Tramping around Mordor & Mount Doom. (Oh yeah...and I bought a car)

Change of plans since last post... (which has become part of the "plan").
Instead of heading north to the tip of the island...
I met a guy from canada and we pitched in to buy a car (it's a very common practice here and easy to buy/sell) and a more flexible way to get around than busses/shuttles/tour bus/etc. It's a 1993 toyota camry, seems to be in pretty good shape and only costs us about $1035 USD. I will re-sell it once I've completed the NZ Islands.

We headed southeast to the Coromandel peninsula (I keep calling it Coriander) and hiked about the Pinnacle Peaks area (In New Zealand hiking is called "Tramping"). It was a beautiful day and I got a bit of sunburn (oh woe is me!). We helped the hut warden erect a TV antenna at his little hut so that he could barely pick up 2 stations on his 6" screen. To thank us, he made a french press of Italian coffee. I visited him that evening and we sat and drank some of his homebrewed beer that he called "Pinnacle Piss" (aptly named!) But it hit the spot and he was an interesting character...a 65 year old Maori native that has been manning the hut for 6 years. He works 8 days on, then 8 days off. His name is Charles and I posted his pix on the website.
Then turned further south to the thermal activity area around the town of Rotorua (famous for geysers, mud pots and Maori cultural area). The Maori are the indigenous tribes of New Zealand. During the Maori welcoming ceremony for our group, I was made the ceremonial Chief and had to offer a green fern of peace to the challenging tribe before they would welcome us into their house for a celebration. It was thrilling! My friend took a picture and it is on the Flickr website.

Spent one night in town of Taupo, site of NZ's largest lake which was formed from a HUGE explosion. It blew a hole 606 cubic kilometers big!! By comparison, Mount Saint Helen's was only 3 cubic kilometers. It's massive and home to some of the largest trout in the world!

We then ventured further south to the Tongariro national park (a World Heritage Area) to tramp the 3 night northern circuit around some awesome active volcanic peaks!! This is one of the areas where Lord of the Rings was filmed. It was the inspriration for Mordor and Mount Doom! Pretty otherworldly! Check out the pictures!

New Zealand has an incredible system of backcountry huts that you can stay in when hiking the national parks (although you can tent as well). They help limit the impact on the fragile environment as well as offer an option to those not quite up to 'roughing it' in a tent. They range from$7-20 per night and have bunks, running water (from a rain collection system) and gas burners for cooking. Awesome! We've met families with small kids, and many older hikers as well (older as in 60's and 70's). There are such an inspiration and have so many stories to share! It's funny when you're trudging along with your pack on an 8 hour sweaty, mountainous hike all day...then you arrive at a hut to find some couples in their 70's sipping tea and greeting you "'ello mates!"

I am currently in wellington (NZ Capital) in the southernmost coastal town of the north island. It is a cool, kinda artsy, trendy town with many art museums and restaurants (especially the Oriental establishments serving the huge plates of noodles/rice for $5) Yum!!
The hostels (so far) are incredibly clean, well run, accomidating and fairly inexpensive (average $13-16). The kitchen area is a focal point and many people congregate to cook their own meals and meet people/share stories. What great comradery these travelers have! Most hostels have laundry, kitchen, internet, tv room, book swap, ride boards, and will help you with booking your travel plans.

So, in a nutshell: all is well...or as they say here "Sweet as!" It's their way of saying 'that's cool' or 'all good'

Lots to post but short on time, so....
check out some of the pix I've download to the My Flickr Photos. Look on the right under the "Links" menu.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ubinger/
cheers mates!