New Zealand

09/01/08
Howdy winter folks! ActiveSteve here, reporting from Tongariro National Park. Today’s bike ride was more or less a highway to heaven sort of thing. It was a steady all day climb, where we started at 380m, and ended up at 1140m, in a little place called Whakapapa Village, which is near one of the busiest ski areas in the North Island. Of course, it being summer over here, the town is a little more deserted. Basically, anyone who is up here is here for one reason alone. To do some hiking in the National Park area. Were there not so many clouds hanging out right now, I’d have a pretty splendid view of Mount Tongariro and Mount Ngauruhoe. Not to mention Mount Ruapehu, the tallest of the lot. So, what’s up now you ask? Well, read on and I’ll spin you a little yarn.

08/01/08
Hi folks! Well, this should probably count as the shortest post thus far, as it was a very uneventful day for me. I woke up, it was raining, I got on my bike, it was raining. I pedalled for 3 hours, it was raining. Got to the hostel, it was raining. Yup. Rain city over here for the day. As a result, my little map has a grand total of 3 pictures, one of which you see here, and 2 of which were taken at pretty much the same time. There just wasn’t anything to photograph for you! Sorry! In spite of that, I’m now in Taurangi, and feverishly planning out my next several days, in which I will truly be out of contact completely with the outer world. Yup, I’m planning to (along with Ralph) take a stab at the Tongariro Northern Circuit, as well as summitting both Mt. Tongariro and Mt. Nguarahoe. You might know this area more as Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings. Read on for a little bit more.

07/01/08
Good day folks. Well, another day has passed here in summery New Zealand for me. I spent a full day in Taupo exploring the sights by bike, and boy, am I tuckered out once again! Remember how I said that I don’t really take days off? Well, today was another prime example. I ended up putting almost 70km on the bicycle yet again, although I didn’t have to lug my trailer around with me this time. There are a number of things to do around Taupo, but I just concentrated on the things on and around the main river. This includes a bungy jumping zone, waterfalls, a dam, jet boating, and rapids that are controlled by said dam.I didn’t do the bungy jump this time, but I did have some other fun. You can look at my map and read of for more tales of excitement from the land down under.

06/01/08
Hello everyone. Well, the day of PassiveSteve is over, and today it was back to donig some real work, as well as starting to do some of the real exciting stuff. Of course, I’m talking about the fact that I did a great skydive this afternoon, complete with a 45 second freefall, after hurling out of an airplane at 12,000 feet. Can you say sweet? Of course you can, and so did I! The jump was almost a bit of an afterthought in my day, but I’m awfully glad that I did it, in spite of the fact that it was anything but cheap! Before I finish the story of how I came to be crammed into a tiny airplane high above Taupo, let’s roll back the clock to this morning at Waikite Thermal pools campground, shall we? Check out the map and read on for more details.

05/01/08
Greetings from a well-rested and soaked PassiveSteve. Yes, today has certainly been one of my most inactive days of this trip thus far. However, it has been far from a boring day, and I’m definitely glad to finally take a ‘personal day’ to recharge mind, body and spirit! So just what makes this day so passive? Well, for starters, I only biked 30km, and I only left Rotorua around 10:30am. The late start was not only due to my short riding distance, but also my late night listening to live music. I’ve only headed a bit south of Rotorua to an area known as Waikite, where the Te Manaroa Spring is located. This is the largest single source of boiling water, which puts out about 40-50L of 98 degree water per second. Even though it was a short day, I’ve still put together a little map for you to look over, with some pictures of the thermal pools at my campground. Read on for more on this quiet day.