North Island Golfing

The main goal of my trip was to play golf. I haven't been playing much (understatement) in the past few years. I think since 2009 I've played 3 times before this trip. In this trip alone, I've played 6 rounds and have one more add on tomorrow.
When I was looking for courses to play, knowing I was we'll out of my prime I figured I should probably still go big. The courses I was able to book are probably some of the hardest in New Zealand and rank up there in top lists around the world.
I started out in Auckland playing Gulf Harbour. A good starting course that wasn't too difficult but still showed me I was we'll out of my game. But I still scored alright. The views on the back were something else with the Auckland skyline in the background.








Next course I played was in Taupo called Wairekie. This course didn't have quite the scenery but it was a good bridge to get some practice in before what the next course was to bring.














The next round is arguably the toughest course in New Zealand. Kinloch is Jack Nicklaus' first and only course in New Zealand. He must be a sadist. The course has 172 bunkers. I got there before they opened and was pretty intimidated before even getting through the gates of the course.



I think I found literally the first one and it turned out to be a fairway pot bunker. This took ownership of shots two, three and four for the day. Not the best start.




I had 6 horrible holes that brought the score higher, but still managed to break 90. Though just barely.












Those are cows in the fairway. Or what would be the fairway on a normal course. Here, it's an electric fence marking out of bounds.




Some absolutely stunning views. But the next course would give it a run for its money. Both in views and difficulty.
I moved down to Hawke's Bay for some wine and golf. I played Cape Kidnappers which is an unbelievable course. The driveway in took 15 minutes and took you through this.




Just random, grazing live stock.
So far, this was my worst round. I couldn't get comfortable on the greens. Even with going to the driving range on my day off, I was still struggling a bit off the tee with the new driver. That just gave me more time to enjoy the views. I pulled the big camera out a lot here because the iPhone just wouldn't do it justice. The course buts up against Hawke's Bay on the ocean side of NZ. A few holes are right on the cliffs with a good 120 meter drop off on both sides of the fairway. Not much room for error.












This was looking back at the course from the beach below.



Today was my fifth and last round. It was also my best. It was at Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club which held the NZ Amateur stroke play championship last weekend. So the course was in pretty good shape. The entire island has been battling droughts so there were a few burn spots on the fairway, but it is a links course so you can kind of make your own way.







After the round today I was planning on just relaxing the last two days in Wellington. But since I didn't have anything planned or know what to do, I called the Royal Wellington to see if I could slot in early in the morning. I played with three members this morning and got tied into their game. I haven't played enough for an actual handicap so it's always a bit difficult when people ask. I told them I was playing to about a 14 which seemed correct, though maybe one or two high. By the end of the round, I think they thought I was sand bagging it. I shot a 79 and scorched the three members in their own course.




It was a nice round to finish on. I'll now have to look for a place to enter the scores to get a legit handicap for the next time someone asks.

Damnit!!!! I forgot the ring. Part II

I tried posting these a few days ago, but was having problems from my phone. So, I'll give it another shot.

I'm down in Hawke's Bay now for some more golf and wine drinking. And luckily, the place I'm staying has Wi-Fi so I can upload a few more pictures from the more treacherous spots of the day hike.

Most of these areas I started out with my camera but soon found out I might need two hands if I started to slide.

Without much ado, more pictures.


This was the start of the day at 7am. As soon as light broke, I was off.


This was my return trip from Blue Lake. I didn't look this steep as I was coming down. If you zoom in (or look closely) you can see people at the top. Yes, those are people. And I had to go up to get back to my car.


This was the start of Mount Doom. There wasn't a marked route here, so I tried to follow that group ahead. At times, I wanted to tell at them to find a more direct route. But was too exhausted.


This was where I started to get outside my comfort zone. Keeping my footing in running shoes wasn't the easiest and I was flat tired at that point. But then I looked down and realized there was no easy way down.


At the end of the day, in glad I got up early to get a parking spot in the car park and not on the street an extra 2k away. The night ended with a pretty spectacular sunset over the city.




More on the golfing tomorrow. After I recover from today's mentally draining round.

DAMNIT!!!! I forgot the ring!

I'm a few days into a vacation on the north island of New Zealand and I've been keeping pretty busy. Outside of a quick stop off in Auckland for a round of golf, I spent the next two days surrounded in the lands of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. I got a taste of in last year on the south island, but I went full on this time.
I drove about an hour south of Auckland to Matamata to Hobbiton. This is basically where the hobbits live. When they filmed the Lord of the Rings, they built the set out of polystyrene with the full intent to tear it down a d return the land to its owners exactly how they got it. Which was the contract. When they rebuilt the set for the Hobbit, the owner said it had to be built our of building materials (bricks, woods, etc) and had to remain after production wrapped. Because of this, you can visit exactly what it was like in the movies. And I must say, it's pretty cool.




















Everything is there from Bag End to the fake tree above it, to the massive part tree. They even rebuilt a full scale working Green Dragon. Where they make 2 beers exclusively for there.








The next day I spent 8 hours hiking the Tongariro Crossing which is rated as one of New Zealand's best hikes. Normally it goes from point A to point B, but because one of the volcanos erupted in November, they changed the route and made it into a there and back. I made a mistake which resulted in a hellish backtrack. But more on that later.
This area was used as Mordor and Mount Doom in the movies. As you can see from the pics, it's a pretty good location for it..








It was about a 3 hour hike to the Emereld Lakes where you we're told to stop if you were a day hiker. However,the guy behind the desk where I was staying said you could make it to Blue Lake. A part they just opened after the eruption. So I couldn't not go.








These two are of the Emerald Lakes. Very nice and descriptive.




This is Blue Lake. It should have been more blue based on my return trek. That's is steam rising from a volcano in the back. Not a cloud.
I apparently have a pic on my phone, so I'll have to post that later. Trust me, it sucked.
So I got back to the second point, hurting and tired wondered when I'd have the chance to climb Mount Doom again. Labeled as difficult and a 3 hour side trip I figured I'd give my self one hour up to see how far I could get. Let's just say I was unprepared. Both physically and without the right equipment. Again, this is volcano from a distance.




This is the volcano from the base.




Seems doable, right. You can see three rock ridges to left of the lava tracks. I made it to the top of the one on the far left. My legs were screaming at that point and I knew I was over my head when I was looking almost vertically up to the summit. There wasn't a specific path and I am not experienced enough to choose the easiest. I had to put my camera away at this point because I was worried about falling (or rather rolling down a volcano.)
This was the last pic I took before putting the camera away. The left are the rock ridges where I turned back.




This in the volcano from the parking lot to see just how high it was.




I made it half way. With another day I would have gone back with fresher legs, but still worth it.
Today I played some more golf and went white water rafting. The river includes the highest commercially rafter waterfall anywhere at 7 meters. And it was a blast, but more on that later. I'm hungry and need another beer.