Auckland, and coming home

For the last two weeks in New Zealand, we stayed in Auckland. At first, with our friends the Fields, who we stayed with at the beginning of our journey, and then we stayed and worked with a couple just north of the city center across the bridge, John and Denise. They had done a lot of traveling and it was fun chatting with them about where they had been. They didn't have much work for us, but still let us stay which was amazing. We helped with redoing the back fence, transplanting some bushes, and cleaning the deck and fence rails with a water blaster. I also did most of the cooking. We stayed in a hostel in the city center on our last night. 

cleaning the deck

our van, one of MANY for sale at the car fair. We had only one response to our ads, which is all you need. We sold the van for slightly more than we paid, which is amazing. It's great that everything went according to our plans.

saying goodbye to 'Bobby' before he goes on new adventures with a new backpacking couple

the hub of Auckland's 'metro' system

drinks with Anita, who was an exchange student staying with my family in Las Cruces 12 years ago

our $75/night room in the city center (shared bathroom)

view from the hostel

hanging out in the city before our evening flight

korean food!

auckland skyline from the bridge

Auckland at night

Well... not sure what to say to wrap everything up! To say our journey was amazing is an understatement. We saw practically the whole country and fell in love with the scenery, lifestyle, and the people that we met. If given the opportunity, we would probably live there for a few years.

Since coming home, we have been busy with trips, to New York, Philadelphia, Denver, and also attending a family reunion.  I have recently started a new job a Whole Foods Market, and Chris is currently looking for engineering jobs and applying for school to finish his master's.  At the moment we have no plans to travel in the near future, but we'll see what happens.  

Thanks for following us !!

The Tongariro Alpine Crossing

Our next stop on the way back to Auckland was Tongariro National Park, near lake Taupo.

We hiked the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, considered the most popular day hike in New Zealand. Part of the mountain was used in filming Lord of the Rings. Mt. Ngauruhoe, the summit peak that you can see in the photos, is Mt Doom in the movie. There were a lot of people hiking that day, which was weird. We were used to being the only hikers on a trail. Since the track is one-way, we parked our van at a nearby hostel offering a package of a two-night stay plus transport to and from the track. They took us by bus at 6:30 am along with about twenty other hikers staying at the hostel. The hike takes just over six hours, and the shuttle leaves the other parking lot at 4pm. The hiking time does not include a two hour round trip up to the summit (that section has no marked track). We rented hiking boots from the hostel, but Chris ended up doing the whole thing in his tennis shoes. It was a very long day but lots of fun and very dramatic scenery.

the hike also covers a 1000 m change in elevation

mt ngauruhoe (mt doom). Chris hiked this section in half the posted time like a champ (while i waited at the bottom and ate my lunch).

from the top of the crater, looking in

chris' view of the track from the summit, where I was waiting with my sandwich

as long as the smoke is white, it's fine. if it starts turning dark grey, RUN.

about halfway

live volcano, perfect photo op.