Benjamin is well in the lead with hook ups on places to stay this trip. He found the Milnes, who have been hugely generous, and thanks to Baxi, met Linda, who has been an incredible mom away from home. First off, she and her husband Barry let us stay at their house for two nights in soft comfy beds. They also fed us three huge dinners (lasagna, roast with vegetables, steak and potatoes), gave us breakfast of museli and toast, and sent us hiking with sandwiches and apples. As if that weren’t enough, they let us stay, alone, at their beach house for a night where we enjoyed a quiet and beautiful day swimming and laying on the warm sand. Linda also mentioned some other places where she had some relatives that might host us. Wow.
We just hiked a couple of volcanoes in the past few days. First, Mount Taranaki, which is 2500 meters tall and a challenging climb with stunning cloudy views. Then, two days later, we hiked the Alpine Crossing between Mt. something or other and Mt. Rupaehu, the first half of which was fantastic, with completely new to me volcanic landscape reminiscent of Martian photos and some crazy sulfuric vents and yellow green pools. We also saw some fantastic lava flows, and some wild red rock formations. Pictures can be seen at the picasa site (http://picasaweb.google.com/HenryRScharf/)
Unfortunately our car, affectionately named Cyle Van Rockin, has fallen ill. He wouldn’t start up at the car park, and we eventually had him towed (thanks to my nearly expired AAA membership) to Owhango, a tiny place 55km away with a service station. Evidently the trouble is with the cam shaft, and now we’re hiding in a tiny motel room where we are allegedly one person, waiting to find out the damage with Cyle. Here’s hoping it’s a small fix.
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