South as!

Tuesday we headed for the bottom of the south Island. We went through Invercargill, down to Bluff. Bluff is the southernmost town on the south Island. It is also where state Highway 1 begins in the south. State highway 1 goes north from Bluff to run the entire length of New Zealand (of course with a break in between).

From Bluff, about half of us took the hour long ferry ride over to Stewart Island, the southernmost of the main Island's of New Zealand. Stewart island is tiny in comparison to the two main islands, and 85% of its landmass is National park. Unfortunately we did not have enough time to enter the National park; so we spent our time in Oban, Stewart Island's only town. A few of us decided to go in together and rent a car so we could drive Stewart Island's whopping 29 kilometers of roads. The roads only provided access to Oban and the immediate harbors adjacent to it. They do not go into the interior of the island at all.

Our expedition of discovery of Oban and the surrounding bays yielded the following results; there is not much going on on Stewart Island. It also rained most of the time we were there. I must say though, it was pretty neat being on an island that is so far south; closer by far to Antarctica than to Texas, and realize that the vast majority of human civilization has never been as far south as I was at the moment. The weather was mild, I wore a hoodie to keep warm, but it was by no means frigid. It also stayed light outside tall nearly 10:00 PM. This is due to the Island being on the western end of the time zone, and being so far south (this end of the planet is tilted more toward the sun right now, hince it is summer time).

HUGH'S TRIVIA FACT OF THE DAY. Stewart Island lies in the midst of some of the most pristine open ocean in the world. Therefore the rain that they receive is incredibly clean. As a result all of the water used for drinking, washing, flushing toilets etc. on the island comes entirely from collected rainwater. From the time we boarded the ferry, we were asked to please conserve water during our stay. Pretty cool.

The next morning, we took the ferry back to Bluff, got on the buss and headed for Dunedin. We made a few stops along the way. We stopped at a beach that is actually the southernmost point of the south Island of New Zealand (I can now say that I have been to both ends of the main part of New Zealand). While there we were standing on the beach, and noticed a head popping up out of the water. The next thing we knew, a really big sea lion came out of the water and hobbled up the beach right in front of us and stopped, seemingly posing for photographs. It sat there for a while, chasing back the occasional person, seemingly simply for sport, and then rolled around in the sand. It was pretty cool. Just about 50 yards away laying in the dune grass, was a male. He was huge. We all took pictures and cautiously kept our distance.

We continued on, stopping at a penguin preserve, but saw no penguins. Finally we made it into Dunedin. The bus driver was kind enough to drop me at the airport, after a few hours I caught a flight back to Auckland. I have been here for the past few nights regaining my sanity, and enjoying sleeping in a room that I am not sharing with 5 or 6 other people.

Tomorrow morning I leave to go to Sydney! I am super excited about this. Don't get me wrong, New Zealand has been amazing, but I have wanted to go to Australia since I was a child. Aussie here I come.

Fjordland... Isn't that a type of car?

Saturday we left Franz Josef, headed for Makarora. We made a few stops along the way, saw some cool stuff, but all in all it was an uneventful day. We stayed the night at the Makarora Wilderness retreat, in the middle of NO WHERE. Which brings us to...

TRIVIA TIME WITH HUGH: The population of New Zealand equals only about 4 million. Of those, 1.5 million live in Auckland. Which leaves 2.5 million for the rest of the country. Though the south island is larger than the north, the vast majority of it is wilderness. Three million in total live on the north island, leaving only 1 million people who live on the south island. Around 300,000 of those live in New Zealand's second largest city, Christchurch. Which leaves only 700,000 people scattered over quite a large island. Most of those left live in other urban centers like Queenstown, Nelson, Duneden and so forth. Hince, large portions of the south island lay as unsettled wilderness.

It was on this leg of the trip that I was properly introduced to Sandflies. These are horrible, horrible creatures. The best way to describe them is; mosquitoes on steroids, and lots of them. This area is largely Sub-tropical rain forrest, which is a haven for the Sandfly, so we all got to know sand flies quite well.

We left Makarora headed for Queenstown. There was lots to see and do along the way. The drive was beautiful, once again, largely across wilderness. We stopped and saw several waterfalls, some beautiful rivers, and crossed the Haast Pass. This pass traverses the mountains that run along the length of the west coast. Once over the pass we were inland and well on our way to Queenstown.

A bit further down the road, we stopped at a sign on the side of the road marking the 45th parallel. This is the latitudinal line that marks the 45 degree, or half way point between the equator and the south pole. Upon crossing this marker, we were closer to the south pole than the equator; truly, and without question, "down under."

We continued on, stopping for those who wished to bungy jump do so. I was happy to watch and take pictures, but did not partake. We finally arrived in Queenstown. We were there for 2 nights. I used the time to do some much needed laundry, and relax.

This morning we left Queenstown, passing the the "Remarkables" mountain range that is visible from the city. This range was used in the Lord of the Rings, it is easy to see why. They are truly amazingly beautiful, and just looking at them seems to somehow transport you into the story.

Our main stop today was the Milford Sound in the Fjordland National Park. The entire region was carved out by glaciers and is absolutely stunningly beautiful. Mountains appear out of a flat valley, and shoot straight up, some over 1000 meters. It is a very surreal place. When taking in the views, one feels like they are on another planet. We drove through the park, through a tunnel that cut directly through a mountain and then traveled on to Milford Sound. Once there, we got onto a boat and took a cruise around the sound. It was stunning. Once again mountains shot straight up out of the water to unbelievable heights, many with amazing waterfalls plummeting down the sides of the mountains into the water below. It is unbelievable that places like this exist. The whole experience was simply indescribable. An unbelievable amount of beauty permeates the place, and one cannot help but be in awe of the entire experience in the park.

TRIVIA TIME WITH HUGH: The Fjordland National Park is New Zealand's largest park. In Fact, the park covers 1/5th or 20% of the landmass of New Zealand. The area is also a World Heritage Site, a designation given through the United Nations, which recognizes an area's unique qualities and preciousness to humanity.

We moved along from there and are staying the night in Tuatapere. Tomorrow we travel to Invercargill, the southern-most city of the south island. For those who may have seen the movie "The Fastest Indian," the main character of the film is from Invercargill. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. It is a great film.

From Invercargill, some of us (including myself) will take the ferry to New Zealand's third major island, Stewart Island (a relatively small island just south of Invercargill). We will spend the night there. I will likely not post from there, as the island is very primitive (no electricity except what is provided by private generators). I am very excited about this stay. The stars are supposed to be amazing if the weather is clear. Not to mention that when standing on the south shore, nothing stands between you and Antarctica. Sounds pretty cool to me.

The following day, we travel to Duneden. From there I fly back to Auckland, ending my tour of New Zealand.

Franz Josef Glacier

After we left Barrytown, we headed on down to Franz Josef. Franz Josef is the gateway to the Franz Josef glacier. It is a small town, that exists pretty much entirely to give tourists a place to stay, and provide a base to leave from and return to on the various glacial activities available.

Myself and a few others on my bus chose to do a full day hike on the glacier today. It was an 8 hour hike total, with about 6 hours actually spent on the ice. The experience was beyond anything that I can describe. I sit here so exhausted from the experience, but so glad that I did it.

Just a bit of info: The glacier, if I remember correctly, is around 12 kilometers long, an average of 400-500 meters wide, and an average of 300 meters thick. It is quite a chunk of ice. It is a bit of an oddity as it is only 300 meters above sea level at its lowest point and is surrounded by rain forest (not the tropical variety). The entire glacier and area is labeled as a "world heritage site." It was named Franz Josef in 1865 by a German explorer, who give the glacier the same name as the then emperor of Austria. The Maori have a wonderful story for how the glacier came to be. Which bring us to...

MAORI STORY TIME WITH HUGH: The Maori name for the glacier is Ka Roimata o Hinehukatere ('The tears of Hinehukatere'), arising from a local legend: Hinehukatere loved climbing in the mountains and persuaded her lover, Tawe, to climb with her. Tawe was a less experienced climber than Hinehukatere but loved to accompany her until an avalanche swept Tawe from the peaks to his death. Hinehukatere was broken hearted and her many tears flowed down the mountain and froze to form the glacier. (source Wikipedia).

We started the day getting out to the glacier (which was no walk in the park in itself), and then splitting up into groups. Each group had a trained guide that leads hikes on the glacier every day. Our guide's name was Bazzel, and he did a fantastic job. There were 5 groups, that varied in degree of difficulty (1 being the most difficult). I was in group 2, which essentially did the exact same thing as group one, so it was really cool. As the groups go out in their various directions, the guide leads the way, as a path finder. He carried a pic with him, and when we came to areas that may need some work on the path to get the group over he would chip away at the ice, clearing the trail, or carving stairs, whatever the situation required.

Just getting onto the ice is a monumental task in itself. On the way in, we walked through the rain forest, and through a riverbed. All along the trail we walked past sign after sign, even crossing a fence; all warning of the impending danger that awaited us. The most immediate danger comes from the terminal face (front edge) of the glacier itself, as the glacier is in constant movement, and huge chunks of ice break off with no warning. Just last week there were a couple of Australian guys who died at the terminal face of the Fox glacier, not too far from here. They simply ignored the warning signs, walked up to the glacier, and were crushed by falling ice. Luckily though, our approach didn't take us to the terminal face, but to the side. Just before we reached the glacier we stopped and put on our capons (metal spikes that strap to your boots so you can walk on the ice), and away we went. Once we were on the glacier, the fun began.

The experience was amazing. We passed through a few caves through the ice, and traversed several deep crevasses. Many of the narrower ones , our guide would simply carve out steps on either side and we would traverse these huge cracks in the ice by straddling them and making our way along the crevasse. It was in those places that the ice was the bluest. It was a deep blue, almost the color of the sky. We travel up, down, around, and all over the lower portion of the glacier. The upper portions are not safe, because there is a point far up where the glacier plunges from high on the mountain, to the glacial valley below. In these ares, the ice towers high above, and can collapse at any time. So, we stayed on the lower portion of the glacier. The experience was one that I will never forget.

The glacial valley has been carved between two mountains, leaving a shear face of several hundred meters on the sides of the mountains to either side, with a nearly vertical plunge from the top. This made for magnificent views from the glacier where waterfalls would plunge from the top of the mountains, perhaps hitting a couple of outcroppings on the way down, and finally plunging into the glacier, or the valley floor. Some were large and quite breathtaking, others were small, and looked like strands of thread hanging down the side of the mountains. There was one in particular that was gorgeous, and we could see it from practically everywhere on the glacier. I bet I took 50 pictures of it throughout the day.

It's worth mentioning now that glaciers are not just huge blocks of smooth ice. In fact, from the time that I left the parking lot in the morning, until the time I got back in the evening, I literally don't think my foot was on a level surface the entire day. Not only is the surface underfoot tough, but the greater topography of the glacier is very turbulent, with peaks and valleys, ups and downs; the glacier is really like a river of solid ice. Imagine watching water going through a whitewater rapid, and then slowing that water way down, but having all the same movement and turbulence. Now freeze that water, increase it to a massive scale, and that is sort of what it was like... once again on a massive scale.

The whole day was beyond words. I am still trying to take in the massiveness (is that even a word?), and wonder of it all. The beauty is simply un-believable, and the experience is one that I will never forget.

Onward

Yesterday we made the crossing on the ferry from Wellington to the south island. The crossing took about 3 hours and was relatively uneventful. After arriving, we got off and hopped on a new bus and headed out. We made a few stops along throughout the day for pictures, groceries etc. We arrived last night in the Abel Tasman National Park. The park is named so because it was the place where Abel Tasman (A Dutch explorer), first anchored off the shore of New Zealand and tried to make contact with the locals. Which brings us to...

HISTORY TIME WITH HUGH: When Abel Tasman first discovered the south island of New Zealand, he anchored just off the shore and sounded a horn from his ship, as was a European Maritime custom to greet people on shore and in other ships. The signal is intended to show that you mean no harm. What Tasman did not know was that the sounding of a horn meant there was a battle coming to the Maori listening ashore. He sent out a greeting party who were subsequently slaughtered on the beach. Abel Tasman left New Zealand, never having set foot ashore. Imagine, had he simply not blown the horn, New Zealand Might well have been a Dutch colony instead of British. Funny how history works like that, eh?

Most people spend two nights in the Abel Tasman because of its native beauty, but I am more interested in the southern end of the south island, so I continued on today. We drove down the west coast, stopping for photos, to see a New Zealand Furry Seal colony, and to see the pancake rocks and blowholes. Tonight we are staying in Barrytown, a tiny village on the west cost. Tomorrow we continue on to Franz Joseph. There we'll do a glacier hike.

Windy Welli

This morning we left the Tongariro National park, and headed for Wellington. We had a few stops along the way, it was a good drive.

We arrived in Wellington, and got checked into our hostel, and I went out. I only have one night here, and really had a lot that I wanted to see. I visited Te Papa, the national museum of New Zealand, and walked down and saw the capitol grounds. At that point I was a bit lost, so I called a friend from here that I met earlier on my tour (we were on the same bus for a while). She came and found me and we hopped on the cable car downtown. The cable car was cool, not just because I have never ridden one, but because you can get on it downtown and it will pull you up the hill and in 5 minutes time you can be walking in the botanical gardens, which are amazing. We went and watched a band warming up in the park, but had to leave before they actually played because I needed to get back. We walked around the city a bit more, she showed me all of the essentials that one must see in Wellington, and now I'm back at the hostel. It really is a very cool city.I had an awesome time, although I am still extremely sore from the Tongariro crossing, so I sort-of waddled throughout the city.

Wellington is a very windy city. That tid bit one doesn't fit anywhere else, and isn't enough information to earn a "Hugh's trivia fact of the day" title. So there it is.

For those of you interested in the Lord of the Rings update, there were many scenes throughout the movies filmed here in Wellington and surrounding areas. Many of the city parks were utilized, as well as the side of Mt. Victoria that overlooks the city. I am also staying directly across the street from the theater where the trilogy saw its world premiere. I may see about going over and catching a move later this evening.

Into the heart of Mordor

Today was an amazing day. Myself and several others on my tour did the Tongariro Alpine Crossing; a 19.4 kilometer (just over 12 miles) trek through the Tongariro National Park. This may not seem that ominous or noteworthy, until you realize that Tongariro National park is home to five mountains, including Mt. Ngauruhoe, otherwise known as Mt. Doom from the Lord of the Rings.

Our day started early, and we drove out to the park. We got any gear we needed, hiking boots, a rainproof coat (just in case), and so on; and drove to the starting area. We were dropped off there at around 8:45, and our seven hour epic began. Now, this is not a loop, it's a track through the park. There is no turning back, once you have started you must make the trek. We walked for close to an hour through a valley between two mountains, making the occasional assent, but nothing very eventful. The scenery was beautiful.

After about an hour we came to what is called "the Devil's Stairs," which are very aptly named I can assure you. This was about 45 minutes to an hour worth of hiking up a mountain pass between Mt. Ngauruhoe (Mt. Doom), and Mt. Tongariro. This was not an easy leg of the trek. Let's just say, no one in our group has any need to do a stair-master workout tonight!

We reached a leg finally where the track leveled out and we could stop for an extended break. At this same spot, was the junction for the trail that lead to the summit of "Mt. Doom." From the beginning of the trek, "Mt. Doom" had been visible to us for the entire time (I bet I took 50 pictures of it). It really does look quite vexing, even in real life. We elected not to try for the summit, because at this point we still had around four hours to go, as pickup was at 4:30 sharp, and the trek to the summit was a 3 hour return from that point. There were, however, some guys in our group that ran the first part of the track (I can't even comprehend that) to have a chance to make the summit (three of them made it). Another reason for not taking the summit was that the summit was still around 1000 meters above where we were after climbing the Devil's staircase.

After the devil's staircase, the clouds rolled in. We went up another pass, climbing higher to a high plateau. The feeling was bizarre. Since we were in the clouds, we couldn't see very far, there was no vegetation at all, and the area was littered with all sorts of stones and rocks. It felt like we were on another planet! But it was flat and level, so we welcomed it after the rapid assent we had made.

We came then to another climbing section. After we had been on that for around 30 or 40 minutes, we stopped for lunch. Since we were still in the clouds and couldn't see, we thought that our assent was complete, and the rest was downhill. It even looked that way on our map... It wasn't. We ascended for another 30 minutes or so, passing red crater (usually a highlight, and big photo-op on the trek, but we couldn't see it because of the clouds.) and climbed a bit more to the Emerald lakes; which we could just make out through the clouds.

From this point, the trek was downhill. We passed between Mt. Tongariro and Mt. Te Maari, past a crater lake, called blue lake (that we couldn't see due to the clouds); and then continuing on. We eventually came down out of the clouds, stopping at a DOC (Dept. of conservation) hut to rest and refill water bottles, and then continuing on the rest of the way to our pickup point.

The scenery was absolutely stunning, and though the trek was among one of the most physically challenging things I have ever done, and the clouds shrouded much of the scenery of the upper parts of the track from view; I still wouldn't trade it for anything. It truly was an awesome experience.

There was a quote that ran through my head all day, through the times that the going was easy and the scenery was extraordinary; to the times that the going was not so easy, and wondered why I had even considered doing this in the first place. Sir. Edmund Hillary, a Kiwi (New Zealander), and the first man (along with his Tibetan guide) to climb to the summit of Mt. Everest coined the simple, yet profound phrase:

- “There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.”

On the road again.

Yesterday we traveled from Gisborne to Rotorua. We made stops along the way for photos and a swim stop at a river. It was great. We were in this beautiful gorge in the middle of nowhere. Finally we stopped to put our feet into a thermal pool for a while. We stayed in Rotorua last night and all had fish and chips together. Our guide for the east cape, Jason, labeled all of the places that we had stopped while on out east cape tour. It was great that he did that, my map is starting to fill up.

I failed to mention before, but Rotorua is a very geologically active area with a host of geysers, hot springs, boiling mud pools, and thermal pools. The smell of sulfur hangs in the air everywhere you go. It is a gorgeous area with a great deal of history, first with the Maori and later with British settlers.

Today I hopped back on the main stray bus, and tonight we are in Taupo. Along the way we stopped at the boiling mud pools, just outside of Rotorua. That was really a sight to see.

Further along we stopped at the massive Huka Falls. The water begins crystal clear and turns to a deep blue as the water gets rough going through the gorge, and then finally tumbles over the edge in massive proportions. I can't exactly recall, because I don't have my camera (I took a picture of the sign with the information), but I believe the volume of water is around 650 cubic liters per second. If you don't speak metric, just know... that is a lot of water.

Tonight I am in Taupo. If you look at a map of new Zealand, there is a big lake right in the middle of the north island, that is Lake Taupo. The lake is the giant crater of a giant volcano that erupted sometime around 100 AD.

Tomorrow we head for Tongariro National Park. If the weather is favorable, we will make the Tongarario Alpine Crossing. This is a hike through the park that is around 18.5 kilometers, and takes 8 hours. It passes by, and if you have enough time you may take the track to the summit of, Mt. Ngauruhoe. You may know this mountain as the ominous and vexing "Mt. Doom" from "The Lord of the Rings."

HUGH'S QUOTE OF THE DAY: “People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things.” Sir Edmund Hillary.

... ten meters? We're getting worse instead of better.

The last two days were amazing.

Day Before yesterday, our East Cape tour started from Rotorua. We made a few stops along the way, heading east. We stayed the night in paradise. It was a backpackers hostel, but it was nothing short of amazing. It is built on a private bay, owned by a Maori family, who run the hostel. The whole place was great, built in among native Pohutukawa trees. The "Lonely Planet Guidebook to New Zealand," lists the spot as something Robinson Crusoe would be proud of. The hostel itself is amazing, but the location is what makes the whole thing. No one in our group wanted to leave. It is truly one of the most beautiful and relaxing places I have ever seen.

Yesterday morning we got up and continued around the east cape. We stopped at several places along the way to take pictures of the scenery. We stopped in one place to take pictures of the world's largest Pohutukawa tree. The Pohutukawa is a native New Zealand tree also known as the "New Zealand Christmas Tree" because around Christmas time, the entire tree blooms into a crimson red. It's really beautiful.

We stopped at some historic churches as well, one in particular built by the great Maori Apirana Ngata in memory of the Maori soldiers who died in World war One. The inside of the church is decorated with all sorts of beautiful maori carvings and symbolism. It's an amazing mixture of Maori cultural symbolism in a historic church.

HISTORY TIME WITH HUGH: The east cape is a region of New Zealand that remains relatively un-tapped because of it's heritage. It's indigenous Maori were the only Maori in New Zealand to defeat the British during the land wars. Because of this, the region is still heavily populated by Maori today.

In the afternoon, we started hitting beaches. We stopped and had a swim at Tokomaru bay. After that we went on to Tolaga Bay, a small town that had a good fish and chips shop. Our driver for this tour is Maori, he told us about a bridge in this town over the Waiapu river. This particular bridge is popular with Maori kids, who jump off of it into the Waiapu river, about 10 or 11 meters (more than 30 ft.) below. Before he ate, our guide decided he was going to jump off the bridge. He went up and jumped with all of us watching. It just looked like too much fun, so I did it too. IT WAS AWESOME (relax mom I'm fine). I've never jumped from anything that high... it takes quite a long time to get to the water. I climbed up and jumped before I had time to think about it, it was only on the way that I thought, "wow, this bridge is really high."

We hit a few more beaches on the way around, and had a hangi for supper. We spent the night a hostel in Gisborne. I got up this morning to watch the sunrise because...

HUGH'S TIDBIT OF TRIVIA FOR THE DAY: The East cape of New Zealand is the first place in the world to see the sun in the new day. The international date line runs just off the coast, it actually zig zags around the east cape, so that New Zealand doesn't have to be in two different days. This was determined during the millennium celebrations when all of the various news media outlets wanted to report from the place that saw the sun first. The Chatham Island's disputed that they were first, but after some study and observation of sunrise at both locations, the title was given to the East Cape of New Zealand.

Today we are heading back to Rotorua, and getting back on the main tour tomorrow.

Seven meters... you're kidding, right?

Last night was a blast!

It was a Maori cultural night at "Uncle Boyd's." Uncle Boyd is a Maori man who built a Maori cultural center in honor of his parents to show the Maori culture to all who choose to come. We first arrived and ate a Maori Hangi, which is a traditional meal, cooked in a hole in the gound. The food was very good. After supper, the oldest guy in our group was identified as our chief, and we entered the Mauri (central meeting place, literally translates into "house," because the entire village slept together in the Mauri as a community).

Upon entering the Mauri, there was a group a Maori who then began a ritual of determining if we were friend or foe. After the Maori men did the haka, a traditional dance meant to ward off enemies (and let me tell you, it's pretty intimidating), Our chief had to step forward and pick up a leaf that had been laid on the ground in front of him by the Maori warriors. Once he picked up the leaf, we were accepted into the tribe, literally, we are all now considered part of the tribe. He was warned, he did not want to find out what would happen if he did not pick up the leaf (at least not what would have happened 100+ years ago). The acceptance was followed by a hongi (a traditional Maori greeting where two shake hands, while touching forehead and nose to forehead and nose) between all present. It was really cool.

The next half hour or so was a cultural show, where the Maori who were there sang various traditional songs, while doing their traditional Maori dances with them.

After that we split up, the guys went to learn the Haka, and the girls stayed in the Mauri to learn the poi (a traditional dance done by Maori women). The haka is well known in New Zealand. Besides being huge part of the Maori culture, New Zealand's national rugby team, the "All Blacks," perform the haka before their opponents prior to the start of every match. There are several hakas, but I found the one that we learned on you tube, performed by the New Zealand All Blacks. The link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGwGBTG4TkA.

HUGH'S TRIVIA FACT OF THE DAY: The first European to originally discover New Zealand, Abel Tasmin, actually came ashore, but legend has it when the Maori warriors came out of the woods onto the beach performing the haka, he promptly got back on his ship, and went on his merry way. It is indeed a very intense ritual.

After breezing through an attempt at learning the haka, the guys came out to perform it in front of the ladies, and in return, they performed the poi for us. Our performance of the haka, was a coordinated effort in not really knowing what we were doing, but we had a good time with it anyway. Luckily the Maori men and boys that were there, joined in with us as well. It was a blast, and the pictures are funny, as it is quite obvious we have no idea what we are doing. Since we were then officially members of the tribe, we spent the night in the traditional Maori way, the whole group stayed the night in the Mauri. It really was an awesome evening. One of the coolest things I have done in a very long time.

Today we got up and had breakfast, and then traveled to Rotorua. Rotorua is Maori for "second lake," because it was the second lake that the Maori explorer came upon when first exploring the area. Just outside Rotorua (the town), we were dropped off for a whitewater rafting trip. We were rafting on the Kaituna River. Now, I know people white water raft all the time, but I never have. So I think I picked a good river to "get my feet wet" in. You see, on this particular river, the white water is not overwhelmingly intense, but the river boasts the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world. The drop on this fall is 7 meters. For those of you who cannot think in metric, that is nearly 22 feet... yeah, I know. We were warned from the beginning, there is about a 50% chance that the raft will turn over on this drop; but you never really know, because the water just does what it wants to. And even if the raft doesn't flip over, it still goes under water, because it essentially dives nose first from the top of the fall down to the river below.

The first group that went over the falls, their raft turned over. We were the last to go of 6, so you can imagine sitting there watching raft after raft disappear over the ledge and the nerves building. As we came up to the falls, we paddled close enough to see over the edge and wonder, WHAT WAS I THINKING? Just about then, the raft guide yelled for us to get down (we had practiced this on earlier, smaller falls), we tucked ourselves into the raft, and held on for dear life. So here we went. We dove off, were under water for a few seconds... and emerged victorious. Our raft stayed right side up! The whole trip was amazing, but the big drop was unlike anything I have ever experienced.

We had gone over two other falls before the big one, and the part after the big drop was a piece of cake. In fact, our guide had us jump into the river, and hang onto the raft to go over another fall a ways down the river (this one was much smaller than 7 meters of course). All-together an awesome experience.

Myself and a few others got off the bus here in Rotorua. Another bus will pick us up tomorrow to travel around the east cape of New Zealand.

Hangin' 10 in Raglin

If you ready my blog yesterday, my apologies. I have more time tonight, and was appalled when I read back through it. If you have a chance, read it again as I have fixed the numerous errors that were the product of rushing.

As today was not nearly as interesting as yesterday, before I move on, here's some more about yesterday.

The kayaking trip was really an amazing time. Our guide was full of all kinds of stories about the area. For example...

HISTORY TIME WITH HUGH: The bay we were in, Mercury Bay, is so named because when Captain James Cook (I wonder if he had a hook for a hand too...) was mapping New Zealand for the first time, he was using the sun and the planet Mercury in the night sky to calculate the latitude and longitude of the region. On the night he spent in Mercury Bay, the planet was directly overhead in the night sky, hence the name. The next beach down is Cooks beach, where Capt. Cook planted the Union Jack in the soil and declared New Zealand for England. This presented a problem, however, because the Mauri were already here.

This disturbed a local Mauri Cheif named Ka, so while on an expedition in Mercury Bay, he remarked how the island Motueka, looked just like his nose (It has two caves in the side that faces the beach, that's about the extent of similarity). To most, this may have seemed like a trivial statement. However, the Mauri believed that if a land feature looked like you, or some part of you, then it was yours; along with all that could be surveyed from that particular piece of real estate. Naturally the audience of Mauri with him immediately and enthusiastically agreed. Therefore, the island is named Motueka, which translates into, "the Island of Ka." And the name of the beach (can't remember that one or find it on google maps) translates to "the breath of Ka," as the winds on that beach supposedly come from the "nostrils of Motueka"... you should see the tweezers they use to pluck THOSE nose hairs.

Mercury bay in Hahei was also used in "The Chronicles of Narnia, the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." Down the beach a ways is a huge hill, where the castle Cair Paravel (sp?) was built. They did eight months of work and shooting, for footage that made up about 3 minutes worth of the actual movie.

Today was relatively uneventful. Hahei is on the east coast, we have now driven to Raglin on the west coast. Raglin is world renown for it's surfing. There was actually a guy who surfed a single wave at a beach here for more than 10 minutes. That's a bit of a record as you might imagine. Those who chose to could take surfing lessons, for a nominal fee. Given my level of coordination (which is about the same as a tree), I opted out, and instead spent the afternoon at the beach.

Tomorrow we spend the day at the Waitomo caves, and tomorrow night we will have a Mauri "cultural night," so I most likely will not be able to post tomorrow night.

And we're off...

Today started my tour of the north island.

We left from Auckland, making a quick stop at mount Eden; which I have talked about before, its is a dormant volcano in the middle of the city. It is still owned by the Maori people, and they use it for cattle grazing... which leads us to...

HUGH'S TRIVIA FACT OF THE DAY: When calves are born on Mt. Eden, after they have been weened and are released from their stalls, they must make a very important decision. They must decide whether to turn right, or turn left. While this may seem trivial to some, WAIT there's more! You see, since they live out their lives on the side of a mountain, depending upon the direction they first turn onto the slope of the mountain will determine the direction they will go around the mountain for the rest of their life. If they turn left, their right legs will grow slightly longer to compensate for the slope of the mountain, and if they turn right, their left legs will grow longer to compensate. Kinda makes you glad that you're not a cow born on a mountain, eh?

From Auckland we headed out to the Coromandel Peninsula. Our end destinations for today were cathedral cove and hot water beach. Once we had arrived and settled in at the hostel, those of us who had elected to do so, headed down to the beach for some sea kayaking. From the beach at the hostel in Hahei (ha-he) we kayaked down the coast to cathedral cove. Cathedral cove is a limestone cliff face that has eroded away over the years due to the sea water, and is today two separate beaches with a huge limestone passageway connecting the two. It is really quite stunning, especially from the water. On the way to the cove, we passed through a marine reserve, and past a sheer limestone cliff that goes up what had to be 200 ft., all the way down to the water's edge.

Once we arrived at the cove, just off either of the beaches there is a huge limestone rock jutting out of the water that has been eaten away on the bottom by the sea water. It looks something like a huge mass of rock sitting atop a pedestal, that is how narrow the base was.

From there, we kayaked out from the coast a bit to Poikeke and Motueka islands. The whole trip was really stunning, but this par was really cool, there is a cave that goes through Poikeke island, and we kayaked through it! It was amazing.

After getting back to the shore, we hopped on the bus and went just down the road to hot water beach. This beach actually is what it says. You can dig a hole in the sand and it will actually fill with hot water, provided by the tectonic activity in the area. It works similar to a hot spring, just heating the ocean water already in the sand. Depending upon where you dug your hole, the water could be cold, or scalding. The difference between the two could be six inches. The whole experience is an exercise in finding just the right spot. If it gets too hot, just throw in a bucket of ocean water, and you're good to go. There was a mob of people there digging holes. But inevitably the activity is an exercise in futility, as all if this is done at low tide. At high tide, the ocean comes right up to the cliffs that are there, and all the holes are covered up.

Merry Christmas?

Perhaps it's the Northern Hemisphere-ese (what exactly does a resident of the northern hemisphere call one's self?)in me, but this holiday season did not feel like a holiday season at all. I really think it had more to do with the fact of Christmas and the new year being in the middle of summer, than the holidays being celebrated differently here. Although, they are not nearly as big a deal here, at least so it seemed. What was perhaps funniest is that the Christmas carols are all the same. It is an odd sensation to be heading to the beach wearing shorts with the windows down, while listening to "Frosty the Snowman." Both days snuck up on me, and I only realized the day before each that they were arriving shortly.

Christmas Day, the Elys, the Peters, and I all went out to Karekare beach. This beach is on the West coast, south of Piha beach, which I have talked about before. They go south to north, Karekare, Piha, Bethells (which is my favorite). All three are absolutely gorgeous. We spent a while there, and played in the water. The waves on the west coast of NZ are huge. Much larger than the east coast beaches, which in some places have almost no waves at all, most of the time. After that we took a short hike from the beach (only about 10 min. walk), so some gorgeous water falls. There were a few smaller falls on the way in, but the main fall was absolutely amazing. It fell from what seemed to be, probably close to 200 ft. from the mountains, into a pool. I have a picture where a man had climbed up on the base of the fall, and he is tiny in comparison to the fall. It was really amazing.

Today I leave for my trek/tour of New Zealand! I begin my north Island tour today, it will last about 8 days. The south island tour will come after I am done with the north island. I decided to cut down the length my tours, for budgeting and timing reasons, but they are going to be great just the same. I will try to blog as often as I can, as I will have a great deal to talk about most every day; but will be limited to weather or not the hostels we stay at have computers, as I am not taking my laptop. Most of them do have computer access, but who knows. If you need to get in touch with me, email me (though it may take me a day or two to get back with you); or give me a call on my mobile.