On to Wellington

I write to you as I am about to leave the North Island. I've had a wonderful time here. Amazing sights, some good weather and some bad, and even a few disappointments.

I'll start when Stephanie and I left Rotorua. On our way out we stopped at Wai O Tapu, a geothermal reserve. We saw some boiling mud back in the city but here there was more. A lot more. We walked along a path through the park for two hours and saw water of every colour, blue, green, red, yellow, and of all temperatures, sometimes even boiling. And of course there were small mud volcanos spewing more mud metres into the air. Sometimes the steam was so thick I couldn't even see. Other times I the caverns and caves were so deem I couldnt even see the mud at the bottom. I could only hear it boil. It was a great walk. The only bad thing about it was the smell of sulfer. It was strong beyond belief. I smelt like sulfur for days. All my clothes have a stench. I even washed everything and I can still smell it. Yum.

Like I mentioned before I've had a major disappointment. We stayed in Taupo for a few days so we could walk the famous Tongariro Cossing, the self proclaimed "New Zealand's greatest one day hike," which really says a lot. That morning we woke up at 5 am to catch the shuttle bus at 6. We were on our way and about 30 minutes later the driver gets a call saying that the road ahead was closed due to a major accident. And that was the only road out there, so the bus turned aound and went home. So Stephanie and I decided to extend our stay and try again tomorrow. However the shuttle busses wouldnt drive due to bad weather, making it not safe to walk the crossing. And the forcast predicted rain all week. So instead of waiting around doing nothing we left for Wellington. We are (especially me) truely disappointed. Oh well, there will be other magnificent hikes to do.

On a lighter note, we arived in Wellington three days ago. As it turns out, my friend's Carly's parents are here for the summer (your winter). I haven't seen them in years but nontheless they were more than happy to spend the day with us an show us around the city. Rick and Julie took us all around. We walked up a bunch of stairs, took in great views of Wellington, walked back down through the botanical gardens, toured the city centre, and saw the government buildings and parliament. Rick actually works in the old government building built in the 1800's, so we had special access to it when it was closed. It was a very cool building in that it is completely built of wood, although I could have sworn the outside was limestone. Later that day the even took us for dinner at the Green Parrot, an institution here in Wellington. That filled my steak needs nicely.

The next day we woke up and went to the Te Papa museum, New Zealand's national museum. It was a hands on type of place, much like the Ontario Science Centre. There was a bungy jump simulator (which I didn't do) and an earthquake simulator (which I did do), and other electronic games and technology that expressed New Zealand's history, culture, and unique animal life.

For dinner I called Rick and Julie and they invited us out for dinner again. They're such nice people! This time we had some delicious authentic Indian. Delicious. It was nice to finally to see people I know. Maybe it even makes me a little homesick. Oh well, March isn't that far away.

See the pictures of Wai O Tapu and Wellington at
http://uwo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2113834&l=9ce55&id=58000349
and
http://uwo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2113840&l=c607e&id=58000349

Tomorrow we take a three hour ferry to the south island. The next day we go to Abel Tasman National Park for a cruise and a day hike. We are very excited becasue we have heard such great things. I'll tell you all about it in my next post. Thats it for now, see ya in the south.