Day 9: Being Lazy on the Pathway of the Prophets

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A view of Mt. Ngaruhoe as viewed from Mt. Ruhapehu

I wake up in the ski lodge bunkroom and look out the window onto the mountain, it's foggy outside. Go figure, eh? I go out and have some breakfast, hardboiled eggs from the day before.They're a bit dusty. I meet the kids, Jay, 7, and Hamish, 3. Also Nick's girl, Gemma (Jenna?). They may be young but they're precocious, and both of David's kids ski. I help make them some breakfast as well.

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Above:What passes for civilization on Mt. Ruhapehu. A cafe and a shop that sells ski equipment.

I walk down the mountain a ways with David to the Cafe and we chat a bit over drinks. Then we bring up the "ut" to the ski lodge. It's a bit of a rollercoaster ride going up the hill over a "path" made of huge freaking stones and you can understand why you're not allowed to drive up it after 5pm. I help David a bit with some lifting, then go down with Jenny and the kids to play some frisbee:

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In winter this area is the beginner's skiing zone.

We walk down a bit further and watch a helicopter load cement into a vessel for transporting up the mountain:

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They're rebuilding new zealand's highest cafe (Knoll Bridge), which caught fire (arson) 8 weeks ago. I wonder whether it was Maori activists? Despite the fact that tongariro national park was created from a gift by a consortium of maori tribes to new zealand people and the world, I wouldn't be surprised if the whole thing is still controversial. Later I find out things aren't so cut and dry -- there's what's called the "gifted" area, which is the actual summits of the mountains, roughly speaking. Tongariro national park was expanded by a great degree (the original gift area was a few hundred hectares, the park is now nearly 8000 hectares) by government purchase of surrounding area. The gifted area has tighter restrictions on what can be built, etc. So perhaps the Cafe is right on the border of the "not-gifted-area" and is seen as somewhat offensive by it's encroachment, who knows.

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The Iwikau Ski lodge, where I bunked last night.

Back up at the lodge I hold some stainless steel benches together so Nick can clamp them together for welding, and he tells me about a sort of "shop" competition that he lost when he got distracted by a pretty lady in a red miniskirt. How Keanu Reeves. "Were you paying attention to me, Neo, or were you looking at the woman in the red dress?"

David tells me the work's taking a bit longer than expected so we'll go up the mountain first thing in the morning. That's allright, I can use a little downtime.

Later we drive over to Whakapapa Village and let the Department of Conservation know that we're reckless bastards who value cheap thrills over human life, and are going up the tallest mountain in the North Island tomorrow so we can see a little ditch with water inside of it. We will, of course, have to ring them tomorrow to let them know that we're still alive.

Then we head over to Tokaanu, on the southwestern edge of Lake Taupo. There's a Department of Conservation Thermal Baths, just what I need for my legs. I stretch in the hot water and listen to David tell me about training for the Speights Coast to Coast challenge. It's this huge athletic event which involves running, biking, kayaking your way from one coast of the south island to the other. I remember Vic telling me about this back in Palmerston North and how you have to qualify for it and everything, but I still think it would be fun to get in shape and come back and give it a shot sometime.

Anyway it seems like David's trained for it a couple of times, or for similar events, and stuff always seemed to go awry, especially on the bicycle portion, wrong sized tyres, etc. Kayak mishaps that ended with half a dozen people shivering in an emergency shelter. Fun stuff. This is obviously where the real New Zealand is at, I think I somehow realized that when I decided to go on this cycle tour. No wonder I was bored out of my mind in Wellington for the last few months, everyone was out of the city doing crazy adventure sports and athletic competitions. I've had quite a number of people come up to me already and tell me about their own cycle tours, I know this happens in the states but I'm certain it's much rarer. Anyway it's fun to be a part of it in a small way.

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