Back on the beaten track

So I know I've been quiet for a while, but I've only been in towns where the Internet is still so new and shiny that they charge an arm and a leg to use it. I'm now in Auckland, New Zealand's biggest city and it seems quite nice. I've a lot to tell you all about, so I'd better get started.

I got to Taupo with the intention of doing a skydive. It WAS pretty cheap, but I couldn't bring myself to spend $259 to jump from a plane seeing as I've done it before, figured I'd put the money towards something new. So instead I stayed an extra day and went hiking on the Tongariro Crossing. This is known (by the NZ
tourist board probably) as the greated 1 day walk on earth. I can vouch that it's certainly very good. It's a 17km hike, passing by several mountains, including Mt. Ngauruhoe, the volcano they used as MT DOOM in some film about rings. The scenery was incredible, as the whole area is volcanic, the craters and the scenery is all very different. I decided, that although the top of MT DOOM was clouded, that it would clear and that we should definately hike it. It didn't clear. It was pretty tough getting up, the path up is very loose and every step you take you slide back down half a step. Getting up took me ages. Getting down was quicker. The trick is to try and surf down on the scree that shifts out from under your feet. It was good fun, even if I did take a few tumbles. After this I crossed several large craters and down the other side of the crossing to where the bus picked us up from. I was stiff and aching, but I'd done what Frodo did, so I was happy.

From Taupo we went to a place called Rotarua. Because of all the volcanic activity, Rotarua stinks of sulphur. For those of you unaware of what sulphur smells like, I envy you. The smell of rotten egg is all over the town, but you do get used to it. Our hostel had thermal heated baths that supposedly had curative properties these were lovely and warm, but I still ached from walking. We wandered out to see the largest geyser in the Southern Hemisphre (it also stunk of egg), then rushed back in time to go on a trip to a Mauri cultural village. This was fantastic, if a little put on. The sentiment and the respect for their culture however was very real and it was quite humbling to hear how the Mauri culture has had to assimilate with the Western culture and what little they ask back. I saw the haka and some other cultural stuff including a meal cooked in their traditional way under the ground. It was great.

The next day I took some of my Skydive money and went blackwater rafting. Not as violent or as rapid as whitewater, but still pretty cool. We abseiled into a dark cave and then floated around on rubber rings looking at gloworms. Apparently these gloworms are not even worms, they are maggots that burn their waste in their bums to attract insects into their sticky tendrils that hang down. I was pretty surprised at how bright they were. We did a little bit of caving (well squeezing through tight rocks) and then we had to climb about 30 metres back out of the cave where we had abseiled down. It was good fun and good value, so if anyone is heading up here check them out.

I'm now in Auckland for one night then up to the Bay of Islands for another night and back here for my flight on Monday. I'm hoping to do another bungy jump as I have a discount token for the bridge here in the city. Stay tuned...