HAPPY NEW YEARS!
So it has been a while and we thought we would update everyone on life down below since just after Christmas. We spent a couple of days out in Raglan enjoying the beach just after Christmas and Boxing Day. Kevin even got a little surfing in:
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| Kevin post-surf |
Most days we spent at least half of the day in separate tasks around the house. Kevin working on various projects on his computer and Megan trying to tackle the produce from the gardens (we no longer have freezer space and way too much zucchini bread).
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| Took hours to blanch, freeze, etc. |
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| This was a week later, and this is less than 5% of the rhubarb, two of maybe hundreds of lemons and the leeks are just starting... |
New Years Eve was a fun day and night spent again out in Raglan with our friends Bronwyn and Regan. Their rented house sits right on a finger of Raglan Harbor and it is wonderful to just soak in the peace and serenity that the ocean tides can bring. We met lots of cool people and enjoyed a little too much bbq for dinner and breakfast and maybe a few other consumables J
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| The neighbor's pier, great to do "bombs"off of at high tide |
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| Bron and Regs front lawn *sigh* |
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| Other said consumables |
On January 2nd we left for Lake Taupo where two of our friends, Jen and Dave rented a house. Lake Taupo is the product of several huge supervolcano eruptions. It is the caldera (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Taupo). The eruption in 180AD is believed to be the largest in recorded history. Either way, this lake is beautiful and huge! We enjoyed a night with good friends, good food, and beautiful scenery. The next day we headed down to Tongariro National Park to summit Mount Ruapehu, the largest mountain on the north island (also an active volcano). Mount Ruapehu is also home to three ski resorts. The volcano last erupted in 2007 spilling the crater lake over the sides of the mountain in a series of lahars. People’s reaction: “It has ruined our ski season!” Not normal in our assessment but hysterical nonetheless. After 2 chair-lift rides and 20 minutes we started our hike from about 2020m (we still had about another 2000ft to climb). The hike was certainly not the most difficult we have done, but it was very steep, scree-covered and snow-covered. The beauty in the views from the summit and in the summit (glacial remnants, multi-colored jagged stone ridges, and spectacular crater lake) were well worth it. It took us about two hours to get to the dome shelter, but due to the lovely snow cover it took about an hour to get down. After this hike we have also decided that all future steep hikes should begin with chairlift rides….
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| Jen and Dave heading up the mountain |
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| Ngaurahoe in the distance (that's Mount Doom to you Lord of the Rings fans) |
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| Ngaurahoe again in the background from just below the initial summit of Ruapehu |
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| Inside one of the craters |
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| Other people hiking along the rim |
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| There are several glacial remnants in and around the summit |
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| The crater lake, this does not do it justice... |
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| Our hiking crew! |
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| Ruapehu as we were driving up to Lake Taupo |
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| What hike is complete without a hot soak at the end? |
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| The hot water pours in from two streams to the right and mixes with the Waikato River, ahhhh |
That’s all the exciting news we have for now. We are having friends over for “make-your-own” pizza on Friday and possibly will hit up Raglan to summit their local “mountain” on Saturday. Hopefully we will be able to share pics of our Sunday plans next time, partaking in the New Zealand Black Caps vs. Pakistan in one of their test matches (cricket for all of our non-commonwealth friends). Hope you are all well and enjoying the New Year so far!
Here are two movies of our climb of Ruapehu:
Panorama of Ruapehu's Caldera
Megan "skiing" down the snow fields on Ruapehu.
Cheers!
Love and hugs!
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