Tongariro

I am currently sitting at The Park Lodge (a terrific hostel / hotel) at the National Park, which is commonly known as Tongariro National Park. It was assigned the general name of "National Park" because it was actually labeled with this title back in the 19th century and was only the second place, after Yellowstone, to be given this designation. Tongariro is one of the "must-see" spots on the north island as the Tongariro Alpine Crossing is walked here and it is considered the best one-day walk in the country. It is about 18.5 km (a little over 11 miles) and took me and a group of five others about 6.5 hours to do with a lunch break and some occasional stops. We did this walk two days ago and it was truly amazing. The landscape changed about 5 times and every time we turned around a bend or got to the peak of a rocky path we were climbing, the scenery changed once more. I will post a bunch of pictures below to give you all an idea and how the trail changed so drastically at each segment (Note: You can actually click on the pictures and it should give you the full version of them). At the peak, we were about 1,900 m up, which was a bit short of Mt. Ruapehu at 2,800 m (tallest in the north island) and Mt. Nguaruhoe, which as I mentioned previously, is actually Mt. Doom in Lord of the Rings, at 2,300 m and has a perfect conical top in it. Our guide told us this volcano is also used often as a "stunt double" for Mt. Fuji in Japan as there is no development or towns around it - it was also used in Last Samurai in this respect.

So the landscape changed many times as I mentioned before. First, it was like walking through some short bush with small streams on each side of you and easy bridges to walk over. In the distance was "Mt. Doom" and we quickly had to scale a very vertical gradient with loose rocks and narrow openings to climb. After we got through this point it looked almost like I was walking on the moon. I was viewing one massive crater and a very flat plateau to walk on with Mt. Ngauruhoe behind me and Mt. Tongariro to the left of me with patches of snow on it (oddly enough as it was about 90 degrees out) . After this segment, we had to continue climbing to the peak of the trail at 1,900 m and were greeted with the stunning view of the Emerald Lakes below us. These lakes were incredibly luminescent, small bodies of water that were a bright green with a yellowish tint, which most likely was due to the abundance of sulphur from under the ground. Again, the landscape changed back to very baron looking walls of brown and red mountains with very rocky paths. Shortly thereafter, the scenery changed dramatically and all around us were tall, wispy yellow, knee-high plants and it was almost as if we were transported to the English countryside. This continued for a while and weaved in and out of some streams, an occasional waterfall, and several sulphuric gas vents in the ground. This whole segment was also ancient burial ground for the Maori people and you were not allowed to step off of the trail. The alpine flowers, tall, yellow plants continued to surround me until I finally reached the forest canopy towards the bottom of the trail and for the last segment was immediately welcomed into a lush forest with trails covered in trees and moss and rapidly flowing streams to the left of me. When we finally made it to the end of the trail, a simple car park was there and everyone coming through to the end showed visible signs of exhaustion, joy, and amazement at the fete just accomplished. It was not very difficult as long as you were fit, but it was very long for a day hike and many people actually do the whole circuit over a span of 4 days.

So, I hope this post did not bore you, but I felt like it deserved its own story as it truly was an amazing day of tramping through authentic Kiwi national park. I ended up staying at the National Park and the Lodge here for 2 extra nights as it is so comfortable here, the views of the summits are right outside the cafe (see closest picture), and it was a great place to relax before I continue on to Wellington and then take the ferry over to start my adventures on the south island. It amazes me every day to think that I've only been traveling down from Auckland for a little over a week and yet feel like I have been exploring the north island for much longer. I am very excited to see what the south island brings, as it is supposed to be even more wilderness, with many glaciers, the Southern Alps mountain range, pristine beaches, Marlborough vineyards, etc.

Talk soon,

Justin

Skydiving, surfing, and spelunking

As you can see by the title of the post, over the past two days I have done several pretty ridiculous activities. But I'll first start where I left off from before. So I left Auckland (thankfully as it was becoming my Bruges, if you have seen the movie), and hopped on a Stray bus tour. It was a really great way of meeting a lot of cool people from all over the world (most seemed to be Brits or Irish though, which was pretty funny) and an easy way for transportation around the country. The first stop was in Hahei where we walked around a beautiful place called Cathedral Cove (which reminded me of Halong Bay in Vietnam as it had several massive pieces of land jutting out from the sea). At night, we went to the Hot Water Beach at low tide to sit in holes we dug out as when you dig through the sand there, boiling water comes through and you can sit in the holes like a jacuzzi. It was an amazing experience and the stars shining through were like nothing I've ever seen before. The next day we headed to the famous surfing town of Raglan where I gave my first go at attemping to catch a wave and surf. The instructional 10 minutes made me think it was going to be a piece of cake, but obviously when I was in the strong current and attemping to do it with a massive surfboard and my wetsuit on, it was really difficult. I managed to catch about 7 waves out of the 50+ times I tried. But I'll tell you what, for the 5 seconds or so when you're riding that wave, you feel pretty damn cool (Silver, I'm almost as good as Butchy Yost in Juan de Cinci). So after surfing, we stayed at a cool hut back in the woods for the night where we did some flying foxes in the dark (basically a zip-line) and had a grand ol' time.

We then woke up early and headed to Waitomo, which is where all of the caves are that you can go into and do some spelunking, abseiling, rock climbing, and see the famous glow worms (which I was told are technically maggots as they're not in the pupa stage yet, but "worms" was more markatable than maggots). I picked the most extreme caving option (as that's obviously my MO), and it was pretty damn insane. Me and a Swiss guy on my bus were the only two doing it, and we were able to be underground (probably about 100 feet at times) for 3 hours and we did 3 abseils (climbing down on ropes), 1 of which was in a waterfall, some rock climbing, saw tons of glow worms, and just explored around.

After an awesome time in the caves, we headed on to Maketu, where we were part of a traditional Maori ceremony called a Marahe, which was a big feast of food (including Seinfeld's favorite, the infamous Mutton), and then a bunch of Maori dances, one called a haka, which I have put a picture of below. Basically all of the guys do these war-chanting songs and the women follow with their own parts. It was a great time and we actually slept all in one big room too as the Maori traditionally do.

In the morning, we headed to Rotorua, which is a pretty big tourist spot because of it's famous thermal baths. The whole city is in a big caldera after a volcano under the ground exploded millions of years ago. The cool part is that there are still tons of spots where there is boiling mud that you can view and also the whole town smells of sulphur, which was quite displeasing. It was a real nice stop, which we did on the way to the highlight of the trip so far - Taupo, which is where I am now and is considered the skydiving capital of the world. I think roughly 40,000 people skydive each year here. Lake Taupo, surrounds the city and is the biggest lake in the country and is the size of Singapore. So, shortly after getting into town, the whole bus (including myself) opted to head straight to the Skydive Taupo to be tossed from a wee plane at dizzying heights of 15,000 feet. I was in the last plane to go up and had a nice amount of time to think about whether I was going to go through with it. I am very glad I did as it was one of the coolest experiences and biggest rushes in my life. You put on a jumpsuit and get into the plane (which for some reason is pink) and off you go, nose of the plane pointed straight to the sky, and head up to the highest point you can jump from in tandem of 15,000 feet. After a girl went first (she was only doing 12,000 feet), my calm manner instantly become a bit shaken as I saw her scream and get sucked under the plane and headed towards earth. Finally it was my turn and the guy I was tandemed to (Laci, from Hungary), asked me if I was ready (not like I really had a choice in the matter) and away I went. Free falling to the ground at 120 mph is quite the adrenaline rush. The wind is whipping in your face and you can see the entire northern island of the country. There is so much to see that the minute-plus free fall and subsequent five-minute glide after the parachute comes out goes by very quickly. I made it safely to the ground and for the rest of the day had a smile on my face and remnants of a rush still going through my legs.

Now I am still in Taupo and will be hopping back on the bus tomorrow with a new driver (the last was a slovenly drunk fellow with one leg named "Woody") and a new group of people. It's a funny dynamic how you meet a lot of cool and then you become very close with them for a short while and then people leave and new people hop on. Fortunately I have met a lot of interesting people from Ireland, the UK, and Holland and will most likely see them later on in the route. Tomorrow I am going to the National Park, which is where you can do the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, which is supposed to be the best day-hikes in the county. It is also where Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings was filmed.

I appreciate all of the posts and I hope you all are well.

Justin

Happy MLK Day (Maybe he could have made the correct pass interference call...)

Other than the reference in the title, I will not talk about the game at all as I am obviously disgusted. I hope this post finds you all well and enjoying the 3-day weekend. This past weekend I spent my time exploring Auckland a lot more and becoming very familiar with the city - there are only 1.3 million people here (out of only 4 million in the country and 40 million sheep) and the area is fairly easy to get around. Saturday I started the day by going to the Ponsonby area, which is known for having the best restaurants in the city as well as good bars as well. Hamish (no Windheim, he's not Jordanian, but Scottish, although I could see the confusion with the name) told me about a great burger place, crudely named Murder Burger, that I had to try; it was not that great and I probably should have stayed with the Lonely Planet recommendations of great brunch spots in the area as the book has been spot on thus far regarding pretty much everything. After eating, I walked down to Victoria Park and attempted to figure out the game of cricket after briefly discussing the rules with Hamish earlier in the day. Below is a picture I took of a game going on. It was humorous to me that not only do the points go in the 100's, but everyone is dressed in really preppy white pants, vest, etc. like they're going sailing:

After watching for a bit, I walked over to the piers and took a ferry over to Devenport, which is

just across the bay from Auckland and part of the North Shore area. It was a pretty sleepy neighborhood with a lot of couples restaurants, but also a nice hill to climb up and get great views looking back on Auckland's CBD and the skyline. This was a personal favorite of mine (Silver, good symmetry?):

I took the ferry back over to the city and met up with Hamish and a couple of his work friends at an apartment downtown where we drank some scotch (Aberlour) and I had a good laugh in my

head when all three of them were oggling the glory of the liquor like they had never tasted it before with one kid telling me how to swirl it, smell it, and taste it - yeah, thanks, chief, I kind of know my scotches. After this, we went to a house party as the one scotch kid is actually a DJ and knows, apparently, one of the biggest rap names in New Zealand. His name is PNC (not the bank) and he seemed like a pretty normal dude when I met him at the party. I was introduced to him by a wasted Hamish as "my friend Justin who just got laid off at his job in New York and jumped on a plane to beautiful New Zealand!"). Here is a funny music video I found of his song, "Just Roll": http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=ecxd1IK32tw. (He's the guy on the couch with the gotee to the left of the weird dude that for some reason is wearing a dinosaur costume). The song is actually not that bad. I probably should have asked PNC what his influences are. The party was not that popping, but we also left around 12. Check out his cover of "Moonlight" as well as that gave me a good laugh too.

The next morning I woke up early and took the ferry to Waiheke Island, which is known for its wineries (currently at around 32) and some really nice coastal day hikes. The hike I did was around Church Bay and took roughly 2 hours and I ended up sweating like crazy and walking in like a shlub to the Mudbrick Vineyard where I put down about $3 to taste 7 really nice wines. New Zealand (particularly the Marlborough region in the northeast tip of the south island is known for its Sauvignon Blancs and also has some great Riselings as well). The other winery I went to was the Cable Bay Winery. It was far surperior as the guy giving the tasting was brought in

from the bar because it was so busy and he was not use to pouring small tastes, so we basically were poured close to half a glass of wine for all 8 wines we tasted - and he forgot to collect the $5 - glorious. I was obviously pretty buzzed walking back to the ferry, but enjoyed a nice sun setting on the harbour as we docked back in to the pier.

The rest of the night was pretty laid back and I woke up this morning and checked in to the Nomad Fat Camel hostel as I was running low on my patience with Hamish and needed to get up early Tuesday morning for a bus tour I'm doing. I'm going with a company called Stray and it's basically one of those "hop on, hop off" bus tours

where you pay not that much money and get transportation, a guide, discounts on a bunch of activities (spelunking of course, Dave), etc. So I leave tomorrow morning at 7:45 am and our first stop is Hahei, known for boiling hot water that comes up under the sand and people sit in them like jacuzzis. Also, a stop soon after at Raglan, which is known for being a really good surfing town - I may have to try it out for the first time and see if I can at least stand up (I mean, Phil, if you did it, I'm sure I can). I then start making my way down south through the north island and eventually to the south island.

I've enjoyed everyone's comments to the posts and I will respond to them as I can and of course any emails sent my way.

Take care,

Justin

Arrival

So here I am, on the underbelly of the world. It took a 6-hour flight to San Fran, a 4-hour layover, and a 12-hour flight to Auckland, but at last I have arrived. It amazed me that I could just sit on a couple plane rides and all of a sudden be warped 9,000 some miles and into the heart of summer. The plane touched down at 4:30 am New Zealand time on Friday even though I left Wednesday - effectively skipping the first day of my life. And I can still hear the flight attendant's welcome in my head; "...and for those of you who are from this absolutely beautiful country, welcome home." That got me very excited and definitely made me forget that bumping in my stomach coming from the rigatoni with ricotta and some sort of weird meat sauce served earlier in the marathon flight.

After a short stint in the "biosecurity" line (which scares you a bit as they deem any sort of false statement regarding plants, food, random specks of dirt on your boots, etc. brought into their country as a fine of at least $200 and possibly imprisonment), I was on my way to an apartment of someone I had never previously met. For those of you that don't know, I did "couch surfing", which basically is like a Facebook-type website, but the profiles are used for people to determine whether they want to host people on their couch, spare room, etc. for a certain period of time. A kid named Hamish was gracious enough to let me crash at his place this weekend and even gave me his keys when he went to work today so that I could come and go as I pleased - talk about trusting a stranger. This sort of situation would never happen in New York.

Unsurprisingly, the first place that I somehow stumbled upon was the Auckland Domain, which is a massive arboretum-type area with a lot of gardens, trails, and the Auckland Museum. It reminded me a little of the Golden Gate Park, but much much smaller. Here are a couple pictures I took today of it. I especially like the one with the train as the old trains are a bit of throwback, ala Station Agent:

















After some time spent wandering around this area, I also visited the Parnell area. This small neighborhood east of the Domain was quaint and filled with really unique shops, restaurants, and coffee shops. One of the many interesting things I noticed in my first day was that no one jay-walks in Auckland and on occasion there are actually instances when both sides of the intersection are stopped and the pedestrians race by on all sides of the street and crossing at various diaganol paths. I then had a small lunch in the Grafton and checked out Auckland University's campus. It was really beautiful, small campus, with a lot of Victorian-style buildings, large quads, and their famous clock tower. Here are some pictures from that as well:




















The rest of the day was spent touring through some of the more touristy areas of Queen and Victoria Streets, walking along the wharfs, and ducking into a bar or two for some cold brewskies as it was about 80 degrees. Obviously these watering holes included a Belgian bar called Occidental and the Shakespeare Hotel & Brewpub (Auckland's first brewpub, which also has 13 rooms that are always booked).

So that is the update on Day 1. I'm finally going to hit the sack after what seems like ages since my head last hit the pillow. I'm going to be in Auckland the rest of the weekend and did (in case you were all worried) find a 24-hour bar (the Shakespeare one) that assured me they would have the Birds game on Monday morning at 9 am - giddy up.



Justin

Trial run

So, because I want to keep all of you up-to-date on my travels, but did not want to go through the laborious process of creating email groups, remembering email addresses, etc., I thought it would be easiest if I created a blog.  Basically, if you're interested at all in what I'm doing over on the other side of the world, just click on the "follow this blog" icon on the right hand side and it should then give you updates through email each time I post a message, picture, etc.  If you already get too many emails and don't want to hear my ramblings about how beautiful New Zealand and Australia are while it's cold and miserable in the States, I will completely understand.  So yeah, that's it.  I leave on Wednesday the 14th and come back March 10th.  One picture (among many) that always gets me excited for the trip is the following:

Apparently these views are common over there, which is pretty crazy to think (this is in Lyttelton, a town right outside of Christchurch in the South Island).  

Feel free to leave a message here or send me an email to my gmail account - jbrock7@gmail.com.

Talk soon,

Justin