Exploring Middle Earth

This past weekend we rented a car and headed up to beautiful Lake Taupo.  Unfortunately we got there and thanks to all the rain we got dreary Lake Taupo instead.  After a couple road bumps a long the way (both literal and figurative) we made into town and got settled in our hostel.  Turns out it was actually a really nice hostel and we filled up most of our room.  We had a relaxed night in the hostel bar and watching movies and resting up for morning hikes.  

Unfortunately the next morning was rainy and cold and did not look like good hiking weather at all.  We somehow managed to be happy campers (mainly because we weren't actually camping) and got up early and headed to the craters of the moon.  Now the area around Taupo was used for a lot of the Mordor and Mount Doom scenes in the Lord of the Rings movies so it turns out a cold dreary day was perfect for the kind of tragic, creepy beauty of the area.  I know I'm starting to sound like a brochure but it really was fantastic.  It looked like part lord of the rings, part some distant planet (or moon mayhaps) part land before time where a triceratops would fit right in.


After that we headed to the hot springs and got a private bath.  It smelled a little funny (plenty of sulfur) but it felt amazing.  And with great luck we were headed from the main pool to our private pool right as a little kid pooped his swimmers so at least one disaster was narrowly avoided.

The next morning we wanted to head to see the Maori carvings out by the lake.  Unfortunately you can only get there by water so we decided to take the sail boat and once again the bad weather worked in our favor.  We got a couple sprinkles on the way out but with the gloomy morning we had the whole boat to ourselves.  He also kept us out for an extra half hour, threw in a glass of wine for each of us, and I got to swim up to the carvings.  The day was cool and the water was colder but I was of course the first to jump in and make my way to shore.  I mean when else in my life am I going to get a chance to swim in lake Taupo?

From there on out the day made a valiant effort and being nice and we got great views of the lake, the falls,and the city.  Unfortunately we did not get a chance to do all we wanted so we are already planning a trip for later in the semester to head up north and stop in for a bit, to climb Mount Doom and such.

MGMT and the Trippy Tree

Sorry I keep forgetting to give you an idea of what my living space actually looks like, much nicer and more likable than where I started out, plus I have a beautiful view into our private little back garden.  A garden also perfect for hanging laundry because people here don't believe in dryers.

 So the past week has been pretty glorious, sadly though there was supposed to be sailing on Sunday but that was not doable due to weather but on Saturday we headed out to Matiu/Somes Island to do a day of volunteer work.  We were helping to clear back the brush on either side of the trail, and well we did a fabulously thorough job (I had to throw some evidence of over enthusiastic hacking over the mountain side).  We stopped for a nice big picnic lunch and were supposed to spend the afternoon walking around and doing some leisurely trimming, but Hope and I were feeling under the weather still so we laid out in the sun and appreciated the amazing views afforded by living in a harbor city.

Sea!

 I did not yet mention, but the island is smack in the middle of Wellington Harbour so you can see the whole city and all the way around and even out to sea.  So it wasn't too bad to lie about on the old armory shelters on top of the island and look out at water, city, and mountains all around us, boats and birds in the harbor.  Oh and speaking of the old embattlements and such the island has had a pretty interesting and diverse to say the least first it was a Maori fortress for when their homes on the mainland were attached, then the white people showed up and made it an animal quarantine for all livestock coming into the country, then it was a prison for enemies of the state, then an internment camp for people unlucky enough to be from Germany or Japan and living in New Zealand during the 2nd world war, and now it is a nature conservation and place for visiting college students to spend the day in the sun hacking down the bush.

 Fast forward to Sunday night where we went to a glorious MGMT concert where I took this picture.  And no that is no trick of the lens, I actually couldn't have been more front row center unless I wanted to be in his lap.  And to the older generation who do not recognize the name MGMT I don't mean the management I mean the band, and this is kind of a big deal.  I couldn't get the camera out of my back pocket without violating at least three of my fellow concert goers and possibly elbowing an eye or two.  Even so, squished against the front railing until it was hard to breath, not even needing to lift my feet to jump with the crowd, it was a glorious night and a fabulous concert.  And could only logically be followed by a trip to the trippy tree.  The view was amazing, but not really something that can be caught on camera, hopefully I'll be able to climb again sometime during sunset because it's a glorious view of the city.  I don't have any good pictures in the trippy tree but to give you an idea here is one of Mikayla during out late night foray into the botanic gardens

Scrum!

Well kitty cats, sorry it has been long ago since I last blogged, but other things just keep popping up to come between us.  School is well on it's way, a solid 2 weeks of class in though I'm still not sure which papers (Kiwi-tastic-speak for courses) I will actually end up with for the semester because Wake is a silly rabbit and can't make up it's mind about my hours.  Of course the professor I need for course approval is out of the country for the exact same 2 weeks as add/drop time for classes. Still hoping I only end up with 3 classes instead of 4 because according to my study abroad program I am currently overloaded.  Not that it wouldn't be plenty doable, it's just that I didn't come to New Zealand to be stressed out by school.

More importantly I cannot get up to leave my house because it feels like my bones would all crumble into dust or I would have a huge hacking fit and be caused to roll down the hill, whichever came first.  This means I couldn't go to work in the booth by the water like I had planned to today (there goes $75 from my pocket) and it also means that I can't go fetch delicious things I wish to eat, seeing as I am always hungry when sick I'm starting to have food dreams.  The hot caramel and milk chocolate crepe from crepes-a-go-go just down the street.  Unfortunately here "just down the street" means that I would have to clamber back up the street hacking and wheezing and trembling like the old man in up's great grandfather and probably dropping my crepe all over the ground rendering the entire trip useless. Instead I must just day dream and watch criminal minds while curled up on the couch.

Experience and Skill

In brighter news, before this wretched bug found me and wrecked my ability to transport myself anywhere we had our program reunion dinner and learned to cook Vietnamese!  Hope and I made excellent lemon grass chicken and expertly rolled spring rolls (I was a little ahead of the learning curve having done these before) so mine were of course perfection and didn't look like unborn mice or used kleenex (recently I have become quite the expert in the second and would be able to spot a good likeness quite quickly).

Last night, before I was quite so incapacitated by this plague we went to our first rugby game! The Wellington Hurricanes beat the Chiefs 29 to 26 and I must say I quite enjoy the game.  Much more play time than football and much more scoring than soccer, plus all the physicality of Hockey, I kind of wonder how I didn't stumble upon the sport earlier.  Being sickly and tired that's all I have for you now, but stay tuned since next week things heat up with an MGMT concert and volunteering! Not to mention hopefully the conclusion to Kerry's long fought battle with this cold. See you next week! (hopefully).

Scrum