Tree Ferns

New Zealand has been awesome so far. The major challenge so far has been not to spend all of my money. I have a ticket on a backpacker bus, which is probably good given I'm travelling alone. They pick us up at various hostels and show us a standardized itinerary of sights and offer a tantalizing menu of activities. Occasionally they steer us into a blatant tourist trap with a knowing wink, but otherwise no particular complaints. The bus is mostly filled with people from various parts of the British Isles and Germany, although there was a Canadian once.

I started off with a traditional Maori feast in Rotorua after a brisk departure from Auckland. There was a bit of a staged ceremony complete with traditional Maori guitar and then we ate a bunch of food cooked in a hole in the ground. It was suspiciously like Thanksgiving dinner, even including traditional Maori cranberry relish.

Rotorua is the geothermal capital of New Zealand as well, so I spend a day walking around looking at the vents spewing vaguely sulphurous steam out of people's backyards and the boiling mud in the park. Went out to the bar with a group of English people, largely from Newcastle, and met a Canadian valley girl. At least as annoying as the American variety.

The next day we stopped off at the Waitomo caves on the way to Taupo. Opted for the deluxe "black water rafting" trip. This involves getting into a wetsuit and caving helmet and hiking across a large cow pasture and into a hole in the ground. The cave itself is not particularly impressive, although we got very close to some formations. The real draw is the river. When the river flows into the cave, it carries with it a variety of gnats and mosquitos that are then too dense to fly back upstream. Instead they fly towards a bright spot on the ceiling that turns out to be a glowworm surrounded by sticky filaments waiting to eat it. In order to visit these worms, we put on our wellies and climbed into inner tubes and then into the chilly waters of the river. They say there are more glow worms visible in the cave than stars in the sky, but I don't think that is true at any one point, still, the eerie blue-green light they put out is quite impressive. Truth be told I enjoyed paddling through the cave at least as much as the glow worms.

At Taupo I undertook the Tongariro Crossing, which essentially entails hiking over a large active volcano. Mt. Ngaruhoe, which flanks the trail played the part of Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings movies, and it is quite impressive. To say I was out of shape from being sick lately would be to put it mildy. On the approach to Ngaruhoe at least one Australian fairly yelped "Blimey Mate, yer steaming!" Sadly not a comment on my good looks but on the fact that I was literally surrounded by a cloud of steam from my exertion. I decided to attempt the ascent of Ngaruhoe, which is an cinder cone and essentially offers no purchase anywhere on its slopes. Frankly, Frodo made it look easy, and I had to turn around or risk missing my bus. Still, the scenery is amazing on the hike, alpine meadows, steaming moonscape, emerald lakes and a bit of jungle just at the end.

In Wellington now, which is lovely, although I'm given to understand that's something of an exception. The climate is described this way in my guide. "125 days per year of rain. 64 days with winds gusting to at least 50mph." The city is quite beautiful and surrounded by an impressive collection of forests, including an 80 acre patch of untouched original broadleaf podocarp forest, which basically is transplanted from Gondwana land and includes treeferns up to 20 meters tall. 20. Meter. Ferns. Feel like I might be eaten by a 3 m dragonfly any minute.