Volcano

New Zealand is built atop volcanoes. Many of them. Many still active. You probably heard about the one that killed a bunch of people last week. You probably wonder why people were there in the first place. It's called living. It's not without risk. What is the point of breathing if all you do is sit on your couch and watch television or sports all your life?

I didn't go to the crater of a volcano, although I had planned to. I was going to hike at Tongariro National Park, one of the first national parks on the planet. I did hike at Tongariro National Park, but I didn't make it to the crater of a volcano because I hadn't realized the time involved. It was four hours to the peak, and that would have required a four hour return or a four hour trek to the other side of the park and a shuttle back. If I were going on an eight hour hike, I'd have to prepare for it, and I hadn't. So I settled for a few hours under the shadow of the volcanoes.

this is what you are missing out on

The drive from Rotorua to Tongariro was about two hours. I stopped in Matamata for lunch, not knowing that it was a tourist trap for the Lord of the Rings crowd, as it was the location for Hobbiton. While I found it somewhat amusing, for the life of me I couldn't understand why, amidst all the natural beauty and adventure, one would come halfway across the world just to visit TV land.

I stayed in a ski lodge called Pipers Lodge in National Park Village, but since it was spring, it was the off season, and there weren't many people. This was the view from National Park Village:

The only volcano I had ever seen in my life was Mount Vesuvius, at least that I am aware of, and here were several snowcapped volcanoes right in front of me.

I drove to one of only two carparks at the park. This side of the park was desert, and it was beautiful.

The weather was, well, spring. It was partly cloudy, or partly sunny, or hailing at one point. The sky and the light were such that it made it tough to take photos without constantly adjusting the settings. (Rather frustrating, and slowed me down considerably.) The hail lasted only a couple minutes, and I was well prepared for weather, so it was all rather beautiful, even if I felt a sense of trepidation as the blackness suddenly appeared from behind the mountains.

how it looked when I set out

suddenly...

the moment before it began to hail

yikes

the white balls are the hail

Tuwharetoa was moody

you have to pay attention

and then it cleared

dream beneath the desert sky

lots of iron in the rocks

I didn't get very far, as I was enamored with the place and kept stopping to take photos and just marvel at how I was there, beneath the shadow of volcanoes, halfway across the world, feeling very fortunate that I am able to do such things and wondering why so many who could also do so choose to spend their lives imprisoned in their living rooms. Again I thought about how our mentally manufactured problems - the ones spread by political propaganda like immigration, terrorism, and inequality - could be drastically reduced if only more people would get out and see the world. Life is so simple. Why do people make it complicated?

There wasn't much else to do in Tongariro, and given that most people who go there during the ski off season do an eight hour hike, why should there be? There is a sports bar, but I was tired and not much in the mood for that. I had a lamb shank dinner and a couple of beers in the lodge and waited for the stars. My star tracker app was open on my phone, but it was pretty cloudy and I couldn't make out many of the constellations. I ventured out for a moment and heard a kiwi somewhere close. I looked for the Southern Cross, the constellation on the flags of both New Zealand and Australia that can only be seen in the southern hemisphere. I wandered to the edge of the driveway. It was quite dark, and the stars, while more numerous than beneath the light pollution of home, were covered by a layer of clouds. I went back to the room. I waited. I waited some more. I turned the lights out and waited and waited and waited until my eyes drooped. I opened the star tracker app and located the direction of the Southern Cross. I leaned out the window and found it.

I went to sleep.