Week One

Week One – Brief Overview
Day One: Arrive in Auckland. Buy a cell phone, walk straight uphill to find Kevin (who we are staying with while in Auckland), get to top of huge hill – still carrying luggage, get sent back down hill by two men who don’t know what they are talking about, realize we were right the first time – walk straight back up the hill. Try to convince Lauren this is funny. She buys it.
Day Two: Drive to Tongariro National Park. Get drinks at The national park lodge with friends of friends of friends.
Day three: Hike the tongariro pass – strongest winds of all time. Stupid decision –more later.
Day Four: Drive back to Auckland make several stops on the way including Lake Taupo – New Zealands largest inland lake. Watch someone bunji jump and decide that I want to do that [a little bit].
Day Five: Bus – All day. Arrive in Wellington. Go to bed.
Day Six: Wake up early, notice our hostel bunk mate is sleeping in what appears to be spiderman whity tighties. Go to the Musuem[awesome]. Wharf Jump with Kevin and friend [Wharf=pier]. Learn new game: Mah Jong. Go to new hostel to camp.
Day Seven: Morning in downtown wellington – eat flapjack with WAY too much cream. Get on bus to head for Lord of the Rings tourist location. Meet Judy on bus – go to her house instead. Go to WETA studio. Walk to beach/café.
The most distinctive quality I have noticed thus far with New Zealanders is hospitality. Our plans for where we would be staying in Auckland fell through at the last minute and our high school friend Luisa pulled through with a few contacts, Kevin and Laura. To our surprise these total strangers were not only willing to give us their extra room but they were also willing to share their food, beer, time and car with us. Kevin and Laura were incredible hosts right off the bat. Our first weekend in Auckland was actually the same weekend as Aucklands anniversary so most people got a long weekend with no work on Monday. Ironically, many people celebrate the founding of their homestead by leaving it for the weekend including Kevin and Laura. A day after we arrived they drove us four hours south to tongariro national park where we stayed with yet another stranger to us, Kevin and Laura’s friend Beth, who was also more than willing to share her space and food and drink with us. When our cell phone didn’t work at the base of the Tongariro crossing, we easily hitched a ride 20 minutes back to the village with total strangers. Megan and Richard, Laurens Kiwi friends, met us at the bus station in Wellington and immediately brought us to their favorite café, brought us wharf jumping and introduced us to their friends. Today on the bus when we asked an older woman for what stop to get off if we are looking for the Lord of the Rings studio. She not only told us but offered to drive us where we made a pit stop at her home, offered us a snack and then detoured to see the home of Peter Jackson. Needless to say, the Kiwi’s we have been more than accommodating.
The weather on the other hand has been a little less consistent than the people especially when we needed it the most. Our second day in Tongariro National Park, Kevin, Laura, Lauren and I decided to do the Tongariro Crossing, which is in the land of Mordor and goes right up to a peak near Mt. Doom. It is supposedly one of the most beautiful sights on the North Island. We woke up to rain falling outside Beths cabin which was a bit of a downer but as Lauren and I don’t find ourselves in New Zealand very often, opted to give it a go anyway. Once we arrived at the trailhead the weather was even more dicey than it had been in town and after a half hour Kevin said that when we reach the trail hut a little ways ahead we should reassess the situation. Once at the hut we found several other hikers trying to avoid the elements. Kevin and Laura decided, since they weren’t going to see anything anyway, that they were already wet and cold, and that they live close enough to do it another time, to turn back and do it on a nicer day. Lauren and I were not quite as wise and despite weather warnings from several hikers who had just come down from the mountain, opted to go anyway. While we would have preferred blue skies and a little sunshine, the mood felt appropriate as we were in fact approaching “Mt. Doom.”
Shortly after we got to an area with more rocks on either side that protected us a bit more from the wind and also the clouds were letting a little bit of sunshine through. We took some pictures and we were feeling confident – perhaps even arrogant with our decision. As we approached the next part of the hike we came across a warning sign and went down the checklist:
Is the Weather Okay? “No”
Do you have the right gear? “No”
Are you fit enough? “Probably not”
Lauren and I looked at eachother and nodded in agreement. “Forward March”
The next hour and a half was like swimming up stream. Not only was the wind getting stronger but we passed many hikers who cautioned us moving forward with things like “It gets pretty intense up there”, “The top is very exposed” and “I would turn around” but our stubbornness wouldn’t allow it and we marched onward. The wind continued to get stronger, the path steeper, and our legs sorer. By this point my raincoat was so saturated that it was actually trapping more water in that it was keeping water out. As we got closer and closer to the top we got more and more miserable, and the wind got stronger and stronger but we kept saying to ourselves “we’ve come this far already”. As we reached the highest point we could hardly stand and we could see none of the views that our guidebooks and friends had mentioned as so beautiful. We could barely see the next trailmarker. As we started making our descent, the wind got to a point that it was literally difficult to stand and Lauren and I had to shout to eachother to hear anything. Finally, Lauren sat down because the wind literally might have blown her over. Finally, we put our stubbornness aside and turned around. Not being able to see ahead and not knowing what the second half of the hike had in store we decided that it would be even dumber than what we had done already to keep moving forward. “At least we made it to the top” was are only consolation. The hike back down felt long, and as the adrenaline wore off, my exposed legs began to feel the windburn and our joints and muscles started to feel what what we had put them through. Finally we made it down to the bottom and hitched our way back to town. While we may have looked like the stupid Americans, I think we both feel that our Mt. Doom experience, was both appropriate and worth it.
Wellington has been a nice, relaxing pace after that adventure. After a few more days here we leave with Megan and Richard, for the south island by boat and train. We will spend a few days in Christchurch and then set out for a 6 day hike on the Routeburn Trek. So far, I am loving New Zealand.