More North Island Adventures

Hello from Queenstown, the adrenaline capital of the world. Were here at the bottom of the south island and this town is radical dude. Every other building is sky dive this, or bungee jump that with a half twist. But before i can tell you about our adventures here i got about a week of activities to catch u up on so ill hit the hi-lights.
After we left the north island coast we headed to central NZ. First stop was a place called Rotorua. This place had tons of the adrenaline sport as well(its everywhere here) but as usual we were a little broke to do that so instead we went a "thermal wonderland." Aside from action this town is dead center of a volcanic park, kinda like a mini yellowstone. We watched some geysers and did a walk around the park. The best part was the pools. The water, rock, and sand were different colors, bright colors. Orange, Green, Red there where lots of ponds and streams. There is something very wierd about seeing a naturally occuring bright green pond. It was the color water you'd expect the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to live in, or maybe the toxic avenger. Unforunatly the pics we took dont do the colors justice.

From here we headed east to Wiatomo. A miniscule little town. The only reason to go there was for the underground rivers and glow worm caves. We stayed two nites at a little camperground park. It was basically geriatric park because there were old people everywhere and we had lots of fun making friends and visiting with them, espesially Barbara who came by 3 times the day we left, each time bearing gifts. We scored all sorts of stuff: Sugar pots, tea cups, tp, a tin of biscuits (we talked alot about tea and coffee). Anyway we went on our adventure tour which boasted 5 adventures in one, and it was definatly that. After getting briefed we repelled 90 feet down through a hole in the ground in some remote sheep field, this part was really fun. Then we explored the tubular cave with underground river via intertubes and our own foot power. All along the way stopping to squeeze through cracks and holes, a clastrophobics nightmare. The highlight was the gloworms(which can only be seen here and in australia) clinging to the cieling by the thousand. When you turned your headlamp off it looked like a 3 dimensional nite sky, except much brighter. There were only six of us down there and the cave formations were great!If Mandy was writing this blog shed probablly say how i sat in my intertube wrong and almost flipped over for like 30 seconds. Her and everyone else thought it was hilarious and laughed the whole time with no nevermind to my feelings; its a good thing it was dark, so no one could see my tears of shame. This adventure was a definatly a highlight of the trip.

Moving on. Next stop was at the bottom of Lake Tauranga, the biggest lake on the island. Tuarngi, the little town we stopped in, is the trout fishing capital of the world. We must have come on an off day or something because we were board out of our minds. The reason for coming here was to do the Tongariri Crossing, the most popular day hike in NZ. So the next day we set off early on the 20 km hike. Notable hike moments: Hiking over Mt. Doom ( From the movie lord of the rings for those who dont know), almost getting blown off the top of the track by what felt like hurricane winds, seeing the bright blue lakes oddly out of place in the volcanic landscape,and going from rocky plains to mountains to lakes to grassy fields to hotsprings and through rainforest all in one hike. It was a good hike and we were glad we did it.Unfortunatly we dont have time to do the real world renowned 5 day longs hikes in NZ.

The next 2 nites we spent in Wellington, which sits on the southern coast of the north island. We both really like this city, after we found parking... The highlight here was a the Te papa museum. And instead of telling you all the details ill just skep to the end and say its the best museum in the world. Or at least the best we've ever been in. Other than that we did a little shopping, found a market, got lost, and some other stuff i cant remember. At the end of our stay we hopped a very expensive, fairly scenic fairy to the south island! I wish i could include all the details but there just arent enought hours in the day or enough wi-fi hotspots in the country. We have to get on the road again in our campervan which seems to be loosing its ability to stay clean. Talk to you soon!