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.

Too Much To Catch Up On

Ok, it has been way to long since my last entry to catch up on everything I have been doing. To get a good idea check out my flickr page... www.flickr.com/photos/joseph_bolt although that is still asbout 3 weeks behind. I have done so much since my last entry. I met some really cool guys in Wanaka that I traveled around with, we got in the local paper for swimming to an island because some woman thought we were drowning and called the police. We had a great time together, did the Routburn track, another amazing walk athough it was windy and rainy and it even hailed on us at one point. The last day of the track was glorious though and we ran back the way we had gone the previous day to see the amazing sights we missed. We also got drunk....a lot! I have also visited Christchurch and been to the Frans Josef glacier and walkied up it, that was pretty cool. I also worked there for a week waiting for the weather to clear. I then at last SKYDIVED! over the Fox glacier, one of the bext experienced ever. I visited Athurs pass and climbed my first mountain that went higher than plants can grow, the view was spectacular. I have just finished doing the Able Tasman treck, a three day hike around the coast along some beautiful beaches and saw seals in the wild for the first time. A baby seal came up to see me when I was chilling on a rock, it was a really special moment. I am currently in Kaikora. I went whale watching today and saw, 3 sperm whales, a few Seals and a pod of around 150 dolphins!!!! Anyways that is a very brief description of what I have been doing, there has been so much more but I can't afford to spend the money on the net writing it all up. I have already overspent in NZ, and will soon be looking for a job to make some of it back. I am also planning to stay in NZ a couple of months longer than initailly planned cos its SO cool and I am only half way through.
Love you all,
Joe

Wanaka Pic

Just a photo of Wanaka to test new filter on camera.