Thursday, February 20
Today was a VERY long driving day!
Driving out of Rotorua, we made a pitstop right outside town at the Redwood Memorial Grove Track and hiked the 2 km track. Yes, they are actual California Redwood trees which were planted in 1901 and are currently 219 feet (67 meters) tall. These trees are dedicated to the men of the New Zealand Forest Service who died in the World Wars. It was a lovely walk.
The drive from Rotorua to Wellington normally takes five and a half hours going straight down Hwy 1, but we had already decided to take the more scenic route around Tongariro National Park. We wanted to see Mt Doom, which made our drive just over six hours without stops. Having already made this decision beforehand, low and behold that normal stretch of Hwy 1 is all closed for roadwork, so we would have had to go this way anyways!
But it's funny how quickly a 6 hour drive can turn into a 12 hour drive! That included stops along the way, and lots of roadwork. And also some very slow curvy hills.
Partly through the day, Anton was complaining that his phone needed charging and the battery pack wasn't helping much. Lo and behold, we found a charging port kinda hidden in the car! He plugged his phone in and voila! we now have Android Auto. Our gps route map popped up on the screen and Frankie no longer has to hold his phone and navigate. All of a sudden she feels like she no longer has a purpose to her life!
About an hour into our drive, we stopped to see Huka Falls. It is a narrow channel of rushing water that empties at the head of the Waikato River.
We stopped to see Lake Taupo, the largest freshwater lake not just in NZ, but in Australasia. It is about the same size as Singapore. For scale: Lake Erie is 40 times bigger than Lake Taupo. It was formed by the caldera of a massive volcanic eruption. They actually call the Taupo volcano a supervolcano, which is one that has erupted more than 1000 cubic kms of material. It is magnitude 8 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index. Who knew volcanoes had their own magnitude scales?!?!
The picture above will become more significant as you read the rest of the blog....
Another hour and another stop, this time at Te Porere Redoubt. A redoubt is a small shelter for soldiers during war. Te Porere Redoubt was used during the last of the New Zealand Wars in 1869 (wars between the Maori people and the government over the selling of Maori lands). We didn't hike all the way in to see the redoubt, but the view along the way was pretty:
We specifically drove this route so we could have good views of Mount Doom from the Lord of the Rings movies! It is located in Tongariro National Park, and the real name of Mount Doom is Mount Ngauruhoe. The name Mount Doom is much more dramatic. And pronounceable. Today the mountain top was covered in cloud.
This is Tawhai Falls, also known as Gollum's Pool. This is the place where Faramir and his archers are watching Gollum as he is fishing. You need to be a Lord of the Rings fan to understand any of that.
imagecredit: https://static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Gollum-Forbidden-Pool.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1140&h=&dpr=1.5
And this is where disaster struck! By some fluke, Frankie's BRAND NEW PHONE slid down the rock where she was sitting and plop! it went into the water. There was no sign of it anywhere, and the water was too fast moving and too deep to go searching. In loving memory, here lies the final resting place of her cherished new phone. It was with us for far too short a time, and will be dearly missed.
Which means, if you want to get a hold of Frankie for an indefinite period of time, you must either email her or go through hubby.
All pictures for the rest of this trip will now be the sole responsibility of Anton!!!
Here are some of the windy roads we had to navigate:
We FINALLY got to our hotel in Wellington at 7 pm. Our hotel is smack downtown and seems very old and cramped, but that may be because we just came from such a boutiquey place. Thank goodness we had reserved hotel parking, there are only a few spots in their parking garage.
Frankie stayed in the room while Anton went to the bowels of the hotel to do self laundry. We decided this after seeing the price list for the hotel to do our laundry: $11 per shirt, $18 per pair of pants, and $5 for each underwear!!!
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