New Zealand North Island

I have finally started scanning the slides from New Zealand, here is the first batch from the North Island. The main attraction are the geothermal active areas, which resemble Yellowstone in the US. The only difference is that since it is all located on private land, you have to pay an entrance fee for every single park you want to visit. We picked Wai'O'Tapu, one of the bigger areas, and browsed through sulfur-smelling landscape for a few hours. The colors of the water are fascinating, created by bacteria that only live at certain temperatures:

Our first hike would be "the best day hike in the world" as stated in every travel guide you could think of. Full of anticipation of going on the Tongariro Crossing, we got into the bus that took us to the trailhead (by the way, this is a source of income for I think half of the population, bussing tourists to their destination...), where we were released into nature with hundreds of others at the same time. We had to hike through lava fields and past volcanoes, very fascinating:

The group eventually broke up and we got to enjoy the surroundings; we started our final ascent of Red Crater, the highest point on the hike at over 1800 meters (yes, the metric system rules :-)). This is me on the last stretch with the active volcano Mt. Ngauruhoe in the background:

From the top of Red Crater we could see one of the highlights of the hike, Emerald Lakes, beautifully situated between barren land and old volcanoes:

Overall, the hike was very nice, but the title doesn't apply, I have done much better hikes. I also didn't enjoy the masses on the hike, but that was something we had to get used to. From Tongariro National Park we ventured south towards Wellington, stopping at Martinborough for some wine tasting (no crowds compared to Napa, which was really nice), and ended in Wellington, where we had to take a ferry to the South Island. The capital of New Zealand reminds me of San Francisco, situated on a Bay with some hills and seismic activity. We found the best comparison by hopping on the Cable Car on our way to the Botanical Gardens:

We also watched the opening game of the Wellington Hurricanes, the local professional rugby team. The Kiwis are extrmely excited about their rugby, it's all over the news, and people discuss it all day long. Even though I didn't remember all the rules, it was fun to watch, and I would recommend every NFL player to play a game without any protection to toughen up....