On the road again!
Thursday 01-20
THE WEEKEND! Thursdsay is designated travel day. After beating the tar out of my econ test, stuffing down some lunch while studying for our biogeography midterm, and packing my backpack, we finally get some downtime.
This week's target: Tongariro National Park and Mt. Ngarahoe (approximately prounounced Nar-a-hoe-ee. You may be more familiar with its surname, "Mt. Doom" from Lord of the Rings).
There's a little mixup with the vans today, apparently the rental place doublebooked our phat ride with another subgroup on our trip. We realize this as they roll up in the van we were supposed to have.
After an hour or two they sort out the snafu, but we're left with an 11-person van instead of a 12-person one. But, it is still diesel.
DIESEL POWER: In New Zealand, Diesel vehicles make a HUGE difference. Not only do they average 10-20% better fuel economy of the comparable petrol (gas) versions, but Diesel here costs 30% less per litre as well. Gas tends to hover around NZ$1.10 a litre, which rougly works out to US$3.10 per gallon, whereas Diesel is about US$2 a gallon. Needless to say, you see way more Diesels than you would in the States. And, since the Kiwis don't have quite the gasoline-in-the-veins-lay-tread-and-burn-rubber attitude in the states, they don't mind the sluggishness of the vehicles as much.
Oddly enough though, Atlanta and LA have much stricter emissions laws than NZ. Go figure.
With the late start, we end up driving mostly at night. Factor in NZ's winding two-lane mountain roads and a half-full cab of antsy girls in the back, it made for a very interesting ride. Roads in NZ tend to wash out a lot because of the soil makeup, but often instead of fixing them right away, they just make the road one-lane and put up caution signs. You can't let your guard down here.
We make our favorite stop at the infamous Playground of Death and Litigation Paradise(tm), with a few more bruises but no major injuries still. I think we're pushing our luck with this one.
We find the hostel late that night. Thanks to good thinking by Tim earlier that day, he called ahead and got them to leave us a note for where our rooms were.
This hostel is quite a bit nicer than the other hostel we stayed in. I think they put us in a part with no other tennants that night which is good considering the amount of noise we made coming in and getting settled in.
We crash early--lots of hiking to do tomorrow.
--P
THE WEEKEND! Thursdsay is designated travel day. After beating the tar out of my econ test, stuffing down some lunch while studying for our biogeography midterm, and packing my backpack, we finally get some downtime.
This week's target: Tongariro National Park and Mt. Ngarahoe (approximately prounounced Nar-a-hoe-ee. You may be more familiar with its surname, "Mt. Doom" from Lord of the Rings).
There's a little mixup with the vans today, apparently the rental place doublebooked our phat ride with another subgroup on our trip. We realize this as they roll up in the van we were supposed to have.
After an hour or two they sort out the snafu, but we're left with an 11-person van instead of a 12-person one. But, it is still diesel.
DIESEL POWER: In New Zealand, Diesel vehicles make a HUGE difference. Not only do they average 10-20% better fuel economy of the comparable petrol (gas) versions, but Diesel here costs 30% less per litre as well. Gas tends to hover around NZ$1.10 a litre, which rougly works out to US$3.10 per gallon, whereas Diesel is about US$2 a gallon. Needless to say, you see way more Diesels than you would in the States. And, since the Kiwis don't have quite the gasoline-in-the-veins-lay-tread-and-burn-rubber attitude in the states, they don't mind the sluggishness of the vehicles as much.
Oddly enough though, Atlanta and LA have much stricter emissions laws than NZ. Go figure.
With the late start, we end up driving mostly at night. Factor in NZ's winding two-lane mountain roads and a half-full cab of antsy girls in the back, it made for a very interesting ride. Roads in NZ tend to wash out a lot because of the soil makeup, but often instead of fixing them right away, they just make the road one-lane and put up caution signs. You can't let your guard down here.
We make our favorite stop at the infamous Playground of Death and Litigation Paradise(tm), with a few more bruises but no major injuries still. I think we're pushing our luck with this one.
We find the hostel late that night. Thanks to good thinking by Tim earlier that day, he called ahead and got them to leave us a note for where our rooms were.
This hostel is quite a bit nicer than the other hostel we stayed in. I think they put us in a part with no other tennants that night which is good considering the amount of noise we made coming in and getting settled in.
We crash early--lots of hiking to do tomorrow.
--P
posted by Paul at
11:43 PM
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