Me so hangi!

Good news! The van is officially (and perhaps, temporarily) up and running. While we were in the Coromandel Peninsula, we had a hose to the radiator replaced and Guano (the affectionate name we have given our van) is doing well as far as over heating goes. She's been getting a little tired and creaky at times so we are now in the process of having a ball joint replaced. We are at Colin's parents house north of Wellington and they have recommended a good mechanic. We hope to have her fixed and ready to go by January 8th. We've been at the Finches since the 3rd. They have been so fantastic and it’s been nice to stay in one place for a while. It’s also been fun to see how the great Colin Finch became what he is today!

Since we last posted, we made our way down the peninsula into Rotorua, a big geothermal hotspot. From the moment you enter the area, there is an ever-present sulfur smell, much like in Yellowstone. The last big eruption there was in 1886, when Mt Tarawera blew its top. There are countless mineral pools, geysers, and bubbling mud pits all around the area. This is the world’s newest geo-thermal ecosystem (the only one to be created during written history). Very exciting stuff for a geology major. We went to Waimangu Volcanic Valley, one of the local parks, to checkout some highlights. It looked like a bunch of smelly, bubbling water to me, but Brody was all about it. One interesting feature was Inferno Crater. The limestone walls and piercing blue water were pretty amazing to see.

Rotorua is also the adventure capital of NZ. For a small fortune, tourists can ski dive, bungee jump, white water raft, black water raft (basically tubing or boating through caves), sledge (similar to boogie boarding down rivers), zorb (fly down a hill in a big, inflated ball), schweeb, luge, jet boat around waterfalls, etc. Its ridiculous how many crazy activities they have come up with.

The area has a lot of Maori influence. For New Year's Eve, we went to a Hangi concert/dinner. We both agreed that the whole thing was way over commercialized, but it was interesting to see part of their culture. The European settlers have basically done the same thing to the Maoris in New Zealand that they did to the Native Americans in North America - took their land and destroyed their forests. Fortunately, the Maori culture has hung on a lot better. They took us on a tour of part of their land and told us about different plants, and their significance/uses in their culture. We saw examples of dances and traditions they have. The girls had some pretty powerful pipes. They were amazing. Then we ate a traditional Maori dinner - a hangi. They wrap up meat and vegetables and put them underground and build a fire on top. It was delicious, and much needed after our peanut butter sandwiches.

After Rotorua, we went to Taupo. This is New Zealand’s biggest lake (I think I've heard, the biggest lake in the southern hemisphere...maybe), and it covers a huge caldera (a big crater created by a volcanic eruption). This HUGE blast took place about 26,500 years ago. We saw a graphic that shows this blast just dwarfing all volcanic eruptions that have taken place in recent history (St. Helens, Krakatoa, Pinatubo, etc.) Its a beautiful region, but we didn’t spend much time there because it was so hopping with kiwi travelers (I swear, these people NEVER work).

We went on to Tongariro National Park where we did the Tongariro crossing - a 18km, one day hike. It was amazing. In the park, there are 3 peaks - Mt Ruapheu (9176 ft), Mt. Ngauruhoe (7503 feet) and Mt Tongariro (6453 feet). These don’t sound tall compared to the Colorado 14ers, but their rise is more dramatic because the surrounding area is at a lower elevation. This is the area where the Mt. Doom scenes for Lord of the Rings were filmed.

The climb was pretty steep going up, and had a long decent, which was torture on the knees. We didn’t get quite to the summit. It was another 2 hours, and we figured the 6.5 hours for the crossing was enough for our out of shape legs. I wore my Lance Armstrong shirt to motivate me, and I'm pretty sure I got some nasty looks from some Europeans.

For now we are just relaxing with Colin’s parents and getting our van fixed. We will make sure to post some more photos before we leave and while we have free Internet. We hope everyone had a good holiday season and you're all enjoying the cold weather!