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Monday, December 15, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
New Zealand Wanderings, Part 1
It is time for a very overdue New Zealand update. About three weeks ago Dad's continually improving health gave me the all clear to head back off on my trip, so about three weeks ago Windsor and I met in LA and headed off to NZ. We spent about a week in Auckland just hanging out and getting over jetlag and catching up on all the goings on in the 100 days since we'd last seen each other!
We bought a car, a shiny '91 Subaru Legacy Wagon, who we have affectionately named Subarubi, or Subes for short. He is white, and has a Hello Kitty dressed as a koala as his mascot, hanging from the rear-view mirror, and a Samurai In Car sticker in the back window to protect us. We've acquired lots of padding and bedding, and have turned the back in to our sleeping quarters. We've got curtains and everything. It's taken a bit of getting used to, being a bit firmer than a normal mattress, and being a bit cramped with two in the back, when I am used to a double bed by myself. But after a week or so of sleeping in the car, I am getting rather used to it.
After Auckland, we hit the road in Subarubi and went to the Coromandel Peninsula and visited the famous Hot Water Beach, where there is a hot spring directly under the sand in one section that makes it, you guessed it, HOT. When we got there, thankfully about 50 people had already done the digging so we could be lazy and just sit in and enjoy the VERY HOT water. It was crazy. But we've since left the crowds behind and have been finding more peaceful but equally amazing spots to hang out. We found a few great spots right by the water to sleep, and have been cooking and picnicing for most of our meals, with occasional treats when we feel like splurging or are just too plain lazy to cook!
After the Coromandel, we started on what we are affectionately calling our Thermal Tour Of New Zealand. New Zealand is full of active volcanoes and consequently, lots of boiling mud, hot springs and the like. We found a little gem of a town, Te Aroha, and happened upon a spa with a hot soda springs bath, complete with a wooden tub that looked like something out of a movie. It was 45 of the most relaxing minutes of my life, the water was smooth and silky and an amazing place to relax for a while.
After Te Aroha we went to Rotorua, or RotoVegas, which was way too busy and touristy, but where we saw boiling mud and steam vents right at ground level. We went to Hell's Gate and had a thermal mud soak, followed by a sulphur hot pool soak. It was amazingly relaxing, but we smelled of sulphur for about three days afterwards. We met some super nice locals who, upon hearing we were sleeping in our car, offered us the tent in their back yard with a real mattress. Very nice of them!
After checking out a few more sights, we left smelly Rotorua, saw Lake Taupo, which is the same size as Singapore, and Napier, a town that was destroyed by an earthquake in 1931 and rebuilt in true Art Deco style that rivals Miami Beach.
We are now trying to get to Tongariro National Park, but it's a bit rainy so we are going to see what happens.
All in all, things have been fantastic!
We bought a car, a shiny '91 Subaru Legacy Wagon, who we have affectionately named Subarubi, or Subes for short. He is white, and has a Hello Kitty dressed as a koala as his mascot, hanging from the rear-view mirror, and a Samurai In Car sticker in the back window to protect us. We've acquired lots of padding and bedding, and have turned the back in to our sleeping quarters. We've got curtains and everything. It's taken a bit of getting used to, being a bit firmer than a normal mattress, and being a bit cramped with two in the back, when I am used to a double bed by myself. But after a week or so of sleeping in the car, I am getting rather used to it.
After Auckland, we hit the road in Subarubi and went to the Coromandel Peninsula and visited the famous Hot Water Beach, where there is a hot spring directly under the sand in one section that makes it, you guessed it, HOT. When we got there, thankfully about 50 people had already done the digging so we could be lazy and just sit in and enjoy the VERY HOT water. It was crazy. But we've since left the crowds behind and have been finding more peaceful but equally amazing spots to hang out. We found a few great spots right by the water to sleep, and have been cooking and picnicing for most of our meals, with occasional treats when we feel like splurging or are just too plain lazy to cook!
After the Coromandel, we started on what we are affectionately calling our Thermal Tour Of New Zealand. New Zealand is full of active volcanoes and consequently, lots of boiling mud, hot springs and the like. We found a little gem of a town, Te Aroha, and happened upon a spa with a hot soda springs bath, complete with a wooden tub that looked like something out of a movie. It was 45 of the most relaxing minutes of my life, the water was smooth and silky and an amazing place to relax for a while.
After Te Aroha we went to Rotorua, or RotoVegas, which was way too busy and touristy, but where we saw boiling mud and steam vents right at ground level. We went to Hell's Gate and had a thermal mud soak, followed by a sulphur hot pool soak. It was amazingly relaxing, but we smelled of sulphur for about three days afterwards. We met some super nice locals who, upon hearing we were sleeping in our car, offered us the tent in their back yard with a real mattress. Very nice of them!
After checking out a few more sights, we left smelly Rotorua, saw Lake Taupo, which is the same size as Singapore, and Napier, a town that was destroyed by an earthquake in 1931 and rebuilt in true Art Deco style that rivals Miami Beach.
We are now trying to get to Tongariro National Park, but it's a bit rainy so we are going to see what happens.
All in all, things have been fantastic!
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