Nov 12, 2012 - Day 9 - Turangi to Feilding - Search for Blue Duck

Today was devoted to searching for the Blue Duck. Found only in New Zealand, the population is estimated to be 1,200. Loss of habitat and mammal predators have been the causes for their decline. We searched several sites where they have been see in the past and were only able to see one at two sites.

Nov 11, 2012 - Day 8 Taupo to Turangi - Boundary Stream Mainland Island Reserve

This morning we headed east to a forested area, between Taupo and Napier. Located on the top of a mountain, the Boundary Spring Mainland Island is an intensively managed site where predator animals are controlled through fencing, trapping and poison. We enjoyed a leisurely walk through the forest. Many birds are reintroduced to the New Zealand forests, through Boundary Spring. While there, they are able to flourish in their protected habitat. Boundary Spring was truly as magical place!

Feb 6, 2012 - Første nationalparks besøg!

Lige hurtig lille update igen! Vi har nu boet par dage i Turangi – en lille centralt beliggende by, hvor vi desværre ser os nødsaget til at bo, da vi er afhængige af busser for at komme videre til Wellington, og den flinke dame på Turangi I-site, forklarede os af det ville være billigst og nemmest at blive boende her i byen. Vi adlød, og måtte derfor acceptere at vores færden i nationalparken forblev på dagsture. I går, søndag d. 5, gik turen så indtil nationalparken, hvor vi havde udset os at gå hvad der kaldes for NZ’s bedste dagstrek,...

Mar 30, 2010 - Tongariro Circuit

erug van het Northern Circuit van Tongariro. Het circuit in omgekeerde richting gedaan omdat de weersvoorspelling voor zondag niet echt goed was met wolken tot op 1500m en wat regen vanaf de middag. Dus om een uur of 10 begonnen aan het eerste deel en in principe is dit een tocht van 5 uur, maar zelfs met wat sidetracks na 4 uur in de eerste hut aangekomen samen met een zwitsers koppel dat achter in de vijftig was maar volledig afgetraind. Onze natte klederen te drogen gehangen, we hadden ongeveer een uurtje lichte regen gehad en daarna wat...

Sep 12, 2009 - Día 10: Napier - Turangi

Como todos los días, amanecemos muy tempranito, desayunamos nuestras tostadas, zumito de naranja, cereales... (sí, tenemos tostador y todo en la frago!) y nos ponemos en marcha. Yo estoy un poco molido, porque anoche estuvieron de BOTELLONA, sí, es verdad, unos chavales en la playita y me dieron un poco el coñazo. Además, hacen hogueras también al caer la noche con lo que encuentran en la playa (parecen un poco gitanos los napierenses estos). Hoy nos disponemos a hacer una rutita por la ciudad para ver los principales edificios en estilo...

Sep 10, 2009 - Dia 8: Rotorua - Motuoapa

Por fin se me pasa el jet lag (ya era hora)!!. Madrugamos (como no), nos pegamos un banyito en la piscina de agua caliente (duchita para quitarnos el olor a huevo podrido) y a desayunar! Cuando ya estabamos listos y wapos nos fuimos a Waiotapu. Un conjunto de geiseres y crateres con awita de distintos colores dependiendo de que compuesto quimico es el que predomina. Vais a tener suerte de que todavia no salga olor de las fotos porque alli olia a muerto! Despues de esto, cogimos otra vez la flagoneta y nos fuimos a un rio de agua caliente...

Nov 29, 2008 - Turangi (3)

The day of the crossing! What an absolutely amazing, awesome and fantastic day. Possible the best thing I've seen here! Mind you, had to get up at 5.30 for the privilege. We had a quick breakfast (we'd made sandwiches for lunch last night). A small bus picked us up at 7.00. There were quite a few people going from our campsite (about 20), but apparently in summer and with good weather (which was forecast) the crossing was never going to be anything other than busy, so we just had to suck it up. The bus took the same route in reverse that we...

Nov 28, 2008 - Turangi (2)

Rest day today, and very nice it was too. Bit of rain in the night, but the weather today was gorgeous. We booked the crossing for tomorrow, which is supposed to have even better weather. The site we are in now is big and pretty shabby, but the kitchen is bigger and well equipped, if a little dirty. Apparently the owner here only took over a month ago, and knows he has a lot to do. He said he was going to concentrate on the landscaping before the facilities? Obviously how the lawn and flower beds look is much more important than having a...

Nov 27, 2008 - Whakapapa - Turangi

31 miles Now that's more like it! A really fantastic day in the saddle. It's true a good deal of it (60%?) was downhill and the wind, fortunately, was minimal, but there were also a couple of long climbs, and the weather was hot, so it wasn't easy. I was keen to try harder today, after a poor showing yesterday :o) I was helped immediately as the first 4 miles out of the camp site were downhill (that explains why I found it so hard yesterday – it didn't seem much of a hill to the eye, but given the speeds we got up to, it must have been...

Oct 11, 2008 - Welcome to Turangi

Jules up first at about 8.50. Woke the others at 9am. We had a 10am meeting with the other guests and Chris gave us a slide show presentation. It lasted about 1.5 hrs. He was really informative. Talked all about the different walks, the snow, fishing, water and all different adventures. We decided that it was a great day to see snow as who can know what the weather will do. So we headed for the ski shop on highway 46 owned by Paul and Annie. They were fantastic. The kitted us out with pants and gloves for the girls. We decided to get disks...

Apr 8, 2008 - Mental note to self...

Mental note to self: 1 - Always confirm the actual time before responding to an alarm clock. I had planned to get up at 5.30am to prepare for the Tongariro crossing trek. Upon hearing what I thought was the familiar beep of my trusty wristwach I got up and grabbed my gear and headed to the changing rooms. While getting dressed I happened to look at that trusty watch of mine which reported that the current time was actually 3.05am! Realising that I had dreamt the sound of my own alarm clock, I meekly returned to bed now fully clothed and...

Aug 12, 2007 - A great little campsite.a real Oasis(its name!)

Lake Taupo is hugh and it was very windy so there were waves lapping at the edges making it look like the sea. The drive round the lake to Turangi was lovely but would have been hard work and cold if cycling! The tourist infomration centre in Turangi was exceptionally helpful giving us all sorts of tips and information about the south island as well as the local area. She booked our trip on Blue bridge ferries for us on Wednesday morning and asked if we could stay in their carpark if we arrived the afternoon before as we have to be there at...