Kayaking on Lake Taupo-with PHOTOS!

How many people can say they have been kayaking with an 'IronMan Triathlon' finisher?  We can!  There was only one other couple on the trip today. They were Aussies and he finished 8th in his age group last Saturday. She did not compete. At first I was a bit intimidated thinking that we would never keep up with his paddling, but it was not an issue. He was a super nice bloke (NZ talk). Of course I had tons of questions for him:

Question:  Nathan, What is the biggest injury IronMen suffer?
 Answer:    "Kidney failure". ( augh!  I was thinking blisters!)

Question:  how much weight do you lose after competition?
Answer:  "I lost 8 lbs in 10 hours 8 min" (swimming 3.8 km, biking 180 km, running 42 km)

Question: how many times have you done IronZman?
Answer:  "4 times before. I'll do it again in June"

Question: why do you do it?
Answer:  "I'm hooked on it!  I have to keep trying to go it faster!"

Interesting guy and very nice, too.

Take a look at our pictures...as soon as Nancy loads them. The trip was 8 km and we were on the water 2.5 hours.
It was a gorgeous day--sunny and 75 degrees.

Here is a question for our blog followers:

"How many years ago were the Maori Stone carvings done on Lake Taupo."
(No fair using the Internet! Pretend you were just floating by in your kayak chatting to Nathan, the IronMan)

Answer will be in tomorrow's blog

Huka Falls, Lake Taupo & Iron Man Competition

Yesterday was the international Iron Man competition here at Lake Taupo. The best 50 athletes then qualify for the World championship in Hawaii. These athletes are very, very skinny. I noticed this keen observation as we watched them run by our pub while we were eating dinner. It's amazing that the body can survive this type of physical stress.

Today we went on a 7 mile hike along a beautiful River with a waterfalls. Again, the water color was spectacular. The pictures just capture a glimpse of the beauty.

Tomorrow we are going on a 4 hour kayak tour on Lake Taupo. It was originally scheduled for today but the lake was too rough. More on that tomorrow.

TTFN

Huka Falls- 4 PHOTOS

Waimangu Volcanic Valley-- 5 Photos

Waimangu Volcanic Valley

Good day, Mate!
Nobody says that here so it just must be an Australian Crocadile Dundee phrase. Just fyi

Saturday (our Saturday and your Friday) we spent the day in Waimangu Volcanic valley. It was good to see the museum just before coming to hydrothermal system. On June 10, 1886, a huge volcano, Tarawera, erupted here and devastated and destroyed all plant, animal and bird life in the entire area. Two more area eruptions occurred in 1900-1904 and 1917. (There will be a quiz so pay attention). So there are craters, pools and hot springs everywhere. The "inferno crater lake" is the most beautiful with a sky blue water color from the silica and mineral deposits. (Picture with Sam).

This Rotorua-Taupo region is characterized by volcanic and geothermal features because it lies over the Pacific 'Ring of Fire". This ring of fire in New Zealand the boundary between the Pacific and India/Australia tectonic plates. In honor of this, I hummed/sang Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire most of the hike.

On a lighter note, yes...Diane. The toilet water does swirl down the opposite direction than the USA, but I don't have a song for that phenomenon.

Thanks for tramping along with us.  Thanks for the birthday wishes, too!

3 photos

Day #2 in Auckland.

Hi,
I'm having trouble getting pictures to load and I'm very disappointed. But I'm working on it with my tech support team (Nancy).
Yesterday we went to the Auckland Zoo. It was pretty nice and it was a beautiful 79 degrees and sunny. After spending so much time in transit it felt great to just walk a few house. We also walked around the pier and main city center. Very nice.

Today we went to the Auckland Museum. Generally I can spend 2-3 hours in a museum (including the time spent in the gift shop), but we spend 5 hours touring this museum.  There was a lot of new information about the original New Zealand people, the Maori. Basically, the NZ European colonists did to the Maori people what we did to the American Indians. The museum had a 25 meter war canoe and many carved artifacts. Very cool.

The museum also had an extensive volcano exhibit. Auckland is the only major city in the world built on an active volcanic field. The exhibit ends with ranking officials telling visitors that they should have 3-4 days of food/water/supplies in their houses for when the next big volcano blows. The exhibit was called "Not if, When. ". Seems to me that this display would be bad for local morale. This Auckland volcano last erupted 500 years ago and averages every 5000 years, so maybe not be such a big downer. They also had a 'volcano simulator' that lets you live through an actual eruption. I got in line for the next showing but decided from the noise coming from the room that I'd probable have nightmares afterwards so I skipped it. So did Sam.

Tomorrow we leave for Taupo, about 200 miles from here. We are renting a car from now on. We just learned that the international Iron Man competition is going on tomorrow at Lake Taupo. I hope they got my registration!
More tomorrow, mate.