Getting "Belayed" at National Park

The last couple of days have been a bit slow due to some traveling, but we still managed to pack in some fun. On Tuesday, we headed out early leaving Abel Tasman behind to head for the vineyards of the Marlborough region. This was one of the activities Sue really wanted to do on this trip, so we started off early (they open at 10am) and went to as many as we could. All in all, we stopped at four wineries and agreed that by the end it had been the most wine we had ever had before noon. Not a bad way to prepare for getting on the ferry to cross over to the North Island.

Our trip on the ferry was not very eventful. After a morning of wine, we slept for a large portion of the trip which was fine, since that meant that no one got sea sick. The views were nice, but after seeing so much beautiful scenery already, we didn’t feel the need to take any photos. By the time we got over to Wellington (about 3 hours later), we made the short drive to our hostel and were ready for a good night sleep.

Today started early as we wanted to head up to National Park to get settled and find out information about the Tongariro Crossing Hiking Track. The weather wasn’t so great today so we hadn’t planned on doing any hiking until tomorrow. Turned out just as well because as it happens, our hostel actually has an indoor climbing gym that kept us occupied all afternoon (while doing laundry at the same time…what a concept!). After a brief lesson about how to do everything correctly, we were left on our own to do as much as we wanted. We managed to work our way around the gym trying all sorts of different paths and we all had a great time. It was a perfect way to spend a rainy afternoon after a morning of driving. And, the best part was that when we were finished, all we had to do was walk right upstairs and we were back in our room.

Tomorrow, we head out bright and early to do the Tongariro Crossing which is supposed to be “One of the best one day walks past an active volcano in New Zealand”.

Hope that you enjoy all the photos!