Go The Blues

I'm not sure why they say "the Blues" instead of "Blues" but they do.

Friday night Kelley and Jacob took me to a rugby game. Rugby is huge here, they are crazy about the All Blacks and of course all have their own local city teams. It's actually quite affordable, general seating is only $15 in the end zone (or whatever the equivalent is in rugby).

It also has a bad reputation because it involves a lot of alcohol and rowdy behavior. I would equate the behavior to the Bills game Derek took me to in the Fall, everyone is really drunk and stupid.

However, I'm not sure if they really look down upon that or not. Beer is sold in plastic beer bottles for $5 and you can buy 4 at a time. Instead of stopping the sale of beer in the 3rd quarter like most stadiums in Canada, they just switch to light beer. But the beer is plastic bottles is genius - no one becomes a spilly talker. When they do the wave they throw the empties up - well that part isn't so great, they pretty much like to throw anything they can at any point in the game. Watch your head.

I know the basics of rugby and could follow the game, the first half was pretty close and exciting whereas the second we just started to rack up trys so we left in the 4th before it got crazy outside. But all in all it was really fun.

Kia ora, Aotearoa (Welcome, New Zealand)

The native culture in New Zealand is really interesting and it's probably one of the few countries populated by the English that actually embraces its native community.

Most of New Zealand continues to use Maori names for their cities and when the name is anglicized you often see the Maori name in parenthesis. They also embrace the culture as a huge part of their tourism.

Sunday night I went to Mai Ora where you participate in the Pawhiri welcoming ceremony, which includes a challenge (Wero), welcome speeches and then Hongi where the chief of their tribe presses noses with the chief of the visiting tribe. Then after the challenge and welcome, they show you a bit about their culture and finally you sit down to a Hangi which is the dinner. It's all very touristy but also really interesting.




A young warrior first comes out to see the visitors and is very cautious. He will lay down a fern and if the visiting tribe chief picks it up it means they come in peace. If they do not pick it up you're in trouble.


Although men play the dominating role in the tribe, it is ultimately the women who decide if the visiting tribe is allowed to proceed. Here is the house where they have the welcoming ceremony. Men proceed first and then women.


Maori use bugged eyes and an outstretched tongue as a sign of intimidation. Before the welcoming this was explained to use so that no one would begin to laugh, which would be incredibly rude. At this part of the ceremony they were singing traditional songs.

We were also given a visitors song of support (Waita) that we had to sing which completes the formal speeches. You know how much I love to sing, but this was okay because 1) it was about as easy to sing as the national anthem so everyone sounded terrible 2) it was a group song and very short.

Tena Koutou

Greetings to you all

E hoa una

To my new friends

Kua tae mai nei

We whom have arrived

I tenei wa

At this time, to this place

No reira ra

Therefore

E hoa ma

To my new found friends

Kia Ora ra

Greetings to you

Tatou Katoa

To one and all.

Afterwards they showed us their native crafts, the men were allowed to view the weapons and the women stayed for the weaving, pottery, music and food.



Much like native Canadians they also dried fish.


This is the chief of the tribe showing how to use shells as musical instruments.


I stayed to talk to him and he had been to Toronto and Niagara Falls and went on the Maid of the Mist. He said he was surprised how many homeless people there were in Toronto. Actually I've noticed the same, the welfare system here is much different and you don't see many people on the streets. I asked if it was okay to take a picture and he posed like this with the eyes and tongue.





Very similar carvings as we see in Canada. I was lagging behind on the tour to take pictures and the tour guide, also Maori, told me that they purposely don't make the faces realistic because in their culture it would be an insult to God to think that you could recreate his masterpiece.

Kelley and I at dinner. It wasn't great. I think because there are so many people from different countries they try to appeal to all senses rather than having traditional food that everyone may not like. Although the raw fish was there so I had some of that.

We sat across from a man from Belgium and he told us that he also went up Tongariro Crossing and the view at the top was the most beautiful he had ever seen. Of course it would be.

Wai-O-Tapu - Thermal Wonderland

The next day after hiking Hail Mountain we decided to do something nice and easy. We were in the Taupo Volcanic Zone and the area is literally covered with collapsed craters, cold and boiling pools of mid, water and steaming fumaroles (whatever they are).

The scenic reserve has been created because beneath the ground is a system of streams headed by magma left over from eruptions, The water is so hot that it absorbs minerals from rocks and passes them off as steam.

Eventually they get absorbed into the ground making it look like a nuclear meltdown. But the colours are all natural and due to different mineral elements, in the pictures below you will mostly see:

yellow sulphur
white silica
red/brown iron oxide
green colloidal sulphur/ferrous salts

Oh I forgot one important thing: it stinks like rotten eggs. The whole region stinks. It smells like they are having an egg salad sandwich convention.

You do get used to it until you walk by a steaming pool of stinky water and you can barely breathe. Kelley came with us but half-way through the walk we wondered if it was okay for the baby.

It was very nice at first, we all went to Lady Knox Geyser, I suppose like Old Faithful but much smaller. The story is that years ago there were prisoners working nearby and they discovered a hot pool of water and decided that it would be great to wash their clothes in because they wouldn't have to go to the trouble of boiling water. Everything was fine until they added the soap - that's how the geyser reacts. No one had ever seen such a thing before and Lady Knox came to visit to see for herself- from then on it was called Lady Knox Geyser.

Next we went to the boiling mud pools. I had seen them before in pictures and I was looking forward to it. Unfortunately you don't get the benefit of sound but it reminded of The Neverending Story when the Nothing was after them and ate Atreyu's Horse. So sad.

There were over 25 areas to view and Jacob wanted me to take pictures of all of it. But I'll spare you and just post a few.

The Artist's Palette which is a bunch of hot and cold pools that are steaming and hissing - oh and stinking. But the variety and vibrance of the colours was amazing.

This was unbearable, the stinky hot rotten sulphur egg smell blowing in your face.

Again a tough picture, the wind kept changing and blowing it into our face instead of behind us. This was a quick one.

The best/worst time of my life.

Let's just call it an adventure.

Kelley and Jacob were kind enough to take me away for the weekend. Friday night we drove four hours to Turangi so that Jacob and I could climb Tongariro Crossing the next morning.

Tongariro Crossing is part of a national park that was given to the government as a reserve by the Maori. Normally it's a 7-8 hour hike and you can see emerald coloured lakes toward the end.
Jacob also wanted to add Ngauruhoe Summit:

The 2500 year old near perfect cone of Mount Ngauruhoe entices many visitors to it's summit. Relatively quiet since 1975, this parasitic cone of Mt. Tongariro is traditionally one of New Zealand's most active volcanos.

This track is not for the faint hearted, a difficult climb or scramble up a sharp scree slope taking around an hour and a half up and 15 minutes down! Some of the best views to be had, but only to be challenged on a clear day.

It sounded tough, but it was a beautiful day and looked well worth it so I wanted to give it a go.

The first hour and a half before getting to the base of the summit was challenging but not too difficult. There were lots of other people from different countries and you had to take breaks every so often so you were able to stop and talk to lots of people. As soon as people saw the flag on my back they initiated conversation since most of them had been to Canada or knew people there. After a while I put on my iPod so that I couldn't hear my heavy breathing and I was having a pretty good time. It was tough but manageable and the views were breathtaking.

So we're about to take on the Summit and I'm feeling pretty good about it. It looks steep and it looks really hard but I think the view will be amazing and I'm up for the task. Here's the summit behind me and I'm looking optimistic.





We start to climb the Summit and it becomes ridiculously difficult. All of the rocks are small and they give way once you step on them. The incline is also more than 45 degrees so if you wobble you could fall backwards. I spent the next 45 minutes crawling on my hands up the mountain.

Jacob is up further ahead talking to some people on their way down the mountain and they tell us that there is an area to the left that is a bit easier. Sure enough there are people climbing to the left and it is much easier.

I know it doesn't look easier but it is.

Jacob was great to hike with and let me go at my own pace, waiting for me at points so we could have a break and to see how I was doing. The view was fantastic.

Even though it was still tough I told Jacob that it was the hardest thing I had ever done and that the worst part was over now that we climbing up a different part.

I was wrong.

Just as we were entering the first crater (there were two) it started to rain. I put on a sweater and raincoat but the rain made it unbelievably slippery and while the top was 20 minutes away there was no view because we were encased in a cloud. As stubborn as I am, I told Jacob I didn't think it was worth it. I was worried about slipping on the rocks and there was no view.

He agreed and we decided to start back down. And then it got even worse.

Keep in mind this is the middle of summer. We were out exposed on a mountain and all of a sudden hail began to attack us. Hail. It was pelting down in a blizzard and it hurt. I had to crouch down because it was assaulting us from every direction basically paralyzing me. I was terrified that the rocks were slippery and I didn't know how we were going to crawl down this mountain.

Jacob was incredible because I was freaking out and he was very calm. He called over to me to come to a rock that we could hide behind. At that point I told him I didn't know if I was crying or if it was rain on my face. This trip was no longer fun. Fortunately it began to die down and Jacob reminded me that this would make a great story and we should take a picture. This is the first time I had smiled in 20 minutes.

But it was good to smile because I was miserable and it cheered me up. Now only 2 hours to go to climb our way pack to the start. My mood changed and as the mud and sand invaded my socks and sneakers I told Jacob that sand was nature's exfoliant. There's always a bright side.

We persevered and Kelley, our dutiful photographer/driver/servant picked us up and brought warm dry clothes to change into.

Auckland is a Cafe City

Auckland has a million cafes and they always are crowded. It's been difficult finding food that is authentically Kiwi and like Canada they don't really have their own cuisine. However, they do wonderful fresh cafe food with gourmet organic ingredients. It's difficult to choose fast food when you can find a cafe next to it with fresh sandwiches, quiches and salads.

I've gotten into the habit of photographing my meal before I eat it. Today an elderly couple stopped me at lunch and asked if I was writing for a magazine - which is peculiar because I doubt a magazine would write about a food court lunch. However, when I explained I was travelling they told me they did the same thing when they were in France.

They also take their coffee seriously and think that Starbucks is terrible, cheap coffee. Imagine that. I'll try to get a picture of the next flat white I get, which I believe is a frothed regular coffee. But everyone has an espresso machine, even McDonalds and I don't think they would dare just pour the coffee straight from a jug like we do in Canada.

One of my first lunches with Kelley near her office, smoked turkey with pesto and brie.

Jacob and I tried the local artisan beer while in Rotorua and it was pretty good.

We went to the waterfront and I had mixed grilled seafood that came out on this hot stone and continued to grill.

Vegetarian lasagna that I was photographing today when the couple stopped me.

This is the most interesting thing I've eaten so far, raw fish marinated in coconut milk with fresh vegetables. Jacob brought it from his cafeteria and I've also had it elsewhere. I've been trying to find the recipe but everyone just calls it raw fish.

Believe it or not I'm walking on air...

Remember on America's Next Top Model when one of the challenges was to take a beautiful picture while in mid-air? Keep that in mind when you take a look at these pictures.

Again, New Zealand is just one bizarre activity after another and this was Freefall Xtreme Bodyflying in Rotorua. They take you through a very brief explanation of how to move your body up and down and then throw you on top of a massive fan.

Just in case you don't remember, here is the winner of ANTM and her pose, they kind of look the same don't they?

Zorb

Zorb is yet another activity invented in New Zealand to keep the Kiwis amused. Basically they put you in a opaque PVC ball that is inside another ball. They throw a bunch of water on you and roll you down a hill.

I saw it on Lonely Planet and it looked like a good time but I was surprised at how much fun I had. You get sloshed around, much like a washing machine and you're laughing hysterically - atleast I was - the entire way down the track.

Here are some pics of Jacob and I. Again, no pregnant women allowed so Kelley was the designated photographer.