2012/02/11 Tongariro intro




This was my wife's first introduction to the Tongariro crossing . We didn't do the whole walk [19km] but rather waked halfway [ emerald lakes] and back again. The first half of the walk is where most of the scenery is anyway though I do advise doing the entire walk at least once.
It was a good day - though be very wary because the weather can change quickly on Tongariro as it is an alpine environment. While we were resting at one spot I heard a young couple discussing whether perhaps they had 'overdone' their gear that they had brought with - because there were more than a few 'not so well prepared' on the walk. I went over to them and told them they had exactly the right amount of gear with them as people have died up there due to not being properly prepared - the weather can change very quickly !

I had my 10.5mm lens on my Nikon for this trip.












At the base of the first real climb , about an hour into the walk is where people line up to a little but very important building that is chained down to prevent being blown away by the occasional strong winds




What used to be known as "The devil's staircase" has been made quite a bit easier due to a new path that was built.



At the top of the first climb we had to put on warm gear and rain protection - the weather had changed quickly !




As a side trip you could climb Ngauruhoe , about 1 1/2 hours one way .


Some serious photographers do the trip as well , this one was doing a news report on it :)
This is the first crater you cross .


And the view at the other side ...


Looking back at the crater ...



Red crater





Looking down at the emerald lakes ....





Some more from the 10.5 lens ....




And some from the Panasonic compact .



The ground was actually steaming on the crater.






The Tongariro crossing - my favorite "playground" in New Zealand but please go prepared for the worst weather !


2012/08/29 East Cape Odyssey

On Sunday 26 August 2012 Lisa and I began our 5 day trip from Hamilton around the East Cape of New Zealand and back - 1200km in total.
We started off by staying at a friend's place in Rotorua , commonly known as 'Rotten-rua'' due to the smell of the thermal activity .


We spent most of the afternoon relaxing at the Waikite valley hot pools in water about 38 degrees C.
Lisa says I must remember to mention that I took a wrong turn while she knew I should have gone the other way - at least we saw some new scenery :)



There is a lot of thermal activity around Rotorua with steam coming out of the ground in the middle of the city as well . The rock formations in the waikite valley were interesting as well .




One thing I still need to get used to about being married , and having spare cameras lying around , is that the wife also likes to take pictures - and not only of the scenery :)


Basically day one was pretty uneventful in comparison to the rest of the trip but Rotorua was our 'launching pad' for the main holiday .

Day Two :


On the second day we headed for Whakatane , a town I have never visited before . It's very nice there with rock formations in the middle of town [ on the video ].





We drove over the hill to continue our journey and ended up refueling in a small town after stopping to take pictures and being greeted by the dog who wandered over to see what we were up to .


We also stopped at an old building for some pictures . Lisa took this one with the D40 and 18-105 lens.



It had a lot of "character" , it was a "home handyman's dream"


Day two was plagued by bad weather and we ended up at the Lottin point motel run by "Bruno and Duckie" . When we got there we were told that there was no hot water yet , the fire still had to be lit - so we waited a while before having a shower .
At first I thought there was no electricity either , until I realized 4 of 7 light bulbs were blown so I had to ask Bruno , busy lighting the fire , for some bulbs so I could fit them.
Lisa doesn't like insects much so when I saw a spider on the washbasin I quickly flushed it down the drain . Then at bedtime I looked over at the wall and saw a slug crawling down towards us and quickly flicked off the lights before Lisa could see it - or I wouldn't get any sleep .
After getting home I told Lisa about them - she says she had already wanted to go and sleep in the van rather but didn't want to hurt my feelings :)




Day three:



We woke to better weather on Tuesday morning .


From here we headed for Te Araroa and the worlds' most easterly lighthouse .
This cemetery looked quite out of place right next to the ocean .

Awatere river .



There we found the world's largest Pohutukawa tree .


a house with its own waterfall


Memories of the past


and when we got to the end of the road we climbed 600 steps to the lighthouse



I tried to 'invade'



We carried on toward Tokomaru bay and met  a horse with no ... rider









When we got to Tokomaru bay we were greeted by a rainbow



and some old buildings


From there we headed down to Tolaga bay .



We stayed in a little cabin for $65 .


And played scrabble all night while the spoiled cat turned its back on a piece of sausage roll .


Day 4 :
Down to Gisborne and then back up past Opotiki.



Gisborne is an interesting little town - fondly known as "Gizzy" by locals .


From there we ended up at Ohiwa bay camp ground with a nice view.




Someone had built a "fort" [?] with sticks . I put the gopro hellmet camera mounted on an eggtimer in the middle and did a timelapse



An interesting afternoon sky 


And an interesting evening sky





We slept in the van that night .


Day 5: 
Simply a return home through Rotorua and not much else .....

White island volcano smoking in the background.







Some other timelapse and interesting videos I did on the journey.







The photobucket album of pictures http://s107.photobucket.com/albums/m300/dvdowns/East%20Cape%20August%202012/#!cpZZ1QQtppZZ20

PhotovanII , "The Odyssey"

About a year ago I sold the photovan - my life has been rather busy lately .
I made contact online with a lady in Canada and we have much in common . I visited her in Canada for 2 weeks - we maintained contact and she visited me in New Zealand for a few weeks . We are now married and living in New Zealand still and I decided "we" needed two vehicles :) .
I bought another van , also a Toyota Hiace [reliable] with about 305000km on the clock . I've started doing it up as well and had to give it a name . My wife mentioned that the ship bringing her goods over was named "The Odyssey" - I looked that name up and found that it had something to do with someone's 10 year journey .... I've been alone in New Zealand for 10 years and my journey has led me to my marriage and a life together with someone who is now my traveling companion - so I now present the beginning of the travels of "The Odyssey" .......






The Odyssey

A few months ago I sold the photovan - I have been in withdrawl since and due to the fact that I recently married I decided it would only be fair to have two vehicles - so I just bought another van . It is a 2.4 litre van compared to the old 2 litre engine and hopefully will be more economical to run .
My wife , Lisa ,  is from Canada , she is shipping some of her belongings over on a ship called the "odyssey" . I looked that name up and apparently it is related to someone's 10 year journey - I have been in New Zealand for 10 years now so I think it would be a pertinent name for the next generation photovan :)

2011/04/22 The back-roads tour to the Waitakares .

The photovan has been sitting idle for too long so on the Friday of the long weekend I decided to do some exploring along the back-roads from Raglan to Port Waikato , via Waikaretu .
I used the trusty D40 and 18-200 lens for many of the shots .
 It's only about 100 km but much of the time you are only going about 40km/hr so it takes a while - I saw two other cars the entire trip .










There is a side trip 1.4km from the intersection to Port Waikato that goes to the Nikau caves and cafe , it was closed I think due to the religious holiday .


There is some reasonable scenery along the way with occasional glimpses of the sea .



I had the 10.5mm fisheye lens on the D50 which helped get in a lot of the scenery :)


There are many old buildings and vehicles rotting away on the farms .


And some who just don't care about anything .....




After getting back on the highway you have to drive through Awful Auckland , cars , people , buildings , more cars and people ..... but as you work your way to Huia you leave all of that behind and the scenery starts to get better .


The 10.5 was very useful for some of the pictures , including some taken from the drivers seat .




The road gets narrow and windy , the rain didn't help either .


At the end of the road is the Whatipu campsite - nothing fancy but a good location .


I just bought the Panasonic FT3 compact and it was used for the rest of these pictures - it turned out really handy .



There is a short walk along the beach to the caves and a campsite as well .


There is a camp site near the caves as well ....


And then I headed back past the camp ground again and toward the beach .



The beach is well worth exploring , lots of rock formations and interesting places to explore .














The Panasonic did a good job , even when it started raining I could carry  on taking pictures - I eventually made my way back to the campground .


In the evening I settled down with a cup of coffee and a movie ......


As it got dark I realized I had the tripod tucked away in the storage box - I mounted the D50 and fisheye lens on it and took some snaps of the stars , including a few trails of the planes landing at the nearby airport .




I headed back home the next morning , one day I will go back and spend more time on the beach and hopefully get better light :)

2011/01/03 Success ! Around Ruapehu in a day .

I'm told it's a 67km walk . It's rated as a 4-6 day walk but the first time I tried to do it in 3 days I failed . A 25 kg pack and not drinking enough water left me pulling out at the Turoa road with a sore knee . During that trip I met two people trying to do the "Round the mountain 24 hour challenge" and decided to try it myself . That attempt ended in disaster . That was 8 months ago and I've been preparing for "round two" ever since . Ruapehu has won too many times for my liking and I was determined to finish it this time . Sunday morning I was sitting thinking about it after two botched attempts a week ago and decided that I have to do it . I said to everyone I saw that morning " Tell me I can go around Ruapehu in 15 hours !" - after enough people had said it I knew I had to do it.


This time I decided that since both previous attempts had involved pulling out at the Turoa road I would go counter-clockwise for a change - this would serve several purposes :
1.) I would have that psychological obstacle out of my way early .
2.) I would be walking mostly downhill in much of the desert area and soft sand .
3.) Crossing that road early would mean I would have no escape route and would have to finish it .


Unfortunately my compact camera failed the day before and I had no camera with me so will have to dig out some of my older pictures.
The evening before I stayed in my car at the doc campground - there was a road pointing to Ruapehu and I walked up and down it several times and before heading off to sleep took one final look at Ruapehu and said " I'm back and this time I will not fail  " .




That night was unusually warm - the first time I haven't been able to fully cover myself with the sleeping bag due to heat , rather strange for Ruapehu . I set the alarm for 4:30 am but woke up at 4:00 am and couldn't go back to sleep so decided it was a good time to start . I drove up to Whakapapa , parked my car and started walking up the 4.5 km of road at 4:20 am . It was a clear starry sky and bright enough to walk without a torch . At 5:00 am I reached the beginning of the track . The sign stated " Mangaturuturu hut 6 1/2 hours " - that took me 3 hours 5 minutes and I was at the hut at 8:05 am . I ran out of water one hour before the hut - my hydration pack was supposedly 3 litres ? On the way there I was already feeling uncomfortably warm at 6:00 am though I was in the shade . I got talking to someone there and ended up having 18 minutes rest instead of my planned 15 minutes . This was the hut where my last attempt ended when I went the other way around the mountain . It was also the hut where there was no water in the tank and I ended up drinking bad river water and getting sick . Even though there was water in the tank this time I still added a water purification tablet "just in case" .
The sign mentioned "Mangaheuhu hut 5 1/2 hours" and I managed to reach it at 11:00 am but had to stop and splash water on myself at the rivers a few times because the heat was getting  a bit much - I had only been going 7 hours and was already tiring due to the heat - and I hadn't reached the desert yet.




From here it is a supposed 6 hour walk to Rangipo hut which I can usually do in 2 3/4 hours but it took me 3 hours this time . There is a large valley to cross and no vegetation because it is New Zealand's only desert area .
The sun was getting to me and I ended up dipping my shirt in a river and wrapping it around my head to try and cool myself down - down in the lower areas of the valleys there was no wind movement , sun right above me , and keeping my face down to avoid the sun meant feeling the heat coming up from the ground and rocks of the desert . 3 times I almost fainted due to the heat and adjusted my walking pace to prevent it - which is probably where I lost that 15 minutes .
I hadn't even reached the halfway mark and was already drained from the heat - it wasn't looking good at all . My watch has a thermometer that basically tells me the temperature of my wrist if I have it on . I checked that and at one stage my arm was at 40 degrees celsius .
At Rangipo hut I knew I had passed the halfway mark and just had to keep walking for another 7 hours to finish .
This is an older image - it was very bright sunlight when I got there .


After 15 minutes of rest again I headed for the Waihohonu hut [now a brand new hut that I've never seen before ] , rated at 5 1/2 hours it took me 3 hours - still 15 minutes worse than my previous time though there was the occasional warm breeze that almost made me feel better. In the desert area there are one or two large rivers but much lower down from the track and too much effort to reach . You do cross a few dry river beds and the occasional annoying rocky river bed where you can hear the ice cold snow-melt water gurgling away out of sight and reach .
I had decided that I would give an extra amount of concentration to where I step to avoid twisting my ankle like I did three times on the last attempt and fortunately there were only 2 or 3 close encounters but no actual injuries which is probably what got me through .


By this time my hands were swollen to 1 1/2 times their normal size for some reason , my face was badly burned [ I had some sun-block on but not on my forehead to prevent it getting in my eyes ] and my feet were starting to feel blisters underneath though I think in general I was in pretty good condition .
Since I was generally going down-hill there were a few places I managed to run to make up for lost time .
I must have reached the hut at around 5:10 pm and decided to give myself a longer rest for the final home stretch . I had given up trying to do it in 15 hours and just wanted to finish in less than 24 hours for once .
There was a little high cloud by now but I would be walking back directly into the sun.
There were quite a few people at the hut and all asked if I was ok so maybe I didn't look too good . I lay down for a while , walked around a bit , sat outside and started psyching myself up . It was a good thing there was no escape route and I knew that if I stayed there the night I would feel terrible in the morning . After half an hour my hands were tingling like crazy and the swelling had gone down .
I had spent the day eating energy bars , energy gels , and these strange energy bars that tasted like 3 day old camel poo mixed with custard powder - not exactly the same but very similar .
I was exhausted but determined to succeed this time - I kept dropping things and the people were trying to convince me to stay the night but I told them that Ruapehu has beaten me enough times , I've planned for it for 8 months and I will finish what I started finally.
I think the problem was that I rested for too long and gave my body time to go into shock . It is a very modern hut and the warden brought me some ice cubes to put into my hydration pack to cool the lukewarm water . Once I got my pack back on and convinced myself that I was going to finish I told them I was heading off . The warden told me "It's another 5 hours" and I told her "I'll do it in 3 " . Then one guy said to me "You're very brave " and I said to him " My mother always told me there's a difference between 'brave' and 'stupid' , I don't think she would call me brave " .
I suddenly felt energetic and started running back - that only lasted about 2 minutes though . It took me exactly 3 hours to get back and I was at my car at 20:45 pm - 16 hours and 25 minutes since starting.
I looked up at Ruapehu and said "See , I respect you but I don't fear you" . 

I still wasn't sure where I would be sleeping and decided to allow myself a little luxury - I drove to a lodge and booked in for the night - because I couldn't stand straight one of the staff members told me I was showing all the symptoms of  heat exhaustion - the swelling in my hands had gone down once again and they were tingling and shaking . They brought  me some food and water and suggested I drink some coke to help my sugar levels - somehow the food managed to stay down .
I never got much sleep that night , it felt like I had heartburn and it didn't feel like my food was going to stay down though fortunately it did .
It's got to rate as one of the best days of my life I suppose , almost as good as the day I smashed my work van into the side of a bus and had to be cut out by the fire department !

2011/01/01 - Waiting for the right conditions

I still intend to go around Ruapehu [ 72km ] in less than 24 hours . Based on my previous attempt I can do it with 14 hours of walking and 4 X 15 minute rest stops at the huts along the way . A total of 15 hours this time of the year means that I could leave at 5:00 am and be back by 8:00 pm while it is still light . Last Monday I was ready to go but the weather forecast mentioned rain and extreme gale force winds for the afternoon - not gonna happen . I headed back home  , loaded up my photovan and headed for Napier with a possible trip to Wellington . At Napier I checked the weather report and it mentioned 'fine weather' for the central North Island so I headed straight back to Ruapehu - all this in gale force winds which almost resulted in my van being blown in front of a truck - good fun.
Tuesday night I set my alarm for 4:30 am , got all my gear ready and felt my foot start throbbing inside from the cold . A 10 year old injury was woken up when I carried a 25 kg log for 3 hours on the beach last Saturday - not going to happen once again !
So today I drove out to Te Toto gorge near Raglan where I live and took in some scenery .

 




 After heading back into town I took a kayak for a paddle in the harbour - I usually avoid anything that could damage the camera but decided to compromise and use my Gopro helmet camera . It got a bit foggy inside but gives the general idea of what went on .
On the 'town' side of the harbour , I headed across to the other side and battled against an outgoing tide .


Te Akau bay 

Then I headed 'upstream' toward an interesting piece of land and did some exploring - I get motion sickness very easily and wasn't feeling too good from all the 'bobbing around '


 
From here I headed back across to the wharf - waves pounding from the side and  a stronger current coming in . It was tiring and after getting to the other side the water was moving too quickly to paddle back so I dragged the kayak up the beach and ran back to collect my van . Not much of a story but the best I can do for now - maybe next week my foot will be feeling better for "Round 2' of Ruapehu in a day :) .

2010/10/22

Friday afternoon I headed for Ruapehu and got there at 5:30 pm and was aiming for the summit . The weather forecast suggested it should be a ' pleasant ' trip .
When I got there it was empty and the ski lifts weren't moving so I wasn't going to catch a lift to the upper slopes . I asked someone why it was so quiet and they said that it was because of the gale force winds . When I was driving toward the mountain everything was looking 'fine' .








When I got higher up the top of the mountain was getting angrier and the wind was heading in my direction .





Nguaruhoe was looking fairly calm though .



I ended up simply seeing how high I could get without leaving the safety of the surrounding lodges to decide whether I would stay up there for the night or not .











There were icicles everywhere .














While trying to decide if I would dig a snow cave while being "sandblasted" by ice particles I found this sign in a window which seemed to offer an opinion on my attempt





so I decided to head back down and try and get back to the car before dark .


Going back down at sunset was the best part actually , I wish I had been there a day later in good conditions with a tripod and a decent camera .








Looking back up the mountain showed how angry the weather had got .





Egmont was looking good in the distance .





And the snow ploughs were getting warmed up for a night's work fixing the slopes for the next day's skiers





The moon was also coming up so it would have been good if I had a tripod there .








Now for the good part of the story . I worked my way back to the car and drove down to the campsite and slept there for the night .
But I had found an expensive looking spanner  lying on one of the tracks that most likely belonged to one of the workers there so I went into the information centre to hand it in , rather than drive all the way back up to the ski fields .
There were two other hikers discussing the Tongariro track with one of the staff , asking him what the conditions were like regarding the snow . I told them that the snow had frozen on Ruapehu itself and was firm to walk on as I had " tried to climb it last night " .
The old codger at the counter said to me " In the conditions we had yesterday ?!" - his face did a red 'Mexican wave'  .
Now we all know what it's like when you're sitting watching your fishing rod and the end of the rod shows that you have a 'nibble' . You check your bait and put on something bigger to get a decent "bite" .
Well it's his fault that he jumped to the conclusion that I had gone beyond  the safety of the lodges without asking .
I said "Yes , it was a bit windy near the top so I came back down because I had to drop to a press-up position a few times to prevent being blown off my feet , and my face eventually got numb from the ice particles being blown in my face " [ which was all true actually ] .
Well his face got the red flush again which changed to a rich purple as he said " I just feel sorry for the search and rescue staff who have to put themselves in danger to save people like you ! "
I told him " They wouldn't have to rescue me , I was going to sleep on top in a snow cave - there are usually a few up there " .
He responded with a bellowing  " There would be no snow caves up there because there has been so much snow they would all be closed up ! ".
I told him " that would be ok , I've got a tarpaulin with me that I could sleep under for the night "
By this time his face had lost the purple tinge and was looking pale as he said loudly " IN THIS WIND !? " .
So I smiled and said " I've got a good sleeping bag " :) .
At that stage I knew I had hooked a Marlin because he swung around to the two guys he was originally talking to and said " Now , where were we !?! " .
That was the cue for me to drive back up the ski field and hand the spanner in to the lost and found department but it was difficult not to burst out laughing a few times on the way .
While I was up there again I decided to take a few fun shots .


 The guy who took the picture for me never got my feet in so I got a shot of my footwear .
Everyone lining up for the ski lifts was dressed in alpine gear .
 Then I decided to try one more quick snap ....


Well that's another round to Ruapehu , I chose the wrong day and should have gone up a day later but it was still good fun and I got some ok shots out of it .
Driving back through Taupo I had another go at the "Hole in one" .
I don't play golf but got close to it a few times 6 weeks ago when I had a try . This time I actually hit the platform once so I must be improving :)




- time to drive down to Raglan beach and catch the sunset :)




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The beginning of the "photocar"

It's hard to believe that I bought the photovan almost three years ago now .
I've learned much from the modifications I've done to it and the use , or lack thereof , I've gotten out of those modifications .
I've also learned that when I am traveling around and staying one night at places , rather than for a few days in one spot , I spend very little time in the van itself ..... but I need the van because I can sleep in it and the car doesn't offer a comfortable option in this regard .
But the van uses exactly twice as much fuel as the car and really loves steep uphills because it stays on them for as long as possible .


Enter the "Photocar" , a fast economical sleepover option for those trips where I won't need the portable shelter aspect of the van as much .

And it's only done half the distance that the van has in its lifetime

I have plans for that inverter , it can move out for a smaller version wired up to some extra batteries in the engine compartment . I already have a mount for the gopro camera and a small compass on the dash .


The most important part of it is a comfortable nights sleep and I grabbed the folding bed from the van
and opened it up



It looks like it will do the job ! Time to start 'modifying':)




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Ruapehu , sleeping in the snow





These trips in my photovan all start with the basics , check mileage and put goo in the engine to slow down oil burning . The day before my adventure started I was in Rotorua , I went into a tyre shop and told them the steering wheel was shaking while I drive and they checked the tyres . There was a big lump on the front left tyre and they told me it could be from hitting a pot-hole at high speed on a bad road . I just smiled and said " That is a very distinct possibility " :) .





The morning started with a stop at Taupo and breakfast at subway - the weather is apparent in the background 




I stopped to get some pictures of this forest with the fungus growing on the trees


When you're standing on the roof of a van a passing logging truck makes things rock around a bit 



Approaching Ruapehu and the weather report that suggested things were going to clear up didn't seem too trustworthy


I headed up the hill , slowly , and found an overnight parking place




part 1.) I didn't want to be too far from safety since the rated avalanche risk was 'considerable' so I headed up this valley around the corner from the ski fields





I decided to use this rock to block the wind and flattened out the area and put the tarp down
 


I thought the scenery was pretty good




At around 2pm it was still raining , the weather forecast had suggested I would have a clear afternoon but everything was getting wet and if I took my boots off it is such a hassle getting them back on again in these conditions that I decided I wasn't going to wait around for 6 hours till dark .





Part 2.) I had passed this old building earlier , broken windows , door jammed open , and decided it would be a good place to do my cooking .



I wondered about staying here for the night , snow and slush all over the floor - would it count ?




I still had some time to kill and wandered towards the ski fields , I could return to this hut if I needed to . 
Part 3.) There were quite a few of the ski lodges not being used - this one had a verandah that I could use as emergency shelter  if the weather got really nasty - there was a 'complex' weather system moving over the north island and there were possibilities of severe gale force winds , one reason I never climbed to the top .
I hung up all my wet gear to drip-dry and set up the bivy bag ready to move into position when it was 'time' - once it was dark I slid it down onto the bare snow next to the building , on top of the tarpaulin .








And got ready for some 'sleep'[?]



Many of my 'stories' involve a list of mistakes to begin with .
An adventure in the snow shouldn't have one of these . It's a good thing conditions weren't right for climbing all the way to the top because I brought the smaller tarpaulin with , not the same one I slept on top of in my last snow-cave adventure .
I thought I had enough insulation under me , with all the movement and effort involved getting into the sleeping bag and bivy bag I was hot and bothered and took my jacket off and used it as a pillow , wondering why I had it on in the first place .
My camera [Casio FH100] was in its case next to me to keep it warm , torch down one side , knife on the left and water bottle outside [ it proved useful in the middle of the night , I had been drinking more water than I thought , but I'll never drink from it again :redface:].

Then it started raining again and I wondered how long it would be before it started dribbling through the opening - the bivy bag has about 4 clips that close it up - it is made of gore-tex but I'm not sure how breathe-able it is if the opening is blocked with snow or something , and what if strong wind is blowing rain the wrong way ?.


The rain lasted about half an hour and I unclipped the opening and lay staring at the stars for an hour or so ....

Then the rain started again , I clipped the opening closed again and pulled the string on my -30 sleeping bag that closes the opening around my face and allows the two cheek-flaps to cover my face leaving only my nose sticking out . About an hour later I started feeling the cold - I never had enough insulation under me - I should have brought the bigger tarp and folded it a few times like the last time in the snow cave .
By now I was shivering and dug the fleece jacket out from under my head and did some amazing contortionist tricks to put it on in that small area .

I felt warm again - for half an hour , until the cold worked its way through again , besides the fact that my legs were feeling it now as well . It's all fine having a sleeping bag that can handle extreme cold but if you don't have proper insulation under you it's all useless .
So I tried turning sideways and it worked for long enough for me to start drifting off to sleep until I woke suddenly while dreaming that someone was suffocating me .
I had to turn on my back again so I could open the front enough to let some fresh air in so I could breathe properly again . That fixed the suffocation problem but as I breathed the cold air in and out I rapidly lost body heat .
By this time it was 1 am and my body started shaking ....
It was time to 'chicken out' , I wormed my way back onto the wooden deck and positioned the mattress under me , falling asleep was easy , I did it about 20 times  .





Lying flat on my back started to hurt , after an hour I wriggled across to my backpack and dragged it into position as a pillow .
That made things better for another half hour until I realized that I was better off sleeping on my side , this got me half an hour's sleep each time until it hurt enough to wake up and change sides .
The snow plows worked all night as well , they had reverse beepers fitted too ....

What a long night ! It was such a relief to see the sky getting brighter , when I sneaked the opening apart each time , and at about 6am it was bright enough to force myself to get up and get all my warm gear on .
The inside of the bivy bag was wet near the opening and the bottom of my sleeping had a layer of ice on it ...






My other water bottle was half frozen as well . My boots were wet the day before , this morning they were frozen solid and it took a while to get my feet in again . My laces made a crunching noise and didn't want to bend ... 

Once I had all my gear on I worked my way back down to the van .Nguaruhoe [ Mount Doom LOTR ] was looking rather gloomy , I haven't slept on top of that one yet !?




The rest of the area was under clouds - Ruapehu has its own weather . In the distance to the left is Mount Egmont/Taranaki , that one was an interesting climb but I wouldn't want to be up there in bad weather .





The photovan had ice on the windows , it started but needed some encouragement to keep running .
I drove back down with the window open , the hot air on the windscreen was too much for me and I needed to cool off .
By this time things were clearing up a bit .....




I had thought of the option of sleeping on the snow one night and building a snow cave the other [ tonight ] but I think this should be enough adventure for at least a week - I wanted a full nights sleep for a change ! 

Things to remember for next time :
1.) Take more insulation , two bedrolls , plus tarp .
2.) Build a snow trench , take an extra tarp for the roof .
3.) Wait till it is almost bedtime before heading out .

2010/06/22



This is where I got stuck in loose stones and had to dig myself out .




I headed  for Ohope and stayed at the campsite for the night .











The last day I stayed at Rotorua with a friend and we spent the morning racing on the luge .

2010/06/19 Lake Waikaremoana

[work in progress ]


There are more pictures stored here on my photobucket album . 


Yesterday I left Raglan and headed through Rotorua and down to Lake Waikaremoana .
It's been 5 years since I was on that road and this picture should tell you why ...




95km of winding gravel roads ... the first time I did it was in an old Toyota 1300 and I got tired of the slow journey and started going faster around the corners until I was so car-sick I had to pull over and sleep in the back of my car 45km from the lake .
The second time I took sea-sick medication to make it easier and got a little drowsy and crashed into the side of another car on a bend .....
After that I swore I would never go on that road again but now that I have my van and stop often to take photos it makes it easier and I must say the journey was pleasant in comparison to the times I was in a hurry to finish the trip .
 By taking things slower I ended up going down side roads for some different shots ....


Once you get to "the road" leading to the lake you have to be careful since it narrows down to one lane occasionally ....




I stopped occasionally when the road opened up for parking space




 The horse came up to have a look at the camera




 Eventually you get your first glimpse of the lake




 A few more minutes driving and you come across a waterfall








 There's a 53km walk you can do around the lake - the 'water taxi' can drop you off at the beginning and pick you up at the end . I've done that walk before and this time decided to head for the smaller lake "Waikareiti " , rated at a 1 hour walk . It took 45 minutes including the time taken to stop for pictures .










 There are quite a few waterfalls in the area within 5 - 10 minutes walk from the side of the road .




There are many views of the lake along the road ...












And my van parked at the campsite .....




















The new look :)

I had the picture of my van up on a photography forum .... someone decided to photoshop some colour into it :


Before :




After :




Of course it would be nice to paint it something like that but then again it would be a little like putting a sign on the side saying "Expensive camera gear inside ! " :)

2010/06 Return to Rotorua

Since it was a long weekend I visited my mate in Roturua with the hopes of being able to test my new Tokina 11-16 mm F2.8lens on some decent scenery . It was not to be , squally showers the whole time - but we did go for a drive Sunday morning - to "state highway 36'' since he said there was a rather scenic piece of road there .
There was only one chance to get a snap out the window .... 




There were a few photo opportunities near the lake before the rain really closed in .

 










Then we ventured into a a craft market to get away from the rain for a while ....






The weather over the lake was still terrible ....




Then we headed for the bathhouse museum ....














I'm enjoying this new lens - even if the weather wasn't that good . 




.

7/05/2010

I was at the gym on Monday , this Maori bloke introduces himself , accentuates his surname and proudly says " My brother is the rugby player " .  I told him " I don't watch rugby " , he says " You're a South African aren't you ?" .
I said " I also don't drink beer " .
He gets this shocked look on his face and says " Do you eat meat ?????? !" ....
Just for fun I said " Yes but I don't like it much " .
So to be South African obviously means you watch rugby , drink beer and eat meat  .