After a weekend of nursing my bruised knees, aching muscles and the rest of my sore body I embarked on the third little adventure of my semester break, to the Whirinaki Forest, nicknamed the "Dinasaur Forest". After some last minute planning and organizing and finally getting in the car and heading off for another 4 hour drive down south we got to the jungle rainforest of Whirinaki and of course, it was raining. When we (me and three guys) entered the forest we were immediatly englufed by mossy green stones and vine covered trees that towered above us. There really is no way to describe the dripping of the rain off of the giant ferns. There was so much energy. It was raining and dark but it was so alive.

Luckily the track was very well maintained and there was not that much washout from the heavy rains, but we made the decision to camp a bit earlier than planned to avoid the heavy rains, which were imminant. After setting up and starting to make dinner we discovered an axe for chopping wood in a little shelter, which we then decided to make our own dining room. All in all it was a nice night, despite the thunderstorm, the rats, and the fact that we were stopping early.

The next morning it was still raining, but we kept going, thinking we could reach the original campsite we planned for and at least stay there for the night if we had too. Now, I was expecting the trail markers to be moderatly accurate but when you see a sign that says "Upper Hut: 3 hours" and then walk for an hour and reach another sign that says "Upper Hut: 3 hours", I started to think that it was not so reliable, so when we finally figured out that we were no where near where we wanted to be a memeber of the group decided that it was too much for him and he wanted to turn back, making it a little bit harder for us to go on, seeing as he was our driver so, after some attempt to disuade him from cutting the journey through one of the coolest forests ever, and failing, we turned around to start back to the car.

Although it was too bad that the trip got cut short, it was amazing to spend what little time we did in the huge, overwhelmingly beautiful forest. We drove through Rotorua, the sulpher hot pool center of New Zealand that you can smell about a mile away. So after the long drive and a hot shower I climbed into bed and slept for a LONG time, for after three trips, I was ready to have a good night's sleep. And now, after climbing a mountain, seeing beautiful beaches, hiking through rainforest, I am faced with going back to classes and day dreaming about the surreal places that I have finally had the opportunity to see. Until next weekend when I go black water rafting in the Waitomo caves, but that seems ages away.