Our road trip through New Zealand is now well advanced. After the start in the metropolis of Auckland, the search for dolphins in the north, the fairytale landscape of Disney’s Narnia and a homemade jacuzzi on a stormy beach, we drove along the east coast to the atmospheric Mount Maunganui. For only fifteen euros a day, our car, aptly named El Cheapo, turns out to be the solution for backpacking here and seeing all corners of New Zealand. Now we have arrived in the middle of the northern island, where the most beautiful and special places can be found. The next stop is Rotorua, the most unique and typical region of the country. Past volcanoes, geysers, sulfur fields, colored lakes and bizarre natural phenomena we then travel to a world-famous hiking route through an otherworldly landscape in Tangariro.
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Did you just fart or was it a geyser?
As is often the case, we stay at a campsite in a small chalet; a cheap but certainly not unpleasant option if you go backpacking in New Zealand. You will find Holiday Parks everywhere in the country and a simple house with a kitchen costs about thirty euros per night. We seem to be at the front row! If I’d stumble over the threshold I’d practically be in the largest geyser in the southern hemisphere. We are staying on the edge of the Te Puia geothermal park and I can tell you, you can smell it. The smell of rotten eggs is quite dominant. Whether we are in the car or at the breakfast table, Suus asks all the time: ‘What is this you?’, but no, this time she cannot blame me. I must have eaten some really weird food to match Rotorua’s smell. As a man I would be quite proud of that, but leave that aside.
The other Kiwi
The largest geyser Potuhu can reach a height of up to thirty meters and is the sensation of Te Puia. Furthermore, there are boiling mud pools, steaming sulfur fields and we can actually admire kiwis! This time I don’t mean the proud inhabitants of this country and we had also seen those green slippery things with brown skin in the supermarket; no, I mean New Zealand’s nearly extinct national bird. In a dark hole, Suus and I see a kind of flea ball running around on two skewers, look at each other in surprise and ask at the same time: ‘was that it?’. And that must be the most common reaction when seeing a kiwi. It doesn’t do much, just runs around in the dark and once you’ve seen him you can quietly get on with your life.
From a dive into Maori culture to a dip in a steaming stinking bath
In addition to the natural wonders, Te Puia has a second function. It is also the cultural center to learn about the Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. We visit a reconstruction of a traditional Maori village and a cultural performance. The Haka, challenging the enemy before a battle, is especially fun to see. It is also contagious; I suddenly felt like shouting at people all day long and making funny faces. So I did that, but I got a lot less applause for it. They probably thought I was mentally challenged.
Off the beaten paths uhh.. baths!
If you’re used to the stench of rotten eggs, you’re ready for the next step: we surrender completely to the natural fart smell in a water source full of minerals. That seems to be healthy and can be done just about anywhere here: in a four-star hotel, in a tourist attraction in the city or back-to-basics somewhere in a ditch deep in Maori territory, where you just have to hope that your car is not robbed empty. We opt for the optimal travel experience and of course go for door number three. On the advice of our travel friend Willi, with whom we stayed in Auckland and who himself is from Rotorua, we visit Soda Springs, a brown steaming sewer in the countryside. He told us: ‘it looks dirty, but that’s just nature’. And he’s right, floating pieces of shit are part of nature.
When we arrive at the Soda Springs we want to cut off our nose and wonder if there has ever been a tourist within a ten kilometer radius. Two Maoris weighing about two hundred kilos are our only bathing companions. Nothing about the entire setting seems healthy, but we surrender to it. At least it’s nice and warm. Somewhere in the corner of this jungle swamp we see the water bubbling and as we get closer we are almost boiled in our own soup. When we feel like we’ve got those few New Zealand Dollars out, we quickly run back to the car, because the flies can’t get enough of us. But a very authentic experience, indeed! If you go backpacking in New Zealand, be sure to get off the beaten track.
It looks photoshopped: the colorful Wai-O-Tapu
When we talk about bizarre creations of nature, the wonderland Wai-O-Tapu is the superlative. Nowhere in the world will you find a landscape with more colors than here. In a walk of about three hours we experience one surprise after another. ‘The Devil’s Bath’ is filled with thick, poisonous green water, which looks more like a kind of kiwi-flavored Yogho Yogho. A little further we see the ‘Champagne Pool’, a large green lake with orange edges, where the water permanently boils. Even more colorful is ‘The Artist Palette’. It seriously looks as if a kindergarten class has been working with finger paint. The water has all the colors of the rainbow and just hurts our eyes!
It is not without reason that this area has often been declared the most bizarre piece of nature on earth. All around you you see that the earth is alive: everything is moving and changing all the time. A worldwide must-see attraction if you ask me.
Feel like a dwarf among the giants: Redwood Forest
We spend the last day in Rotorua in the Redwood Forest, a fantastically beautiful forest with Californian Redwoods. We wander along gigantic red-brown giants of trees. Wanting to take it easy, we walk a few kilometers. But once we’re on our way we decide to walk all the way up to to ‘Green Lake’. By then we have already covered about twenty kilometers.
That is why we are now taking a rest day and spending it at Lake Taupo, the largest lake in the country and an ideal place to relax. The calm before the storm, because the next day the greatest test awaits!
The highlight of backpacking in New Zealand: the Tongariro Alpine Crossing
New Zealand’s northern island does not have the wild, inhospitable landscape that characterizes the southern island. No, here it is mainly the volcanic natural phenomena and the cultural attractions that attract tourists. Yet there is one place that is unique to this island and known worldwide as a fantastic experience: the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. Locally it’s simply known to Kiwis as ‘the crossing’. In short, this nine-hour hike crosses the highest mountains on the island, straight through a number of volcanic craters. The views along the way are bizarre, like a moonscape with a few brightly colored lakes.
Good preparation is half the battle!
I had been looking forward to this for weeks, looking up photos and reading stories. So you might think that Suus and I are prepared. But nothing is less true. We donated our winter clothes in Vietnam to the third world, using a local clothesline. Since then I have only taken off my swimming trunks when I went to sleep. And not even every time. When we ask the hotel owner what we would need on the eve of the hike, he responds matter-of-factly: ‘just bring good hiking shoes, some warm clothes and waterproof jackets, you’ll be fine’. When I tell him that my longest trousers just barely conceal my boxer shorts, my thickest cardigan is about as waterproof as a tea bag and my Asics shoes are like socks with a piece of Styrofoam underneath, his face changes and he just says: ‘good luck’ .
A little ‘underdressed’
On the day of the truth we take the bus around seven o’clock and we immediately see the bus driver inspecting our clothes. Then about twenty well-dressed hikers board the bus, as if they were going to a party with an Après-ski dress code. Couples with matching fleece jackets, rain suits, sweatbands, zip-off pants.. We could barely see anything through all the Nordic walking sticks. For a moment I thought I was staring at the window of the Great Outdoor Store. Then the bus started to drive. Anyway, we arrive at the starting point of the hike and despite some clouds it is at least dry.
A large sign at the start of the hike reminds us of the difficult conditions and lists some mandatory attributes. We can only check off one of the ten necessities and that’s ‘good fitness’, since we don’t even have a rain coat. We’ll just have to make it work with that one item today!
The first part of the hike is fairly straight forward. We mainly overtake a lot of older people, who say things like: ‘it’s not a race’ purely out of jealousy. Then you see those men gear up to keep up with you and even overtake you; their wives twenty meters behind, but ‘it’s not a race!’. When we arrive at the Devil’s Staircase, the steepest climb to the first volcanic crater, the sun slowly breaks through. It looks like we won’t be freezing to death on the top of a volcano today; something that wasn’t at the top of my bucket list anyway.
Indescribably beautiful nature
From the red crater, the highest point at about two thousand meters, the landscape is too bizarre for words. As far as we can see it looks like another planet full of volcanoes and craters. Just on the other side, when we go down again, are the emerald lakes. Blue and green lakes that seem to glow, so bright. While everyone around us is starting to take off their thick Mount Everest gear and start heating up oatmeal porridge on a fire, we are chilling in our shorts with a peanut butter sandwich. I will never forget the view over the lakes. And I don’t think a peanut butter sandwich will ever taste this good again.
We are the first in our group, of course, to arrive at the end of the route. We even have to wait hours for the last outdoor mannequin to stroll across the finish line with vibrating Nordic walking sticks. Yes, people look at us a little differently on the way back! We turned out to be the best prepared of everyone; on a lovely sunny day. Number one during the trip through New Zealand; what a fantastic experience, which in my opinion every traveler should do at least once: The Crossing!
To be continued..
Our adventurous backpacking through New Zealand ends in the capital Wellington. Until then we will take a tour along the west coast of the island. First we drive to the Taranaki volcano and than to the cool city of New Plymouth. We can’t get enough of this unique and downright bizarre country. However, the next challenge is already waiting for us on the other side of the ocean: Australia. The world tour continues!
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