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Hello everyone,
We've successfully escaped from Auckland and got on the road to Rotorua. Rotorua is famous for its geothermal activity, which basically means the ground is pretty damn hot. We took a walk through around the town which doesn't have much going on but does have an abundance of hot water pools varying in temperature from 'get in it's pretty pleasant' to 'if you fall in your flesh will melt off your bones'.
During our time in Rotorua we visited the Whakarewarewa thermal village (or to give it its full name 'Te Whakarewarewa o te Ope Taua a Wahiao') to experience a bit of Maori culture. The village has been a tourist attraction since the 1840's and tourism is the chief way in which its people make a living. It was fascinating to see how the thermal pools had become incorporated into daily life, especially in cooking (they could cook a frozen turkey in 20 minutes). The highlight had to be Paul (and other men from the audience) being brought up on stage to perform the Haka in front of the crowd. Given part of the chant to call, Paul did not fail to impress the crowd with his gigantic vocals and booming war voice.
Whilst in Rotorua we also had an epiphany regarding the money we were wasting on staying in hostels. This resulted in the purchasing of a load of cheap camping gear and setting off on our new Camping New Zealand adventure!
First night we camped outside and relaxed at a thermal spa an hour south of Rotorua. There was a thermal stream behind the spa that shot water out of the earth at an alarming 100 litres per minute with an initial surface temperature of 94 degrees Celsius!
Back on the road the next day and got ourselves over to Taupo. Now there's nothing really in Taupo apart from the biggest lake in New Zealand!! Little fact, the lake is actually formed through the collapse of a crater from a still active super volcano. Anyway the reason we were here was so that Amy could jump out of an airplane at 15000 feet above the ground. Amy describes the experience as "AMAZING", although truth be told she was having second thoughts when it was her turn to jump, shouting "don't make me do it, don't make me jump". The scouser she was attached to replied "*Insert scouse accent* if you don't like it you can get your money back" as he pushed her out of the plane. But to be fair to the girl she did it.
The next day we had more adventure in store as we tackled the Alpine Crossing in Torgariro National Park. This 19km hike is considered (at least by tourist information centres) as New Zealand's best 1 day walk! To be honest it's a pretty awesome walk with stunning landscapes, lakes of unusual hue and two optional mountains to climb, Tongariro and Ngauruhoe (staring as Mt Doom in Lord of the Rings). Though not planned, as the lack of hiking gear would suggest, Paul could not resist tackling Mt Doom once at its base. This left Amy and our comrade for the day Irdan to go on ahead and attempt the other peak (truly like the separating of the fellowship).
Both parties had pretty arduous times taking on their mountains. For Paul's part, Ngauruhoe is a pretty young volcano (in volcano terms). This meant that there was very little/no solid ground on its incline, just unstable rocks varying from the size of sand grains to the size of tennis balls (and a few a bit bigger). Basically they all had the capability to slide and roll down underfoot making each step forwards two steps back. For Amy's part, she had a gentler but still exhausting climb up Tongariro and when at the top, took her bag off to admire her surroundings and watched in horror as it tumbled down the mountainside along the crappy terrain Paul was combatting back on Mt Doom. Playing the role of the damsel in distress a 60 year old man, actually not a man, more a DUDE, stepped in and pelted down the mountainside risking his life to rescue Amy's back from certain death. Amy swooned over this nameless gentleman for the rest of the week and you ask her about the encounter, you will still see her knees weaken. Back to Paul and the hour and a half climb is well and truly worth the heavenly views waiting at the top of Ngauruhoe. Above the clouds and all the problems in the world below is truly a zen kind of place. This is short lived however as Paul is aware of the time and needs to get back down and rendezvous with Amy and Irdan. Zen off. The 45 minute skate down the mountain is made all the more difficult with Paul's less than adequate Nike high tops. Lots of falling over.
After this exhausting day of hiking and climbing we would have liked to rest but we have a date with a Kiwi named Chris. The plan was to meet Chris in Wellington but unfortunately (for us) he has moved up to Hamilton, which is one hour south of bloody Auckland! This means a 3 hour drive back the way we came. But it's not all bad; Chris has beers in the fridge for us.
And that's all for the moment folks.
You stay classy,
Paul & Amy
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