Hello friends and family of the Carpe Diem Hongi group! This last Sunday on the 28th we arrived at the Blue Mountain Adventure Center (BMAC), wet and cold from the morning downpour and exhausted still from the eight hour bus ride into National Park the previous day. It was a surprise to all of us that BMAC resided only 5 kilometers or so from the hostel we had stayed the night. From that day, until Friday the third, we were sent everywhere from a cave forty feet underground where a stream cut through the rock of an otherwise unsuspecting mountainside to the summit of Red Crater at Tangariro mountain near Mt. Doom.
I faced my fear of heights on a ropes course where we attempted to pass each other on a narrow beam thirty feet in the air while attached to a harness, and once again when we hiked for an hour near Whakapapa village (Pronounced Faukapapa) to repel down the side of a cliff twice that height by the side of a waterfall. Each one of us were challenged both physically and mentally and were greatly encouraged to step outside of our comforts zones. All in all we had a challenging week where we were able to learn much more about each other’s strengths and weaknesses. I believe we became much closer as a team because of it.
For the next two nights we will be spending our time in the capitol of Wellington in a hostel by the name of Rowena Lodge. Here we will be exploring the city, looking at exhibits at the Te Papa museum, and practicing our song that we will be presenting to the Maori next week: Home by Edward and the Magnetic Zeroes.