kia ora!

A Maori word of welcome and thanks, which I've heard quite a bit the last few days as I've traveled to spots on the North Island. Maori are the natives of New Zealand, and they have a strong presence onthis island. I went to Maori cultural dinner last night. Apparently, they used to kill their enemies and eat them, but they were very gracious hosts. They sang songs and I ate stuffing; it was grand. Almost all of the places I've been have had Maori names so far, and the driver on my bus has a Maori name that takes roughly 10 seconds and several dozen muscles to say. He's asked that we call him Boof. Fair enough.

The ride from Auckland has been great, if a little rushed. I'm on a backpacker bus with about 20 others. The area we're driving through is mostly green pastures, but we've done little hikes in two different forests -- one rain, one redwood. The variety is surprising and amazing.

Stopped in Rotorua yesterday, affectionately termed 'Rotten Rua' around here because of the sulfur smell in the air. Steam rises everywhere in the place for the geothermal activity underground. It might have bothered me, if I were not so affronted by the smell of my own socks. I don't even want to wash them -- I may just burn them out of a sense of justice.

Today, I'm in Taupo. On the way here we saw some geothermal/geyser-type spots, and then we went to an adventure park where I climbed a 42 foot telephone pole , stood at the top of it, and then leaped four and a half feet forward to a waiting trapeze. Jumping off things against all good sense seems to be the thing to do here. Seriously, it was pretty intense but a lot of fun. There's something primal in you that screams for you not to do what you are doing--so when you do, it's exhilirating. Here's the site of the place where I did it -- in addition to the Giant Trapeze, I also did the Giant Swing (they were the only two available).

http://www.rocknropes.co.nz/rope_activities.html

Tonight there are a bunch of us going to the local pub to watch the rugby match, then tomorrow I'm off to Wellington. Apparently it's a sister city to San Francisco, so I can't wait to see it....