New Zealand #1

NEW ZEALAND!

We arrived in NZ on December 3 and were picked up by Kim at the Auckland airport. I now have an even greater appreciation of this as it was a 2 hour drive one way for him to come and get us. Traveling through NZ is beautiful, but not fast. The roads, even the main ones, are narrow and winding. Not good for those who are prone to motion sickness. We went thru Te Puke, pronounced, Te Pookie, but it seemed aptly named.

We have been traveling and staying with the Closson family since we arrived. Clossons are our friends from Saskatoon, for those of you who do not know them. They are on an ambitious one year round the world tour. Kim lived here when he was younger and so still has many friends and connections. Fortunately for all of us, many of Kim’s friends have been very generous and allowed squatters in their “bach”. A bach is typically a small holiday cottage, but our first “bach” was a luxury highrise at the beach with views of the ocean and harbor. Thanks Kim!! It has been great to see another side of NZ other than just as a tourist. I am loving a lot of their local expressions, and so far my favorite is “rattle your dags”.

So far we have been to several different beaches which are all a bit different. Some have been sandy and great for body surfing, and others more rocky and rugged. Cathedral cove is a gorgeous beach with limestone rocks and caves and the kids saw a big manta ray in the water while there. Another amazing beach is “Hotwater Beach” which has thermal hot spots that you can locate when the tide is out. You find your bubbler, and dig a hole and make your own hot tub on the beach. You have to pick your hot spot carefully as some are so hot, they will cook you like lobster. I can become a lobster quite well on my own without the assistance of a boiling pot.

We had the chance to do some of the “adrenaline” type sports around the Rotorua area. Rotorua is a geothermal area and sort of like a mini Yellowstone. It is also the location on the north island where the adrenaline stuff is. We opted to try Zorbing which is where you get into a giant hamster ball and get rolled down a hill. We did a ‘wet” Zorb so ours was filled with warm water. The other thing we decided to try was sledging which is where you go down a whitewater river on a sledge (boogie board type thing with handles). In the end, the chicken heart in me won out and I did the whitewater rafting trip while Warren and Keiran did the sledging. I ended up with a group of about 30 rafters who were on a Contiki tour and I was about probably the age of most of their mothers. My favorite of the lot was the “Adrenaline Forest” where you do an obstacle course of physical challenges while in a harness about 40-50 feet off of the ground up between the trees. I will put in some pictures to give you an idea. It was a gas, even for the chicken hearted as it is really safe with the harnessing system.

Today we are in National Park and were hoping to do the Tongariro crossing tomorrow, but it is looking like the weather has a different idea. So we are trying to figure out more “indoor” type of activities to do. Kind of ironic as NZ is famous for all of it’s scenery and outdoor activities. Maybe Keiran and I will have to resort to doing some of the daily “conditioning” that we had planned to do to keep in shape. Nah, can’t break a perfect record.

Til next time…..

Keiran after zorbing

Keiran and Warren sledging

Boogie boarding with Clossons

Sitting in our hot tub. The hot spot was about 2 feet from Keiran and was REALLY hot!

Keiran at Cathedral Cove.

Adrenalin Forest. Warren on swinging logs.

Kim tests out his newly refurbished hip.

Keiran loved this!

Tegan, Shay and Keiran with ostrich

Sandy

Yes, he did crawl out from under a rock…