Month: November 2012

Day 2 – Rotorua

We made the drive down to Rotorua and made our way to the Wai-o-tapu geothermal area, a literal hotspot of volcanic activity and reminder that this island is still very much active. Our visit started with a trip to the Lady Knox Geyser, which erupts every morning at 10:15am with a little help of some added surfactant to help break the surface tension of the water. It was quite impressive shooting 20m into the air and then continuing to errupt for 1 hr (although not at a sustained 20m). We then went back to the main part of the park, which is a series of boardwalks, trails and overlooks that highlight bubbling mud pools, steam vents, and acid lakes – all of which smell like rotten eggs.

We then drove up to the Agrodome, a well-loved attraction in NZ. It’s a bit touristy, no doubt, but enjoyable nonetheless. As many know about NZ, it’s a country of 3+ million people and 30+ million sheep. The show highlights the different varieties of sheep in the country, shearing of a sheep on stage and sheep dog demonstrations. There were tour bus loads full of Asians, which made for a funny show – especially when one Korean dude drank a bottle of formula that was meant to be fed to the baby lambs. Afterwards, we got to go up on stage and pet the sheep and take pictures. There was also a petting area with the baby lambs and pigs that was enjoyable. Audrey had hopes of a nice NZ Merino wool sweater, but they were SUPER expensive.

We then made our way to Burger Fuel which was an AWESOME burger. 100% NZ Grass Fed Beef and fries with Aoili. We then came back to the hotel an enjoyed a few NZ beers. Speight’s amber Ale and Mac’s dark.

We then took a stroll over to the Rotorua City park, which is geothermally active. Imagine that! – a city park where there are steaming pools and acid pits and bubbling mud.

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Day 1 – The Coromandel Penninsula

After clearing passport control and biosecurity (move over TSA!), we made our way to NZ Telecom kiosk to pick up a NZ cim card for our phone. We then caught the shuttle to the car rental place and were in and out within 15 minutes. Then….the fun began. Navigating the roads just outside of the Auckland Airport was terrifying to say the least, and as if to add insult to injury, we encountered our first traffic round about came within about 30 seconds of departing. OH MY GOSH! After pulling over in a Dunkin Donuts parking lot and getting our bearings, we were soon on the interstate and making our way out to the Coromandel Peninsula. The roads were narrow and twisty turny. This, combined with the fact that it’s hard to force yourself as the driver on the right hand side of the vehicle to hug the center line, made for quite the adventure! Our Nissan Wingroad station wagon handles pretty well, but doesn’t make it up hills so well, which is fine with me, because going slow seemed like a fine idea. When we heard that the national speed limit on the open road in NZ is 100km/h, we thought that seemed slow. How wrong were we! I haven’t felt safe going much over 80 km/h in this country and I routinely get passed by the locals.

The trip out to the Coromandel was worth it! White sandy beaches, limestone arches, and beautiful blue water – it truly is a taste of the South Pacific! JD was brave enough to get in the 55 F or so water for an invigorating dip after our trans-pacific journey. Hiking through the bush (there are all these magnificent fern “trees” about. We keep ferns in pots, they grow to be 50 ft tall in this country!

We then made our way to hot water beach, which we learned is called “hot” for good reason. We rented a shovel, headed down to the water and quickly learned about techniques and ettiquite for digging the perfect hot tub. (Some people get them in their hotel rooms on their honeymoon – we dug one like little kids in the sand =) At low tide, the water bubbles up due to geothermal activity are HOT! So as you dig, if you encounter a hot spot, you let the water bubble up and fill a hot pool. You then dig your pool to the side to let the otherwise cool sand water mix with the hot stuff to make for a nice bath.

We then visited the EggCentric Cafe, where we enjoyed a fish and chips and chicken meat pie – both of which were delicious and so fresh!

We then got lost for a bit on the highway, but eventually made it to our B&B, where we stayed in a lovely cottage in the garden. As soon as we showered, we fell asleep by 8:30pm local time and slept through till 5:30am. We slept like logs.

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