Rongatiro is the Wrong Name for Tongariro

From the Gospel of Kristine Chapter 4:2-9

We consider this training for the Tongariro Crossing, next on our list of great hikes to do. With Jan on her way back to Canada, and the remainder of a Labour Day weekend, we decided to make our way to the national park. With 3 mighty and active volcanoes, Tongariro is a spectacular park! Mount Ruapehu stood majestic in the background for much of our walk, with Mount Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe just off in the distance. After a photo shoot underneath the 20 meter Taranaki Falls, we continued on, through alpine herbfields and tussock country to the Upper and Lower Tama Lakes, where we enjoyed a glorious view of Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu from the summit. Realizing that time was getting on, we raced back to Whakapapa Village Chateau for a well-deserved High-Tea; the brainchild of my brilliantly romantic and handsome husband; for there is no better reward to conquering a mountain peak than to indulge on miniature sweet cakes with the man that you love.

From the Gospel of Joseph Chapter 5:14-21

Though I was bitterly fatigued from long weeks working whilst my cavorteous wife whithers the time at tea, I bravely gathered my body to be broken on the dark hills of Mordor. The journey began with frivolous carrying-on at the Amundrud tavern, with more yogurt and fruit than even the most gluttonous lush could have wished for.
However, the road to Mt Doom is long and spirits grew heavy in the two-hour car ride up.
The focusing ring of my camera weighed heavily around my neck, whispering into my feverish ears, "Take me down, snap a few pictures." Sickeningly, I gave in to unrelenting temptation; my soul growing more polarized with every click of the shutter. The dark eye of Canon rove to and fro over dusty desert slopes, seeking the One who weilded the power of the focusing ring.
My faithful companion (Frau-do), urged me onward, and told me how light the ring would feel once unshouldered at the top of the volcano. "Once done," she gaily sang, "We'll have buttered scones and treats with tea." How I longed for the comfort of my warm bed, and warm cottage in the shire of Rangiwahia.
She was right. Warm tea swirled around in the bottom of my floral cup, but I felt no warmth as I thought about the ring still sitting in the bag beside me. The ring to rule all the others. My precious...

We've been everywhere

If you haven’t already checked out our “I’ve Been Everywhere” slideshow, have a go. We just bid adieu to Edmonton friend, Jan, who spent two weeks visiting us in Rangiwahia, true rural New Zealand. Allow us to share some highlights.

ROTORUA – Wai-O-Tapu “Sacred Waters” Geothermal Wonderland
Where have you been all my life?
Your colours are radiant
A sight to behold!
Your champagne pool’s a masterpiece,
Worth all its weight in gold
Look at all the colours
Fluorescent orange and green
Your mist rises to meet me;
A rush of warmth and steam

Your Bubbling Mud Pool is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. “Pop, sputter, blurble, splurt…gurgle, belch, splat and blurt.” Where are your manners? And how do you excuse yourself for such uncivilized smells? I had the faint sense that I had landed near the Bog of Eternal Stench; any fans of the movie Labyrinth?
Devil’s Bath and Ink Pots
Artist’s Palette too
Opal Pool, you’re lovely
It’s a panoramic view
Geysers erupt on schedule
Lady Knox @ 10:15
Fumaroles and rotten eggs
It’s a one in a million scene!


FEILDING – Saleyards Tour
What would a trip to Manawatu’s central farm region be without a trip to Feilding Saleyards?! It’s one of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere! Jan and I took a leisurely stroll and surely stood out as sore thumbs rather than potential buyers. However, it’s never a bad thing to flaunt the farm-girl pride!

HAVELOCK NORTH – Te Mata Peak
Here is a legend that’s based around food and love; two things I most enjoy. Are you intrigued? It was this very combination that formed Te Mata Peak in Hawke’s Bay, so says Maori legend. The legend tells of a Maori chief who preyed upon Heretaunga. The Heretaunga chief’s daughter was very beautiful, and after seeing her, Te Mata O Rongokako decided to woo her rather than make war. She set him many seemingly impossible tasks, which he accomplished until she told him to eat his way through a nearby hill. The giant began to plough his way through the hill, but choked on a large rock and dropped to the ground. According to Maori legend, he still lies there today, in the Te Mata hillscape and it is the lumbering form that van be seen high above the hills of Havelock North, a quaint village just outside Hastings.
We hiked to the top of this peak for an especially picturesque view, finding the most perfect hill for a picnic. If only life allowed for daily hikes and picnics; we’d be fit as fiddles and content! I wonder if Chief Te Mata imagined that the hill was a solid block of chocolate…which brings me to my next topic; Whittakers.

WHITTAKERS, HOKEY-POKEY, CHICKEN & NIGERIAN FEAST
Everyone should sample a Nigerian feast at least once in their life, and while I can’t comment on how authentic Jan’s version was, we were pleased that she was willing to share the recipe. Curried beef meets rice and fruit salad whereby romance is exchanged. Delicious!
Then there’s Hokey-Pokey ice-cream; a kiwi favourite. It’s a marriage of honeycomb and caramel that no one should be denied. True love…now, one mustn’t make Whittakers chocolate jealous. A considerate person would divide their cravings between the two. From a myriad of choices, I’ve narrowed down my favourites to be dark almond (there are health benefits!) and mint dark (refreshing and promotes good breath!)
Beware of Chicken, the dice game that encourages risk taking and gambling. It provided endless entertainment for us three on quiet evenings in the country. We may have gotten Jan hooked on Whittakers but she got us hooked on Chicken; seems like a fair trade.

TAUMATAWHAKATANGIHANGAKOAUAUOTAMATEUATURIPUKAKAPIKIMAUNGAHORONUKUPOKAIWHENUAKITANATAHU – The Longest Place Name in the World
Hold your breath and say it as fast as you can. The name is a shortened form of ‘The Brow of a Hill Where Tamatea (remember him?!), the Man with the Big Knees, Who Slid, Climbed, and Swallowed Mountains, Known as Land Eater, Played his Flute to his Lover’.
A very talkative man (keen on sharing stories of a past trip to Strathmore, Alberta), at a nearby museum (mistaken for Information-site), nearly talked us out of the extra mileage to what he suggested as little more than a sign. We snuck out of the museum when he wasn’t looking and made a break towards Porangahau on the coast. It was worth it, just to say that we’d been.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends

If I can borrow that famous line from Henry V, I will. Kristine and I have heartily enjoyed the mid-term break. We drove seven hours each way to Auckland to visit Aaron and Kristel and family and what a splendid time we had of sharing tacos and seeing the harbour together.

We came back from Auckland and spent a few days at the Simchah Trust house in Palmerston North. Our thanks to Bob and Pru for setting us up with that little getaway in the city! We detoured to Whanganui on a beautiful sunny day for a picnic amidst the orchids at Bason Botanic Gardens and a walk along the black-sand Castlecliff Beach.

We are back in Rangiwahia, applying for more teaching jobs and awaiting the start of Term 4 on Monday.

Please check out the video of the Auckland Zoo on the post below which we just added. It took a while to upload :D

Mr. Restricted

The people of New Zealand are friendly as and generous to a fault. You could throw a rock in any town and hit five people who would be eager to shout you a beer and swap sheep stories in Her Majesty’s Mangled English. However, there is one thing that the Kiwis are tight with - the internet. After living in the land of milk and honey, where bandwidth flows like advertisements from Time Warner, the stark New Zealand broadband leaves me ashamedly naked.

I stayed for a while at the Auckland City Hotel in the heart of Auckland’s central business district. The SkyCity needle pierced the sky overhead bristling with communications relays. In fact, my netbook was weighed down with the burden wireless networks available, all of them locked away as the fire from Prometheus. The gracious guardians of fire at the concierge desk said that there was a half hour of broadband available free as a guest.

Happily clacking away, I attacked web of possible attractions. The website of The Edge quickly surrendered the floorplan of symphony seating and the Auckland zoo’s flash website rotated the primal faces of orangutans and giraffes to stare back at me. Not more than five minutes on the blissfulnet and the connection was severed; I had exceeded the allotted ten megabytes. How, O how, could they consider ten megabytes to be broadband? It’s like broadband telegraph messages. Buckle up - it’s going to be a wild ride of text!