Thursday at 8am, the entire study abroad program (including profs and spouses and children) all hopped on the bus for the ~5 hour drive to Taupo, home of a lot of volcanoes, including Ruapehu, Tongariro, and Ngauruhoe, as well as Lake Taupo, supposedly the trout fishing capital of the world. Lake Taupo is a water-filled crater that formed about 26,500 years ago with the violent, massive eruption of the supervolcano. The resulting void magma chamber then caused the walls of the volcano to collapse, leaving a caldera. Eventually it filled with water, forming the huge lake that is there today. The last eruption was in 186 AD.
We took ski lifts up Mount Ruapehu
and sketched some volcanic layers in our field journals for island biogeography (there was a lot of that this weekend). We finally arrived at our hotel around 6pm, then hit the town for some food. We treated ourselves to some delicious Thai food, then walked to the lake to watch the sunset. We followed the lake back to our hotel, watching the sky grow dark, lightning storms in the distance, and the stars above us.
Friday, the bio class had a day hike planned to the Mangatepopo Valley between the Tongariro complex and Ngauruhoe (also known as "Mount Doom" from The Lord of the Rings) - a [relatively] young and active volcano. We observed and sketched more volcanic material. The non-bio kids got to continue past the saddle where we turned around, on to the good stuff: the Tongariro Crossing. They saw bright blue/green lakes, a red crater, and a forest. I'll have to steal someone's pics.. It looked absolutely beautiful. After that, we went for a chilly dip in the lake, played some tennis at the hotel, watched some TV, and spent some time in the hot tub to end the day.
Saturday, the bio kids only had a half-day planned, so after examining some more thrilling rocks, geothermals (steam coming out of the ground), a hydropower plant, and Huka Falls, we were free. Huka falls was awesome. The rapids were fierce, but the clearest blue I've ever seen. Few daring souls have ventured down that river in kayaks.
The rest of my day got exponentially more intense. It turns out that only 7 of 36 kids are dumb enough to jump off of a 150 foot ledge. Oh, and a professor. A 60+ year old aerospace engineer, in fact. Bungy jumping originated in New Zealand, so that somehow contributed to my rationalization of participating. The ledge was above the Waikato River full of more gorgeous, clear blue-green water. They bundle your feet together and attach them to a massive rubber band, then give you the count-down. I wasn't brave enough to jump backwards, but I did dip my arms in the water below, screaming like a little girl the whole time. After bouncing upside-down a few times, laughing at the ridiculousness and enjoying the reversed scenery, I was lowered to a raft and transported to the safety of solid ground.
A couple of hours later, another adventure van came to pick us up, although this time for skydiving, which surprisingly, most of the 36 kids were willing to do. No professors this time, although our geology teacher has done it before. Dr. Garton did not hesitate to restate the stupidity of jumping from a perfectly functioning airplane, but we were already enamored with the idea by that point.
My tandem instructor and I dropped out of the plane at 15,000 feet with a sea of clouds beneath us (see video below). I remember being pelted by some form of precipitation in my face and palms, but it only lasted until we went through the clouds. He popped the parachute, and I could finally just enjoy the beauty of everything around me. I could see for miles on end; mountains, rivers, fields, tiny buildings, the gorgeous blue Lake Taupo, the sun covered by some clouds, my friends & their parachutes above me, and even a few distinct storms off in the distance. I just sat back soaking it all in until we did some awesome flips and turns in the sky.
Later, we grabbed some wine and fish & chips to celebrate our survival.
After witnessing another awesome sunset on the beach, we were perfectly content making fun of old school music videos for the remainder of the night.
We assembled at 8am yet again, hit the road, and examined some more rocks and the site of a bridge that collapsed due to a massive flood when a barrier of a crater lake broke (Tangiwai Disaster). In island biogeography, we are now shifting from geology to the biology portion, so I'm pretty excited that I don't have to hear the words "rubbly bits" or "pyroclastic flow" anymore. :)
This weekend was epic and cannot accurately be described in words. Especially not the words of a pre-med engineer. Maybe more pictures will help...
Taupo showed us awesome sunsets every night:
View from Mount Ngauaruhoe:
Bungy jumping video: (sorry, my camera lady sucked and missed the beginning, as indicated by the "I'm in trouble" narrative. ;) )
Skydiving video:
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