Mom and Dad have been visiting for a little while, so this gave us added incentive to get out and see more of New Zealand. While we were working and going to school, they enjoyed Te Papa, the national museum which is conveniently located across the street. I think Dad also got pretty used to coffee through the french press - we may have a convert.
The first weekend they were here we went to Wairapa Valley. This is just over the mountains from Wellington. Since we had to drive along the cliffs I used my usual life-saving technique of leaning in towards the ce nter line to ensure the car didn't go over the cliff. We are still here so it appears to have worked.
Martinborough is a cute little wine town in the next valley. Think massive (and currently brown from lack of rain)fields covered in sheep or grape vines. It reminded me quite a bit of Napa Valley, but much smaller and without the wide array of wine items to purchase at the vineyards. in Napa there were hundreds of things to but - bottle openers and towels and glasses and decanters etc etc etc. Here there was mostly wine.
We had a lovely lunch as a cute little vineyard called Alanna Estates. The food was great and the savignon blanc was crisp, although the region is known more for pinot noirs. We also visited an olive grove and met a nice grower who explained to us all about olives. We bought some wonderful infused oils that we have already used to make some delightful shrimp.
Last weekend was Easter. It is different here - not as much candy (they don't get jelly beans in easter baskets!) but Good Friday and easter Monday are holidays. That's a double edged sword - you get the days off but most things are closed and if they aren't you pay a 15% premium to offset the higher labor costs.
We took off for Rotorua, the volcanic and geothermal zone in the central north island. As you drive into town you notice the smell of rotten eggs - like the sulphur water that we used to get from the sprinklers in central Florida. Then you see steam rising from the side of the road and the parks and all along the way. In the middle of the parks there are pits of boiling mud and large rocks that are hot from the ground and pools of hot water than you can soak your feet in. George Bernard Shaw came here and called it "The Gates of Hell".
The whole area sits on a volcanic region. The lakes are actually volcanic calderas. The boiling center of the earth seems to be trying to escape everywhere and achieving it through the mud and steam and even geysers.
We went a place called Waiotapu, or sacred waters, that has some of the most spectacular geothermal examples. There are craters caused by geysers and collapsing rock, inside is boiling mud and steam. The rocks are many different colors, depending on the minerals in them. There was even a true lime-green lake - really, it looks like jello. Dave thought it would be a great location for sci-fi movies - I'll bet it has!
Every morning at 10:15 the geyser goes off. It isn't quite old faithful - the geyser is primed. Back in 1903 the area was used as a work prison. Since the earth was nicely coughing up boiling water, the prisoners used it to wash their clothes. One day one of them added soap directly to the water. Apparently, this had the unexpected effect of breaking the surface tension in the pool. Once that happened, all that pent up energy took off and created a geyser. How would you like to be that guy? Ill bet he never washed clothes again. So now, each day, they toss a little soap in the water and voila, for the next hour you have a geyser for the tourists.
I'll post photos - this is a very visual place.
We also explore NZ's agricultural side. There are 4 million people and 40 million sheep here. We went to the agrodome, whish is sort of a tribute to sheep. We met several varieties, watched a sheep dog herd some ducks and leap on the sheep's backs. The girls got to bottle feed baby lambs! We also took a tour of the farm and got to meet and feel sheep, alpacas, llamas, penned deer and even ostriches.
While in Rotorua we finally got to experience what was the girl's number one goal for the trip to NZ: zorbing. You have to remember that NZ is a smallish island miles from anywhere, so apparently they have to get creative with things to do. These are the people who brought the world bungy jumping.
Picture a huge, bouncy hamster ball. Then put another giant ball inside. Put a couple of kids inside the ball then add some water. Then put the ball on the top of a steep hill leaning on a big gate. Then open the gate and watch the kids float, slide, bouce and fall inside the little ball while the big ball hurtles down the hill. I am told it is fantastic! And the line of people paying nearly $50 a pop to go makes me think it must be pretty good.
After that it was back to the bach (sort of a kiwi weekend home without benefit of building rules and inspections). Ours was ok - right on the lake, kayaks for the girls to use and even a grill. Our wellington place doesn't have a porch, much less a grill, so steaks on the grill, wine on the patio while watching the kayaking was a pretty cool way to spend Easter!
Mom and Dad headed back to Florida, hopefully they enjoyed their NZ experience. I think our next trip, with our next visitors, will be back to the South Island. Keep tuned in! There's more to come
