Greetings from Hamilton!

It's raining, it's pouring, Alexa is snoring... well, not really, but she is taking a nap, and it really is raining here in Hamilton. We're in Hamilton, New Zealand's largest inland city (Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch are all on the coast). It wasn't a part of our planned travel itinerary, but we changed our plans around quite a bit and saw some pretty interesting things.

On Friday we left Wellington as planned and drove to Turangi, a small town bordering Tongariro National Park. The drive was absolutely beautiful. It's the same drive we made before when we first came down to Wellington from Rotorua, except this time it wasn't rainy, cloudy, and miserable. Oh, what a difference the weather can make. Last time it had been so foggy we didn't even realize that Mount Ruapehu was in sight.

We spent the night at a holiday park. The next morning we woke at 5:20 to be on a shuttle by 6:30 and we were at the beginning of the Tongariro Crossing a little after 7. For the next 9 hours we hiked the 18.5 km trail (with a few necessary breaks). It started with a scenic jaunt through a barren desert littered with massive chunks of volcanic debris, followed by a grueling series of climbs up Mt. Tongariro: the Devil's Staircase, a 45-minute hike up to the brim of an ancient crater; the climb up red crater, a hazardous journey up a path of scree (loose rock and volcanic ash that slips away under your feet) with a plummeting death only 2-3 meters away on either side; and lastly the optional side-track (an extra 3 km added to the 18.5) up to the snow-capped summit of Mt. Tongariro. Alexa opted out of the final ascent, but I hiked up through the snow to the very top. By that time some low clouds had settled over the area. It was completely surreal. I could only see the rocky outcroppings and patches of snow 4-5 meters around me. Beyond that, I was inside a cloud and cut off from the world. Completely still and completely silent.

After the summit we began our descent. At some point along the way Alexa mysteriously injured her ankle. She can't pinpoint the exact moment it started hurting, but the last two hours of the hike were pretty miserable for her, unfortunately.

Once we've settled in some place where I'll have more internet time I'm going to devote an entire blog post to the crossing, complete with beautiful pictures and a play-by-play (rock-by-rock, maybe?) account of the hike. For now, just know that it was awesome.

Back at the holiday park we soaked our feet in the spa--I had a blister thicker than Angelina Jolie's lower lip!--and changed our plans for the next few days. Originally Sunday would've been the day I went skydiving, but we decided to head up to the Coromandel Peninsula instead. There are many scenic beaches and parks on the peninsula that are best seen during the summer, and as we're headed to the south island for the next six months, this is our only chance. Skydiving I can do pretty much anywhere, and I'll probably end up doing so in Nelson with Abel Tasman National Park as my in-flight scenary.

So on Sunday we drove to a holiday park near Hahei, a small coastal town on the peninsula. Along the way we went Zorbing in Rotorua. Basically you climb into a human-sized hamster ball filled with water and roll down a massive hill. It's as insane as it sounds, but it's great fun.

The drive to Hahei was also beautiful although a bit hairy at times. Several sections of the road were marked by signs with squiggly lines for "Next 7 km." They might as well have just put one sign that said "The whole damn highway is like this" and saved themselves the trouble. Crazy turns around sharp bends past steep valleys with no guard rails, and of course the local Kiwis are zipping by at 80-100 kph without care. It makes the roads in Ireland look tame.

Still, we made it up to Hahei without incident. Overnight rain came, and on Tuesday we found that the beautiful, sunny weather we'd been expecting had turned to clouds. Despite this we went to a couple beaches. First we went to Hot Water Beach, a beach famous for its natural subterranean geothermal springs. Supposedly you can dig into the sand at a certain section of the beach and hot water will come bubbling up from the ground. Maybe the springs were broken Monday, because out of the thirty or so eager tourists with shovels, not a single one of us dug up any hot water. I hit some that might've qualified as lukewarm compared to the stuff rolling in on the surf, but certainly no hot water. Hot Water Beach was also home to some tremendous jelly fish. I'm not sure if they were man-of-wars, but they were varying shades of maroon, pink, and purple, and some were larger than dinner plates. Needless to say we didn't go for a swim at Hot Water Beach.

Disappointed but not discouraged, we then headed to Cathedral Cove, a beach known for its enormous limestone formations. I really need more synonyms for beautiful, or maybe the ability to upload photos. I don't want to keep repeating myself.

Here's something different: beech wuz very pwetty lol :)

I swam for a while, even though the water was pretty damn cold. I wasn't alone in my craziness, though. A handful of high schoolers were standing, shivering, in waist-deep water and shrieking with great surprise each and every time a wave crashed against them every five seconds.

It was only a little past noon when we left Cathedral Cove. We had planned on spending our whole day at the beaches, but the weather didn't agree with that. Instead of spending another night near Hahei, we headed down off the peninsula to Hamilton. It's another rainy day, but we were able to do a bit of exploring. Hamilton has a few points of interest. Not only is it New Zealand's largest inland city, but it also has New Zealand's largest (fake) Christmas tree!!! Oooh. Ahhh. It also has an indoor mall that could fit in perfectly in just about any mid-sized US city, complete with a seasonal calendar shop and a mall Santa. Weird. The only differences are the store chains and the food court selections (sushi, curry, and kebabs instead of Cholesterol King and McObese). The rain let up for a couple hours today and we headed to Hamilton Zoo. Tonight we might check out the indoor waterpark just outside of town.

Tomorrow morning we're headed south to Waitomo Caves for our black water rafting adventure, and then we're headed further south still to Taumaranui where we'll leave for our two-day canoe trip down the Whanganui River before returning to Wellington for the weekend. On Sunday we catch the ferry to the south island.

Anyway, I guess that's enough about all the awesome things we've been doing for now. You'd better quit reading this and get back to your jobs. Hahahahahaha!

It's okay. I'll be picking fruit, cleaning rooms, or doing whatever other menial tasks I can for money in a few weeks. Just let me get my cheap shots in while I can.

Pictures will come as soon as I get a chance!