Saturday morning, we left the Waldorf, bought some hand sanitizer and made the two and 1/2 hour drive to gorgeous Tongariro National Park.
http://www.nationalpark.co.nz/. There are three active volcanoes in the park, one of which served as Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings movie series. It was absolutely frigid (I don't know the exact temp as I still have not figured out how to convert from celcius) but breathtakingly beautiful.
Originally, we wanted to do the famous Tongariro Crossing, which is a six to seven hour day tramp (which is a hike for non-Kiwis). However, due to inclement weather and gale force winds, they were requiring crampons and ice axes for it. Given that I would barely be able to recognize such instruments, much less actually use one to scale a rock face, we opted for a shorter 2 1/2 hour Taranaki falls tramp. Later we actually read about three Europeans that had been injured (hypothermia, broken bones) trying to make the cross and had be airlifted out a couple of days ago. Although Alan and I's faces are now completely wind-chapped, we survived and it was awesome hike. And no, still no brown Kiwi siting. -- Kelly
Saturday morning, we left the Waldorf, bought some hand sanitizer and made the two and 1/2 hour drive to gorgeous Tongariro National Park. http://www.nationalpark.co.nz/. There are three active volcanoes in the park, one of which served as Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings movie series. It was absolutely frigid (I don't know the exact temp as I still have not figured out how to convert from celcius) but breathtakingly beautiful. 
Originally, we wanted to do the famous Tongariro Crossing, which is a six to seven hour day tramp (which is a hike for non-Kiwis). However, due to inclement weather and gale force winds, they were requiring crampons and ice axes for it. Given that I would barely be able to recognize such instruments, much less actually use one to scale a rock face, we opted for a shorter 2 1/2 hour Taranaki falls tramp. Later we actually read about three Europeans that had been injured (hypothermia, broken bones) trying to make the cross and had be airlifted out a couple of days ago. Although Alan and I's faces are now completely wind-chapped, we survived and it was awesome hike. And no, still no brown Kiwi siting. -- Kelly
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