The Malcolm and Helen Training Program

Man, were we lucky to have Malcolm and Helen with us the first three weeks. (Have I said that before?) But really, it was like having a personal driver (Mal drove the Spaceship), a personal guide (Helen chose the hikes and walks), a social director (they found the off-the-side-of-the-road places to camp for free) and, in general, shared their knowledge of New Zealand with us. But now that we're on our own, we've used our experience from the first three weeks to survive. Leo had carefully watched Malcolm manuever the spaceship on the left hand side of the road. That's why he had no trouble shifting with his left hand as he took a "round-about"out of Wellington. No trouble that is until he pulled off the main street to park the car. Bam, we hit the curb with the left front wheel and that night discovered we had a flat. With the help of two very nice Israeli guys the tire got changed, but we had to replace it in Roturura.
Besides the adventure of driving and navigating in the North Island, we've also completed the 17 km (you figure out the miles)"Best one day walk in New Zealand" called the Tongariro Crossing. We decided if we waited for perfect weather we'd miss the hike so even though there was a slight mist in the air we booked transport to the trailhead. At first I was wishing that Malcolm and Helen were with us...you know, in case we got lost... but 500people a day take this hike so we figured it had to be pretty well marked. We were very proud of ourselves for completing it in 6 1/2 hours! In fact we couldn't believe how easy* it was. Well, by easy* I mean we finished it without mishap. Near the Red Crater,an active volcanic crater, the wind got so bad we were really glad we both had our walking poles for balance ...thanks again, Malc!
The other reason we felt it was "easy" was that going down part, the steep part, wasn't that steep and they have built paths, boardwalks, switchbacks and steps to ease up the way down. We had taken the 6:30 am bus because we figured on nine hours, especially with the long going down part. When we boarded the bus for the return trip at 3 pm, the driver said to all of the hikers, "Yeah, you're early today. Everybody's early when it's so windy!" He was right; that wind just pushed us along. And it was cold enough you didn't want to dilly dally. But honestly, this hike wasn't near as challenging as the ones we went on with H & M. And even though we didn't get many views at first because of the fog, we were rewarded with a gorgeous scene as we descended the gentle path down to through the bush and then through the forest.
Last night after leaving the Tongariro National Park we tried to find a place just to pull off, like we did with H & M. But we had trouble telling which places might be free. We're on the East Cape now and there's lots of beaches but most say "No Camping." I think we're going to stick to regular campgrounds cause don't want to get into trouble with the Kiwis!