'what on earth'
The newsletter of active earth New Zealand
July 2008
Kia ora tatou.
Greetings from a beautiful, crisp, sunny winter’s day in Auckland. Time to write another newsletter and suggest that it’s time to plan your next break - get that application for annual leave in now! Perhaps it’s time to think about another trip to New Zealand before it gets too unfashionable or costly to travel to the other end of the earth!
Sleep rough, get dirty, spend half the dollars, get twice the memories! Yes we are still fantastic value, but most of all, with active earth you can proudly be a ‘non tourist’.
Our website, relaunched late in 2007 has the new photo galleries up (look on the trip pages), so if you’re suffering from the mid-year ‘blues’ take a look at our photos – get inspired and start planning your next trip. :-)
Happy reading,
The active earthlings
in this edition
• new Tibet Mountain Bike trip
• what’s happening in New Zealand?
* one of these items is completely untrue
special deals
Our specials page is updated each Monday during the season (but not so often in the New Zealand winter). Great for a bargain if you can travel at short notice. However, we usually have some long running deals up there as well to keep everyone happy.
new Tibet Mountain Bike trip - we'll meet you half way!
Tashi dele (hello).
So, you enjoyed the wilds of New Zealand and now you’re looking for a new adventure. How does mountain biking from Llasa to Kathmandu (via North Everest Base Camp) spin your wheels? The vastness of the Himalayas, 8000m peaks punching the sky, clanging yak trains winding over moraines, smiling Tibetans and helpful sherpas with steaming cups of tea. Charming senior guide Graham Frith is
running this annual pilgrimage. Take a look at the website – make sure you check out the pictures too. If you’re interested then let us know at info@ActiveEarthNewZealand.com. Write ‘Tibet updates please’ in the subject field and we’ll keep you posted on availability.
For those of you in Europe it is the perfect chance to do another trip with active earth; meeting in the middle rather than flying all the way to NZ.!
This is a long (and high) and potentially tough trip; you will need to convince us that you are up to it!!!
click here to go to Tibet Mountain Bike Trip
Kale Phe.
Czech attacked by glowworm
Waitomo Caves, New Zealand.
On June 6 a Czech tourist was savagely mauled by a 3 gram gnat that viciously dived from the ceiling of a tourist cave…police said that the man is in a serious …blah …blah …blah.
Seriously though, this most intriguing of New Zealand insects can be seen on most of our trips. After spending around nine months in its larval form, the glowworm pupates to emerge as an adult fungus gnat (a fly basically). Born with no mouth, the adult’s sole purpose is to mate (hmmm what’s new). The female lays eggs to establish the next generation before starving to death. The cave we visit on the Far North (Waipu Cave) is arguably the best in the country – it’s warmer up North so there is more insect life for the gnats to feed on, so a denser ‘city’ of lights results on the cave roof.
So what’s our point? Um er oh yes, active earth trips are a chance to learn new things as much as they are about marvelling at majestic volcanoes and dramatic coastlines. Learning new things apparently makes us happy and keeps our brains youthful – according to the people who know these things. And our guides are informed individuals (yet modest) who are just itching to tell you all about our charming and slightly odd country.
what’s happening in New Zealand?
Lava-ly mountain scenery – Mt Ruapehu erupts... hut we visit gets destroyed
Without warning last September Ruapehu tossed debris nearly two kilometres and sent two lahars (mud and rock debris flows) rushing down the northern and eastern slopes. Two climbers sleeping in Dome Shelter near the volcano’s crater were very lucky to survive the eruption. One of the climbers was seriously injured by a boulder that came through the door of the shelter.
We occasionally stop by this hut on the trips that we climb to the Mt Ruapehu crater (the old Tongariro Hike & occasional summer Volcanoes & Rainforest trips). It is not permitted to stay overnight in this hut because of the clearly accurate assesment that it is too dangererous.
Dome Shelter where the climbers were sleeping until the lahar knocked on the door.
outdoor tips - read 'em and look smarter than you really are
Today’s tip: are you a hot head?
A great way to cool down when you are honking up a steep mountain in warm weather is to plunge your head in a cold mountain stream, shake like a dog, and continue on your way. You lose lots of heat via your head, so you will cool off really quickly (which is also why, when it’s wet and cold, you should wear a warm hat). No worries now mate.
In our quest to obtain the combined knowledge of all the trampers (hikers) on the planet, we accumulate useful outdoor tips on our website. Submit your own tips and return regularly to our website to see what handy outdoor hints others have sent us, or that we’ve stumbled onto when we’re not in the office.
interesting oddities
accident insurance claim forms
Laptop or wheel chock? Here are some interesting entries made on accident insurance claim forms. Embarrassingly we can now add our own to the list thanks to active earthling Ali who briefly parked a bus on top of the marketing laptop. Administration Tip 114: Place computer bag inside bus before driving away. Interestingly the only thing that didn’t crash that day was Microsoft windows, it was still running after dusting off the bag. Now that IS what I call real news!!!
a scent to wake the deaf
Researchers in Japan are using wasabi’s overpowering odour in a new type of fire alarm designed to wake the deaf. For other interesting inventions visit InventorSpot.
choose your next book
What should I read next? Here’s another site to help you choose your next book. This site analyses a database of real readers’ favourite books to give you suggestions.
how to confuse an idiot
A very short clip from YouTube.
We hope you liked our newsletter.
We’d love to see you on another trip some time, keep us in mind.
The active earthlings (from the end of the earth).
previous odd things
Back by popular demand. We have been asked for links to the oddities from previous newsletters.
These are the ones that still seem to work:
Swat a fly. Get some online practise in swatting pesky flying fiends.
Are you faking it? Find out if you can tell whose smile is genuine and whose isn't. It's trickier than you might think.
Know which book you're reading next? A new way of choosing what to read to match your mood is provided by whichbook.net online.
If you think our new site is unworthy, feel free to destroy it with Net Disaster (virtually at least); offload some anger on websites that make you mad.