North of the Quake

To ease our readers’ minds, we are not and have not been in Christchurch. The earthquake there was horrible; the papers are full of shocking photos and it seems like the number of fatalities just keeps rising as the days go on. This one was much closer to the surface (just 5 km below as opposed to 33) than the one right before we came to NZ, in September. The destruction has been horrible. We’re tremendously lucky, really; in two or three weeks we’d probably have been in Christchurch.

Instead, here we are in the middle of the North Island; our thoughts are with the Christchurchians (or whatever they might be called), but our bodies are far away. I’m currently sitting on the comfiest couch EVER in the Rainbow Lodge in the city of Taupo, on Lake Taupo, New Zealand’s largest lake. Last night we camped a few km outside of town at a free campground on the river, but we moved into the city today so that we can have a couple drinks tonight (we hear of a pub with Bulmer’s cider on tap!) and not have to drive anywhere.

Our tents are outside on a wee strip of grass along the fence outside the hostel itself. In here, it reminds me of a small, hippie university: lots of bright colors and wind chimes, big shade trees, the smells of incense and coffee and cooking food, chipped ceramic mugs in solid colors lining the white shelves in the big kitchen, girls walking around barefoot in embroidered dresses.

This morning Jen and I hiked to the impressively blue Huka Falls and back; then we had a chilly swim in the wide, gorgeous river and drove into town. I finally got my chance to SAIL! We rented little 16’ boats on the lake and sailed around for an hour and a half; Jen and I in one boat, Jamie and Lewis in another, and Steven trying his hand at windsurfing (they only had one windsurfer.)

I gave Jen a proper lesson (she’s a sailing expert now) while Jamie and Lewis perfected their 360’s and tried to capsize the boat. : ) It was warm and sunny, there was a decent breeze, and the mountains of Tongariro National Park are just there in the background. When we brought the boats in, we dived cheerfully off the pier.

In short, our road trip (Achilles now running smoothly) continues to be awesome. We’ve just come from Rotorua, which is a thermal hotspot and smells like sulfur – we hiked there in an actual REDWOOD forest. Apparently kiwis brought over a bunch of Seqouia sempirvirens back in the late 1800’s and started a proper forest. It was gorgeous. We also took baths in hot mineral water, visited a giant Maori meeting house, and spent our nights plaqued by exceedingly noisy pukako birds. (Like small, shiny, black and blue chickens. The babies are goofy.)

Tomorrow we head to Tongariro to check out the mountains firsthand…