Te Mata Peak, Havelock North

My sister recommended to me that I go and visit Te Mata Peak while I was in Hastings, but she also warned me about the horrible windy narrow drive up to it (with no guard rails on either side). It appeared to be a great place to exercise - we saw lots of people walking, biking and jogging up to it on the morning that we went, and the view from the top was awesome!

View over Napier

At one end of the Napier CBD is Bluff Hill lookout, where you can see out over the top of the Port of Napier and down south towards Gisborne.

National Park

When I was learning geography at high school we learnt about the 3 volcanic mountains just south of Lake Taupo in the north islands central plateau. Driving past them on this day on our way to Taupo made me want to take a closer look at at least one of them (not including skiing on Ruapehu).

I decided that at the end of the year I want to do the Tongariro crossing – an 8-10hr trek across the top of one of them. It will take me all year to get fit enough, but I think it’s a great goal to work towards. I shouldn’t really announce my goal on the internet in case I don’t end up following through with it, but I’ll see how I go.

National Aquarium, Napier

I was very underwhelmed by this place. I did like the turtles and the sharks though.

Ocean Beach

We saw this little dot of a place on the map after our trip to Te Mata Peak (Hawkes Bay). We really didn’t have a clue how to get there, but we headed off and were met with a great view and beautiful sunshine. I attempted to get in the water, but after 20 mins of getting smashed by powerful waves I had to opt for the gentler pastime of lolling on the beach and getting massively sunburnt (my legs still haven’t fully recovered a month later).

Paraparaumu Beach

We arrived in Paraparaumu quite late, but we had just enough time to shove our things in the room before heading out to the beach to see what there was to see. There wasn’t that much to see – but I love sunsets, so what was there was beautiful.

Craters of the Moon

A few years back I read a book about a geothermal area just north of Lake Taupo called Craters of the Moon and decided I wanted to go there. I was picturing it as being something like a rocky desert with big holes in the ground, no vegetation, no moisture. I was completely wrong.

The day that we ended up going was overcast and very foggy, it had been raining and it rained while we were there. The ladies at the front desk said it was a great place to see during the rain (I think they were wrong) because we really couldn’t see that much that wasn’t rendered invisible by the fog. Also it was hard to tell where the steam vents started and the fog ended – were those strands of white smoke heat rising or remnants of cloud just sitting there?

I was completely wrong on the vegetation count though – moss, lichen and small bushes everywhere. We did get to see a few interestings things, despite the fog, but I was very disappointed.

Towards the end you can either continue on flat ground or head up a hill to see over the park. Just as we started our ascent the rain came pouring down. My raincoat really wasn’t much use against the downpour, my friend had just bought a big plastic poncho that seemed to cover her quite well. So with the rain streaming down and the fog in the park, we didn’t see that much from the top. It was such an anticlimax after the years of waiting to see the place. I hope its sunny next time I go to Taupo.