Mt. Ruapehu

Hello everyone!! Sorry it’s been so long. We had essentially zero wifi during the last three weeks. I've been able to get online very briefly during the sporadic dinner in town but only to send “Proof of Life” texts to Mom, Dad and Jackie. So I have a lot to share, even to them. I'll pick up where I left off, and each post will be about a new location/module. Woot.

On January 23^rd we drove from Whakatane in the Bay of Plenty on the north east of the north island to Mt. Ruapehu in the center of the north island. On the way, we stopped near Rotorua and explored geothermal rocks / vents / pools. It was so cool.

~Close up~

bathroom at the geothermal place (@pa would like this. sign hunt continues)

WOW!

We continued on our merry way towards Mt. Ruapehu but soon it became obvious that we were entering a massive hailstorm.

We’ve since described this as “the night of the Sideways Rain.” We could only see several feet in any direction and we had to hike up what was basically a rocky cliff to get inside our lodge, but once we did it was so nice and cozy. There were two lodges, and the instructors were staying in the lower lodge, so every time we had things to do we had to bare the sideways rain and go on a mini hike. We loved it there!!

Sarah in the Sideways Rain

Caroline in the Sideways Rain

(High visibility vests are weirdly a big thing in New Zealand. We thought it was funny that our trip leaders gave them to us for field work in the bush, but then we noticed that a lot of Kiwis will wear high vis vests while biking or just doing things even if they aren't directing traffic or doing construction work. Tourist shops sell them too. So maybe they are trendy here??? TBD.)

Our lodge was full of games, cards and puzzles, so we had a lot of fun staying up and drinking hot cocoa and tea and playing around. I learned how to play poker!! SWAG!

Weather was bad the following day (more Sideways Rain) so we stayed inside and learned about tectonics and volcanism, quite relevant as we were staying on an active volcano. A new instructor came and gave us surveys to decide our roles for a hazard simulation. (It’s a bit much to explain here but my friends and I successfully advocated for better gender representation in the assigned roles and I helped lead a very productive conversation about women in science, socialization of genders, and skewed surveys!! This was the same day as the march on Washington in the U.S. so this was like our mini march on Mt. Ruapehu.)

It began to clear up in the afternoon so we went to a pool heated by geothermal energy. It looked exactly like a regular swimming pool except the water was nice and warm, so I didn't take any photos. By dinnertime, the weather was REALLY clearing up. We could finally get a good view of where we were staying and the mountain was an entirely different world. Jagged rocks everywhere with beautiful moss and GAH the snow-capped volcano in the background made it all so majestic. We just climbed around our lodge for a while after dinner, amazed that this landscape had been here the whole time.

WEEEEEEE!

I feel like @mom would like this

Children spotted playin' on the world's greatest play spot

THIS VIEW!! WHO KNEW

Later that night, one of my friends Caroline organized a game of “salad bowl,” which is like a hybrid of taboo, charades, and more, on steroids. SO fun and would be great with @schodack @wustl and @edgemont friends.

Salad bowl in action

A salad bowl "bonus round" suggested by Jack. DM for a better explanation.

The next day we did some sketching of outcrops, went on an hour and a half hike to see some different types of rocks from different types of lava flows, and saw a pretty waterfall. I forgot my phone that day!! SORRY!!!!! Anyways, these pictures would pale in comparison to those from the Tongariro Crossing, which we did two days later, and you will see shortly. After dinner we prepped for the Volcanic Hazard Simulation we’d be doing the next day and did a homework assignment, plus some more games and puzzles. :P

The next day was the Hazard Simulation. Our instructors made it feel pretty realistic. We were all assigned specific jobs on specific teams. I was a media person for the geologists so I wrote press releases and prepped the leaders for speaking during “press conferences.” It was kinda stressful but in a fun way and lasted about 6 hours (!!!). Later we learned from our leader Dan, who is Maori, about the indigenous stories about the volcanoes in our region (the same volcanoes we were dealing with in the Hazard Simulation and the same ones we would hike the next day). More card games after dinner. Good day.

We hiked the Tongariro Crossing the following day (the 26^th). This was INCREDIBLE. Best hike of my young life, hands down. It was about 19km and took around 7.5 hours including lunch and pee breaks. It began on hot flat ground beneath the volcano but very quickly the air cooled down and we heated up as we hiked LITERALLY THROUGH CLOUDS to the tops of these mountain/volcanoes and then crossed between them. We saw craters and crater lakes and GAH the view was the best I’ve ever seen. At some points of the hike there was ice and rope to hold or it was so steep you just slid down but it was not even scary!!! It was just plain beautiful.

Ingrid, with Mt. Ruapehu in the background at the beginning of the hike. (Mt. Ruapehu is where we were staying.)

ACTUALLY THROUGH CLOUDS

Sweaty selfie pause

AMAZING!!!!!! Mt. Doom to the right. Red crater in front.

Me on a ledge overlooking crater pools!!! They were such beautiful colors!!

Hike down was 4 out of the 7 hours and included this fun zone ^^

Scene at the end as people wait to be picked up. POOPED!

Our leaders cooked us a Mexican feast that night (we obviously destroyed it) and then we had an end-of-module celebratory fiesta in the lodge. Later that night we stargazed on the mountain, which was truly spectacular. So many stars!!!!!

Module 2 on the mountain really solidified the bonds between the 26 of us. I love them all so much!!

On to Module 3 and 4….. (it may take a while for me to post these next few too. Blame the internet not me!!!!)

xxx Jules