love/hate

start with the hate:
the iowa d.o.t.  i inquired about my license because it will expire on my birthday, and while it's still good in iowa for 60 days, i am paranoid about it being okay here.  got a rude email in reply, sent a curt one in return, followed by another rude return email.  i'm sorry, but i don't think that printing out the d.o.t. page saying my license is still good in iowa is an okay solution on the off chance i were to be driving and get pulled over.  somehow i feel somewhat sceptical that the new zealand police would buy it.  i'm going to get the extension form printed off and try that instead.

also, hate that i broke down and applied for a job with these guys.  not because of the salmon thing, but because it's farmed salmon, which i am on principle against.  but i need a job, and i can always turn them down if it looks like something else will come through.  which i am very much hoping will happen!

(hate too that i can't find my camera cord!  i know it's around somewhere, but living out of bags...)

love:
haley, for emailing me the entirety of the shepard's dog.  i finally have it all on lola and i can't wait to listen to it in full!  and he will be in wellington on march 25th so guess where i will be!

love nelson too--today i was sitting in starbuck's (i know, i know) sipping on my chai looking out the second story window at the street below.  it was just a beautiful day, a nice breeze, music from the street.  there were also some street performers that i saw today, and a sidewalk chalk artist.  i also had a long-ish conversation with a potter, and overall i'm just happy that i'm here.

me + water

on the ferry from wellington, and kayaking in picton.

everyone have their king's cake ready for tuesday?

for no reason other than this backpacker's actually has FREE wireless.

we are on our third backpacker's since we got to nelson, because the first one we didn't like, and the second one was small and didn't have room for us.  we just keep getting further out of city center.  but it's okay, because this one is nice too, and i am probably over-indulging in this free wireless thing.

MOUTHOLOGY

Q. What is your favorite fast food restaurant? I don't really care for fast food much, but I do like getting burritos at Pancheros, if that counts.
Q. What is your favorite sit-down restaurant? Pretty much anything with good Mexican food.  Supposedly there is a Mexican restaurant in Nelson.  Oh, do I hope it's true!
Q. On average, what size tip do you leave at a restaurant? 15-20%, usually closer to the latter.
Q. What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of? Grilled cheese and tomato soup.  I am, in fact, about to do that.
Q. What are your pizza toppings of choice? Pepperoni, cheese, and lots of SAUCE.  Pizza here is lacking in that, and if it's a meat pizza they skip it entirely for BBQ sauce.
Q. What do you like to put on your toast? Butter, usually.

TECHNOLOGY

Q. What is your wallpaper on your computer? A poster for Iron and Wine in New Zealand, so I don't forget that I want to go.
Q. How many televisions are in your house? Uh...

BIOLOGY

Q. Are you right-handed or left-handed? Left
Q. Have you ever had anything removed from your body? Only splinters.
Q. What is the last heavy item you lifted? My bags.
Q. Have you ever been knocked unconscious? No, I almost passed out in the showers in Bowman once though.

BULLSHITOLOGY (If you'll excuse the term.)

Q. If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die? No way.
Q. If you could change your name, what would you change it to? Dude.  Or The Dude.  Kind of like in The Big Lebowski, I guess.
Q. What color do you think looks best on you? I don't know, red or blue?  Just not yellow or orange.
Q. Have you ever swallowed a non-food item by mistake? I'm sure, I just can't think of anything.
Q. Have you ever saved some one’s life? No
Q. Has someone ever saved yours? My dad saved me from choking once.

DAREOLOGY

Q. Would you kiss a member of the same sex for $100? Why not.
Q. Would you allow one of your little fingers to be cut off for $200,000? I don't know.  I don't really use it, but then I think I would miss it when I do things like typing.  That's a tough one.
Q. Would you never blog again for $50,000? I think that the withdrawel would not be worth it!
Q. Would you pose naked in a magazine for $250,000? HAHAHA!  Not likely.
Q. Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000? Yes, and then like Erika I would barf.

DUMBOLOGY

Q: What is in your left pocket? Nothing at the moment.
Q: Is Napoleon Dynamite actually a good movie? Well, I like it!
Q: Do you sit or stand in the shower? Sometimes I sit, but usually just when I am trying to shave my legs and not kill myself.
Q: Could you live with roommates? I could live with Erika or Laura, and maybe my sister.
Q: How many pairs of flip flops do you own? I don't know  because I can't remember what I left in Iowa.
Q: Last time you had a run-in with the cops? There was that speeding ticket back in October...
Q: What do you want to be when you grow up? Got me.

LASTOLOGY

Q: Last friend you talked to? Leah
Q: Last person who called you? Some lady from TradeStaff way back in Tauranga.  I signed up there over two months ago, people!
Q: Last person you saw? Leah

FAVORITOLOGY

Q: Number? 24
Q. Season? Fall.

CURRENTOLOGY

Q: Mood? Sort of bored, and a little stressed.
Q: Listening to? The radio in the kitchen.
Q: Watching? My computer screen.
Q: Worrying about? Jobs.

RANDOMOLOGY

Q: First place you went this morning? The shower.
Q: What can you not wait to do? Find a job!  Also, do some more fun stuff like kayaking.
Q: What’s the last movie you saw? The Holiday
Q: Do you smile often? I try.
Q: Are you a friendly person? I try!

didn't i write this title already?

here i am, in nelson, on the beautiful south island.  i liked wellington, i didn't want to leave wellington, but i couldn't resist a ride on a ferry.  we all know how i reeeeeeally like boats and all, so it was a pretty good deal.  we spent a couple of days in picton using our backpacker's free bikes to ride into town (mine was too short and the seat too close to the handlebars, it was very uncomfortable) and the free kayaks.  we went out into picton harbor in them, fighting the wind both ways.  they say that the weather is very changeable in new zealand.  like the windy wellington thing, THEY ARE NOT LYING.  i was very irritated by the wind changing so i had to paddle into it both ways, but i got over it.  i mean, i get to go kayking in new zealand, so i really don't have an awful lot i can complain about and get away with. 

when we were out there, we saw a large number of jellyfish, so the conversation went along the lines of "i wonder if these are poisonous" and included a lot of quotes from finding nemo.  like "offspring, jelly man.  jelly man, offspring."  and "you were like Whoa!  and we were like "WHOA!"  and you were like "whoaaaaaa."  yeah, we watched that movie two days in a row while we were in rotorua, but the second time was not our fault.

so now we are in nelson as i have previously stated.  it seems to be a very nice town, hopefully with a lot of job vacancies.  i have been working on my resume today, and well, at least i have written english papers that were somewhat less coherent than this thing.  definitely could use a bit of editing.

we also have been reading a lot.  we are in this really great backpacker's with an even better book exchange shelf, and i chose a p.d. james mystery.  the only problem is after taxing myself on my resume all afternoon, i kept reading the same sentence over and over.  so i am sorry if this post is, you know, repetitive.  i probably forgot i already wrote it.

text message from me to jack: my book just mentioned THE ISLE OF WIGHT so i thought of you.  (jack is from the isle and mentions this frequently.)
jack: REALLY?!  what book?
me: a p.d. james novel.
jack: that's baroness james of holland park to you!

windy wellington

they don't call it that for nothing!  i really like it here, it's a great city.  lots of art to see and stuff to do.  at the city gallery yesterday saw an exhibit called jingle jangle morning by some guy called bill hammond (?).  very nice stuff.  te papa, etc.  more to do today!  hope i don't blow into the harbor...

wellington at night, and the bucket fountain.

more recently

since i've been back in rotorua, leah and i have spent a few days doing very little at all (including hours spent lying on beaches in the sun) and have done a few touristy things as well.  the most looked-forward too one by me was the hangi.  a hangi is a way of cooking food that uses the heat from the ground (since most of new zealand, and especially rotorua, is very geo-thermically active) to cook food in a pit.  it's a big touristy thing to do, as there are a few maori tribes in the area who have commercialized it by doing it specifically for tourists along with performing a concert and the like.  the one we went to, mitai, also takes you down to a river to see a waka (canoe) being paddled up by some men in traditional dress.  that was followed by the concert, where amongst other things, they performed their tribe's haka and taught the crowd about moko (tattoos), weaponry, and musical instruments.  it was really cool.  and then we ate.  a lot.  the food that had been cooked in the hangi included chicken, lamb, potato, and kumara.  there were also salads and a cheesey potato bake, plus dessert of trifle and chocolate cake.  leah and i both at two heaping plates full AND dessert.  it was so good!  the lamb, especially.  we then went on a short walk to see some glow worms and the sacred spring of the tribe.  it was such clear water, and very pretty, but i was distracted by the incredibely long eel in it.  i really, really hate eels.  they freak me out and i don't know why, but i don't like them.  when we went to waitomo, leah had said something about eels before we went and i was thinking about them the whole time.  eek!

anyway, along with our ticket for the hangi, we got a free voucher to do the walk at hell's gate thermal reserve.  it's supposed to be the most active thermal reserve in the area, and was named so by george bernard shaw, who also named a lot of the features in the reserve.  we'd already seen a lot of mud pots and such, so it was kind of like, wow, not so exciting, but we did get to see a really cool mud volcano.  it's 2.4 meters tall, and they are usually only one meter tall.  it behaves just like an actual volcano, it erupts and everything every so often, but it is made out of mud.  crazy!  we liked that a lot.  we also got to make wood carvings to bring home with us, mine is a hammer head shark which symbolizes "strength".  it looks like an amateur did it, which is the case.

i also received my first mail in over two months, i got some photos and a card from erika!  it totally made my day!  i also talked to her on the phone a little bit today, and got to hear david some.  it makes me more homesick for awhile to talk to everyone, but i love so much to hear people's voices, so it's worth it.  tomorrow leah and i head out to wellington.  should be very exciting!

a hangi, and a waka.

the braid brigade de-braids

the last chapter!

after jack and vicky picked up leah and i from the hospital, we went to our backpacker's, the missing leg in egmont village.  it was the kind of place where i could live there and never leave, alas if only i had a job and a car there!  it was a little bit like a big lodge, with a large open space in the front room with smaller rooms off to the side and back, with comfy couches and wood panelling and, best of all, a wood stove!  which brian, the owner, lit just before we arrived.  we were the only occupants of the entire place that night, so we exploded all over the front room, taking over the laundry as well.  it was beautiful, especially as the next day was just pouring down rain.  that evening, after drinking our bottle of millton's muscat (delicious!) in celebration of both our leaving of the mountain and vicky's birthday, we headed into new plymouth for a dinner at burger wisconsin, and picked up a movie and some more wine. 

the next day both leah and vicky headed back to rotorua, while jack and i stayed in new plymouth.  after checking into a new backpackers in town, we headed towards city center.  first stop was the real tArt gallery, which focuses on artwork by new area artists.  there were a couple of good artists, but overall i was not impressed.  most of it was paintings of local landscapes which was not particuarly aesthetically pleasing and technically not that good either.  there were some decoupaged boxes i did like, and some possibly pastel drawings by another artist, though.  we headed separate ways then, and i had lunch at a tea and coffee place with the most fantastic iced coffee i have ever had.  instead of ice in the coffee they used ice cream, which meant that at the end it was more of a coffee shake than watered down coffee.  and of course i took a photo of it!  i then went in search of a maori art gallery i read about in my lonely planet, but it was a bit of a walk out of the main part of town and i just didn't make it there before i turned back.  i'm a little sad i never went, but at the same time sometimes it's just too much work.  ah well.  i did go to the govett-brewster gallery which is "renowned throughout new zealand".  it was probably my favorite place.  they had a show of artwork from indigenous australians up, which was similar to some work i'd seen in auckland.  i really like the work, even though they draw on their heritage which is thousands of years old, it's still very contemporary.

my absolute favorite though was "five fountains and a firebrush", an exhibit of six pieces by new zealand artist len lye.  i'm very keen on kinetic sculptures, and these were no exception.  i even dragged jack back the next day to show him, but i don't think he was quite as impressed as i was.

after heading back to the backpacker's, and another unsatisfying meal of dried soup, we went back to the festival of lights.  i got to look around a little more this time, and it was still as fun as the first time.

the next day was pretty much more of the same, lunch, looking at artwork, and a few hours at puke ariki, a museum.  it wasn't the greatest museum, but it was free, so i was okay with that.  we passed through the warehouse (where everyone gets a bargain) and i managed to NOT buy anything, and had some dinner before going back to, yes, the lights.  this time it wasn't so much to see the lights as it was to hear the music: there was a bluegrass band playing that was fairly good, but their sets were interspersed with another group that was sort of celtic-y, african-y, new age stuff that i wasn't so into.  but overall it was fine, and there wasn't much else going on that night.

and then the next morning i got up, said goodbye to jack, and got back on the bus to rotorua!

the adventures of the braid brigade, part 3

i know, this is probably the longest i've gone without a post that consists entirely of photos or even includes photos.  i'm still editing, and it's taking awhile.  like, i worked on it all day yesterday and i'm just now at new plymouth.  i kind of took a lot of them while i was gone.  i did to waitomo, as you can see on the right.  some pretty photos of people wearing wetsuits, hooray!

when i last left off, the braid brigade (still braidless at this point) were just starting a hike around mt. taranaki.  we left the north egmont visitor's center going up on the ram track toward holly hut, which we were told was a three hour hike.  we went up what is called the razorback, and across.  we had to cross a couple of smaller scree fields, and one larger one (that one was a little nerve wracking, being that i had a pack with about 30 pounds of stuff to make me off balance).  it was a nice little hike once we got ourselves adjusted and out of the worst of the heat, up until i took a mis-step and rolled my ankle.  yeah, you know, the one i've sprained three times, the last time being not quite six months ago.  fortunately it was just a roll and not a sprain, but it was (and is) still pretty tender.  we made it to holly hut about four hours after we started, and rejoiced in it's niceness and a meal of dried soup.  that was also the beginning of the braid brigade: i asked vicky to braid my hair, and then i braided hers.  then she braided leah's.  braids all around!  except for jack, but we got him later.

the next day was only supposed to be a 5-6 hour hike along the upper track.  however, the pyramid route (the upper track) was closed, so we were forced to take the stony river track.  it took us past bell falls, which was a nice stop, but added time to our hike for the day.  and probably a few river fordings as well.  we crossed over to go up the puniho track and that added time as well, because that trail, while small, was severely eroded.  we were definitely far behind our estimated time by that point.  once we reached the track to go up though, we booked it.  we were told it would take us an hour to go up, one to go over, and one down.  it took us less time to do that, although by the time we got to kahui hut at the top it was already mid-afternoon and we should have been finished hiking for the day.  our destination was waiaua gorge and the decision was made to go on.  along with the delays earlier in the day, there was an added detour of forty minutes because a swing bridge was out that we had to go around, so by the time we finished hiking for the day we'd been going for over eleven hours and it was already about nine-ish and the sun was setting.  that was an incredibely difficult and frustrating day, and we'd pushed ourselves a lot harder than we'd wanted to.

day three was supposed to be our longest day, with an estimate of eight hours.  although because of the day before, we knew it would be longer than that.  we started out stiff (or at least i did) and sore heading up the mountain via brames falls track.  it was a lot of up, and when we finally made it up the ridge, we headed over underneath a cliff face.  as cool as it was to see so far, it was also a long way down.  this was also the day that vicky and i felt unwell.  we decided it was something water-borne, so at lunch the two of us iodined our water and we both did the next day as well.  (it was supposed to be safe for drinking, but you can't always tell.  it may not even have been water related but better safe than giardia!)  we continued our hiking into an area that was more grassy, but we had three or four gorges to cross.  so any up we gained, we had to go down to get across and climb back up again.  with four people, and some of them feeling somewhat injured, this adds time.  around 5pm, we had a decision to make: we could lose any altitude we made that day by going down to lake dive hut which was signposted as 45 minutes away, or continue to dawson falls which would keep us up but signposted at 2 hours away.  feeling as exhausted as we were, we went down.  leah and i were hurting with every step down, it took us about two hours.  (this was also when leah rolled her ankle--and vicky had done hers the day before.  what a group!)  we got to lake dive and rested, and had some dinner while enjoying the view of the mountain and the lake.  (this was also the night of the guy who it turns out had also stayed at the ducks nuts, just not when i did.  but he wouldn't stop talking to me about people there, even when i was blatantly ignoring him to write in my journal.  this was also the night of my confession of thinking about axe murderers, and then the midnight groper!)

day four ended up being our last day.  the weather was supposed to turn bad, and we were all feeling far from top notch, so we took the lower track to dawson falls were there was a visitor's center.  we decided to see how long it took us to go that far, and then take things from there.  i just wanted to finish the around the mountain circuit, and screw the summit, while others wanted to summit and not worry about finishing the amc part.  so we hiked, reaching the center around 3pm.  by this point, leah was in a lot of pain from her ankle.  it didn't appear to be a sprain, so it was concluded that she might have a fracture.  as a fun end to our hike, it ended up with a call for an ambulance, and myself and her going to the hospital while vicky got her car from the othe visitor's center and jack waited with our bags.  it was just a sprain after all, but not a typical one which is why it behaved so differently.  we both felt kind of gross and smelly sitting in the waiting room of the nice clean hospital, but were sort of glad that the hike ended as it did.  the weather turned bad not long after we left, and stubborn as we were about finishing, we would have been miserably sitting in a hut somewhere up there or hiking in it.  so it all turned out okay in the end, as far as the hike is concerned.  we made it 3/4 of the way around and we did the best we could.

why i am not happy (today).

kiwi dollar gains against american.  that is about 5-6¢ it's gained since i arrived two months ago and pretty much all in the last couple of weeks, and it wasn't as good of an exchange rate as i thought it would be to begin with.  aiee.

the adventures of the braid brigade, part 2

whee, part two!  now i am up to january second, which is was napier and driving to taupo.  we went to taupo just to break up our drive to new plymouth, but three canadians we met while staying in gisborne happened to be there as well.  they invited us to meet up with them at a bar where a comedy show was to be going on starting at eight.  i wasn't too keen, especially when we got there after nine and had to pay $5 (but at least we got a free speights for our money), and even told jack that $5 comedy couldn't be all that good.  it was starting late though, so we actually didn't miss anything, and it really wasn't that bad.  the emcee was probably the funniest and we spent the rest of the trip saying "you shouldn't have told me that!" and "bad choice!" to each other in bad german accents.  one of the comedians was awful and even left the stage because some people were talking at the other end of the bar.  overall though, it was worth going out for.

and then there was some drama involving people wanting to leave, others disappearing, etc., which we need not go into.

the next morning we were going to try to leave early so that we could get to new plymouth and do our last minute planning and shopping for our hike.  however, as leah and i were packing the trunk (which often involved me getting INTO the trunk), we noticed a very fresh leak on the ground beneath vicky's car.  which smelled an awful lot like gasoline.  so before we could go anywhere, the car went to a garage and vicky charmed the mechanic to take a look at it straight away.  the news was not so good.  basically, someone messed with the fuel pipe and the weight of our stuff was cutting it in half.  had we gone another 50k, we could have "blown up".  we didn't want to ask exactly how much "blowing up" this would have been.  (stephanie: maybe you could not tell mom and dad this?  thanks!)  he fixed it immediately because obviously the car was not drivable, but that meant we had to kill a few hours in taupo. 

it also meant we got into new plymouth a few hours later than we meant to.  but we learned that our first days hike, to holly hut, was only three hours so we could start out later in the day and be okay.  we spent that night relaxing, then, and we went to the festival of lights in a local park.  it was really cool, there was music and colored lights everywhere.  jack and i, and a girl called anna (who took pictures of herself whenever she could) went early and took a boat out on the lake, and met up with vicky and leah a little bit later on.  it was just a lot of fun, but then, i like things like lights!

the next morning was full of activity.  we had some last minute things to buy, and an entire car full of groceries.  ($224 worth in total at pak n' save.)  we drove out to the north egmont visitor's center where we bought a second map, asked about the trails, and filled out our intentions form.  and then we packed our bags.  i'm not sure how we managed to fit everything in that we wanted to take, but we did.  and at around 3 p.m., we started out for holly hut.

the adventures of the braid brigade

yeah, i know, i'm behind on my updating.  it's hard because when i actually am doing something worth writing about is when i don't have the time or internet access to write about it.  and vice versa, when i have the time and connection it's because i am doing nothing at all.  and i've spent the last couple of days back in rotorua mostly just sleeping and looking at facebook, except for today when leah, vicky and i went to blue lake and just lay out in the sun for a good few hours.  but i definitely made sure to slather on the sunscreen (minimum new zealand spf: 30) because the UV index for today was 13.0.  i have never in the states had to worry about it being so high, that's extreme! 

anyway, so i had a really fantastic last couple of weeks.  obviously it wasn't always the greatest fun, travelling like that with four people can definitely be stressful but we certainly do not hate each other and really, i kind of miss it.  i like having my own bed in my own room to sleep in, but it was a lot of fun.

we started out on the 29th leaving for gisborne.  we arrived in time to make it to the isite (which is like a visitor's center almost every town has) where we were fortunate enough to find camping space on the lawn of a friend of someone who worked there.  we'd tried backpacker's ahead of time and other places, but there was a concert going on and everything was booked.  so that was really excellent.  they even let us share in their barbecue that first night!  then, the next morining debbie gave us a huge list of things we could do in the area.  we started off checking out the landing site of captain cook way back in the day and took a number of photos, most of them amusing.  we then headed north to tolaga bay where the longest wharf in new zealand is located at 660m.  we checked that out, bypassing a "closed" sign at the end (a lot of others had as well, so we deemed it safe enough).  after we finished there, we did the cook's cove walkway, a 5.8k walk to a place with a name along the lines of "hole in the rock" and where we found a monument to cook--a concrete block with a plaque on it.  on our way home, we stopped at whangara, the site of whale rider.  we drove into the town area in the car, but were feeling a little nervous about whether or not we should be there, so we went back up to a hill overlooking the town (which was definitely public property) and took a few photos there, while still receiving dirty looks from some guy.  guess us pakeha weren't overly welcome.  that night was the first time we ate at burger wisconsin, one of jack's obsessions on this trip.

the next day we went out to rere rock slide, which was so much fun!  it's this rockface that is a natural slide in a river, and it's a lot of fun as long as you can keep control of your boogie board and not hit the rocks at the bottom...which i did the first time down, scraping my arm.  it was still a ton of fun to do, and i went down at least half a dozen times even though it was freezing outside that day.  that was also new year's eve, and debbie and her husband did another huge barbecue for those of us staying on their lawn, of which there were more by that point.  it was such good food and i got to have more of that new zealand staple, pavlova.  (yum!)  we went into town to celebrate, and did midnight at the clock tower in gisborne--the first city to see the sun.  that in itself was pretty cool, and one of the things i'd wanted to do while i was here, so i was glad to be able to.  we partied in town for awhile and went to bed, missing the sunrise because it was cloudy.

new year's day we drove to napier, after stopping at millton's winery and picking up a bottle of muscat for celebrating after we got off of the mountain.  i was tired and drugged up to my eyeballs, as jack would say, with dramamine so i only remember of the ride that we had to pull over approximately 6000 times so that jack could be sick.  oh so totally awesome!  we had dinner at this place called wok u want, where you fill a bowl of vegetables, noodles and seasoning, and they cook it for you on this big barbecue type thing.  it was incredibly yummy.  we then took a walk around town, playing in a park for awhile while it got dark, and then went down marine parade so that i could take photos of the art deco clock tower and the soundshell all lit up.

the next morning we parted ways so that leah and vicky could go on a tour of a chocolate factory and feed sharks at the aquarium, and jack and i could do the art deco walking tour of napier as dictated by lonely planet.  (and look for our second burger wisconsin, where i only took his photo in front of it.)  it was a pleasant and relaxing way to spend some time, and since i enjoy things like art and architecture i had a nice time. 

sending out an s.o.s.

don't worry, i haven't forgotten that i am supposed to blog about what i have been up to the last couple of weeks.  i will still do it, it's just that i've spent the last day and a half (since i got back to rotorua basically) either asleep or thinking about sleep.  you know, all that worry about axe murderers keeping me up and all on the trail, lol!  i did manage to finally get my photos up from tauranga, as you can see on the right.  maybe not the best set of photos ever but i feel like i at least have accomplished something in the last 24 hours.

i do have one request though, and it is music related.  i would absolutely love it if people could email me (to my GMAIL account--NOT hotmail) some mp3s of whatever.  specifically i would like amy winehouse, the new beriut, and the new iron & wine albums but i am not too picky.  it's just that i've been listening to my ipod often with it's 433 songs, and even with a couple of new cds that i've bought (kate nash and a billie holliday) i'm looking for some more variety.

just no justin timberlake or that stupid "apologize" song.

things i have been doing

left: vicky and jack being very british, which they are good at.  right: mt. taranaki reflected in lake dive.

okay, so this is not everything that i have been doing, only the most recent thing.  we did new year's in gisborne, followed by a day in napier and i night in taupo.  we arrived in new plymouth after fixing a critical and potentially deadly car problem and started our hike the afternoon of the fourth.  we made it 3/4 of the way around before we left because of a mild sprain that leah attained, and we are a bit glad because the weather has turned badly and we would have been miserable, plus i am happy because the backpackers we are staying in is completely empty besides us and it's a little bit like being in a co-op house.  and we have a wood fire going, showers for the first time in a few days, and CLEAN NON-SMELLING CLOTHES!

i will try to write more about it all later, and i know that i am incredibly behind on my photo uploading.  but i am tired, as to be expected after four days on a mountain.  i wonder how many kilometers we hiked in total--even then it wouldn't count all the ups and downs we did.