Bug, bugs, buggy!

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Our drive to Lake Waikaremoana passed through some Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, towns. Proportionally Maoris suffer from higher rates of poverty and this town was no exception. As we passed through, children stared at us as though they'd never seen someone unknown coming through. We passed a family sitting on a very old car, if I'd taken a picture with my black and white setting, you'd have thought that it was from the 20's. I mean New Zealand is a first world country and these people live in third world conditions. This 20 year old Maori girl had just named her new daughter, Zealand-New, at 20 this is her 5th child!!!!!!!!!
The tramp around the Lake was very scenic, the lake is quite large. It was amazing to see hardly no one after leaving Rotorua, a tourist metropolis. Along the way near one of the campsites was Korokoro Falls, a waterfalls about 60 feet tall. The water coarsed over a lush green cliffs that had ferns clinging to the sides. Very nice!! This track is rated easy-moderate and we met a guy who has hiked the entire Pacific Crest Trail and Appalachian Trail and I asked him why he wasn't hiking the entire track (the length is roughly what a typical long distance backpacker can knock off in a day) and he says, "Oh this hike is far to strenous..." hmm... he is from Pennsylvania so I guess he is just not Alaska tough like us! At night I even had time to compose a new song for Blake. To the tune of Baby Beluga... "Baby Blake in the deep blue sea, swim so wild and swim so free, heaven above and the green algae below and a little white girl on the go." Another song is to the tune of, "you really got me now..." "Sandflies, you really got me now, you've got me so I can't sleep at night, you really got me now." Another tradition that we've started is that when we see the sporting good shop, Rebel Sports, we playfully beat each other up.
Onto business. We got off the track and drove to Napier, a city known for it's art deco buildings (the town was destroyed in the 30's in an earthquake and was rebuilt in the art deco style) and wine. It was also 90 degrees and I melted away. Napier is where the National Aquarium is located so we checked a crocodile with a feeding, kiwis, huge tank with a depiction of a local reef... lots of sharks and sea turtle. They even farm crocodile in Australia! Napier may be a nice place to visit when you're older, but we were bored and eager for adventure so we sped on out of town. We drove to National Park and the next day, hiked the Tongariro Crossing... an epic 19.4 km(roughly 13 mile) with 2600 feet of elevation gain through Tongariro National Park. The hike passes craters, emerald lakes, hot springs and best of all two active volancoes. We scaled Mt. Tongariro for an extra 2 miles and the view was great. It was a clear and sunny day so we could see Mt. Taranaki, a distance of a couple of hundred kilometeres. We overheard two girls about our age saying that they hoped that their was a drink machine at the top because they'd like a Coke. Haha... of course there isn't one. It is around Tongariro that they even boast their own 'Bridge to Nowhere.' Get this... a guy that I met on the bus to the crossing... I met him three years ago while biking the Otago Rail Trail on the South Island. I can't believe that we crossed paths again! And I happened to sit next to him on the bus... maybe this happens more often than I think since New Zealand has a small population. On a final note, the bugs are driving us insane! We were hit hard on the lake, but even at the top of Mt. Tongariro the bugs were horrible. We've traveled through water and on high mountains to escape, but there is no escape. We are pleading for mercy.
We are in Wellington now for a couple of days before heading to the South Island! Onward to our next adventure... urban yuppies!

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Comments

[Kate Boesser]

hello from Gustavus
Hi, Breena! How wonderful a trip you must be having! I love reading your blog journeys. My niece, my sister Cindy's daughter Shalom Schrader, is going to school in Christchurch, in case you head there -- she, too, has tramped all over the country since last Oct. and might have some suggestions for you and Blake! [e-mail] Take care. love, kate