Thoughts of a Nomadic One

The title is purposely deceiving. While I didn't actually go to the hellish fantasy land of Mordor in Lord of the Rings, I did cross through Tongariro National Park; where scenes of Mordor were shot for the LOTR films.

I had wanted to do the famous Tongariro crossing, a one day trek through diverse landscape and vegetation. However, luck was not on my side since bad weather forced the cancellation of all the treks for the weekdays. As a result, I stayed in Taupo for 1 day, seeing some familiar faces from Magic Bus from South Island and left for Rotorua the next day.

The land in the north island is markedly different from the south. While the south was blessed with dramatic glaciers and mountains, hills and fjords, the north is more reminiscent of country England with large dairy herds and flat grassy plains. However the north does posess some excitement in the form of geothermic activity. From Taupo to Rotorua, we passed by 2 geothermal power plant harnessing the steam emanating from water heated by the earth. Steam also rises everywhere from creeks, ponds and lakes close by to Rotorua, the city famous for geysers, natural baths and the rotten egg smell that permeats the city caused by sulphur. The pungeant smell is amplified on a rainy wet day, which is just my luck as that is the weather the day I arrived!

I'll be going to the Maori concert and Hangi (feast) tonight with Yvo (Amsterdam) and a group from Magic. I've decided to leave for Auckland tomorrow morning rather than spend an extra day to go to Waitomo & geysers. I think I'd rather see Cape Reinga and 90 Mile Beach rather than the glow worms but it's too bad I won't be with familiar faces. It's less than 3 weeks until work and 15 days till I am back in Canada and still not certain what will happen in South America after Easter Island.

I need to talk to British Airways!