Surviving Mordor

2020, Mar 24    

This post is longer than usual for reasons that shall become apparent. Feel free to scroll to the bottom for the TL;DR. :)

Taupo is a quaint small town next to a pretty lake where a lot of visitors come by to partake on any of a number of tourism activities. It is right about the middle section of the north island and packed with hotels/motels/hostels, shops and restaurants to cater to the tourism that flows through.

It has been my experience that most the restaurants here are great. Even tho I have been fortunate to have delicious meals all over, I am still impressed on the food quality of so many places. The gastronomic element of my travels in New Zealand has exceeded my expectations.

In my brief town exploration (not that big a place to explore) I ran into the Taupo Hole-in-one challenge consisting of a pontoon on the lake with three different target golf holes of increasing size into which you try to get a hole-in-one golf shot out of a bucket of balls from lakeside (about 110 yards away) to win prizes, top one being $10,000 (NZD). Of course I gave it a shot as fun thing to try. What I didn’t know is that the pontoon is made of something like plywood and balls just bounce off it wildly; no soft landing. If you do hit the pontoon they do give you an extra ball to try again. But what that means is that you essentially have to fly the ball into the hole which is ridiculous. They claim they give out a prize every couple of weeks (not necessarily the top prize but probably the others on the bigger holes) but I can only imagine they must get a TON of people trying. Easy way to make money, huh? Then you’d wonder if they aren’t just littering the lake with a bazillion golf balls, right? Well, turns out they hire snorkelers to fish them out periodically. I saw a post for that gig at the hostel later on.

One of the popular attractions near Taupo is to visit the Huka Falls and the nearby Spa Thermal Park along the Waikato river. The falls don’t have a very high drop, but the water volume and speed is pretty intense. The river goes through a bottle neck and shoots out strongly on the outer side. The ice blue waters and white turbulence pool make for a pretty sight. I followed the trail to the falls by foot, took a few photos, then sat and listened to the water roar and birdsongs in the background for a while. After mailing a requested post card back to the US, I retraced my steps back to the hot pools and dipped myself in a small pocket that suited my body perfectly. Water was not quite as hot as I expected but lovely nevertheless. I think we can all use more sun basking in hot water while outdoors in our lives.

My first hostel was about 10-15min walk from the town’s center and kinda meh. So I switched to one right on the main strip with all the restaurants and bars. Bad decision. Altho very convenient location, I did not count with the late night music and karaoke playing in some bars next door which pushed bedtime later than it needed to be. On top of that they decided to have some street work done half a block away. Getting a private room to avoid snorers did not save me from these gems. Live and learn.

Just before heading out for dinner I noticed a lush palette of colors developing in the over the buildings as the sun went down. I walked over the lake to check it out. Boom! I took maybe a dozen photos of the same progressing sunset. Quite the color spectacle for a while. Sunsets over Lake Taupo are pretty awesome.

After an exquisite Italian dinner I stepped at a bar next door that not only had the best chai latte ever, but also probably the best sound system I’ve heard on similar venues. Crisp, clear, full sound both indoors and outdoors with the right EQ levels across the board and perfect volume to feel the music yet low enough to still talk and not be drowned in sound. Applause! And to boot, this bar had the fastest wifi speeds I have experienced in the whole country. What is up with this place? I am intrigued.

There is a golf course just outside of town and I got myself on an e-scooter to get there (yes, they have them here too!) as I’ve been doing enough walking already and I was short on time. Had to play the 18 holes in an unconventional order zig zagging thru some holes to avoid being caught up behind a senior citizen league that was taking place and risk not be able to finish before the pro shop closed for the day. I had to return the rented clubs before then. A great score for me (81) was a bit surprising but fun! But I must confess that I got a bit nervous to even get close to the older folks (youngest must have been still in their 70s) to even say hello out of fear of unknowingly being a virus carrier and putting them at risk. I am fairly certain I am not, but just in the off chance I have been contaminated at the hostels, it was very present in my mind in a scary way for the first time. I kept a distance from any person in the group that let me play through of probably at least ten meters. Thankfully my chip on the green was good enough for a gimmie so I didn’t even putt out to avoid touching the cup or flag.

And here we go! Prime minister announced New Zealand is closing borders to non-citizens or residents and recommending visitors to perhaps make plans to get back home soon. Being as things do not look good at all back home, I debated to option of applying for a visitor visa in case I needed to stay here for a prolonged time. Things look a bit less crazy here than elsewhere so may be a reasonable option to stick around. Tourism is going get a kick in the teeth. I already feel bad for the restaurants around here.

Got myself a bike rental to ride to the botanical gardens. As soon as I got on the bike I realized my crotch is still a bit tender from my mountain bike-walking adventure. So the ride along the lake on the smallish crappy rental bike was not entirely pleasant. Also not pleasant was the very steep slope to ride up to get to the gardens from the lake. Needless to say I did not make it all the way up and had to walk my bike a few blocks. On the plus side I did run into a gorgeous flower sticking out next to a house fence. Disappointingly, however, were the gardens themselves which had essentially no pretty flowers whatsoever. Still nice to walk around the bush and listen to the birds. But I left without pretty photos but instead a sorer crotch than which I came with. Noooooooo!

After getting a needed shower/laundry (I washed some underwear and socks while in the shower) and stepping out for some basic groceries, I noticed a sign on my way back in front of a Pizza Hut offering a $4 personal pizza. I wasn’t hungry, but I ordered one because it was just too cheap! (4 NZD ~= 2.3 USD). Come on, I couldn’t NOT do it, right? It was a tasty snack and I did’t regret it, or so I thought at that moment.

My earlier botanical disappointment was not the last of the day. I craved a dessert I saw at a Mexican restaurant’s menu next door to the hostel so decided to try them for dinner. They close the kitchen early but was able to place the order just in time. Three mix and match tacos of carne asada, pulled pork, and chicken, plus the cinnamon ice cream sundae with churros dessert. The tacos were well larger than I thought and not thaaaat bad to be fair. But with my heightened epicurean expectations, they were in comparison to my previous meals, total trash. Left over meat scraps for the evening before closing. I swallowed those down to reduce the duration of the experience and get to the dessert before the ice cream melted too much. Dessert made up for dinner a little, but not entirely. I was now inexcusably full in a not satisfactory way (remember the cheap pizza?). American gluttony.

Considering the weather two days from that night was not looking good, I made the fateful decision to book the shuttle early next morning (5:20am) to the Tongariro Alpine Crossing hiking trail as the forecast was pretty good still. It is said to be one of the best hikes in the country and perhaps the world. I had considered skipping it but everyone I have spoken about it insisted I do it. So fearing weather would risk my chances later, I went for it. I had to pack my stuff as I was switching hostels once again, so I headed to bed late listening to the ruckus next door and got up crazy early to catch the shuttle.

A fairly peaceful drive concluded at the beginning of the trail (or end, depending which direction you decide to do this) right before sunrise. I wasted no time to get going on my own by the penumbra of Mount Doom and crossing the land of Mordor. Oh yeah, the Tongariro Crossing follows the path near the active volcanoes of Mount Ngauruhoe and Mount Ruapehu which were the inspiration for Mount Doom in the LOTR movies and near where some scenes for the movies were actually shot. It is a 19.4 kilometer hike (~12 miles) not terribly hard except for a few tough spots, like the “staircase to hell” or “devil’s staircase”. What made it extra hellish was having ridden a bike on steep routes the day prior, eaten an excessive amount of food, and being completely sleep deprived. Of course some of the sights are spectacular, even epic, and I am very glad I got to do it. That is not to say that at other times during the six hour hike I was feeling less than glad. The downhill stretch did made my knees angry as it was wicked long. But I still heroically completed the trail to the cheers of no one but my own.

Latest hostel was way more comfortable and all I wanted was to rest my legs. I received several messages from friends checking in on me given the increasing global unrest about the virus. I was fine and on the fence about staying or going back home. I felt fairly safe and actually concerned about the safety of the returning trip. The risk of being exposed in transit felt high plus the situation in the US appeared (is) less under control than in NZ. I figured I’d wait a few days and see how things played out. But that decision was soon to be hastened and pushed another way.

The next day the Prime Minister announced an increase in the national alert level to 3 which would be followed to level 4 in 48 hours. Without going into too much detail of what that all means, and without mentioning other contextual questions, I decided I needed to get back home, as reluctant as I was to.

In hindsight, I am super extra glad I pushed myself to do the hike through Mordor when I did because now the shuttles and trail of the Tongariro Crossing have been shut down until further notice and perhaps until next summer. Yikes! Got in the last day possible. Phew! I suppose I will now miss many other things to do and see in this country, but I shall come back. But now I really feel bad for everyone in the tourism industry here. This is going to hurt a lot of people pretty bad.

It was a bit of a hustle to find flights that didn’t cost thousands of dollars and trying to minimize stops and layover times. I ended up getting a flight in 4 days time, but with the help of my sister and brother-in-law we booked an earlier one in two days before level 4 kicked in. Altho I was allowed to cancel my original flight, I was not refunded for it but rather given credit for a future flight. Doh! What ya gonna do?

There was also a concern about waiting at the hostel in Taupo, which was also considering shutting their doors, until the date of my flight out of Auckland as I wasn’t sure if the buses would be running then. I did not want to get stuck so ended up booking a bus last minute that same day and escaped Taupo as soon as possible. My hero sister used some accumulated hotel points to prop me up at a hotel near Auckland airport (I’ll walk there if I have to) so this is where I am now until my flight.

Like I mentioned before, I think the odds of getting infected on my way back are not small considering I’ll be spending many hours in a flying metal tube where all it takes is one carrier to get to a bunch of us. I cannot get a hold of masks and all I got as defense is a couple of small hand sanitizer bottles. Fingers crossed, but I still plan to self isolate before seeing anyone.

I have a humongous feeling of interruption and incompletion that is hard to put into words. I feel unfairly derailed and robbed of a long sought dream I thought I could get away with by cleverly navigating any obstacles that I would meet as I often have. This last obstacle, however, proved too much to overcome which I am accepting and handling as best I see fit at the moment. I still hope it is just a pause, a detour.

Alas, the far reaching eye of Sauron (aka Covid-19) has hence struck my adventures to a premature demise. But as the Baggins spirit remains alive I shall resume my adventures at later times when Sauron’s hoards recede and our wounded world heals. The next campaign shall therefore be anxiously anticipated and further pursued with much vigor. Until then, my dear friends. Thank you for riding along. Never did I feel alone even when there was no one around.

– It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.

– But in the end it’s only a passing thing, this shadow; even darkness must pass.

– All’s well that ends better.

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings