Greetings from Auckland, New Zealand. In the last few days I’ve made my way from Wellington to Auckland, stopping in Taupo, Waitomo and Rotorua. In Taupo we had the opportunity, as weather cooperated, to embark on the Tongariro Crossing, a 19 km hike which crosses a volcano. The hike often gets cancelled due to winds up to 80 mph and harsh weather conditions at that altitude. We were under cloud cover most of the time at the peak, however got a few breaks in the haze to get some great shots. The next day Podge, a friend from the tour bus, and myself got picked up via van and brought to Waitomo where we went cave diving. The day started with repelling 6 stories down the “Black Abyss” into the start of the cave, then zip-lining from there to the heart of the cave. After which we jumped of a small cave cliff edge into an underground river were I then understood why we had wetsuits on. The day ended by climbing the underground waterfalls to exit the cave. It was definitely Goonies, full on. Yesterday we spent a modest night out in Rotorua then I caught the tour bus to Auckland. I’ll be heading out of here tomorrow morning heading to Paihia (Bay of Islands) to do some dolphin swimming and sea kayaking, weather permitting. I’m not sure where my next country destination is, as I have to be out of New Zealand on the 18th. I’ll likely crash the airport and try to snag some last minute flight deals. It’s a wait and see. Until next time!
Your pictures are incredible. Is that really called Mount Doom?
No, Mount Doom is a mountain from Lord of the Rings, this was the mountain they used as Mount Doom. Go to sleep, its past 1 am there.
I swear I saw Chunk and Mikey peeking out from behind a rock…And there’s Data with his amazing “sticky shoes”