So - we're into our last week in New Zealand already - boo!!!!
We start this week on Mon 20th Oct in Rotorua (with the heated tent sites, remember?!) It would have been totally rude not to go and check out some real geothermal goings-on, so we went to Wai-O-Tapu. We saw Lady Knox Geyser which (with a little prompting) shot hot water about 20 ft in the air for almost an hour. And James filmed most of it. If you're interested ask us to show you when we get back. I'm sure you'll find it riveting. We also saw lots of sulphur craters, pools of multi coloured water, steam, boiling water pools, bubbling pools of mud (something quite reminiscient of ostomy matters going on with these...) and smelt a LOT of rotten eggs (because of all the sulphur). James explained much of the geology etc behind what we saw and, again, if you're interested ask him when we get back.... We pottered around Rotorua that afternoon, which is a nice town actually, if you can get past the stench. Of rotten eggs - because of the sulphur right?!... We will put up photos for you to see of all the geothermal stuff - it's not like anything you'll find in Farnborough.
Day 30 (Tues 21st Oct) was when we left Rotorua and went up to Auckland, via Raglan. Raglan is a world famous surfing spot and a nice wee town too. We drove to see the Indicators - apparently the longest left hand point break in the world (for the surfers amongst you) - it wasn't working that day unfortunately - another reason to come back one day. We drove on to Auckland which felt completely different to anywhere else in New Zealand before you even get into the city. There was traffic for a start. Luckily we were staying with Guy, a friend from the UK, that night so we had a guide for this jungle. He took us out for sushi (when in Rome..) and gave us a tour of the city centre, which is actually really nice! It´s not too sprawling or intimidating and we managed to get our bearings ready for when we come back here later in the week.
Then on Wednesday we took a drive up to the Coromandel Peninsula, which is east of Auckland and very beautiful. We drove along the coast road to Coromandel Town and stopped for a picnic on the beach. We drove on to Hahei, where we set up camp for tonight and tomorrow night. In this area are the two main reasons we came to the Coromandel - Hot Water Beach and Cathedral Cove. Cathedral Cove was the picture on a Bon Voyage card we got given before we came away so we were keen to see the real thing. We took a walk out there that evening and it is spectacular. It´s a really huge archway through the cliff on a beach and judging by the rockfall inside and the general marine erosion going on around it it might not be there in not too many years to come!
Then on Thursday morning (day 32 now) we went to see the other main attraction - Hot Water Beach. We had heard a lot about this place from guidebooks and stories from other travellers so were excited about it! At low tide (and 2 hrs either side) a piece of beach is exposed which has hot springs close to the surface of the sand. You can hire a shovel and dig yourself a pit which the hot water fills and you can then lie back and enjoy! Unfortunately we were a little late that morning and the hoards had beaten us to it. By the time we got there the only areas left had either cold or scalding hot water underneath so we vowed to be sprightlier the next morning and get there before all the good spots were taken. We spent the rest of the day being really lazy, pottering around Hahei village, writing up journals and reading on the beach as the weather was good. We treated ourselves to a meal out that night (and a glass or two of local plonk) which we followed up with a couple of games of billiards. No, we don´t know how to play either but we made it up as we went along and had a good laugh.
Day 33 - Fri 24th (our last full day in NZ) saw us on Hot Water Beach bright and early and the first to arrive! With the whole beach to choose from we found a good spot quickly and James dug a great big pit that was fed by hot, warm and cool water so we got a good overall temperature. The only problem with these geothermal novelties is that they don´t self regulate very well, so every now and again a boiling hot bit of water would come up and burn you! It was funny to see people looking really relaxed in their pool and then hop up squealing when the water changed temperature (us included)!! Leaving Hot Water Beach we drove on down the coast and back towards Auckland. It was the beginning of Labour Weekend in NZ and as we were leaving the coast it seemed like the entire population of Auckland was headed for it - just like bank holidays in the UK! We checked into the YHA in Auckland and begin the tedious task of unpacking the car and organising our stuff ready for flying out tomorrow. We packed up a couple of boxes of souvenirs and winter clothes to sent back home and took a look around the city - which we felt familiar with after being around by Guy earlier in the week. We followed up on a recommendation he had given us for a restaurant that evening and ate at the most delicious vegetarian Chinese place. Auckland actually has a huge Asian population, hence the oriental cuisine we enjoyed both nights there!
So, Sat 25th was the day we left New Zealand. We checked out of the YHA and did the most typically touristy thing there is to do in Auckland- we went up the Sky Tower! It´s the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere and gives you great views of the city and surrounding bays. We watched a few people do bungy jumps off it too....no thanks. We then did the other top pick in Auckland which is the War Memorial Museum. It´s in a great location in the Auckland Domain, on a hill overlooking the city. We thoroughly enjoyed the kids´ interactive natural history exhibition before having to take the hire car back to the depot and then get shuttled to the airport. We then had a 12 hr flight to Los Angeles where we had 10/11 hrs to kill in LAX airport (which isn´t the best airport in the world) before getting another 3 hr flight to Houston, Texas (which we slept through thankfully as it was the middle of the night). We then had 3/4 hrs in Houston airport where we got some breakfast before catching yet another flight to Panama City!
