The Tongariro is Cursed

Bah. I really, REALLY need to stop coming back here with crazy, stressful adventures to tell. The Tongariro, at least for John and I, is cursed and the Taupo road to get to it is EVIL. Not as bad a story as last time, but still a less than pleasant one.

So our plans for John's days off were to head to Taupo today and redeem GrabOne coupons we bought for a sailing excursion to some Maori rock carvings on Lake Taupo. Then, we were going to head to Tongariro, camp out for the night, and do the crossing tomorrow and be back home tomorrow night. Well, the first snafu in our plans came when I got a call from the packhouse I interviewed for. They want to hire me! Which is the great news--I have gone from no jobs to two (one full-time and one just flexible/casual hours). However, they wanted me to come in, at very short notice, tomorrow to start training. I asked if they had any other days available but unfortunately there wasn't--so we had to scrap Tongariro.

However, we decided to still do the sailing so we headed out to Taupo for a very nice, warm, sunny day. The actual sailing was great and I will share more pictures later. The other crazy ridiculous event was on the drive back. We had been driving for a bit on Taupo road, and all along they have been doing a lot of (unnecessary and excessive) construction and repaving. A lot of areas they have yet to re-tar and so it's just gravel pebbles you have to drive over. So we're heading along and we start to hear a strange noise from the car--almost like a helicopter--or air trying to squeeze through a small space. We pull over, resting for a few minutes, then keep heading on but it starts up again. So we pull over again to the next possible area and John jacks the car and takes the front tire off because that's where the noise seemed to be coming from--the breaks. We can't tell much, so we put the tire back on and keep going. No more noise for quite a while and so I'm hoping it was just some pebbles that dislodged themselves. Well, we go over another long stretch of unpaved road--uphill--and once again the noise starts. So we pull over as soon as we can, but it's not the best spot, and are stressing out about what to do. When all of a sudden, a car comes flying around the bend and BAM! Our back driver-side passenger window is shattered. I have evidence:

FML, people, FML. First we were just trying to get the pebbles/breaks sorted out and now we have a shattered window--on our new car. Just. Freaking. Fantastic. We're not sure if a big pebble or rock was hurled toward the window by the car or if the guy threw something--but the whole entire thing shattered in an instant.

Thank the Lord John signed up for AA Plus. As we were able to call them and they sent a free tow to get us back to Hastings--as we were only about 30 min from Napier, 45 minutes from home. The tow guy got there really quickly, as he was also heading back the same way on that road and also lives in Hastings. He could not have been more nice. He let us stop on the way into town to get some pizzas and even had a phonebook in his truck so we could look up the number. As he loaded the car onto the tow bed, he said it sounded to him like we did have some gravel pebbles up in the breaks--though really we would just need to have it looked at to know for sure. And obviously, we'll have to fix the window--which hopefully won't be too much. He dropped our car off at the AA garage in Hastings--so we don't have to get a second tow in the morning--and then dropped us off at home--frustrated, sun burnt, tired, but safe. He also said if he gets any late night calls, which happens a lot, he will stop by the AA on his route just to make sure no one does anything to car while the window is gone. He was a super nice guy and the silver lining to all of this. 

It seems whenever John and I get ourselves into these situations that there are always kind strangers to lend us a hand and it's truly a blessing. But as nice as they are, I would MUCH rather avoid these situations all together. A person can only take so much! C'mon, Universe, cut us some slack!

So yeah--John is going to drop me off at training tomorrow morning using our roommates car (again) and then hopefully get ours sorted out. Please God, let it be an easy fix!

But here are the pictures from the very nice part of the day before happiness was yanked from our grasp:

 The captain of our little yacht was a really nice guy, telling us a lot about the lake and the area. Lake Taupo was formed by the collapsed basin of a very old, dormant volcano. While enjoying the beautiful water and scenery, we also got a complimentary glass of wine or beer! A nice touch. We were joined on the cruise by a francophone family from New Caledonia, another French guy, and an English woman. All very nice. 

 The Maori carvings were actually done only 30 years ago by a group of about 8 Maori artists, as a gift to Taupo. They are still really cool and one day they will be ancient!

We were able to take a dip in the water--I took one was well--but it was cold! So I only swam for a bit. But here's John in front of the carvings.

On the way back, we stopped at this scenic overlook where you could view this great waterfall. It was a very pretty sight, but very soon after this all those smiles would be turned up side down.

So yes--I am convinced that the Tongariro is cursed. However, John and I will make one more attempt next week, before we are both working and our schedules won't match. We will defeat the Tongariro Crossing come hell or high water!