Day 3 - Raglan to Rotorua
We started off at Hot Water Beach but the tide was in! Total bummer! You are supposed to be able to dig yourself a little hole in the sand at a certain point along the beach and soak in your own hot tub. We did manage to walk towards the place and get our feet a bit warm and then I got soaked as a huge wave came and crashed against the rocks! Dang.
Next was our caving adventure in Waitomo called Haggas Honking Holes. We were fully suited up with wetsuits and headlamps and off we went into a massive cave underneath a farmer's field! We learned to abseil (rappelling down rocks on a rope) and did 3 of these as well as all sorts of rock climbing and crawling and sqeezing through various tight spots in the amazing cave!! I was pretty much terrified for the entire first half! It had rained the night before so picture a full on waterfall, in the dark, in a cave.....ahhhhhhhh. Once you got used to it the scenery is absolutely amazing and at certain points we turned off our lamps and were surrounded by glowworms!! Finishing was a total rush and we felt awesome getting out! Our guide was great and we learned more Kiwi slang like Primo! Everything is Primo! Duane B., he was the Kiwi version of you....his name and everything.
As we rolled into Rotorua we were hit instantly with the smell of rotten eggs! It is a town on top of a geothermal lake and it is warm and smelly and steam is rising from the ground! Literally! Our hostel had a geothermal pool! A completely natural hot tub!
The next morning we did a tour through Whakarewarewa, an ancient Maori geothermal village. It was the coolest place ever!!! It is warm all over, they heat there houses, cook their food, bathe, do basically everything with the hot water runnnig through their village! Some of the pools reach 190 degrees at the surface in summertime! Crocs will melt on the pavement in summer! We ate a traditional Hangi meal cooked right there in hot water pools (sausage and sweet corn!) and watched a cultural show which included traditional dance and song and of course the Haka!!!!!! Go All Blacks! We totally loved it here and it was so interesting to learn of the the Maori culture and realize they have been living in that village for hundreds of years! And I was warm and cozy the whole time! (New Zealand is cold!!! I have to wear long johns everyday!)
We also stopped at a Hot Water River to soak and found a bubbling mud lake. Totally science fiction. Andrew loved it.
Next post will be Taupo to Tongariro National Park and beyond. Wait till you hear what happened there!
Sweet as!
SarahandRoo
Friday, September 28, 2007
Thursday, September 27, 2007
A Whirlwind Week -Sweet As!
Hi Everyone!
We are having an amazing time so far. There is loads to update you on and we are going to try to add some pictures as well.
Firstly, our bags did arrive! (minus my hiking poles but that is another story!) I eventually got those back as well!
We loved Auckland and explored nearly the entire city on foot. From the trendy, young, full of cafes Ponsonby to the beautiful harbourfront to an old cobblestone section of town named Parnell (where we had fantastic burgers at Al and Pete's!) to Albert Park surrounding the University where we relaxed and watched some uni students playing rugby to the Auckland Museum and surrounding Auckland Domain, a huge beautiful park where we stumbled upon Wintergarden (my favourite!), an indoor greenhouse full of flowers and the a nearby Fernery which smelled of cedar. We trekked to One Tree Hill which was so great as well although it should be called One Stump Hill as the tree has fallen now and is replaced by a huge obelisk in memorium. Awesome views from the top on a sunny and really blustery day.
On Saturday, our first day of Stray!!!!! We were waiting outside, bags all ready, the suspense was killing us.....as 30 minutes went by. The front desk of our hostel puts in a phone call and Stray has forgotten us. Awesome. So on we wait as the bus turns around to come pick us up! (We were silently wishing this wasn't a bad omen for the first day of a 2 month tour!) Thankfully our bus driver (James) was hilarious and we quickly made friends on the bus.
Day 1 - Auckland to Hahei - We offroaded through gorgeous rainforest on the way to Hahei and stopped to see a huge 1500 year old square Kaori tree. The pictures don't do it justice, it was amazing to see. Just before Hahei we stopped at Purangi vineyard to have a little tasting. It is a fantastic, family owned little placed with a hilarious host named Danny. We sampled all types of wine and liquors including Kiwi feijoa fruit liquor! We picked our own kiwis and were given feijoa as a parting gift. Awesome! We hiked to Cathedral Cove which was so beautiful and ended up on the beach surrounded by huge rock formations and sunshine. The tide was in so we couldn't stay long but the pictures are amazing. The took the beach back to our hostel and hiked up to the bluff of an old Maori pa for a sunset view. The Maori culture is everywhere and it is fascinating to learn about. (More on that later!)
Day 2 - Hahei to Raglan
Quite a long drive the the landscape in New Zealand is totally beautiful. It is so lush and green and rolling hills as far as the eye can see. Dairy cows and sheep are everywhere!!! We stopped to admire Bridal Veil Falls which is New Zealand's 2nd highest waterfall and we made it to Raglan in time for Andrew to get some surf in before the rain came! (I'm saving up for Byron Bay!) Our hostel was smack in the middle of the rainforest, a surfer's getaway complete with bush sauna!
Pictures are coming we promise!! I can't seem to load them at the moment.
We have so much more to tell you!!! Can't wait to post next! We LOVE it here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Miss you back home.
SarahandRoo
We are having an amazing time so far. There is loads to update you on and we are going to try to add some pictures as well.
Firstly, our bags did arrive! (minus my hiking poles but that is another story!) I eventually got those back as well!
We loved Auckland and explored nearly the entire city on foot. From the trendy, young, full of cafes Ponsonby to the beautiful harbourfront to an old cobblestone section of town named Parnell (where we had fantastic burgers at Al and Pete's!) to Albert Park surrounding the University where we relaxed and watched some uni students playing rugby to the Auckland Museum and surrounding Auckland Domain, a huge beautiful park where we stumbled upon Wintergarden (my favourite!), an indoor greenhouse full of flowers and the a nearby Fernery which smelled of cedar. We trekked to One Tree Hill which was so great as well although it should be called One Stump Hill as the tree has fallen now and is replaced by a huge obelisk in memorium. Awesome views from the top on a sunny and really blustery day.
On Saturday, our first day of Stray!!!!! We were waiting outside, bags all ready, the suspense was killing us.....as 30 minutes went by. The front desk of our hostel puts in a phone call and Stray has forgotten us. Awesome. So on we wait as the bus turns around to come pick us up! (We were silently wishing this wasn't a bad omen for the first day of a 2 month tour!) Thankfully our bus driver (James) was hilarious and we quickly made friends on the bus.
Day 1 - Auckland to Hahei - We offroaded through gorgeous rainforest on the way to Hahei and stopped to see a huge 1500 year old square Kaori tree. The pictures don't do it justice, it was amazing to see. Just before Hahei we stopped at Purangi vineyard to have a little tasting. It is a fantastic, family owned little placed with a hilarious host named Danny. We sampled all types of wine and liquors including Kiwi feijoa fruit liquor! We picked our own kiwis and were given feijoa as a parting gift. Awesome! We hiked to Cathedral Cove which was so beautiful and ended up on the beach surrounded by huge rock formations and sunshine. The tide was in so we couldn't stay long but the pictures are amazing. The took the beach back to our hostel and hiked up to the bluff of an old Maori pa for a sunset view. The Maori culture is everywhere and it is fascinating to learn about. (More on that later!)
Day 2 - Hahei to Raglan
Quite a long drive the the landscape in New Zealand is totally beautiful. It is so lush and green and rolling hills as far as the eye can see. Dairy cows and sheep are everywhere!!! We stopped to admire Bridal Veil Falls which is New Zealand's 2nd highest waterfall and we made it to Raglan in time for Andrew to get some surf in before the rain came! (I'm saving up for Byron Bay!) Our hostel was smack in the middle of the rainforest, a surfer's getaway complete with bush sauna!
Pictures are coming we promise!! I can't seem to load them at the moment.
We have so much more to tell you!!! Can't wait to post next! We LOVE it here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Miss you back home.
SarahandRoo
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
15 years of University and still can't read!
Well...Sarah and I have a combined post-secondary education of 15 years and managed to mess up reading our flight departure time. We were off by a cool 3 hours! Luckily they put us on a plane to LA which landed 40 min before our next plane landed (10 min before boarding time!). We had a nice light sprint across 4 terminals at LAX to get checked in...sweaty.
Unfortunately our bags didn't posses our lightning fast speed and won't be getting here until tommorow. All in all everything worked out and we got to Auckland safe and sound. We also met an Aussie at the airport who invited us to visit him south of Perth for a wine tour and jet skiing...brave guy for only meeting us for 5 min.
That's it for now! Off to explore Auckland.
SarahandRoo
Unfortunately our bags didn't posses our lightning fast speed and won't be getting here until tommorow. All in all everything worked out and we got to Auckland safe and sound. We also met an Aussie at the airport who invited us to visit him south of Perth for a wine tour and jet skiing...brave guy for only meeting us for 5 min.
That's it for now! Off to explore Auckland.
SarahandRoo
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