Liz and Eli on the Move

(aka Mt. Doom)

eli and I are still extremely sore from the 24k Tongario trek we did on Sunday! We went to the summit of Mt. Tongariro (1976m) and enjoyed great views of Mt. Ngaurohoe (familiar to some as Mt. Doom). We are hoping to recover normal functioning in our calves soon.

Rotorua is famous for its geothermal features- geysers and lots of steam vents and a generally sulfurous smell about the whole town. eli and I spent a morning relaxing in some pools heated by aforementioned features.

We really enjoyed our day sail. The boat was owned and operated by an ex-drug smuggler Kiwi and his dreadlocked New Yorker wife. The weather changed constantly, but after an overcast start and a drizzly walk on an island we anchored by, we had a sunny day with a nice breeze and saw dolphins and our first penguins. They were blue penguins, much smaller than their relatives featured in movies, but still very impressive (and cute) to see.

After a few days in Auckland, we headed north onto to the peninsula that makes the northern-most part of the north island of New Zealand (sorry about the three “north”’s in one sentence- I couldn’t figure out another way to say it. We stayed in the town of Russell in the area knows as the Bay of Islands. We took a day sail to see more of the islands which were absolutely gorgeous- the land is bright green and the water is deep blue or turquoise. Overall, I am struck by how New Zealand more closely resembles my idea of Hawaii or the South Pacific than how I imagined NZ, which was looking more like Mordor with a little bit of Shire thrown in.

Once we arrived we rented the crappiest bikes ever and explored the island for a few hours. Interestingly, brakes are reversed on bikes down here, I guess like everything else, though I haven’t gotten around to watching the water go down the toilet yet. Here is a nice view of Palm Beach:

View from the ferry on route to Waiheke Island.

Very beautiful! We landed here after an 8 and 1/2 hour flight from LA, had a one hour layover and then had a 6 hour flight to Auckland.