Tongariro Crossing

Left Mount Maunganui to hitch to Rotorua. Nuce ride in a truck (my first)with Kui, a really nice guy from Fiji. We exchanged emails as his son is headed to Korea to teach English after Xmas. Stayed with Maureen and Geoff in Rotorua. Maureen is Ralph Rickard's sister. I met them in Halifax when they were there for Amy's wedding. So cool to visit people in completely different surroundings. Had a great visit and got in some hiking in the Redlands park, including a sunny dip in Blue lake (there is a cool spot you can see Blue lake and Green lake at the same time). The next day we spent the morning in the hot spa pools and they drove me to Huka Falls (amazing flow), then Taupo.

Trying to recover from first illness of the trip, a big, bad chest cold. First time ill since I left Dal, so can't complain. No fun to be sick while travelling. Just want to sit in a big, hot tub with a radio and beer.

Got to do the Tongariro Crossing while in Taupo. Nice big volcano hike. Weather at the top did not allow for sitting around and taking vista photos (sleet, high wind and freezing temperatures), but was very cool, nonetheless. Would do the hike again in a second.