Queen's Birthday Weekend Welcome to Rotorua

Any excuse for a road trip saw us take a weekend break to Rotorua!

Me the boys and our rental car El Cheapo set off for the trek just four hours south of Auckland to the geothermal wonder that is Rotorua. You smell the town before you get there and the sulfur is thick in the air, you get used to it pretty quickly and its worth it for the steaming mud pools and natural hot springs. Its weird even the drains smoke.

We stayed at the downtown backpackers and quickly made friends with the locals so headed off to the pub for a taste of the local night life - there is lots of night life in Rotorua although small its packed with things to do and see. We need to go back to see more as we ran out of time.

But we did manage to squeeze in

The Geothermal Highway





The local park with lots of geothermal pools and mud springs

The luge, for someone who is terrified of heights this caught me off guard! I had no idea what a Gondola was well now I know. You go up the mountain on the Gondola, kind of like a box with seats suspended above the mountain by steel cables. I closed my eyes and hoped things would get better. Then we saw the chair lifts ha ha.

You only get the Gondola once then its the chair lift an open bench suspended in mid air. The luge itself is awesome you race down hill in little carts in a twisting and turning course. There are three levels easy, intermediate and advanced.

After the first ride down I decided to woos out and not take the chair lift instead I had to trek up the mountain as it turns out the only way down is the Gondola from the top of the course. Great views though.

I recommend the luge its great fun and the boys absolutely loved it. My travel buddies laughed at me as you can imagine when they found out I had to climb the mountain.

Then we said cheerio to Rotorua and headed off to Matamata the home of the Shire and Hobbiton. We were a bit late getting there and missed our tour bus but the waiting list was quite short so we were all good after about 10mins we were on our way.

Hobbit holes aplenty, drinks in the Green Dragon and a trip to Bilbo's house were all highlights of the tour. The detail that has gone into the set is phenomenal you feel like your in the film.

What I really want from the Lord of the Rings parts of New Zealand is Mt Doom. We will be there soon to climb the mountain!

So that was the weekend back on the road we go to Auckland and the trek home. Smooth driving well until you get to Auckland and you just sit in traffic for ages. Great weekend with great people in a great place can't wait to see you again Rotorua.

Auckland Winter

Well, its been 6 months and we are now ready to leave Auckland to go on our next adventure. On Monday we hand back the keys to our city pad and exchange the hot tub for life in a campervan. Oh the glamour.

What can I tell you about Auckland - If you get a chance go and see it. The city is always alive with something going on. Winter here is well, WET very WET. I am now part amphibian from all the rain. Its not too cold and we're almost in spring at worst 8-10 degrees but after the summer we miss the sunshine.  Lots of our friends are sun chasers and just roam around the world with the summer and I understand why!

But it has been so much fun living here they say a picture speaks a thousand words so ...


The people are amazing from our friends at Frienz, colleagues, and locals at Teds we will meet again on our travels guys!

The parks ... they are everywhere and all seem to be volcanoes One Tree Hill, Albert, Eden and so many more there are 50 if you do the coast to coast walk you get to see most of them as you walk the 20km from the Pacific Ocean to the Tasman Sea. We did and it was worth the sore legs. I can also say I have officially walked from the Pacific to the Tasman and across the breadth of New Zealand.

The Sky Tower (we share a birthday), it lights up the city for all occasions from rainbow colours for pride, red for the lions tour, green for paddy's day and all colours for its 20th anniversary.





The Islands

Whaheki - the wine island a must see for anyone who loves vineyards, zip lining, adventure, the beach or seafood. I love it here its one of my favourite places so far.

700 years ago in a series of explosions Rangitoto violently burst from the sea! Sounded cool so we had to go and see for ourselves. At 260 meters its a true Auckland icon, you can see it from anywhere. Rangitoto, is Auckland's youngest volcano and the home to the largest Pohutukawa forest in the world, as well as many species of birds unique to this cool volcano. Lava fields and a pretty interesting climb up the mountain is rewarded at the top by some of the best views of the city. The lava tunnels are also a must see, you can walk through them. Head torches are a must.

The quirky Kiwis 

• Lollies are Harribo
• People don't wear shoes (and that's normal to walk to countdown in your bare feet)
• Pies, they are obsessed with pies
• Tim Tams and of course the Tim Tam slam, its a kiwi thing its pretty gross you pretty much suck your tea through a melted biscuit yuk!
• Kiwi Dip, Chris loves it. Its pretty much cream and onion powder but it tastes surprisingly good
• Food is super expensive ($6 for a pepper) however pizza is super cheap how does this happen!
• The coffee is some of the best in the world so is the wine
• Heaps is a genuine unit of measurement ha ha
• Everything is marshmallow coated in chocolate, chocolate fish and of course pineapple lumps
• Morning Tea is a thing sausage rolls and cake at 10.30 is a must (I almost caused a rebellion when I organized my first one the look on their faces when there was actually just tea and coffee)

I could go on but I won't....


The Lions tour, we were here for the Lions tour, Mark worked at the final and said it was awesome but everyday the streets were filled with excited red shirts looking for directions to the stadium. NZ is rugby crazy at the best of times so this was awesome to be in town for. You couldn't get into a pub we just managed to squeeze in to watch the final and the atmosphere was electric (well until the result was a draw a bit of an anti climax)

My birthday was epic, good laughs with great people. No photos though a bit of a fail sorry guys. It was strange having a winter birthday but the sun held out mostly it was just a bit cold. We still managed to sit outside on the Frienz rooftop and have a good time.

But my favourite part has to be the culture, Maori people are a fascinating and welcoming bunch of folk, they are connected to the land, their history and each other thorough mana and tapu and are the perfect whenua (hosts)

I had the chance to be inducted through a Powhiri into the Marae at MIT where I spent two days as their manuwhiri (visitor) learning about Maori protocol, customs and Te Reo (language)

I learned my Pepeha (Maori Introduction)


A waiata (song)

Te Aroha
Love
Te Whakapono
Faith
Te Rangimarie
Peace
Tatou Tatou e
To all of us

A Karakia
(which we sing the Maori people sing a lot pretty much after every speech, meal, meeting)

He Honore, He Kororia
Maungarongo ki te whenua

Honour, glory peace to the land

Whakaaro pai e
Ki nga tangata katoa

May good thoughts come to all people

Ake ake, ake ake, amine
Te Atua, Te piringa
Toki orange

for ever and ever, amen. The lord is my refuge my life.

And so much more.....


So I will leave you with a Maori proverb

He aha te mea nui o tēnei ao? Māku e kī atu, He Tangata, He Tangata, He Tangata.

What is the most important thing in the world? I reply,it is people, it is people, it is people.