Day 6: Tongariro Crossing!!!

So, today we were SUPPOSED to set out to do what has been described as the best one day hike in New Zealand.  The tramp traverses a highly volcanic region of the country and is home to the ominous Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings.  I'm just dying to tell everyone how amazing and breathtaking the hike was.  However, it was not meant to be.  It started raining torrents overnight and it is crazy windy here.  I laid in bed listening to the wind howl all night, thinking about how badly it would suck if I was blown off the top of the Tongariro Crossing.  It would completely ruin Dave's relationship with his brother Brian, as I'm sure Dave would blame him for losing his wife, regardless of the fact that I quite possibly had been surrounded by gale force winds!

Either way, we woke up to a rainstorm that would have influenced Noah to start work on his next ark.  I was rather disappointed about the thought of spending one of my precious New Zealand days cooped up inside, but then it hit me.  I can do something here, that I can't do at home.  So, I plugged in my headphones, grabbed a book and read ... for HOURS, undisturbed.  No children to attend, no phone to answer, no emails to return, no meals to prepare, no laundry to do.  Seems a rainy day in New Zealand is significantly more relaxing than any sunny day in Georgia!

Despite the rain, we did manage  to get out of the house for a late afternoon hike to a beautiful waterfall.  With all the rain we've had over the last couple of days, the stream was full and the waterfall was raging.  Although it was not what we had in mind for the day, we still managed to make the most of it.

I should take a moment to mention our hosts at the Manuka Lodge, Alan and Susie.  These two have been instrumental to our enjoyment of our unfortunate situation.  They have helped us sort out the question of whether or not we are actually going to be able to do our planned activity each day and coming up with other interesting things to do in the meanwhile (No Tongariro tomorrow either.  It's supposed to frikin' SNOW!).  The room we are staying in is spacious, modern and comfortable.  Plus they have a common area down stairs where were have been holed up for a large portion of the day.

They also pointed us to one of the BEST restaurants I have ever eaten at in my life, the Bearing Point.  In fact, Brian and I have eaten there for the past two nights, spending way too much money on exquisite and divine dinners.  I would recommend coming here just for this restaurant alone!

I should mention that I believe that Brian hit his low point on the trip yesterday while we were driving.  The song "Take My Breath Away" came on the radio.  Took me back to my high school days and memories of Top Gun.  I couldn't help but sing along.  I tried to turn the volume up high enough to drown out my voice, but to no avail.  I was so proud of Brian for putting up with close to 3/4s of the song before he violently punched the "seek" button on the radio.  What a little trooper!