Karlene bites the dust (maybe)

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Hey Everyone!

I hope this blog works better than the last...
It has been such a long time since I wrote, I don't even know where we left off, so I am going to give you the latest and greatest and then more randomness.

First of all, it's Thanksgiving for you all right now, so HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Hope you ate good meals for Mary Kathryn and I because our "Thanksgiving dinner" was interesting to say the least. We had a campsite out by a beautiful river, The Wairakei River, which is Huka Falls is on. The falls are just amazing. Our Thanksgiving dinner was not so amazing. We made do, however. We even found another American to share some food with!

About the Ole Miss game: Mary Kathryn and I were able to "watch" the Ole Miss/LSU game! We had some form of play by play on her computer. Not real sure how many minutes we were behind y'all, but we knew we won!! It was so much fun. The game started around 10:30 am here so we basically had to beg the only restaurant/bar in town with WiFi to let us in early (they didn't open until 11:30). The workers actually got into the game a little bit and kept walking by asking us the score and such. We, of course, explained to them how important the game was and all about the Grove and such. They were impressed, I think =). Also, we had to order the usual, a bourbon and diet coke. Well this drink came in a what can only be described as a Zima type bottle, already pre-mixed, and it was called "Whiskey and Cola". It actually wasn't that bad. We are thinking of ways we can import them to the States.

After watching the game, we moved onto Rotorua for the afternoon and night. MK and I immediately visited the information center and booked a rafting trip!! We had heard that this was the river to raft if you were going to do it. Disclaimer: Before we left for NZ, I told MK that I was not going to jump out of or off of anything...she is more of a dare-devil than I am. Well, I signed up not knowing that this was the highest grade (grade 5) commercially raftable river with the highest drop-off that you can do as a non-professional! But I am so glad I did it! It had a 20something foot dropoff. The company we signed up with (which of course was the cheapest one) sent a shuttle to pick us up and then we met our guides who were both hilarious and scary at the same time. The stories they were telling on the way to the river made me a little nervous. There were a total of 3 guides and each of them in their own way reminded me of Wayne's World characters. They were telling us about the previous evening when they got "pissy drunk" and went over these rapids in some homemade contraption. All of them were also complaining of hangover. Made me feel real safe... As soon as we got to the hut where they stored the rafts and such they funneled us all into a room to change into wetsuits, helmets, and life jackets. It was my first time to ever wear a wetsuit and that in itself was hilarious. We then had to sit in the raft and "practice" what we were going to do when in the water. All the while they are telling us that it is a 100% chance that we are going to flip and such. MK kept telling them to be quiet and not tell me because she was scared that I was going to back out. When we actually got in the water, I had the best time! The river was so pretty in some parts and then so rough in others. It was quite amazing. Then when we approached the biggest fall, the guides made us all stand up and look down at it before we went down. I was so scared. I literally just closed my eyes and held on. We didn't even flip!! We had a good raft team. There was German guy on the raft who was quite serious and he, I believe, is the whole reason we all didn't go flying. He acted like he knew what he was doing.
Along with our rafting purchase, we got a free entrance to "Hell's Gate". We, of course, are not going to pass up anything free, so MK and I immediately went to this Hell place. It was really amazing. Pictures cannot capture it and it is hard to describe, but here it goes...The whole place looks like you have landed on some other planet. The ground is bubbling from up from the earth and there is mud spewing up from the ground because it is so hot. They had designated walking paths through these hot pools, which was very weird and scary. We were not certain that the walking path was not about to become part of the attraction, you know... This is a sacred place to the Maori people here in NZ and they supposedly still use it in for healing of disease and such. The whole place smells like sulfur which smells like rotten eggs. After we got used to the smell, it was a pretty neat place.

This all leads me to now:

We are currently in Taupo. There is a beautiful lake here, the largest in NZ, that the whole town is built around and a huge snow-capped mountain that looks over the mountain. It is something for postcards. We have been here for a long time. The first night we were here, we camped. The second night we were here, we camped. The third night we were here, we camped. In case you can't read into it, I am sick of camping. Luckily, the spot we had was beautiful. It was in a spot just out of town that is specifically for camping and there were many other backpackers doing the same thing. We met some cool people and I am glad to have had the experience, but I am certain that I now will never take a warm shower with a clean towel for granted! Other than camping in Taupo, we have been traveling the town and going on beautiful trails for runs and walks. Today there is huge cycling race that has the whole town buzzing with people from all over the world. We have been watching them cross the finish line all day.

Now, For the most important part...Karlene Jean!!
Basically, we believe she is at death's door. Knocking hard. She has been briefly diagnosed with a blown head gasket (sp?). I have no idea what that is, but I do know it's expensive. We are going to taking her in about an hour to somebody who was recommended to us by a local and see what he says. So...this puts a little wrinkle in our travels for now. I may be in Taupo for some time.

Now for the fun part! Random things that I have been trying to remember to tell y'all:

- We have heard Afroman on the radio three times. So strange. Apparently he is pretty popular in NZ.

- The sun here is like nothing we in America know. There is a hole in the ozone layer and when it is out, you feel like you are walking on the sun. We put sunscreen all over our bodies almost every day.

- Many Margaret look alikes here!! (for those of you who don't know, Marg. is my dog). I always stop and talk to them.

- It is true about the sheep, but there are just as many cows! And cows are gross. You get to see them up close and personal here.

- There are so many Germans here.

- Lauren, this is for you: I had a great "finding myself" moment the other day on the beach. Took a long jog by the Pacific ocean and listened to Blues music.

- Finding a canned diet coke here is almost impossible and when you do, they cost $3.50.

- The public restrooms are super nice and clean!

- Mayo. and ketchup are not Mayo. and ketchup.

That's all for now. Miss you all very much. We hope to get a good report on Karlene and then head to Wellington for more travels in the South Island. I will let you know...

Eliza

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