New Location

OK, so like many travellers I quickly lost interest in what I was blogging and became more interested in doing stuff. Its been some years and I feel like a very different person now. Since my last entry I have been to China, Tibet, Japan, Thailand and Hong Kong and spend a long time back in the UK. I am currently living in Dalian in China and studying my MA in international photojournalism. If anyone it still paying attention to this blog you may be interested to know I have set up a new photography blog at http://josephboltphotography.blogspot.com/ and this is also connected to my new website at http://www.josephbolt.com/

I'm leaving New Zealand in 9 hours.....

....but I still have some time to kill and money on my internet card so its time to fill in the last few weeks.....


Mount Doom


Frozen plants at high passes of Tongoriro crossing.

Mount Doom

Tongariro Crossing (aka mordor)

Driving up 90 mile beach.

Dune surfing

Solar powered lighthouse, Northern most point of New Zealand.

View from Auckland sky tower

So, since Rotorua I have done SO much. My next stop was lake Taupo where I went horse treking...brilliant and a lot harder than I thought it would be. I don't think the horse liked me. I then went tramping on around the Tongoriro National park (aka Mordor) I had already done the 1 day crossing a couple of days before but it was so amazing I did a much bigger 2 day circuit include a really (and I mean really) touch climb to the top on the mountain used as Mount Doom in LOTR. Yes I did what Frodo and Sam did and feel their pain, it was a well scary climb, really steep and you couldn't get a foot in anywhere, all the ground crumbles away under your feet and there are so many times you can skid all the way to the bottom, plus when the wind blows all the volcanic sand at you and almost pushes you over all you can do is hold on to the least loose rock and hope for the best. But I made it to the top with amazing views over the plains where the battle scenes in the prologue in the films was shot, its bloody cool. After skidding down the mountain I spent 2 days tramping around these plains, its was bliss I didn't see a single person on the last day.

So after that in keeping with the Lord of the Rings theme I headed to the set of Hobbition!!!

After prancing around on the party field and in hobbit holes I headed back to Auckland, spent a few uneventful nights there and headed up towards the bay of island passing through the Kauri forest. I have now seen some of the biggest and oldest trees in the world. I saw one that is over 2000 years old, there is even one in the same forest (although I didn't see it) that is believed to be nearly 4000 years old!!!!!!! They are truly huge.

I arrived in the bay of islands and saw nothing due to bad weather but headed further North to the very top of NZ Cape R......(something or other), had a go a body boarding down giant sand dunes, drove along 90 mine beech and saw a solar powered lighthouse. My second visit to the Bay of Islands also saw rain and fog and as I boarded a coach to leave it became beautiful and sunny, but hey you cant win them all and the hostel I was at had a great movie collection.

I am now back in Auckland feeling very sad about leaving this wonderful country but excited to see more of the world.

AAArrrgggHHH & OOOOOOhh

AAArrrgggHHH (for caving) & OOOOOOhh (for thermal stuff)


Mud Pool, Rotorua, New Zealand.

Ok, so a couple of days ago I overcame one of the fears I have had since I was very young and that was caving. When I first heared of the concept as a child it both scared and excited me, so I had to try and overcome the fear in Waitomo. I was probably more nervous about doing this than even skydiving or bungy, I even thought about backing down when I saw the first tiny little crack in the ground we had to go in, plus me and this other dude went down the wrong tunnel and got lost right at the begining, however after my first absail down a waterfall I quickly overcame my fear and was crawling through holes and tunnels less than 2 foot in width, sliding down watery drops, climbing slippery walls and crawling through underground streams on my hands and knees. It was brilliant! I am now in the very smelly town of Rotorua, tis smelly cos of all the thermal things in the area, the earths crust here is only about 6km thick as apposed to the usual 60-70km. There are lots of thermal pools, geysers, steamy vents and bubbling mud pools, which today gave me the oportunity to take one of those obligatory photos I have always wanted to take....a mud bubble poping (see above). I spent ages trying to get the perfect pop! I am very pleased with the photograph but man did it stink!!! Does anyone remember the bog of eternal stench in the Labrinth??? Well I got some on me and I may stink for eternity now :(

Mount Egmont/Taranaki

Photograph of a small pool of water in volcanic rock under moonlight

Wow, despite having a bad knee at the moment (I see to have strained it from enjoying myself too much) I just finished a 2 day treck around Mount Taranaki (aka Egmont), the Volcanoe taht over looks new Plymouth and the one used in Last Samurai. I started off spending the night in this old hut a part of the way up the mountain, I had the whole hut to myself and everything creaked and it was cold and I was reading Lord of the Rings and Frodo was coming through Shelobs layer and seeing Mount Doom and I was also alone in the dark under the shadow of an impressive Volcano too and to be honest I spooked myself out a bit........but it was cool!!! The following day I woke up to an amazingly clear view, I could see all the way to the Tongariro nation park (and the actual Mount Doom from the film) and ate my breakfast enjoying the view and the solitude. I then climb half way up the montains North side and followed a track around over a cool slip and to the west side. I spent a few hours climbing down to some mashes between Mount Taranaki and Mount Pourakai and then climbed mount Pourakai and spent the night in a hut on there. Pourakai is the extinct volcano that was on the same fault as Taranaki before the plates moved over it. I spent the eventing talking to some German people that were there under candle light and I also went out taking some long exposure photographs under the full moonlight, it was amazing!!!

So after tramping Able Tazman......

....and whale watching in Kaikoura.....
....I went to meet my friend Richard in Wellington. Wellington is a pretty cool capital with nice parks and museums etc (all the stuff a good capital should have) and I am now in New Plymouth (where Richard lives at the moment). It is a really cool town by the sea with some of the best surf around and it is under the shadow of this spectacular volcano......
..... Its so beautiful but it makes it rain here a lot, tut tut. This is however one of the only places i the world that you can ski on the mountain in the morning and surf in the afternoon. Good eh?

I would also like to point out...

...that within the space of a week (and only a few hundred miles) I went from this.....


...to this....



....how crazy is New Zealand????

Failed to Mention Nelson...

Protected, unprotected tree, Motueka, New Zealand (see how all the bark has fallen off)


Boat on beach, Motueka, New Zealand.


Perfect Shells, Motueka, New Zealand


Closeup of boat, Motueka, New Zealand.


Shipwreck, Motueka, New Zealand.


Ok so in the rush of trying to fit evrything into my last entry I practically missed out Nelson. I stopped there (over easter weekend) between the Glaciers and the Able Tasman treck. It is my favoutite city in NZ so far, really chilled, beautiful, arty and just generally really nice feeling, I stayed in this really small hostel that semed more like staying at your grandparents house than a hostel, it was really nice, the owner even took me to a local town fair (just the sort of outing you would go on with your grand parents), it was a bit like the balloon festival without the balloons!!! Nelson is also the geographical centre of New Zealand and there is a nice walk up a hill which is the exact centre and you wouldn't believe how much of new Zealand you can see from that single point. From Nelson I went to Motueka (of which there are some photos above) and spent Easter Sunday and Monday relaxing by the beach there and taking lots of photos as it being Easter everything was shut, of course with it being out of the hottest weekends of my trip so far I wasn't going to complain about being forced onto the beach, especially not a quiet in tourist filled one. From there I went on to do the Able Tasman treck as mentioned before, a cool treck with several crossing that are tide dependant, if you don't reach certain beach crossing at the right time you have to swim (quite a challenge when your on a 3 day tramp with a backpack full of a tent, food and hopfull dry clothing etc.). Anyways that fills that gap in.