tongariro

Best experience: once we recovered from the tongariro hike, we could appreciate it more. the volcanic scenery and colors were amazing and other-wordly.

TravelPod.com Recent Updates 2009

Anyway, I made it to Taupo fighting a slight cold and did all the x-mas grocery shopping. on x-mas eve at the appointed time i went to the bus station to meet john coming up from turangi. the bus arrives -- no john. uh oh. lo and behold, he calls my cell phone explaining that there was a mix up with the tongariro shuttle bus and he missed the connecting bus in Turangi. luckily, the hostel owner took pity on him and drove him to taupo, going two hours out of his way so that we could still spend x-mas together. that's the kiwi way -- if something doesn't work out, don't worry about it too much as someone will figure out a solution! the whole thing with the shuttle vans and delays started to clue us in that things are more laid back here, like hawaii or mexico, than we were expecting. things may or may not happen at the scheduled time.

TravelPod.com Recent Updates 2009