Friendly Kiwis

Tongariro Crossing hike Waterfall in native forest












View from Mt Tongariro










See - there's snow here too! Tongariro Crossing









Emerald lake Mt Tongariro









View of Mt Ngauruhoe (Mt Doom in the Lord of the Rings movie) Mt Tongariro is on the left - the Crossing hike crossed between these two active volcanos and over part of Mt Tongariro.










My babies: Plum and Blossom










My room in the cabin at the farm

"The lakehouse" - my cabin

The Hart Family

I left the farm Thursday night with Doug, who works on the farm with Greg. He and his wife, Ali, were driving up to Taupo on Friday for a bike race he was doing. They offered to take me with them so I spent the night at their house. I felt strange leaving the farm. I was ready to go, but at the same time it was hard - I feel like I'm always leaving people! And I hadn't realized how attached I'd become to the calves and the new puppy - I was worried about my babies not being fed or, in the case of Ben, not given enough attention!

Doug and Ali are great. I felt so relaxed and comfortable in their home - more than I had been at the Harts. And they kept reminding me of Mom and Dad! When we arrived in Taupo, they came into the hostel with me to make sure my reservation hadn't been double booked (it was packed in town for the bike challenge) and Ali wrote down all their contact information, stressing that if I had no one to spend the holidays with, to make sure I went back to their place. Sweet couple.

Saturday morning I headed out with the Stray bus group to do the Tongariro Alpine Crossing: a 19.4km hike (took about 6 hours) between two active volcanos (Mt Tongariro and Mt Ngauruhoe - aka Mt Doom from Lord of the Rings!) The hike took us through so many different types of landscapes: volcanic craters, barren stretches, jewel colored volcanic lakes, steaming vents, snowy glacial valleys, scrub covered hills, native forest... It was a great hike - but Oh, my aching legs! (It's now Monday night and I still have a hard time walking down stairs!)

We slept at a nearby hostel and some of us got up at 3am to watch a rugby game on TV. The NZ All Blacks were playing England. The All Blacks won. Sunday morning we headed to Wellington, which is where I am right now. (Worthy of note: we passed through a town called Bulls where many businesses played up the name - restaurants serving edi-bulls, bars that were socia-bulls, mcvalue-a-bull McDonalds, even Consta-bulls at the police station!) I'm staying in a house belonging to friends of Greg and Rachel's neighbors. I met them early during my stay at the Harts' - we went to visit Deb and Andrew and these people were there visiting as well. Trish and Kelly. They're very nice. Trish had given me her card so I emailed her simply to say I was coming to Wellington if she wanted to get together - and she replied that they would love to have me come stay. Kiwis rock! The house is big, clean, and central to the city. I basically have the main floor to myself, since they spend a lot of time on the upper floor. There's a kitchen and bathroom on each floor. I figure I'll stay for 2-3 days, see the sights of Wellington, and then catch the ferry over to the South Island.

Needless to say, some life has been breathed back into my journey! Phew!

So that's the latest on me. How about you? How's the Christmas shopping coming? Enjoying the weather? Seen any good movies lately? I think of each of you at some point through my weeks. Always sending warm thoughts!