By Lucas and Nicolas
After leaving the Maori, we continued on to the city of Nelson where we wandered and explored. Eventually, we came across our next adventure, Whenua Iti Outdoors. We were led by our courageous, cunning, and more-than-slightly crazy guides, Joe and Callum. They had us crawling like spiders through caves, paddling our waka through the treacherous surf, and hiking through dense forests and mountains of the Abel Tasman National. Through cut hands, busted knees, painful bug bites, and exhausted minds, the mystical beauty of the Abel Tasman was revealed to us. Throughout the trip, we blew conch shells from the top of mountains and witnessed glow worms in the deep dark caverns of the earth, and thoroughly enjoyed it.
From there, we spent a day on a ferry traveling to the north island. We now rest in the city of Wellington. After a week of self-reflection, bonding, and sleeping on the bare earth, we were ecstatic to finally sleep on a mattress. From here, we begin our student-directed travel. We leave in the morning, headed to Tongrariro: the home of Mt. Doom. If another update is never posted, know we followed the fate of Gollum.
Sincerely,
The One and only Lucas Wertheimer, and the Great and Epic Birthday Boy Nicolas Santiago