The North Island Adventure Begins!

We had heard that the ferry from the South Island to the North Island is a beautiful journey on a 10-deck ship through Marlborough Sounds and the Cook Strait. Unfortunately, the storms caught up to us again and we had a rough day at sea. We were probably in the minority in that we managed to keep our lunch down, as they say (thank you Dramamine). After a long and arduous journey, we made it to Wellington to find the weather as cold and windy as the Cook Strait. We spent several days in Wellington, visited the local farmers’ market, Te Papa Museum, the harbor, and some eats. We also made plans on how to conquer the North Island.
Setting off from Wellington, we drove north in the rental car to do the Tongariro Crossing, a 7 hour 19.4 km walk through Tongariro National Park, on the rims of several volcano craters, over natural hot springs, and around hydrogen sulphide gas steaming through thin layers in the earth’s crust. What an incredible journey!
After that walk, our legs were tired, but our arms weren’t! So the next day we went for a canoe in the Whanganui River. We were jet-boated up the river and left to canoe down at our own pace and enjoy the sunny weather. The scenery was awesome; in some areas the river was glassier than any lake I have ever seen, with huge cliffs rising up on either side and wild mountain goats grazing. In other areas, there were rapids! We paddled through several areas of rapids, only having to bail out the canoe once….until we reached the final rapid, the fiercest rapid of all! Kent was gung-ho about tackling this head on, so we paddled as fast as we could though the highest and roughest part, right down the middle. We sliced right through each wave, and we were almost through, but the sides of the canoe were level with the river and we were sitting in a completely flooded canoe! We swam out of the canoe and hung on to it until we found a spot downriver to pull over and finish our ride.
After that adventure, we were on the hunt for something relaxing. Our next destination to spend a few days was Taupo, a cute little town on Lake Taupo, which is a lake in a volcano caldera and the largest lake (by surface area) in NZ. There were plenty of beautiful sights, a waterfall, and great bars in Taupo. Our highlight was when we found an aquatic center with geothermally heated pools and lap pools! We got some exercise, relaxed in the heated pools, and had a steam in the steam room. We found our relaxing destination!