Bethell's Beach

Lance Again:

So there’s a few themes to our adventures out here, one of them being that we've really enjoyed the hiking trails and the ability to see some really cool things off the beaten path.  Maggie and I decided that we wanted to head to the Waitakere on the weekend of February 28th to do some hiking / take in the beach a little bit.  The Waitakere region is on the west side of Auckland only about 45 min to an hour outside the city.  It doesn't look very far on the map, but the roads aren't straight once you start to get into the hilly region.  It’s also the home to some great black sand beaches.  As Maggie has previously pointed out, the north island has black sand beaches on the west side and white sand beaches on the east side.  Not sure why.

It just so happened that a group of our friends out here (Americans) wanted to do a hike around Bethell’s beach that very same day and we decided to join forces and go for a group hike.  It was great to have a group along, especially Katie who had done the hike before and could show us the best way to enjoy a leisurely tramp around the area.

The path through Bethell’s entailed a great walk through a stream next to black sand dunes that led to Lake Kawaupaka.  Don’t worry if you can’t pronounce the names of these things, I give up after the first 4 vowels.  This tramp was probably one of the best we've done out here.  It was such a hot day that walking barefoot through the stream felt amazing.  The black sand made for one of the best feeling stream beds ever.

As we started along the stream, it opened up to a clearing of sand dunes.  Naturally, I wanted to race up them.  So I put down James, and my friend Rob and I raced up the dunes.  Now as most of you know, I have climbed the dunes out in Colorado and have made sprints up those with backpacking gear on.  So when you watch this video or pictures (whatever Maggie inserts) just know that Rob and I stopped about three quarters of the way up because the black sand was burning the bottom of our feet, not because we were wimps.  It was terribly hot.  However, not one to call it quits, we sat on it for a while and then made a break to the top.  It was beautiful up top and the view shows the dunes melting into the ocean in the distance (wish I had a camera for that one).

After the fun run down the dunes we proceeded to the lake.  Some clever locals had built a waterslide down the side of the dune into the lake, using a long plastic sheet.  It looked like a lot of work hauling full buckets of water up and down the dune.

"Truffula trees are what everyone needs!"

We hiked around the lake and decided to eat lunch at a set of waterfalls on the opposite side of the lake.  When we got to these secluded waterfalls, we were astonished that they were a series and we were able to get to the 4^th set of waterfalls that emptied into the lake.  They were really cool.  We decided not to jump in though as we did sight an eel in one of the lower falls and none of us knew if eels attacked people or not.

Kowhatukiteuru, a famous Maori (Native New Zealanders) pa (fort) builder

 

Even in the most glamorous places, poop happens.

We then continued on around the rest of the lake before heading back to the beach.  But first, I wanted to give it one more shot at the sand dunes, this time with James on my back.  I coated my feet in mud to prevent the burning and headed up to one of the highest dunes.  I didn't make it there in my first burst of effort, but did not give up.  Soon James and I were the only people with a view from the highest dune.

We then headed out to the beach where half of the group played around in the waves and had fun fighting against the surf and the other half just soaked up the sun.

However, there were the outliers of Maggie and James who found where the stream we had just hiked emptied into the ocean.  At this point the stream was only about an inch to 3 inches deep and James had himself a blast fording the river.  It’s like the kid was born with an inherent knowledge of playing ‘The Oregon Trail’.

After that we headed back for some grub and brew and called it a day.

Lake Taupo

Lance Here:

Our weekend in Taupo on February 21st was the epitome of making lemonade out of lemons.  As some of you know, I’m on a job that takes place in Hamilton, so I’m down in Hammy Town quite often.  For those of you who don’t know a lot about Hamilton, I can tell you that it’s the Dairy Capitol of the World. Enough said.  It’s essentially rural Wisconsin.  It’s located a little bit north of the middle of the North Island, and as a result, we figured it would be a good jumping off point for a weekend trip a little further south.  Maggie and I heard Taupo was worth a trip and I wanted to make the most of being down in Ham Town.  As a result, Maggie and James joined me on Thursday down in Hamilton and stayed overnight until I was done with work on Friday.

Side note by Maggie:  I was so proud of myself for being prepared to take in the sights of Hamilton before I left Auckland.  I had my list of things to do in Hamilton and time on my hands while Lance was working.  But by the end of my stay my list was useless, my time sapped, and I had nothing to show for it.  Being the genius that I am, I decided I didn't need to bring the pack n' play down with me because the bach we rented in Taupo provided one and we could suck it up and have James sleep with us for the one night in Hamilton.  What I didn't think about was nap time.  A small hotel room and cranky baby with nowhere to confine him was a nightmare.  I spent three hours trying to get Crankster McGee down for a nap, and by the time that was over with, half of the locations on my list were closed because apparently no one wants to do anything in Hamilton, NZ after 3 pm.  Museum- closed.  Chocolate shop- closed.  Meat pie shop (yes it was on my list)- closed.  Botanic Gardens- most gardens closed for a festival (except the large field the woman at the ticket booth showed me, trying to be helpful).  City park- fenced off for Cricket World Cup.
Day number two wasn't much better, especially since I didn't have anywhere to go now that we were checked out of the hotel.  I spent most of my day at Hamilton Lake, which was actually a great walking track with a rockin' playground.  I think we watched the ducks swarm hapless children who dared to bring loaves of bread for about 30 minutes.  And I also ran away from some rather aggressive pukeko that chased me down the path, legs going so fast they looked like cartoon windmills.  Hamilton won't be going down in the books as a successful trip for me.

Back to Lance.  On Friday we headed south to Taupo.  When we got into Taupo the weather was beautiful and we took in a little scenery downtown, taking James out to eat along the water.

The next morning we woke up early to try and do a long hike along the lake.  We decided to do a nice path along some of the cliffs from Kinloch to Kawakawa Bay.  Overall, the hike was about 20 km and we ended up at the bay, but since the weather wasn't the greatest and the hike was mostly forest, we weren't afforded the best views.  We made our way back to the house after the long hike and let James crawl around as he had desired to do all day.  We again went out to eat on the water and enjoyed the shelter overhead as the rain came through.

 

We then decided to rest up from the hike at some hotsprings.  A company made a quasi-water park out of the natural hot springs that dot the area, complete with a waterslide.  I forgot to mention that Lake Taupo was formed many years ago whem the volcano under Taupo blew up with an explosion far greater than any volcano in modern day.  On Wikipedia it’s labelled as a super volcano.  James had a blast in the hot springs and got some great swimming experiences alongside mom and dad.  The hot springs were a great relaxing break after a day of hiking.

The next day James got up early so I took him for a run along Lake Taupo and admired the clear views of Tongariro National Park on the other side of the lake.  After coming back and waking up Maggie we went on a boat cruise across the lake and took in the Maori art carvings on the other side of the lake.  They look old, but they were actually carved in the 70s.  We took in the beautiful views of the lake and the nice carvings and then headed to Huka Falls.

To me, this was one of the nicest aspects of Lake Taupo.  The Huka Falls are located a few miles north of the lake and form a canyon where the lake water flows into the Waikato River (NZ’s largest River).  Because of the canyon effect and the narrowing of the river, the water gushes forth in a violent jet stream into the river levels below.  It was a unique site as these falls happen in a horizontal manner compared to the vertical nature of most waterfalls.  After taking in the falls it started to rain again and we made our way back to Auckland.