There's where we left off last time I believe =)
gosh, it's been a while since then..
Well, no need to stall anymore - let's tell y'all 'bout everything that happened over in NZ!
After circling around Rotorua for another couple of minutes, we were on the way to see some geysers, some thermal activity land, and boiling mud!
The area around Rotorua and Taupo is, as I've said before, one the most active areas in the world - so it's no real surprise that you can stumble upon a small "pond" of mud that's boiling and smoking like 'ell. You'd might think "Oh my, this would be such a nice 'spa retreat' - and my skin'll turn twenty years younger, and to top it off - it's free!" - well, snap out of it, and snap really fast - one drip of this on your skin and it'll corrode away in a millisecond - you'll burn like you've never burned before!
So we all kept our distance and enjoyed the mud through our cameras - but even if we couldn't take a swim it was really exciting and special to just watch it boil, pop and 'jump'.
Next stop - Lady Knox Geyser.I've only seen geysers on TV, and I don't know about you but I had this image that it would suddenly explode in a cascade of hot water rushing up in the air and all, anyone recognize that? Had the same idea of what a geyser is about?
hmmm, it wasn't exactly like that anyway..
There were tonnes of people, and then this guy went up to the glacier (that looked like a small protruding tube) and started talking about how a couple of workers found the glacier when they were out chopping down trees and taking a brake in a small lake - some of them had soap and when the soap got in touch with the glacier it erupted - and the workers got in hurry not to get their asses blown off ('cause it's kind of hot this too).
Ever since, people have learnt more about the geyser and nowadays they deliberately place a bar of soap (or well, something like it) in the mouth of the geyser, and a couple of minutes later water starts getting pumped out and when the pressure gets higher, so does the stream of water - until it reaches several meters up in the air.
So it wasn't as splendid or impressive as I thought it was going to be - but it sure was cool anyway =)
After this we headed on to Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Park - it is a park, but all they've done is to put up some fences and maybe a sign or two explaining the view in front, so you're basically just walking right in the nature the way it really is - and I can only say 'wow.., what a nature!'
We're still in the active area, so this is also about underground activity within the earth that gives everything above groundlevel a special feature - all the minerals and metals that are working together are producing a wonderful landscape of smoking lakes, deep caves and 'poisonous' rivers, surrounded by trees and plants you never thought could live from these waters and rivers etc. Take a look at the pics and you'll see why - almost everything looks as if it'll make your hand corrode and rot away if you touch it - 'acid' is the thought that comes to mind...
And we found a walking stick - isn't he cute?
Okey - if all this wasn't enough, I can tell you that we haven't even started our day yet;Next destination was the Huka Falls Jet for the people wanting to do some jetboating - and while they were schwoozing around the Huka River the rest of us went to Rock'n'Ropes. It was basically like a playground - but the tree pillars didn't have normal swings attached and they were four times as high as in a normal playground. The idea is to put a helmet on, and then climb up the pillars using ropes, car tires and plugs in the pillars - once you're up you can choose if you want to throw yourself from the top of one pillar to a trapeze, or climb around higher and higher. Another pillar had a platform on the top, where you got attached into a harnest, and then you just jumped down - it's called the Big Swing, so they did have swings as well =)
It looked like fun, but if you go there - don't expect anything out of the ordinary - it's not that impressive, it's a small field where you can play with your scare of hights, or go into the small cottage next to it and check out the beehive.
In the end, it was just all something for us to do (I just watched - I know, I'm a coward) while we were waiting for the others to finish their Huka Falls Jet tour.
Next stop:
Huka Falls - we took a short walk along the Huka Falls - one of the mightiest falls in NZ, with horsepowers I can't even describe 'cause I don't know anything about horsepowers - just that it's strong and you really won't survive if you jump in the river above the falls. The river after the falls is absolutely lovely! (and that's where the others went on the Huka Falls Jet, so they got to see the falls from two different angles)
When we took off from the falls to head to Taupo Bungysite, we left behind a group consisting of some very excited and some extremly nervous skydivers-to-be. One guy couldn't stop smoking, and he was jumping around making moaning noices that sometimes ended in a sentence like: "mmmmmoooooaaaaaahhhhhhwhy am I doing this..... oooooooonooooo....god...horrible...."
We all enjoyed watching him struggle, and of course telling all the stories we've heard about things going wrong in a skydive =D
(just to make sure no-one reads through the rest of this post biting their nails, skipping parts of my story just to make sure that this guy survived, I might as well tell y'all now that he did - and he loved it! the skydive I mean, not that he loved the surviving-part, although that might be it)
(all the others lived to tell their story as well - but it's their story, not mine, so I'll continue from my point of view now if you don't mind)
We couldn't watch the skydivers (as it's a bit out of town), but we settled for the two bungy jumpers we had on the bus. It was a beautiful spot at the Taupo River, and it almost made me want to jump as well - although I went out on the platform afterwards and I backed away almost immediately - I didn't even make it out to the tip of the platform... That afternoon in Taupo - can you believe that it was only afternoon and we had done all this before arriving there? you'd think it was late at night once we arrived... but luckily Rotorua and Taupo are very close - so after checking in at Taupo Action Downunder Backpackers YHA (phiu long name!) I spent ages at the internet café writing about Auckland and Rotorua, and trying to upload pictures... If you guys only knew how much I'm willing to do to for you and your reading pleasures, oieoieoie, you'd be surprised - I was almost starving to death, thank you very much, because it was impossible to upload any pics... took me years...
Finally I dragged my toothpick of a body to a fish'n'chips store and had some wonderful greasy fried and salty food in the park, together with Bob - a fellow Magic traveller - he's another guy in his forties (I know Brendan, there's something there with me and forty year olds... nothing kinky I'd like to add, I just seem to end up in conversation with a lot of them =)), and he's from England - so we sat there talking for a while, and he had the most amazing airplane stories - don't know why I got into a plane ever after some of what he told me - but if you're on an island exactly on the other side of the world from home (12hours mind you), you kinda have to if you want to make it back sometime this year...Yeah!! Here comes one of the very highlights so far!!!
The Tongariro Crossing! (do it! do it! DO IT!)
Now it's Wednesday 21 January, and I got up at 5.10am =) VoilĂ the view of Lake Taupo (you can fit Singapore into this lake!) and in the distance looms the great mountains (Mt Doom among others).
This day was the day for the big trekk - Tongariro Crossing - 19.5km walk in Mordor!
We got there around 7.45am, and it so happened that I got there with Peter (this little teaser had kept me company in Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Park (although he's just a big baby, whining about a little sulphur smell, he should come to the paper factory back at home!) - so where are you now aragon? I can't steal your photo ideas when you're not around =P) and Christian (crazy cutie-pie! I don't give a shit about melbourne so get your sweet ass up here instead ;) you get the idea..!), both from Germany and just for the record - I didn't talk to/about them like this before the hike - but after 6-8hours of climbing, walking and role-playing together you get kinda friendly =D
I didn't think that I was going to be able to keep up with them for the entire hike - man they walked fast! At least Christian - mister mounteneering guy! Peter's also a fast walker, but he stops like all the time to take pics, so he's not hard to keep up with =P
But it so turned out that we walked all the 19.5km together - the first part of the walk is relatively flat, you have to scramble a little bit at one place, otherwise you're basically just on a Sunday walk =)
The next bit though - the Devil stairs - aieaieaie, not nice to me legs I'd tell ya...
So I lagged behind and thought that, okey, that's that - it was nice with company for the first hour at least. But hey ho! When I got up to the plateau to have a rest and some snacks, there they are - my boys - waiting for me =)
After the stairs it was a pice of cake - well of course we had to climb a lot more (and from now on there were no stairs), but I find it easier to scramble than walk up stairs so I was on a roll!
The scenery is one of the most dramatic I've ever seen!! - and since we were walking right by Mt Doom (real name Mt Ngaurahoe), it made it all really surreal - I mean here we are, walking in Mordor for goddness sake, how nice is that on a scale!
Alright, so it wasn't just Peter that took a lot of pics, we all did, and after lunch (couple of muesli bars, moist sandwiches, lukewarm water and a banana = it was like in a four star restaurant at that point!), we got a little carried away, being in Mordor and all, so.. well, check it out:
Just so it's clear, the movie ends with Gimli saying "Oh, look at that.. Fuck the orches, I'll take a picture!"
=)
I might get more involved in role play in the future, seems like there's a slumbering talent for it that needs to get out...
Anyhow - the way down was probably the hardest part - the knees get really battered, and it was close more than one time that someone would fall and twist/brake an ankle or something - but we made it! Team Invincible!
That evening I collapsed in the spa pool at the hostel (free, outside, built-in-massage - just promoting the YHA Taupo a little bit), together with Christian and Bob, followed by some food (Weight Watchers Chicken Panang) and wine on the terrass (overlooking the lake) with Christian and Bob. Then I went to bed, with Christian and Bob - or wait, no not really - just me ;)
'Right, now you're all updated on Taupo - anyone feel like going there?
I hope so, it's great!
See you tomorrow for the Tale of Wellington!
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