New Zealand's Best One Day Walk

Alternative Title: This railroad apartment was the perfect place

[Note on Title #1: I have not yet decided whether or not the Tongariro Crossing is indeed the best one day walk; one thing for sure, I have not felt more crowded since leaving the US. It was more like a trail run than other walks I have done in NZ...someone is always trying to pass you (or, unless you're Nico, you're always trying to pass someone).]

A 7:30 AM start (on the last day of daylight saving time) gets you on the Tongariro Alpine Crossing before the sun rises. A little while later:


Mt Ngauruhoe was hidden in a cloud when we walked by, so we skipped the extra three or four hundred metres of climbing.


Mt Tongariro was also bathed in cloud, but as this was only a(n additional) one hour commitment, Nico and I split up, and I ran to the top. The fog drifted in and out; here are a few other people who made the climb.


Here are some rocks:


Did I mention there were a lot of people? Coming down Mt Tongariro (where there were only a few other crazy people who thought that a 19.4 km walk was not long enough), the main route looked like some sort of refugee march.


Interestingly, one can shoot this photo with:


Or without people:


I believe this is Lake Te Wai-whakaata-o-te-Rangihiroa (with Lake Taupo right behind it).


We opted for a bus ride from the finish...I guess there are people who walk back to the start. [My totals on the day: 19.4 km + 3 km for the Tongariro Summit=22.4 km...in only 7.5 hours.]


On the way home, we stopped in Ohakune. If we skied, I would totally buy an Ohakune yurt.


Instead, we stayed in the best hotel room ever.

Letter to coworkers:

Dear Friends, Family and Colleagues,

It is with great sadness that I tender my resignation, effective immediately. I will miss all the strange and wonderful peole I have met in this strange and wonderful land. However, a business opportunity on Kiritimati has presented itself, and I am unable to pass it up. Also, when we moved to Hawke's Bay, I had been expecting an exotic island lifestyle...but New Zealand is just too big; one can only tell he/she is on an island from an aeroplane...and the only exotic thing we have encounered has been beetroot burgers.

Wind in your sails,

Michael B. Lasko

Is it just me, or did this blog used to be funnier? http://takealotofdrugs.blogspot.com/2008/04/questions-most-commonly-asked-of-laskos.html

I'm just saying...

In other news, my father has successfully made it to Napier.

Here are Ruth and my father at the beach (on Marine Parade).


Here are Ruth and my father by a couple of MG TF roadsters.


In case anyone else was wondering about the difference between an MG TF and an MG TD:

The TF launched in 1953 was a facelifted TD, fitted with the TD Mark II engine, headlights fared into the fenders, a sloping radiator grille, and a new pressurized cooling system along with a simulated external radiator cap.
The 1954 engine, now designated XPEG, was enlarged to 1466 cc by increasing the bore to 72 mm (2.8 in), giving 63 bhp (47 kW) at 5,000 rpm; the car was designated the "TF1500".
Production ended on 4 April 1955 after 9,602 TFs had been manufactured, including two prototypes and 3,400 TF1500s. The TF was superseded by the MGA.
The TF name was reused in 2002 on the mid-engined MG TF sports car.

2 more days in the City

We seem to be getting pulled over to Auckland more often than I would prefer...but as long as we were there, we decided to do some exploring of the perimeter.

Rangitoto Island is Auckland's newest volcano.


Much of it is now green, but there is plenty of bare lava left. (In New Zealand, they have 100 words for lava...)

There are some lava tubes that make Hawaii's look safe. I thought I had a blog entry about Hawaii's lava tubes, and how we were trapped with a dead torch [flashlight for you Yanks] in a completely dark cave, but I can find no such entry. Anyway, the same sort of thing happened on Rangitoto, except we had no torch at the start, and didn't realize we were in total darkness until we were halfway through. I also didn't start thinking "I really hope there's not an earthquake" until we were halfway through.


The pictures from the little Sony do not do the view justice.



Not having had enough of islands, we took a little drive and then a little walk to Motukaraka Island.


Note: Only attempt walking to Motukaraka at low tide.
Note 2: Only attempt walking to Motukaraka from the Beachlands Marina (and not the boating club). Nicole will be unhappy if you make her walk through the mud rather than the sandbar (on the marina side).


A little later in the day, and it's a real island.

A stop off in Taupo on the way home (where I was supposed to pick up a sail boat) finds a former intern making her first takealotofdrugs appearance. Thanks for the coffee, Cloudy.

PS: Does anyone know the difference between a loo and Superloo?

Poor Kiwi Folk

When Nico and I moved to New Zealand, we knew we would be giving up European travel and expensive tandem vacations. This weekend however, an expensive tandem vacation came to us.

We joined the tour for a ride through Rotorua. Here are Bill and Jan McCready slowing down enough to have their picture taken.

And here are a bunch of tandems riding through some geothermal death spas. Sorry, I have no photos of the descent (on an MTB) track through the Redwood Forest.


A ride up some hills took us to the Buried Village of Te Wairoa.


I seem to have not taken many photographs...probably because it spent a fair amount of time raining; but I did finally get the opportunity to use my new flash.


The next day, we took an opportunity to climb Mt. Maunganui...


...and were rewarded with a world class view.


Onward to the Coromandel, where we stayed in an authentic Kiwi bach in Tairua. With a couple of days of cleaning and a few bug bombs, it would have been a nice play to stay...we'll just leave it at that, as the owner has been rather nice in addressing my complaints.

Though we have not been on a Santana tour in close to three years (except for New Zealand, which nobody was ready to repeat yet), we were happy to see some familiar faces.


And I just can't get enough of that Kiwi Dundee.

For the two or three of you that refuse to join facebook:

Nicole and I are fine. We're in Napier (on the North Island) and did not feel the earthquake at all.

Art Deco Classic Car Parade

(These photos are completely unedited...sorry if some of them are not slide show worthy...)

Deco Weekend

Napier in the 30s


People kept asking Nico if they could take her photo. It's kind of going to her head.


Nicole prepared the best picnic ever.


But we were hopelessly outdone by the Buchanans.

Published again

I'm thinking maybe I should start charging...

Bicycling and becoming Kiwi

It's been a while since I've posted, so I thought I would run through the camera's memory card to see what we've been doing lately.

It looks like we've been cycling a bit; which is good, as we have less than a month to get ready for NZ Tandem Tour II.

This is what I look like eating gelato.

This is what we look like after winning the Rugby World Cup [Attention Americans: In case you were wondering, the Rugby World Cup is given to the best dressed cyclist.]

This is what Nicole looks like in 33 degree heat.


This is where we stopped to stretch our legs (or rather, it's one of about 13 such spots).


This is as far from civilization as I ever want to be when we're out of water.


This is what Nicole looks like in 33 degree heat when the cows won't share their water.


In other news, I'd like to say this is the before photo, but unfortunately it is the (yet to be improved) small upstairs deck.


This is the big deck. Yes, I spent the day washing my deck, and then rubbing oil on my deck. (This is funny only if read with a Kiwi accent...but not to Kiwis, who think it's funny when I say "deck".)