Crossing Mount Doom

In the spirit of being in New Zealand, the setting of many LOTR scenes, Chee Mei and I sat through LOTR 1,2, and 3 in 3 days before our adventure in the weekend..

We had a rocky start.. Went to the Jucy car rentals to get our car and discovered we were not going to be rented a car if the driving license is not translated (Grrr) So off we went with our backpacks, with directions to the translator. the road was hilly, and we sweated and grumbled our way through.
With that done, we went back to the car rentals and discovered there were no more gps available!! just rely on maps instead.. Adventure!

Our first target: The Tongariro Alpine Crossing
Distance: 19.4 km(follow the red line)
Something I know i am totally unfit and unprepared for, but it was voted one of the most beautiful, must-do walks in nz.. or the world?I huffed and puffed my way up.. the diagram above depicts the changes in my mood and energy as I go the distance.. notice how the dying faces are at very steep gradients... but the view at the end uplifts my spirits and gave me strength to go on.. afterall, there was no point turning back...
Cant imagine the happiness I felt when I reached the end of the trek :D Relief.
Mount Ngauruhoe.. the supposed mount Doom in LOTR......
Surreal. (or as we malaysians say: Waaa.. Dam fake laaaa)We did not only trek through loose rocks and sandy terrain, but also through snow!
Still cant believe I managed to trek for 8 hours @_@.. How did a tofu like me do it??

White Water rafting: Kaituna River

Kaituna river basically has 3 waterfalls: at 2m, 1m and 7 m respectfully.. 7m!! I have rafted before in Sabah.. but never have I gone down vertically from a 7m waterfall.
Before we started our adventure our guide gave us a few pointers about safety issues. "There are 3 possibilities that could happen when we go down the fall," he said.
"1. The raft falls and lands beautifully, we hold our paddles up and celebrate!
2. The raft overturns and lands upsidedown.. just hold on to the rope and swim out of the overturned raft..
3. The raft falls and lands beautifully, and when we hold out our paddles, we notice one is missing. If you fall out of the raft down the 7m drop, curl into a ball, count to 5 and go to your happy place."

Only when he mentioned the 3rd possibility did i get nervous.

eek.. but we survived and it was amazing fun!!! Some pictures to give you an idea..
Survived and conquered Kaituna! Weee..

Awesome weekend in Rotorua/ Tongariro

In a nutshell, here was what I did in 4 days:
walked/climbed/dragged myself 19.4 km across the Tongariro Crossing, dropped by Lake Taupo, rode the vertical 7 m drop when white water rafting on the Kaituna river, saw and smelled the geothermal area Rotorua is so famous for, learned the culture of the Maori people and ate their food, hot spring bath in the Polynesian spa overlooking Lake Rotorua, Zorbed down the hill like a hamster in a hamsterball (plus water), and felt like hobbit when I visited the Hobbiton shire...
Productive. :)
More, when I get my photos up ;)