For Frodo!

Monday, January 17, 2005
Napier, North Island, New Zealand
And so the time came to roll the Bluesmobile on to the ferry and head north. Our last two nights on the south island were spent in sleepy Picton, at a hostel called the Juggler's Rest: we did have some lessons but it needs practice. The ferry crossing began with some NZ wackiness as we followed a pickup truck with three sheep strapped on the back; we can only assume they were off to join the Wellington anniversary day celebrations, they seemed to take the city bustle in their stride. Apparently there was also an earthquake just as our ferry left but we didn't notice anything.

This time I made sure I didn't miss any of the spectacular Marlborough Sounds scenery, especially as the boat squeezed out of the narrow channel leading into the Cook Strait. Wellington is famed for being windy and our crossing was no exception - our new powerboat knowledge made us take a great interest in the tying-up procedure and the charts on the way in, so much so that we heard an announcement 'will the owners of a grey Mazda please return to their vehicle NOW?'. We half expected to find it alone on the car deck, but it turned out that they hadn't quite got the ramp down and so our blushes were spared.

There was some extreme bike riding going on in Wellington, but our main interest was the Global Challenge fleet. Wellington is a major maintenance stop, so with the exception of Stelmar which had two medevacs and so had only just go t in, most of the boats were out of the water with masts down, huge components everywhere and a lot of frantic sewing going on in the sail loft. Boat 45 (previously 'Logica') is now a smart bright red and renamed 'BG Group' so that's the one we hope to see sailing into Sydney in a couple of weeks.

We spent a night of luxury at one of our favourite hostels, Moana Lodge by the sea just north of Wellington, and then it was the long drive to Tongariro National Park. As we did the Tongariro Crossing last time, we thought we'd do it this time as an out and back going only through the volcanic bit. This also gave Andy the chance to climb Mt Ngaruhoue (aka Mt Doom). It's a massive cinder cone so (apparently) you climb 2 steps up, one back, but you get to scamper down the moving scree which is (apparently) great fun. The crater at the top fumes and steams but isn't a lava lake, so no chance to deal with the One Ring. As I write Andy is still trying to get the gravel out of his boots.

We both got awesome views of the craters and lakes on the crossing, well worth the scramble down terrain that is probably better climbed up. The resultant aches didn't stop a visit to Mt Ruapehu, which features a ski area on the slopes of an active volcano. As a result you can go up in a chair lift (tricky without skis), and Andy scrambled right up to the crater at 2800 metres. This is serious Rings filming country, all desolate volcanic formations and an air of orcs around every corner. Spooky, especially when the thunder began and we were urged to get down the chairlift with all haste.We're now in Napier admiring the Art Deco, and then it's probably off to the quieter parts of the eastern north island before heading for Auckland. As the area is the defintion of the 'back blocks' next update in a week or so.
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