There and Back Again

Even besides lecture and normal DTS stuff, we've been going on all kinds of adventures over the past week! If you're on Facebook, you've probably seen heaps of pictures already, but if you're not, I though I'd let you know what we've been doing and show you a few pictures.

Last Saturday our entire DTS took a trip to the Karangahake Gorge, which is about an hour away from our base near Tauranga. The gorge is a really interesting place because it is the site of a bunch of old gold mines which you can explore a little bit. There are also some ruins of the old ore processing facilities, plus a former railway tunnel, waterfalls, and beautiful scenery. Seth and I went exploring with fellow students Laura, Erin, and Larissa and got to walk through the long railway tunnel and see a really cool waterfall. Seth, of course, can't resist jumping into a pool of water if there's an opportunity, so just as we were leaving the waterfall he decided he would put on his shorts and go for a swim. Then we had to hoof it back the place where we started to get back on time, following a trail by the river in the gorge.

Seth's stick couldn't quite handle the tunnel wall

The railway tunnel

The waterfall we visited

Our group of Karangahake explorers

 A view of the gorge

Once everyone met up again, each van decided where to go from there. Some went out to lunch while others went to the nearby Waihi Beach. I ended up staying behind at the gorge with my fellow DTS student Micah and Anthony, a local guy who Cheyne, one of our DTS leaders, had met previously when his family had visited the gorge. Anthony is an interesting guy who grew up right next to the gorge and has explored every area of the mine that he could feasibly get to. He showed Micah and I the top of an old collapsed mine shaft that is off the main trail, and I also got to go through section of the mine tunnels called the window walk because it has tunnels that go out to openings (windows) in the cliff face that makes up the wall of the gorge/canyon.

Hiking to the mines with Micah and Anthony

After this little expedition, we met back up with Danilo, one of our leaders (and our van driver) and his wife Monika (a DTS student) and decided to cross the road and get milkshakes at the café there. I got a lime milkshake in honor of Kalyn Matthews, who loves all lime-flavored things in New Zealand. Then, our sweet tooth satisfied, we left Karangahake and headed out to Waihi Beach, which turned out to be breathtakingly beautiful. The weather was perfect – sunny and just the right temperature, and we were surprised to find huge numbers of beautiful shells all over the place. We had a wonderful time looking at all the different shells, and ended up taking pocketfuls home with us.  We arrived back at the base just in time to witness a beautiful sunset on the road coming back in. It had been an incredibly good day of experiencing the beauty of New Zealand.

The beautiful beach! A freshwater stream came out here.

Shells!

Writing in the sand left by our fellow YWAMers in an earlier van.

Micah and me

Our next adventure was on Thursday, when our BSS (Body, Soul, Spirit) time consisted of running/walking up Mount Maunganui (aka “The Mount”). The Mount is a 760 foot high extinct volcano in the Tauranga area. It’s a landmark than can be seen from much of the surrounding countryside, and it holds a lot of significance in Maori tradition. On Thursday, however, it was simply a challenge for our bodies as we pushed ourselves to climb those 760 feet as quickly as possible. I ended up finishing it in 13 minutes, which was somewhere near the front of the pack. Seth, however, was fasting that day and didn’t think it was a good idea to run up a mountain in that sort of condition. When those of us who did run got to the top, we found out the challenge wasn’t done, though – we still had to do 30 pushups and 50 situps. Yay for taking care of our bodies! After that, though, we could finally enjoy the beautiful view of the ocean, coast, and town that the summit provides. It really is quite stunning.

Starting up the Mount

Danilo, Martha, and myself living on the edge

The town of Mt. Maunganui

Lastly comes the most exciting adventure of them all. If you are on Facebook, you may already know what I’m talking about. That’s right – this past Saturday we drove just an hour away to a sheep farm near the town of Matamata to take a tour of the Hobbiton Movie Set for The Lord of the Rings and now The Hobbit movies!! This was definitely a dream come true for Seth and I. After paying a rather hefty (but worthwhile) fee at the Shire’s Rest gift shop and restaurant, we rode a bus over to Hobbiton. There we walked along the path the Gandalf drove his fireworks cart along in the first movie, took pictures in front of hobbit holes, saw the party tree, looked out across the Water at the mill and The Green Dragon (soon to be a real pub!), and generally thought we’d died and gone to heaven. We visited Samwise and Rosie’s house, quoted the movies constantly, and danced like hobbits on the party field. We even got a group shot on the very steps of Bag End itself!!! It was awesome. We could have stayed there all afternoon, but alas, the tour was only an hour and a half. So we soon had to say a bittersweet farewell to Middle Earth and return to the modern (but no less picturesque) world.

The path Gandalf drives his cart down

Scowling at Gandalf as he drives past

In disbelief to be standing in front of Bag End

The party tree!

The Hill

Bywater

On the way back to the base, we stopped at McLaren Falls, a really cool group of waterfalls in a particularly climbable rock bed. There we spent a half hour or so exploring all the nooks and crannies we could before it was time to go again.

Part of McLaren Falls

Gosh, I love New Zealand. J

Jesus’ Love,

Dan