We were Up North. We were at Rock Camp. Now we're Down South.

Ben writes:

Hi Everyone,
This is a long one. But it's in Sections.

SECTION I

As you may have inferred from recent posts, Joanna and I have been back in the same place for almost two weeks now. I flew up from Wellington to Hamilton on Dec 11, where she met me with the car, and we took off on a week-long camping trip. Here's how it went(approximately):

-Rotorua. This town is known for its amazingly geothermal activity. We actually stayed two nights here in a very pleasant hostel. I kind of crashed, and spent part of one day sleeping, so we got out less than we might have. We are pretty sure that this town got really big by building up a spa industry around the naturally occuring mineral-rich hot springs. However, spa day was neither in our budget nor our itinerary. We went to a Maori cultural village / hot spring area. The hot springs themselves were not very impressive if you have been to Yellowstone -- a few bubbling mud pits, and a nice enough geyser. The Maori village is a curious place: it was built around the hot springs in 1884, and has been a tourist destination since 1885 (those years are probably right). The guide showed us how they cook and clean with the hot springs, and we were treated to a cultural show, including an explanation of the lengthy process of making a type of grass skirt that is only used for tourist shows. Think on that for a while.

-Tongariro National Park. In an incredible turn of events, we spent three nights camping, and had really nice weather for all of them. This has never happened before. However, let it be noted that it got so cold overnight that when we woke early one morning for our full day hike, there was frost on the car. Cred!
Yes, a full-day hike, known as the Tongariro crossing. This hike is a section of one of NZ's "Great Walks" which are basically what they sound like.
The hike was somewhat strenuous, and certain of our leg muscles were sore for days after, but it included incredible views of an active (not erupting) volcano, around whose midsection we walked, the Emerald Lakes, which are three small incredibly light blue lakes in the middle of the mountains, and hills and chasms and peaks of all colors. The pictures will be up today, if the computer here can deal with it.

-Ohakune. A charming little town, with some very pleasant hikes around it. We took it pretty easy here for the first day, doing a couple little hikes, and enjoying a nice camping area (incredibly cheap DOC campsites in NZ, by the way). On the second day, we drove to Pipiriki (ha ha!) and had a wonderful canoe trip. We were going to do the shorter trip, and get dropped half way up the Whanganui river ("wh" = "f" in Maori), but the man in charge was in a good mood, and took us farther up the river, all the way to the Bridge to Nowhere, which is actually a bridge to a very long (40k) trail to another town. The river cut through some wonderfully green steep cliffs on either side of us, 15-20 meters tall (we guess), and we had to get over some rapids, which was a terrifying concept in a canoe, but not actually too bad to do.

SECTION II

From there, we drove and slept and drove, and got to Rock Camp . At Rock Camp, kids from the School of Rock, and new students, come together for a week of music instruction in the art of Rock and Roll (actually, mostly alternative rock and metal). Unlike a guitar camp, rock camp is primarily focused on group performance, and the kids are put into campus bands, and matched with a mentor who helps them learn new material for a concert at the end of the week. The band are hilariously big -- 5 guitarists, two bassists, three drummers, two singers, a keyboard player, that sort of thing -- but kids also come with their bands from home, and they get to perform as well.

I was not a mentor, but a guitar instructor, giving theory lessons and doing some warm-ups for the kids who were not with their campus bands in the mornings, and giving one-off private lessons in the afternoons. Joanna joined forces with the parent volunteers to keep things running smoothly. Jo was a little frustrated at times due to a lack of clear duties, but managed to have a decent week. I had a fantastic time teaching, despite the usual classroom management related frustrations, and I wish I could come back next year. We made friends with a couple of the young players, and got along well with the other staff. We even snuck in a trip to a local bird sanctuary when we both had a free morning. All our pictures are terrible, but there will eventually be some on the School of Rock website.

SECTION III
Then we drove to Wellington, and I gave Jo the 4 hours whirlwind tour, including a cup of tea with Jim, whose house I sat, before we got on the ferry for the South Island last night. Now we are in the town of Picton, about to take a 4 hour drive to Takaka (ha ha!), where a WWOOFing family will be taking us in on Christmas Eve! They have two boys, aged 2.5 and 5, for whom we are going to buy a few small presents before we leave.
Merry Christmas everyone.
Happy New Year.
Enjoyable Holidays all around.