The past few weeks have been pretty quiet, pretty....boring? Boring is maybe a bad word to use, but... there you go. It's been raining A LOT (pretty much every day) which means:
a.) Swiss Cafe is less busy. I have NO problems with this. :)
b.) our flat has developed this horrible musty smell due to our clothes and shoes never being 100% dry (we don't have a dryer - only a clothesline).
c.) we've become good friends of the tiny movie rental store in Paihia.
BUT! I AM SO EXCITED BECAUSE:
I am going to climb Mount Doom.
Yes.
That is right.
Mount Doom.
Unfortunately, we're not actually in LOTR, and the hike is going to be a lot less epic because Mt. Nagauruhoe (the real name of the mountain) is not controlled by the evil Sauron, we didn't have to cross the desolate Mordor in order to get there, and we're not going to have to throw the one ring into the lava at the summit. [Sigh.]
STILL! It's going to be super cool and I am so pumped. Unfortunately, my housemates cannot go. Liz and I can't take the same days off of work (plus climbing Mt. Doom really wasn't on her "to do" list in New Zealand :) ), and our flatmates Jamie and Lewis took one look at a picture of the mountain and said, well, in their nice Scottish way, that I could just go away.
One way to access the mountain is by hiking the Tongariro Crossing, which is rated the best day walk in New Zealand. So we're going to get up at about 5:00 am, start the crossing, break off the track, climb Mt. Doom, and go back to finish the crossing. Whew!
I'll let you all know how it goes.
And if I see any hobbits.
I am totally jealous!!
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