good on ya mate

Heading out of Wellington, I took the bus up to the small town of Bulls. This is nothing more than a big intersection of roads where they put a town. From Bulls I grabbed a bus over to the town of Palmerston North to go and visit my Dad's old resident Adrienne. Palmerston North is where the largest university in New Zealand is, Massey University. I walked around the town for a bit before Adrienne picked me up and took me on a quick tour of the university. The town isn't too big and it was a weekday so there wouldn't be too much happening so Adrienne took me to the local pub for a bit of drinking. I was warned beforehand by my father not to try and keep up drinking with Adrienne, but what does he know he's a lightweight. Well I pretty much went down the taps trying the different types of Kiwi beers and ciders. Soon enough I realized that my dad was right (as usual). After tap hopping at the pub, we headed back to Adrienne's place where the whiskey was uncorked. I was passed out by the end of the first glass though.

I woke up in the morning pretty dehydrated and with a bit of a headache. Nothing that some water and marmite on toast won't cure. Adrienne was nice enough to give me a ride back to Bulls where I met up with the Kiwi bus again and we headed off for the town of Taupo. The drive is quite incredible once you leave the "normal" farmlands that make up the North Island and head into the central desert. This area isn't really a desert because there is quite a bit of rain, but the volcanic terrain from the three volcanoes, Ruapeju, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro, make it very hard for vegetation to grow here. The drive through the desert is amazing and quite a bit of the Lord of the Rings was filmed here. We drove through the desert and headed to Lake Taupo, the largest lake in New Zealand. We would be staying in the town of Taupo that night. Once arriving in Taupo, a bunch of us threw on our swimmies and headed to the local river. Along the river there is a small stream of thermal water which was about as hot as bath water flowing into the river which was nice and cool. It was fun going from hot to cold and swimming in between the two. We spent quite a bit of time here before heading back into town and heading out for the evening.

I didn't stay out too late because I had to be up at 5:30 to head back to Tongariro National Park to walk the Tongariro Crossing. This is supposed to be the nicest one day walk in New Zealand. We arrived at the park by seven in the morning and I was off to do the walk. The walk starts off easy through some scenic grass lands, but soon turns quite difficult as you start climbing the Devil's Staircase at the base of Mt Ngauruhoe. Before leaving, I talked to the ranger about climbing the mountain and he said only to do it if Devil's Staircase was easy. Well it wasn't easy, but it wasn't too hard. I decided to climb Mt Ngauruho. Most people know this mountain by it's now more popular name, Mt Doom. I think that Mt Doom is a more appropriate name. It is a steep climb with no track going up the mountain. Going up they suggested to follow the lava flow, as it will provide somewhat stable footing. It was only marginally stable though. It felt like I was taking two steps forward and one backwards. The climb provided amazing views all around, but it was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. After an hour and a half of painful climbing and slipping, I reached the top. I was rewarded by 360 degree views all around with amazing views of the other volcanoes and the volcanic lakes below. Well worth the climb. After a brief rest, I needed to be on my way back down. I was a little worried about this because it was so hard climbing up. Again I took the ranger's advice and headed to the scree on the side of the lava flow. In the scree you sort of ski/run/fall down the flow. It is one of the most fun things that I have done in my life. It was a lot like skiing only you get a hell of a lot of stones in your shoes that bust up your ankles and when you fall the rocks aren't as soft as snow. It was a fifteen minute ride down the mountain. When done, all I wanted to do was head back up and do it again; but I had a bus to catch so I had to get on my way. The rest of the walk was around Mt Tongariro where we had views of sulfur lakes, thermal vents, and just unusual terrain due to the volcanic activity. After the 18 km walk I was pretty wiped and ready to head back to Taupo for a beer.

Leaving Taupo the next day I headed up to Rotorua. The first stop in town was to the Maori Cultural Center. We had a really budget tour which explained where the Maori came from and a little about them first settling in New Zealand. It was more to get people to come to the cultural night. After checking in at the hostel, I headed to the local hot springs to go and relax for the afternoon. Rotorua has always been a tourist town, famous for its natural hot springs and thermal baths. That is why the whole town smells like sulfur. The afternoon was spent sitting in the pools of "healing minerals." The next day, there was no bus to head out of Rotorua so I was there again for the day. I spent the day with my friend Lena walking around town, going to the spa museum and heading to the local hill to do some street luge. Not a bad little town, but I was ready to get out of the stinky place.

Heading north from Taupo I made it to the big city, Auckland. Arriving late in the afternoon, I walked around the city for a bit, had some dinner with some friends and made it an early night. The next day I was up early to head up to the Bay of Islands for my last few days in New Zealand. The drive up was pretty nice, but it started to rain on the way. By the time we got up to Paihia, it was pretty wet and there was not much to see or do. I thought that I'd just leave everything until the next day. Well, the next day wasn't much better and I got caught in the worst rains to hit the Bay of Islands in recorded history. The road outside of the hostel was a swimming pool with the water washing over the hoods of the cars on the street. All of the roads were closed due to mud slides washing the road away. No power, nothing to do, and no way out. Not quite the trip I had planned but not everything can be perfect. Finally the next day, the roads had started to be cleared for access back to Auckland. On the drive back though we saw how bad the storm was. There were many places that were covered with trees, mud and other debris. All of the farms were all still under water. The place was just a mess. I didn't get to see much of the Bay of Islands, but it still was a crazy experience going up there.