On our last day in Raglan, we decided to climb this big, awesome looking mountain that we could see from our hostel each day called the Sleeping Lady. It was right across the water from us, and it looked like it was sure to be a really great hike. Here's the view of it from our hostel porch:
We met up with our friends Dardan and Luise in the morning and together we all climbed up from the right side, starting near the famous Raglan surf beach. As we worked our way up the narrow dirt trail, we quickly discovered that we were right, it was surely going to be a great hike. Though it was quite steep, the lush forest we were making our way through and the breathtaking views from the top of the mountain were well worth breaking a sweat for. Here you can see the path that we were climbing up on:
As we neared the top of the mountain, the trail got much steeper and more treacherous. Eventually, we were met with vertical rock faces that we needed to climb up, with no more assistance than a few chains that were bolted into the side of the rock. At this part of the climb, possibly because of all the shade provided by the trees that were surrounding us, all of the rocks we were climbing were totally covered with mud. This made them very slippery, and we all lost our footing more than a few times. It was all very well worth it, though, once we reached the top, and were met with this spectacular view of the rolling hills and Raglan below:
After our descent, we said goodbye to Dardan and Luise until we next would see them, and Simon, Kellogg and I piled into the car and headed for Waitomo, the home of the black water rafting caves that are famous for being full of glow worms. On our way to the caves, we stopped in to this aviary called the Kiwi House, hoping to finally see some native Kiwi birds. We did, and they were really funny things to see in the flesh; they're incredibly plump with ridiculously stubby wings and a long skinny beak, and they waddle around much like penguins, jabbing their beaks into the ground to look for food and pass the time. We were also able to see a lot of other really special birds at the Kiwi House, like Kingfishers and vibrantly colored parakeets, as well as a Tuatara, which is the last surviving dinosaur that remains unevolved.
After our visit to the Kiwi House, we continued on into Waitomo, where we stopped to visit the black water rafting and glowworm caves. The caves were pretty cool; their interiors were made up almost entirely of limestone, which was full of ancient fossils from when the ocean filled them, and there were glow worms around almost every turn. They were really hard to get a good photo of, but here's the best one I could manage:
We weren't allowed to take pictures in the darkest parts of the caves where the glowworms were the most concentrated, so I apologize for that.
We didn't spend the night in Waitomo, as it was an incredibly small town, but instead we headed for Turangi, which allows the best access to Mordor and Mt. Doom. We also found a hostel that had really good reviews for just 18 dollars a night there, which we were really excited about. It did turn out to be an amazing hostel, full, once again, of really friendly people and totally covered with really well done artistic renderings of pop-culture icons like the Lord of the Rings Fellowship, Gollum with his precious, Timon, Pumba, and Simba, and even the Simpsons. From our hostel, Simon and I set out for the famous Turangi mountain crossing, which essentially goes right through Mordor and passes by Mt. Doom after about a seven kilometer walk. Mordor looked almost exactly like it did in the films, with no trees, grass, or animals anywhere, and for the first time since we've been in New Zealand we couldn't hear the jubilant chirp chirping of a a single bird. Mt. Doom was a truly intimidating sight; it was incredibly steep, with no hiking trails up it whatsoever, and the entire thing was covered in rocks, which we soon found were really sharp. From the crossing path, Mt. Doom looks like this:
The climb up the mountain was so steep that we literally had to crawl up on all fours the entire way, using both our hands and both our feet at all times so as to negotiate the rocky terrain without losing our balance or our footing and tumbling all the way back down the mountain, which would surely end in a split skull on a jagged rock and instant death, since there is nothing else to break your fall. The rocks would also slide out from under your feet with every step, which made the progress up the mountain even slower as you would slide back down two or three inches for every five or six inches you stepped up. This also caused frequent rockslides, and you had to be ever alert of climbers up ahead who were similarly always sending streams of rocks tumbling down the mountain towards you. As we neared the top, we caught sight of numerous big patches of snow, despite the fact that it's the middle of summer here, right next to a steaming vent in the mountain where smoke is ever rising up from the molten lava below. The snow made the climbing slippery, but it was only a short way from there until we reached the summit. There, we were greeted with the most awe-inspiring view of New Zealand country that we have yet seen:
We had climbed so high that we were literally in the clouds.
The descent back down Mt. Doom was really crazy; the only thing I can liken it to is skiing down rocks, with no skis. We slid literally the entire way, and we each fell back on our butts at least 30 times as the rocks continued to slide out from under us, followed quickly by our legs. Climbing Mt. Doom was certainly one of the toughest things I've ever done, and though I'm glad to have done it once, I definitely won't be doing it again.
We've just left our hostel in Turangi this morning, and I'm sitting in the public library writing this post before we head out of town and make for Rotorua. Rotorua is the Maori capital of New Zealand, and we're planning on partaking in a Maori feast there, as well as seeing some more glowworms, practicing the Haka, and maybe even visiting a big geyser that we've heard a lot about. I'll of course update the blog with those experiences after we've had them, and I'll do my best to keep them all documented via photos as well. Thanks a lot for reading, everyone, and feel free to drop me a facebook message any time...it's always great to hear from back home. Kia ora!
This is Jack Wright, signing off from the adventure capital of the world
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