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