North Island Whirlwind

Hi all!

Since I last wrote, I've been on a bit of a whirlwind tour of the North Island. First I headed to National Park and the volcanoes. Stayed there a day and did the Tongariro Crossing, billed as New Zealand's best day walk. It's a spectacular 6-8hr crossing of volcanic craters and emerald sulphurous lakes.... quite an alien landscape! Of course, Mt. Ngurahoe (a.k.a. Mt. Doom in the Lord of the Rings trilogy) added to the surreal experience! Unfortunately, the walk is so popular that some days up to 1000 people do it. This leads to some congestion, and I was lucky enough to get behind a school group of approx. 100 kids, which made for slow going. Still fantastic anyway though.

Then it was on to Taupo for a day, and then Rotorura. Taupo was rainy and reminded me a lot of Penticton again.... strange, the more I travel, the greater I appreciate home. I even went so far as to look up BC, Vancouver and Penticton in the Canada Lonely Planet guidebook and after reading the gushing praise for all three, felt very blessed to be able to call that corner of the world home.

Rotorura has been very busy.... it's a very commercial, touristy type place. I visited a couple geothermal parks and saw geysers and bubbling mudpools. Reminds me of when I visited Yellowstone way back when, except that Yellowstone seemed bigger, maybe because I was smaller. Also visited the spa for a nice soak in the hotpools and am now too relaxed to get up to much. In the evening I attended a Maori Hangi (feast) and concert. It was a neat experience, if touristy. The women's demonstration with Poi (balls on the ends of strings) was incredible and has caused me to want to learn it if I can! Food was also great. It's interesting, that a lot of the commercial tourism operations here are run by Maori iwi (tribes). They're excellent entrepreneurs and don't seem to have any qualms about showcasing their culture. Quite different to BC coastal First Nations that I've had some contact with. I'm eager now to get to the East Cape and find some unexploited Maori culture.

I'm heading to Waitomo to see some glow-worms next, then maybe do some surfing before meeting up with friends in Auckland for a few days. Then hopefully either the East Coast or up to Northland and more wwoofing and visits to some ecovillages. Time is passing so quickly! I've really enjoyed traveling on my own, but after staying in a family situation for a while, it's all a bit lonely again. There are plenty of other travelers to talk to though, so it's ok. Even so, I'll be happy to be home when I return at the end of June.

Missing you all, and hoping you are well!

Love,
Kristi