THE INTERNAL - NEWSLETTER 39/04

HELLO!

How is everybody? I hope you all had a nice weekend. As you will find out there are lots of things to do this week … so don’t worry, you won’t get bored!!!   Have fun and enjoy your time!

CHRISTOPH’S LAST WEEK AT WORK

Our lovely Austrian friend Christoph is going to finish his internship by the end of this week. I think it would be nice to all come together this week to say goodbye – at least for the next 2 months as here will be back in Auckland for a couple of days in January. Maybe - if there is still enough time - we can have a party at someone’s place or go out for dinner together. We could also enjoy one of the events together. Just let me know as soon as possible!

WHAT’S ON IN AUCKLAND

Anybody interested in botanic should take the opportunity and see the 10th AnniversaryEllerslie Flower Show (23 – 28 Nov). It is New Zealand’s biggest, brightest and most beautiful Garden Party. Besides flowers the Show presents fashion, art or jazz as well. For further information check www.ellerslieflowershow.co.nz

It is the second week of a wonderful play production in Skycity Theater: A Christmas Carol. Originally by Charles Dickens it has been adapted by New Zealand’s playwright and satirist Dave Armstrong. (His credits include TV's Spin Doctors, Skitz and Semisi Family and his new play Niu Sila has just enjoyed great success in Wellington.) This version of Dicken's favourite play  moves effortlessly back and forth between a snowy picture-postcard Victorian Christmas and the true New Zealand flavour of the Crachitt family's Christmas barbecue. Tickets are $33, stages times are Tuesday/Wednesday 6.30pm, Thursday/Friday 8pm, Saturday 2pm/ 8pm, Sunday 4pm. The play is still on stage until 12 December.

Silo Theatre presents a play called Insignificance (until 27 Nov). Set in 1952 in NY, it tells the story of a confrontation one hot night between Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Joe di Maggio and Joseph McCarthy.

On Sunday 28 Nov there is the Santa Parade going on. Clowns, marching bands, cultural groups, stilt walkers and famous faces make their way down Queen Street to Aotea Square. It starts at 2pm from the corner of Mayoral Drive and Cook Street, at 3.30pm there is a Parade After Party. If you have time to go, watch out for the zoo animals – maybe you can spot Caro and Simone in their costumes… J

TRIP TO LAKE TAUPO

It was 10 of us that decided to go down to Lake Taupo Region and to have heaps of fun together. Although we didn’t meet outward bound due to traffic in Auckland, both cars made it to Turangi – even though in different time. Unfortunately, only one car knew the name of the hostel and its address, and the car that didn’t know the place arrived earlier and couldn’t do anything but wait!!! (since the others didn’t have cell phone reception ... ) Thus we tried to find the hostel by cruising around in town, but that didn’t really get us anywhere … funny as it was, we accidentally met the others! Then both cars knew that we had to look for the Samurai Lodge and separated again … which was not a good idea as we found out soon! Whereas Wulf’s car didn’t have any problems to get there, Christoph’s car spent at least another half an hour to explore every single street in Turangi, but without much success … When we finally managed to follow the instructions we were given via cell phone everybody was a little bit hackled up (… although it was pretty amusing at least for some of us), but relieved at the same time: ultimately the car with all the food arrived! The yummy midnight dinner made forget all incidents that happened before …!

The next day some of us did the Tongariro Crossing whereas the others explored Tonagriro National Park. The evening was rather unusual… no party spirit, no alcohol, but sleepy people hanging around, exhausted from the hike preferring to go to bed early or watch TV (especially Robert and Georg couldn’t get an eye off Rambo J). Sunday started with traditional breakfast: scrambled eggs, bacon, cheese and toast - mhhhh !!! It must have been tasty because none of our sky divers threw up after or before their jump! Later that day we enjoyed the fabulous scenery of Lake Taupo with Mt Tongariro and Mt Ngauruhoe in the back. It was just great to sit in a restaurant, have an awesome view of the lake, and relax in the sun!!! It is certainly one of the most beautiful places in New Zealand!!!

TONGARIRO CROSSING

We definitely found out why it is called one of the nicest one-day trips: you have an absolutely awesome view of the scenery!!! When we started on the track we were quite disappointed in the beginning because it felt like shopping in a supermarket – tons of people queuing up, making their way along the track, again and again waiting … But it all changed very quickly as soon as we reached the saddle. We decided to leave the track and climb Mt Ngauruhoe, one of the volcanoes. It was very steep and as we found out soon also quite dangerous – to be honest! We built some steps into the icefield and crawled on all fours up the mountain. It was hard work to climb up as we fell back again with every step. All the sudden everybody was shouting “watch out, rocks!” when a couple of rocks were tumbling down with enormous speed! Nothing serious happened, but we were really shocked for the moment. Still, the desire to be on the top of the mountain just can’t stop any hiker - and the fantastic look-out made us go further as well!!! Pretty exhausted, but very happy did we reach the top of the crater. Above the clouds we had our lunch up there (wasn’t it good, the chocolate???), almost burned our bums as the rocks were really hot, enjoyed the panorama, took pictures and mentally prepared for the descent! Thank goodness it was much easier than expected – actually we had tons of fun once we found out the right technique: sliding…! Back on the track, all touristy hikers had already gone and we could enjoy the beauty of the Emerald Lakes and colourful rocks without all those other photographers… Being in a volcanic area we passed quite some active spots that were steaming and smelling awkwardly nice! As you can also see on the picture we were lucky with the weather – although after an eight hour hike in the sun, one can argue whether this is a real blessing ... ?! Actually we thought that we did really well putting sunscreen on, but unfortunately we missed tiny spots, which by the end had funny effects on our skin… (just think of my legs)! To put it into one sentence: regarding the scenic views the trip is absolutely worth being called to be the best one-day hike in NZ, but don’t do it during main vacation summer season since it will be too busy!!!  

SKY DIVING

To give you an image of what it must feel like to fly like a bird, I think it is best to ask the guys that actually did the jump… Here is what they came up with:

Diana: Since I`ve woken up on Monday morning there is just one special picture in my mind: the one of jumping out of the plane. I can`t describe this feeling, you have to feel it by yourself and everybody who made it, maybe knows what I`m talking about! It was the best thing I`ve done in my life and hopefully not my last jump!

Robert:all right, to be honest... it's uncredible, you can't describe it in words, the only way to feel it... just do it ;o)  but be careful: it is fucking great fun and maybe it could change your life!!!

THIS WEEKEND COMING UP

The plan for this weekend for those who do not want to stay in Auckland is a trip to New Plymouth and Egmont National Park. We depart Friday afternoon and come back on Sunday. There are many things to do (e.g. some hikes around Mt Taranaki, Cape Egmont Lighthouse, several neat walks and nice towns). Anybody who would like to come along please contact Christoph or Wulf as soon as possible that they can book the accommodation and organize the car rental!

NEXT WEEKEND SUGGESTIONS

Although it is still a week time I would like to suggest another weekend trip. What about if we visited Great Barrier Island 03.-05.Dec ??? We can take the ferry on Friday in the afternoon (about $70, maybe less) and spend to days on the island. A nice place to stay is Pohutukawa Lodge since there is a pub (actually the only real one on the island) next-door and they offer kayak rental for free. So we could cruise around a little bit and watch dolphins and afterwards relax on Kaiteke Beach or Palmers Beach. Another must to do is a walk through Windy Canyon to Mt Hobson and then down to the Hot Springs – which would be an option for the second day?! If someone of you comes up with another idea of what we should do there just tell me. So please let me know what you think about it and I will organize the trip next week.

Another optional trip with lots of fun is canyoning. For those of you who haven’t heard of that, you cascade down waterfalls, do abseils and lots of waterjumps and slides – really tons of fun!!! There is the possibility to do that in the Blue Canyon just west of Auckland (Waitakere Ranges). This trip includes a visit to the Karekare Beach (loation for the movie “The Piano”) and costs $145. Another place is Sleeping God Canyon near Thames. Here the waterfalls are longer and you’re abseiling up to 70 metres, but it costs $225. We could do that when go to the Coromandel in December since it is on the way to the peninsula?! Just think about it and let me know.

SAYING OF THE WEEK

Dreams never hurt anybody if he keeps working right behind the dreams to make as much of them become real as he can. (Frank W. Woolworth)

That’s it for today!