The Christmas road trip/holiday was a jam-packed adventure so I will prepare you for a slightly lengthy story accompanied by a few of the 643 photos I took.
After picking up Sonny our rental car, I found a package waiting for me from the parents. Then picked up the Aussies at midnight. I have to say waiting for someone to arrive makes it very exciting. Then on Sunday after Zoe and Tom enjoyed playing with Charlie the puppy we set off to Rotorua. After a bit of a detour we arrived at Rivendell then swam in the stream below the film site. It was a battle to get us back on the road again so we delayed and ate a picnic on the side of the stream. We arrive in Taupo to a gorgeous sunset and caught a less spectacular fush n’ chops (fish and chips) then joined Genie in Rotorua by 10pm.
Although we awoke to some lovely sunshine our tour to the volcanic White Island was cancelled so we all created a new thermal adventure plan. We set out for Wai-o-tapu Geothermal park. We rushed to arrive in time for the switching on of the Geyser. The Geyser had a big audience and we all thought why it blew out at the same time every day (10.15am). What is scientifically going on?! So what turns on a Geyser? As 10.15am arrived a guide went up to the Geyser to talk about the history of the area etc. then he turned on the Geyser – with soap! Here is the science part. The cone of the Geyser has a metre or so of cold water keeping the boiling hot water submersed. But the soap (eco-friendly type) breaks the tension and makes a frothy spurt. It does explode naturally but too unpredictable for attracting the tourists. Then we wandered over to the rest of the park and saw some amazing Geothermal waterfalls, lakes, bubbling thundering and popping holes. It was a hot day along with the fragrance of sulphur in the air that we need to go for a chilled out session. I had found out about an increasingly less secret hot water creek called Kerosene Creek. Following some obscure directs backwards we turned onto a dirt track and followed 2.2km to find a few cars parked up. We then got out and went off down a small path through the woods down to a stream which was steaming. We had some good times boiling in the hot water and getting close to a little waterfall and generally having a hot time. Which was good as the rain came and went. Reaching our heating thresholds and feeling like our skin was thoroughly cleansed we headed back to Rotorua for some dinner. In planning for Christmas we had decided to combine elements of our Christmas traditions but also create some of our own. One of our new traditions was to find something free to put in each others’ stockings (or hat). As I was running out of time I asked the barman where we went for dinner for something free and he came back with three Jack Daniels caps! Sweet. After dinner we were ready for another dose of warm water so we went to the hotel and sang some carols in the hot tub. We then watched Home Alone to add to the Christmas spirit.
Christmas Day!
Lovely and sunny. We had a great morning opening presents and stockings and skyping family. Then we headed to Hukka falls parking the car in Taupo. On the walk to the falls we found a massive play area which messed around in for a while then passed a hot spring that we would enjoy on the way back. We walked along the river which was a stunning turquoise colour in the hot sun. I had to eventually swap my Christmas hat for a sun cap after a while. Then arrived at Hukka Falls. On the way back we challenged each other to see how far we could go and bare the cold river water. Then we went to the hot spring which was water about 38’C or more meeting very cold water. So we joined the other people along the line of where the 2 temperatures met and enjoyed finding a limbo of the hot and cold. Then we headed back for a Christmas BBQ of prawns, chicken skewers, salmon and local NZ lamb and couscous followed by melted marshmellows. Though there were a few drops of rain during the BBQ we made up for it with another hot tub.
Boxing day
Today was our Middle-Earth experience. Heading out to Matamata we arrived in Hobbiton. The tour exceeded my expectations and though there was a bit of drizzle we had a great time. The detail of Hobbiton was incredible, proof of Peter Jacksons genius and obsession. He even built extra Hobbit holes to match the Tolkin map even though he never filmed them. 97% of the site is true to the Tolkin vision. The 3% is some trees that couldn’t be cut down, the oak tree that was fake and some other tiny details like some bee hives that couldn’t be real for the risk of allergic tourists! I was glad I didn’t go 7yrs ago as it wasn’t a great tour but now it is great. We all had a quick brew in the Green Dragon which is now a working pub in which you can get some proper hobbit style (not size) food – next time. We then headed to Raibow Springs Park to see lots of native birds such as the flightless parrot the Kakapo, the naughty Kea and the illusive Kiwi. They had a Kiwi couple which we saw in their inside day enclosure. Then to conclude our adventure of Middle-Earth we went to see the 2D version of The Hobbit. We enjoyed the film especially seeing the places we had just visited though I want to see the3D as the start was a bit blurry.
The next day was Tom and Zoe’s adventure with me into Waitomo caves. After lots of nerves from then they came out the other side full of grins :-D After doing the caves in the winter last time it was much better coming out of the caves to warm sunshine.
Our last day was a more chilled day for Genie and I as we left Zoe and Tom to do some extreme sports at Agrodome including Jet boating, skyfall, big swing and sweebing. Genie and I went off in search of a blueberry adventure. Arriving at the blueberry ‘experience’ which was less of an experience and more of a shop with blueberry food and drink tasting. So we had a blueberry icecream then went in search of more adventures ending up at the Agrodome maze which was good fun. Thai Curry, hot tub, sleep.
On Saturday we said goodbye to Genie who decided to stick around the north of the north island. Then we headed home to Wellington. We stopped for another icecream in the town called Bull (see funny photos). Then we stopped over at Zoe’s friend in Upper Hutt for dinner. There house was lovely and they had 5 acres of hillside with stunning views. After our fantastic holiday and seeing this lovely house there were murmurs from Tom about if they found such a house here they would be tempted by a life in NZ!!!!!!!!!!! Hahaha Kiwi Rules! We got home late to a very lonely cat then woke up a few hours later for Tom and Zoe to fly home.
Merry Christmas everyone
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