Rugby, Paddling, Surfing, Dancing and Volcanoes: Oh My!

Highlights:
* Our first Rugby Game
* 5 days on the Whanganui River
* Surfing in Oakura and Crusing Surf Hwy 45
* Mexican Night and Ladies Night in Palmerston North
* Tramping on Volcanoes




No Pads, No Helmets, Just Balls. - T-Shirt
As soon as we hit the North Island, our friend Jack promptly introduced us to rugby. We have been following it for over a month and finally went to our first game. We have been rooting for the Chiefs and watched them play against the Bulls in Hamilton. It was a great game but our team was defeated. The Kiwis love there full contact rugby and I love watching those boys - I mean, wow what a sport.

5 days on the Whanganui River
This was our first time in a canoe since our debut in the Texas Water Safari, last June. Parts of the river reminded us of the race and the lower Guadalupe river. Of course, that's minus the snakes, the alligators, the heat exhaustion, the non-stop paddling for 95 hours and the sleep deprived hallucinations.

It was a wonderful 5 day river trip. We paddled by waterfalls through the rainforest and beautiful gorges. We paddled about 20 miles a day. There were over 200 named rapids, some were bigger than others but there were enough to keep us entertained. We stayed in the canoe the whole trip due to our mad paddling skills. It was a nice change of pace from our tramping but we did manage to get a training run in for me to the Bridge to Nowhere (the bridge was built for a settlement that was deserted as soon as it was built).

The paddling came back to us naturally. We both miss the river. There were a few comments about me steering and Parker being at the bow. The power should always be infront especially if you are racing. Which also means that Parker gets to fish and I have somehow become his unofficial guide (funny how that works out for him). The Kiwis, even our outfitter, have never seen this switcharoo and were impressed. I told them that this is how we do it in Texas!

Surf Hwy 45
We headed east to legendary Surf Hwy 45 for a week of surfing. We chose the quaint little surf town of Oakura, the safest breaks on the coast. We enjoyed our couple of days surfing in Maui and have been looking for the opportunity to have another go at it. Turns out the weather had other plans for us. Summer in NZ is over and Fall has settled in. We waited out the rain by the beach for 5 days. We didn't mind too much as we sipped our drink of choice and read 3 books each. Finally, we decide to go for it and rented long-boards and wet suits. It was a riot. The water wasn't too bad but the air was chill. We both managed to stand on our boards. It was pretty challenging because our feet were frozen solid and it became dificult to balance (we never claimed to be real surfers). We were bruised, battered and utterly exhausted from our full day of extreme long-board surfing. I am sure we entertained a few people, we certainly had a good laugh.

Mexican Night and Ladies Night (+Parker)
After Oakura, we went south to Palmerston North to visit Brooke, an old friend from high school. Parker and I have been craving Mexican food so we did what we could with the limited Mexican food selection in NZ and had Mexican Night. Also I was due for some booty shaking so the girls took us out dancing. We had a blast. Thanks Brooke and Jenny for showing us Palmy!

Tramping on Volcanoes
So again, the weather has turned. On top of our N. Island list was the volcanoes. We kept shifting our plans around and waited for the weather to clear. Our innitial plan was to do a 10 day tramp around the three Volcanoes: Tongariro, Ngauruhoe (Mt. Doom) and Ruapehu. That was quickly adjusted to a 5 day tramp and in the end we were only able to do one full day. The tops were still socked in but a snow storm was forecasted so we took what we could get. We went to Red Crater, the highest point on our tramp, and got a few seconds glimpse of the volcanoes and the red crater. Even with our limited visibility, it was still amazing to be playing around on the active trio and smelling the volcanic gases. It did cross our minds a couple of times about all the siesmic activity currently going on around the world.

It has been a very busy couple of weeks for the Silver Bullet. We are currently in Rotorua for the next week resting up for the marathon on Saturday. We are also trying to sell the Bullet. We are sad to let her go but we can't keep her. We have less than two weeks left in NZ. The countdown begins but until then, the adventure with the Bullet continues.