Spring is on the rise here and the riverside is glowing with that fresh light green of new leaves budding.  Days are getting warmer and the fields are being tilled.  The hillsides are alive with grazing sheep, and insects are beginning to buzz in the late day sun.  Fresh fish filled my pan last night and sleep carried me away to dreams of more to come. 

I mustn't neglect to mention the people here.  Every Kiwi I've met has been exceptionally friendly and hospitable.  They seem to be perpetual optimists as well. 

As you can tell I've been in vacation mode and probably will for a short while longer, but NZ is expensive.  My current spending won't sustain, so my next move may be to find work in the fruit industry or otherwise.  Until the next time, Turangi Libre and I are signing off to try and catch some more monter rainbows. 

Cheers

Now I'm back in Turangi and have been fishing the Tongariro River for the last couple days.  I've hooked into some nice rainbows.  They're spawning now so the fishing's been good.  The numbers are low for me, but the quality has been superb.  They're wild fish and strong as this is the start of their run near the lake. 

She didn't com with out faults, but she's mine.  I've already replaced an o-ring on a fuel injector, and fixed a rattling exhaust heat shield.  But both were easy fixes I was able to do on my own and they've brought me closer to Turangi Libre.  "Turangi" is a small town on the south side of Lake Taupo, where I became "Liberated" of the previous hassel of aquiring the van in the bustling city of Auckland.  Appropriately there were remnants of a construction company sticker on the van reading "Calibre."  So I modified it simply to read "Libre," Free. 

As for my second mission to ski before it was too late, I've been to the Turoa Ski Field on the south side of Mt Ruapehu.  Ruapehu is a massive volcano in Tongariro Nat. Park.  I drove south from Turangi stopping in the park to hike to Upper and Lower Tama Lakes, gorgeous alpine lakes on the shoulders of the volcano.  Then it was south to Ohakune to ski.  I had a great day of spring skiing as it was warm enough for the whole mountain to turn to endless corn.

I've been in NZ now for a week and a half and I'm beginning to settle in.  I'm not fully there yet as my on the run lifestyle has kept me on the move.  Upon arrival I was determined to buy a van, and go skiing while there was still snow.  So in Auckland, after a fury of searching for, buying, registering, and insuring a Mitsubishi L300, I now have a van.  Meet Turangi Libre, (TL).

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