Serious Fun

Hello, and welcome to the North Island. Those of you who frequent my blog have been here before, but let me assure that this experience is wholly different from the first. For one, we went to different places. For another, we nearly destroyed ourselves with over-extertion (being defined as hiking and caving). Let's watch!


This is actually in Blenheim the day before we caught the ferry north. The Keg and Cork was an "English-Style" pub and microbrew. Really nice cider and beer. And a very bizarre book on London pubs. I think it was supposed to be funny, but I'm not sure.


At the hostel in Blenheim. Good thing we had to wake up so early, because I managed to make it through the night without having to stumble out of bed and find the bathroom. It might have been a lethal arrangement otherwise. Ironically, a similarly induced injury would prove to be the most serious on the trip. But more on that later.


A nice man took this for us on the ferry ride, since our self-timer abilities were severally lacking. Completely different from my first ride, partially because we were going a different direction, and partially because it wasn't bitterly bitterly cold out on the deck. I didn't manage to spot my house in the hills unfortunately.


We spent the day in Wellington after our early ferry got in. This is the boardwalk they built over a busy road to connect the government buildings to the waterfront. Good times, good times.


So, industrious tourists that we are, we decided to undertake the Tongariro Crossing, a 17km hike lasting 6-7 (or in some cases 8) hours and winding its way between two active volcanoes. One is in the background. We believe it to be Mt. Doom, so there's our obligatory LOTR stop taken care of!


It is preported to be the most popular walk in NZ, and we had to believe it considering how many people were on the walk with us, although the fog kept them covered for much of the time. Still, it was a strange scene to be so far into nature with so many other people. I had to feel a small sense of comraderie with them by the time we were all passed out on the grass at the end waiting for our buses to pick us up.


Stopped at the Red Crater to eat lunch in the sulfurous mist. Not suprisingly, we were undeterred from eating. Our normal propensity for snacking aside, we'd just hiked up about three of the rock faces from the picture before this one.


The changes in landscape over the course of the 8 hours is really amazing. By the time we got past the StrongSad rest stop with more grumpy and morose looking people than we'd seen all day, and into the forest, our smiles (and feet, back, knees) were wearing thin as well.


But we made it. In relatively good form and with just enough time to collapse before the bus arrived, despite Kelly pulling an Ansel Adams. That pack? It's mostly camera.

The next day, just for good measure, we went to the Waitomo Caves to see the glow worms. We abseiled, caved, and our Texan training came in handy when we sat in inner-tubes and floated through the stream. Adjustements had to be made for the inclusion of wetsuits and miner's hats in the activity, and the absence of beer. But all in all it went down pretty well. And the worms were definitely worth the frigid water and soaking wet gumboots. Even though the mood was slightly wrecked when we were informed that what we were actually staring at was glowing maggot poo. Did I mention how great our guide was?

The rest of the vacation was spent recovering on a beach in the Coromandel. I couldn't be bothered to take pictures. It was pretty. And we spent a day in Auckland with my friend Gina and her flatmate Natalie who were super-cool and put up with all three of us and our internet addiction. It was rainy and cold the last day, so we went to the aquarium and saw the sharks and sting rays and PENGUINS! They are so cool.

-In Conclusion



God Bless this little car. It took us all over--mostly in 2nd gear, but still-- put up with our confusion about sides of the road, and carried our rimaculously increasing amounts of luggage and food.


This is it, the most serious injury of the trip. I missed the second to last rung on my bunkbed ladder in Wellington and banged my shin on the last rung. Nice, huh? I'm sure you're all proud to know me.


But otherwise our legs were greatly improved by the trip. Oooooo, aaaaaaah...

So,



New Zealand is neat--


but it will kick your bum.