Running the River

Hello All!

Boy a lot has happened since the last time we checked in with you. After doing the Tongariro Crossing we headed a bit to the west to do a 3 day canoe trip down the Whanganui. The Whanganui river runs right through the middle of Whanganui National Park and the river trip is considered a great walk even though you are floating the whole time. Part of the Lord of the Rings was filmed in the park and we were singing the theme song as we paddled through some of the white water. Neither one of us had spent much time in a canoe before but with all of the weight that we carried it felt really stable and we couldn't wait for the next set of rapids to come! Only in New Zealand would they send you on a three day trip with only 2 minutes of paddle instruction...but all in all the river was just as mild as the Skagit. For a lot of the time we were floating on smooth water through deep gorges. We stayed at a couple of huts along the way. The first hut had glow worms lighting the path to the bathroom and the second hut was maintained by the Maori people and was run by a couple of ladies who had grown up on the river. The trip was great and we had fantastic weather.

Next stop was the town of Rotarua which you can smell before you get to it. It is right in the heart of volcanoe country and has tons of active geothermal areas all around. It smells like sulphur, but you kind of get used to it after awhile. The area is really important to the Maori people and they still make up a majority of the population there. We went to a traditional Maori concert and Hangi (feast). We saw dancing and singing and they have a Maori village that you can walk through and try to get an idea of what their traditional life was like. The Hangi is a feast that roasts all day in a hot rock oven and the native sweet potato and fish come out with a really delicious smokey flavor. It was a little pricey and very polished (we were there with 4 other busloads of people)! But still it was well worth it and a lot of fun plus all you can eat so Mike was happy.

Then we were off for Auckland to sell the Beast. He has such a great home for our trip and we will miss him, but it was sort of a relief to be able to sell him on the first day, and for $500 more than we bought him, which helped to cover some of our other travel costs. We now have a rental car and we were happy to get out of the big city and head north. Tonight we are at a campgroud a couple hours north of Auckland and are looking forward to spending our last few days on the beautiful beaches of the north country.

Only four days left until we head back home. It will be so great to see you all again and it might even be nice to get a little dose of the winter weather (we hear it's been raining a lot). Thanks for all of your comments and for keeping us up to date with stuff at home along the way.

Love and miss you all,

Brooke and Mike

Tongariro Crossing

Hey everybody! We just finished an awesome hike called the Tongariro Crossing, just south of Lake Taupo. This is volcano country and the trail crosses an active volcano. Much of the trail you feel like you are on another planet. There is only some grass here and there to break up the rock scape. The trail takes you through three craters, past several lakes of different colors and close to some steam belching hot springs that have the distinct smell of sulfur. We had beautiful weather for the crossing and took some awesome pictures that we will post as soon as we can. We hitch hiked on the way back an got picked up by a really nice British photographer who now lives in NZ. He offered us a place to stay should we be passing through the town of Taupo (which unfortunately I think we won't be).

The next adventure we are considering is a 3 day kayak trip down the Whanganui River not to far from here. We'll keep you posted.

Love ya and miss you (but home in less than two weeks!)

Over and out,

Brooke and Mike

View over the Queen Charlottes

View over the Queen Charlottes
Originally uploaded by mikebrooke.

The views along the ridge line which the trail followed most of the way were stunning. It looks a lot like the San Juan Islands to me until you get down in to the forests filled with giant fern trees.

Life is rough in the Queen Charlottes

Life is rough in the Queen Charlottes
Originally uploaded by mikebrooke.

Shhh...Mike's had a hard day.

Relaxing in the Queen Charlottes

Relaxing in the Queen Charlottes
Originally uploaded by mikebrooke.

Drinking beer on the dock in the Queen Charlottes. It doesn't get much better than that, and we didn't even have to worry about the extra weight since the water taxi took our packs from port to port. What service!

Mike makes a new friend

Mike makes a new friend
Originally uploaded by mikebrooke.

So our backpack trip in the Queen Charlottes was quite eventful. We spent a beautiful sunny day in Picton getting ready and walking around the town. The woman at the DOC office who helped us to plan the logistics of our trip said, "You sure couldn't pick better weather!" Well guess what happened...that night a huge storm blew in and it was rainy and windy like crazy. We had to catch a boat to the trailhead and it was sure a memorable trip. It felt like the intro to Gilligans Island. Waves were splashing over the top of the boat and in the doors! Boy were we happy to reach dry land.

We started hiking in the pouring rain, but about 30 minutes down the trail there was a sign pointing to a house on the water which had hot tea and fresh baked blueberry muffins. You can be sure we spent some time there before continuing down the trail.

Later in the day the weather cleared and we came to our first campsite of the trip which was in the orchard of a farmer. He was a jolly fellow that kind of reminded us of a hobbit (he he). It was so great there.. with lots of barnyard animals to keep us company. Here is a picture of Mike making friends with one of the locals.

Kyaking in Okarito

Kyaking in Okarito
Originally uploaded by mikebrooke.

Hey Guys! Here is a picture of us kyaking in Okarito Lagoon on the west coast of the south island. What a great place that was to relax in and paddle around.