Greetings all! Becks here with the weekly update! Right now we’re in Wellington exploring the city and preparing for free travel. We just finished up at the Blue Mountain Adventure Centre (BMAC)! Dan and Meghan, our activity leaders, lead us through some awesome activities this past week!
BMAC is in the small town of Raurimu right on the edge of the Tongariro National Park, so our first adventure was trekking along the Tongariro Alpine Crossing to the South Crater between two mountains, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro. We spent the morning hiking there to have lunch and then split into two groups. Amy, Grace, Gabrielle, Shelby, Peter, Wade, Cheridyn hiked up the ridge of Tongariro with Meghan to see some beautiful lakes, and I joined Patrick, Brandon, Tia, Caitlin, Anya, Ryan, and Dan on the more technical trek most of the way up Ngauruhoe, the infamous Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings!
Wednesday, our second day at BMAC, brought even more challenges! We started the morning by going caving in the Okupata Caves in the Tongariro Forest. We climbed through cracks and holes with names like “the Toaster” and “the Birth Canal”, and we all got to practice our Gollum impersonations! Everyone got muddy and wet, and everyone had a good time. From below the earth we moved on to the high ropes courses after lunch. We all conquered “the Leap of Faith” and “the High Beam”, and at the end we set up a giant pendulum swing. As a day spent squeezing through cracks underground and leaping off a board twenty feet in the air, Wednesday was certainly a day of coming outside our comfort zones and conquering fears!
On Thursday we got to go abseiling (repelling) down a 32 meter cliff and choose between mountain biking and a hike. Anya, Amy, Grace, and Shelby chose to go on the hike with Meghan while the rest of us chose mountain biking. Abseiling was a ton of fun, and mountain biking kicked my butt (in a good way)! Dan lead us on a 19km ride that challenged everyone. I was the only one to fall and luckily only suffered minor cuts and bruises. The girls said the hike was beautiful, and Meghan also took them to see some more Lord of the Rings sites, too.
Friday was spent white water rafting! Everyone had an absolute blast getting soaked in class 2 and 3 rapids. We stopped a few times for lunch and to see a beautiful waterfall! After rafting we headed to some thermal pools to soak after a challenging week. Just what the doctor ordered! We also had a free day on Saturday to nap and do laundry – two essentials after a week of adventuring.
This week we also hit the half way point in our journey. It’s crazy to think we’ve already been gone for six weeks and that it’s already half over. Time is really flying by and I hope the second half will be just as incredible as the first!
Thanks for reading and I hope all is well back home!
~Becks
P.S. Sorry for the lack of pictures! My camera cord isn’t working! AAAH!