any canucks reading this, I'm pretty sure we don't get gold imported, but soon, it's really tasty.