Postcards from Middle Earth V

(Another caveat: Some ppl can't take any photos at all, so this is the non-photo attachment one)

(Sorry if you receive this several times: Most ppl's email wouldn't let me send as many photos as I would like, so I've been culling them down to try and send one at least...)
I think I must secretly be a vacuum... why? Well, nature abhors a vacuum, and I think the same applies to me... I'm not entirely sure why, but so far since I've been here, I've sustained (with the caveat that I -know- I'm very klutzy): several bonks on the head (by trees, branches, one by a bird hide - hard enough to make me fall down!), one fall into a pond of mud, a bumble bee sting, one twisted, bunged up knee, one gash over my chin and neck, falling into streams... it's gotten to the point where the rest of my team with the environmental volunteering look at me with a little bit of concern every time we leave in the morning... they're concerned I may fall off a cliff or fall into a volcano or something... I think I need to take up tai chi or something...
I think this may have something to do with the fact that I'm in an organized program.. I didn't hurt myself at all until I got here to 'help out the planet'... I'm half wondering if it doesn't really want my help in the first place... :P Doing all the other stuff I was doing before I got here seemed to be OK... it's making me a bit paranoid... tomorrow we're going on a sailing trip to identify dolphins and seals, and I think they're packing an extra life jacket for me, so I can have two... :P
That being said, this weekend was a holiday weekend in Wellington. (Each major city has a "City Day", ie Wellington Day, during the summer time, so each region gets a long weekend for free during the summer, neat, eh? Next weekend is Auckland Day, but I'm not in Auckland, so it doesn't count for me.... it kind of spreads out all the long weekend chaos to certain regions of the country only)
At any rate, because it was the long weekend, I decided to go back to conquer previous mountain that I had mentioned before (Postcard II) since the weather's been nicer.
However, as mentioned, I had twisted my knee two days prior to when I was gonna do it. At any rate, stubborn ass that I am, I went anyways, bought a tensor bandage and some medication, and had a walking stick lent to me. Did the Tongariro Crossing ("the finest one day walk in all of New Zealand"), which basically climbs between Mt. Tongariro and Mt Ngauruhoe (ie. Mt. Doom) and then back down again. Perfectly fascinating. And I did it in a little bit over average time, despite my bum knee (although I must say, there was a little old Japanese man that kept on overtaking me on the trail). God is good. And the weather was completely gorgeous. Highly recommended walk. Also note: I didn't fall into a crater. I didn't fall off a cliff. I didn't roll down a mountain. I didn't burn myself with lava. Heck, I didn't even get a sunburn. My knees, of course, regret it today, but I suppose that's part of the price to pay for ultimate beauty.
Enclosed, you will find several pictures from the hike, courtesy of Caitlin, one of the girls that I went with.
Love you all!
julia