Advertisement
Published: June 18th 2005
Edit Blog Post
rugby
Fiji getting man handled. Go All Blacks! Wow, the last time I wrote anything was a while ago. We have gone to so many places and done so many things since then that it's hard for me to remember everything, but I will do my best. We got back to Auckland for the rugby match between the New Zealand All Blacks and Fiji. It was a neat experience since I have never been to a rugby game, but the game itself could have been better. There's a picture of the scoreboard at the end of the game. Right now there is a sporting event going on called the Lions Tour which is a big deal down here. About like the Super Bowl, World Series, or bowl games. People are fanatic about rugby down here. We are slowly becoming huge fans of this sport, although it takes a while to get used to how the game is played the rules they follow. This sport and the people who play it put American football players to shame. No pads and they run full speed into each other, punching, kicking, jumping on each with their cleats, and sometimes grabbing and biting ears(some of them wear ear protection because of this). Anyways,
scoreboard
It was a slaughter. it was a good time. They did the wave here and they throw all their empty beer bottles and cans in the air when it comes around, so you find yourself covering your head every time. We got up the next morning, June 11, and hopped on our Stray bus. Stray is the company that has been guiding us around the North Island. We headed south, then east over to the Coromandel peninsula where we stayed at Hahei. We did a day hike along the coast over to Cathedral Cove, which is another picture in this journal entry. We also went to a hot water beach where boiling water seeps up from the sand right at the water's edge. You dig your own pool and relax. We got there a little late, when high tide was moving in, and the cold seawater overtook our warm pool, so we didn't stay too long. We went back to our hostel that night and had a BBQ with our Stray group. Food was burgers, sausages, potatoes, salad, and bread. Oh yea, beer, too. The Lions were playing the New Zealand Maori team that night so we walked up the road to the local
cathedral
Cathedral Cove fire station where they have a big screen TV to watch the game. They even had a bar in the fire station. I don't think bars back home are allowed to do that. It was cheap as well, 2.50 for a beer. The next day we woke up early and drove west for about 4 hours until we got to our next stopping point, Raglan. Remember, earlier that morning we were on the east coast of NZ, drove for about 4 hours, and now we were on the west coast. This goes to prove how small of a island NZ really is. Raglan is NZ's big surf area. Unfortunately, when we were the surf was non existent. We stayed in a really neat lodge though. Tucked away up in the hills off the beach, but with an ocean view. It even had a zipline and ropes course. We ate an all you can eat Mexican buffett that night. Really good burritos. Again, we woke up early the next day and drove to Rotorua which is in the center of the North Island. There are lots of geothermal pools to soak in, most of them were a little too warm for
Falls
Huka Falls. People raft and kayak these falls. me. And, the smell of sulfur is almost overwhelming. That night we went to a Maori cultural dinner. A single Maori family of about six hosted it where we learned a bit about their background, they taught us to count to ten in Maori, and then learned the haka. The haka is a tribal dance that they would perform at ceremonies and before going to war. The New Zealand All Blacks also perform this haka before rugby games to intimidate their opponent. It's definately an intimidating thing to see. They fed us traditional Maori food, chicken, lamb, pork, kuni(which is NZ's sweet potato), stuffing, and bread. It was all steamed together in a big bin. They would normally cook it underground, but to do this they would have to start really early and cook it all day. Once again, we woke up early the following morning to drive down to Taupo. Taupo is situated on NZ's largest lake. Top quality fishing. It's a also a big place to go skydiving. Clint was supposed to go skydiving, but the weather was bad and they cancelled his dives two days in a row. But, one day we lucked out and did the
hike
The start of the Tongariro Crossing. Quite cold. Tongariro Crossing which is a hike that goes through the Tongariro National Park. This national park is the location of "Mount Doom" and Mordor from Lord of the Rings. There are some pictures of this place. It was about the best thing we've done since being here. The hike was 17 km long, and started out at 900 metres rising up to a top elevation of 1900 metres. We got strap on crampons and hike up through large volcanic craters with amazing views of the surrounding extinct volcanoes and Mt. Ruhapehu, which has the North Island's only ski fields. We have eventually made it down to Wellington, capital of New Zealand. About 250,000 people live here, which is a big city by NZ standards. We plan on staying here for at least the next 4 weeks to work and make some money for our South Island travels. Everything has been amazing. We have met so many interesting people from all over the world. We finally met our first Americans, about 3 of them. One was from Georgia, one from Illinois, and California. They were all older and decided they didn't like their jobs, so they quit and went travelling. Enjoy
Doom
Mount Doom the pictures. I haven't done so good taking pictures considering all the places and things we have done. Oh well, I'll do better next time.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.098s; Tpl: 0.019s; cc: 12; qc: 57; dbt: 0.0644s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
koan
non-member comment
wow
unbelievable!