January 8th, On The Road Again

We spent January 8th driving from the city of Waitomo to the city of New Plymouth and MT Taranaki. We were surprised by the beauty of the Tasman sea as we ventured down the West Coast of the North Island. We wandered down a gravel road and through a sheep ranch until the road ended at the White Cliffs Walkway. It was quite dramatic sitting on the cliffs overlooking the very blue Tasman. The sheep were friendly, and as you can see by the cover photo, McKenna took quite a liking to them. After a wonderful "chilly bin" lunch, concert and stretch of the legs we headed South toward Egmont National Park and MT Taranaki.

January 7th, Glowing Worms

The Glowworm Caves were so cool! (Sorry no pictures allowed of the glowworms so you'll just have to enjoy the pics of the stalactites and stalagmites instead.) The glow worms were kind-of like the Peter Pan Ride at Disneyland except it was real, 3D, and way better (also there were no children in nightgowns flying on the ceiling). We stared in awe and silence as we marveled at the sight of thousands of magets with glowing poo. Their poop glows so they can attract flying bugs that will hopefully land in their silky goo that hangs from the roof of the cave. It's all very exciting really... glow, eat, poop, and mate! Yup, that pretty much sums up the glowworm life cycle. 11 months of pure glowing joy!

January 7th, Sacrificial Bunnies

All of this so you can have a beautiful fuzzy feel good sweater! (No bunnies were harmed in the making of this blog post.)

January 6th, Rotorua to Waitomo

After a mud bath you need to do something really fun to wake you up?! As we travelled west toward Waitomo we made a little detour to Lake Taupo and Huka falls. The entire 100 mile journey was lovely as we travelled the thermal explorer highway southwest towards Taupo and Waitomo. Temperature was in the mid 70’s today, and should be about 80 degrees tomorrow. We wanted to check out an area called Huka falls. Little did we know they do jet boat rides up the river to Huka falls? This was another nice NZ thrill that certainly shook us out of our zombie like mud bath trance. The Huka jet boats have 580hp of engine to deliver all the thrills and spills necessary to jolt one into attention. Zipping in and out of limbs and brush, slicing past rock walls, enjoying plentiful 360’s and skirting the outflow of Huka falls was the course of action. After our fun on the river we enjoyed a picnic above the falls and headed out in “RT” towards Waitomo. RT is the name of our travelling van that we call home for the next couple months. The kids named it RT. The adults define RT as Rolling Turtle. The kids define RT as something different. Well, we did say they could name it. We are really looking forward to our stay in Waitomo. There we will take in a two cave combo tour on January 7th, the Waitomo Glowworm Cave and Ruakuri Cave. Ok gotta go, we are going to see bunny shearing today, and then caves later this afternoon. Bunny shearing??

Itinerary - we are travelling the North Island at the moment. We are basically in the central part of the North Island on the western side. We are still only about 3 hours south of Auckland. We will continue to travel the North Island until January 13th. At that time we will ferry 3 hours across the ocean to the South Island.

January 5th, Rotorua NZ

Our second day in Rotorua was basically relaxing. Today we visited Hells Gate Recreation area where we enjoyed a mud bath. The Hells Gate area is another thermal activity zone filled with geysers, steam vents and boiling mud. The Maori of this village have harnessed the mud and steam to build their own little mud spa. Since we haven’t ever taken a mud bath it seemed a jolly thing to do, so we paid the piper and jumped in. Following the mud bath we entered another spa area to clean up and relax. It really was quite enjoyable and did make the skin a bit fresh and tingly. We have posted a few exciting pic’s of the bathing. We also enjoyed the town of Rotorua today. Venturing up and down each street and doing a little window shopping. Of course we did manage to have ice cream and shakes along with the other New Zealanders. Lisa really liked the name of one restaurant / pub. We have posted a picture. Try and say that name 10 times fast. Curt liked the tree out in front of the whistling Pig. The girls loved the book store and replenished their library of books by purchasing a couple more novels. They are quickly blowing through their books, impressive!!! Tomorrow we leave the volcanic region of the Central Plateau and head for the Western Side of the North Island. The Waikoto Region is known for its caves and western beaches that face the Abel Tasman Sea. Cheers!

January 3rd, Zorbing NZ

Zorbing: Basically they put you in a round plastic ball and they push you down a hill. What a blast and quick thrill!

January 4th, Rotorua NZ

We started out our NZ trip by heading south out of Auckland toward the Central Plateau of the North Island. Our first stop the city of Rotorua. Rotorua is Yellowstone thermal activity on steroids. There are bubbling geysers, boiling mud pools, and thermal vents through out the Rotorua region. Spas that tap into this thermal wonderland are abundant. Yesterday we took a nice “tramp” through the Waimangu volcanic valley. The valley is loaded with bubbling springs, hot pools and beautiful flora and fauna. It reminded us of Jurassic Park. I kept waiting to hear Valasa Raptors chirping in the bush. (Tramping is NZ word for “Hiking”). It was a lovely day, as the temperature was in the mid 70’s and a gentle breeze was blowing. We also toured the Rotorua museum of history and art, and stopped in at the Agrodome farm. At the farm we learned there are many different kinds of sheep that come in all shapes and sizes. Tootles.