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| New Zealand |
| July 10-16 | Hanging out in NZ. |
| July 16 |
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16 July 2001 3:52pm We're still waiting for the ship to leave! Our freighter, the Tasman Challenger, is still in port at Tauranga, NZ, being loaded with cargo bound for SE Asia. This seems to consist mostly of timber and paper, which must be slow work for some reason. Anyhow, we left off last time after dinner at the Fisherman's Grotto... 10 July 2001 Dark and early (it wasn't even light out yet on this winter morning) at about 5:00am we got into a cab bound for the airport for our flight to Auckland, NZ. The flight was memorable only in that it was a very easy, uneventful flight for Economy class. A large group of Norwegian students were sitting all around us on the flight, and we made sure to get through customs before them as it seemed they didn't really have the proper documentation or understand how to fill out the forms. We eventually found our transport to the city and were taken to our hotel, the Ascott Metropolis Auckland, which is a super-glam hotel in the city center. We also received our first honeymoon bonus - we were upgraded to a harbor view suite complete with washer/dryer, kitchenette, etc. etc. After admiring for a bit, we headed out for breakfast. Two blocks from our hotel was a cute little diner called D-72 (for those who need food). Too hip for me, but just right for Carolyn. After a delightful meal, we called the shipping agent for Tasman Challenger and found out the ship was delayed. We were actually pleased, because we now had a couple more days to explore NZ. So we set out to explore Auckland. Auckland is a quiet city of just over a million people. Like Sydney, it seems as though few people live in the city center, and there is not a lot of nightlife or even tourist sites in the city proper. In fact, we found only two major attractions in Auckland (and visited both). First we toured the Maritime Museum. It was a good crash course for our upcoming ocean adventure. The other major attraction is The Skytower, which as you can guess is a big tower in which you can go up to the top and look around. On the way to the tower we stopped to buy Carolyn a hat. We had been looking for an oilskin hat in Australia, but hadn't found quite the right one before we left. We found an excellent hat in an outdoor goods store in Auckland, however it had no price tag. Carolyn asked how much it cost and the kid at the counter offered to barter. He started at $25, which was $10 less than Carolyn was going to offer him, so she accepted, which from his viewpoint was not exceptionally good bartering on her part. However, paying less than $12 US for this hat still made a great deal for us. (It was good practice to remember those barter skills before we get into the real bartering areas) We visited The Skytower, which of course offered excellent views of the city and surrounding countryside. We toured the various viewing levels but didn't last long and went downstairs to the casino. Carolyn learned how to play Baccarat, and with a little beginner's luck helped win back the $100 that I lost at Blackjack. As a team, we walked out $1 ahead. We ate dinner at the Victoria Street Mexican Cafe, which was incredibly authentic (and tasty) even though it was half way around the world from Mexico. After dinner we had the pleasure of doing some laundry in our fancy hotel suite. 12 July 2001 We picked up our rental car - another fabulous Ford Laser which we decided to call "Lawrence" after Lawrence of Arabia because the Laser drives kind of like a camel (insert your own interpretation here). We headed off to Waitomo, which offered cave tours, something Carolyn had been hankering for since I've known her. We arrived at about 2:30pm and checked into the hotel, "the hotel" being the only one in what I suppose we'll call a "town." Not much goes on in Waitomo except for the caves. We signed up for the "Haggas Honking Holes" tour; a four hour adventure tour with abseiling, rock climbing, and other really fun exciting stuff. Check them out at www.waitomo.co.nz. I'll turn this over to Carolyn now - she can tell the story much better than I. Waitomo. The participants: Our guides: Louisa and Russell-both about our age. Both fit and cheerful. The group: Me and Jay. Two American brothers- John and Rob- Robbie is starting college in February after a short stint hanging out in Australia. John seems to have finished at an unnamed school somewhere in the Carolinas- he is much more interested in skiing than school. Kimberly- also a yank from Colorado, just spent her last semester studying abroad in Australia and is exploring NZ for a month before going home. And finally 2 Brazilian sisters, Sil and Lil- known together as "Sil-lee"-Their joke- not ours. They also were in the 24 and under range which did nothing for my wish to not be the oldest scardest girl out there; however, as it turned out, I did just fine. After a 5 minute in depth explanation of how to abseil- rappel for all you Americans- jump off of ledges and lower yourself down on a system of ropes (for all the non-extreme out there) and a brief practice run down a not very steep hill, we were trundled into a rickety old van and sent up out into the countryside. First stop- the changing shack. We were each issued an already wet- wet suit- pre-wetted you might say. MM hhhmm that is comfortable to put on when it's already about 45 degrees outside. Next we found squishy wet inside gum boots and were told to find ones that at least almost fit. Harness fitting was taken much more seriously as was helmet selection. Lights were tested and shivering with cold in addition to anticipation we boarded the van again to find the cave entrance. The van bumped its way along a dirt path, scaring the local sheep right and left and then Russell stopped and let us out and sent us down a hill crowded with sheep- which he chased away. We were told that as non-New Zealanders we were not permitted to interact with the sheep in any way. Fair enough. Next we lined up and shivered outside a big hole. The closer we got to the hole the warmer we got. The cave-at its even 55F degrees year in and year out was exuding warm gusts of air. We entered single file. I was second - behind one of the Brazilian sisters. The second sister followed me, then Jay. The other three Americans took up the rear. They start you off nice and gentle- by hooking you up and pushing you out over a hole about 100 feet in the air. Then they ask you to smile as they snap your picture and off you go down the slippery slope. It was actually pretty fun. The view was cool- lots of limestone and other formations. I felt pretty well in control- and I knew Louisa was at the bottom holding on to my rope as a safety if I started to go too fast she'd just pull down and stop me. Jason sped down the first abseil like a pro. Inside the cave it really was warm- at first- because we still nice and dry. The next challenge was to abseil down 2 waterfalls. Oh they were cold cold cold and involved much shrieking and some confusion. When you get down to the bottom of the first one you've been told by the guide- who's helping people at the top- to follow the water feet first. This looks well nigh impossible- since the water goes through a hole which- seems to be full of well, water. After some helpful prodding from above- Lousia shouting and pointing- that way- yes that's the hole. I sat down and scooted feet first right through to Russell who was waiting to send me down the next waterfall. From there on out it was pretty easy going. We saw fabulous crystal formations, we slogged through mud on our bellies, there were these fascinating creatures called glow-worms in the caves- which are kind of like they sound- basically firefly worms that give off tiny bluish light. At one point we all turned off our lights and looked around at the constellations created by the glow worms. It really did look like the stars. Everything continued hunky dory until we were on our way up out of the cave. Jason had been recruited by the guides to help spot people up the ladders etc. Well, Jason was first, then came Lil followed by me, Kimberly was next and then Sil, The two American brothers were dawdling and bringing up the rear- we actually hadn't seen them for a short bit. So I scrambled up a slimy rock climb and was coming around the corner where I could hear Jason jabbering away with Lousia about his climbing experience and Lighting and blah blah. Then he's helping Lil into her carabiner clip. The next thing I noticed was when Jason said , " Uh, Louisa, She's off the ladder, I think she's unconscious." I looked up to see Lil swaying on the safety rope. Louisa lowered her down and Jason unclipped her. I shouted for Russell to come up and join us. Jason had almost awakened her. She was groggy and mumbling. Louisa went back to the rock climb to bring up her sister- so she could talk to her. Meanwhile Jason tried to assess what might be wrong with her. Did she faint because of the height or something else. She felt very warm to the touch. Finally Sil got up to the top and clarified that her sister had recently suffered a bout of HYPOTHERMIA- yesterday in fact while they were skiing, but for some reason they had decided a good wet cave tour was just the way to recuperate. Anyway- We rubbed her hands to warm them and Russell ran off to get the blankets from a secret emergency bunker nearby- the door made a large clang each time he shut it. Meanwhile, Lousia discovered that the two doofus American brothers had now gone missing and she had to head off back through the cave to find them. Jason held onto Lil. Russell passed out juice and chocolates and Sil kept saying that Lil was fine and would definitely be able to walk out of the cave after she warmed up a bit. Louisa came back- having found John and Robbie- what happened to them is another story entirely- and Lil was alert enough to be taken out of the cave. Russell took her and asked Jason to come as back up. They sped out of the cave- with Russell carrying Lil on his back most of the way.- even when crawling through tight spots and up ladders etc. The rest of us came out at a leisurely pace- looking at the glow worms and fossilized oysters. When we got outside finally it was cold and crisp without a cloud in the sky. I came out first climbed the steep slope top the top- the sheep were nowhere to be seen. There as I waited for Russell to come back with the van I saw the NZ stars and the milky way and all those stars you're deprived of in city living. It was quite magical. Eventually everyone came out and we rode in the van back to the changing area- where Jason and Lil were waiting for us. Lil seemed much much better- she'd been sitting under a hot shower for a while. Jason was quite pumped after his role in the heroic rescue. He also had managed to score us an invitation to visit a lovely beach house outside Sao Paulo any time- in addition to an offer of work at the Waitomo caving adventures. All the staff wore bright orange vests. Now JJ's kicking himself that he didn't ask for a commemorative vest. After our adventure we retired to our hotel and ate a sumptuous meal of lamb shanks which was waiting for us- by the fireplace. -CK Thanks honey. Some people might have felt ripped off if that happened on their tour, but I had a great time. Russell and I raced through the rest of the caves, and I was able to participate in some of the more exciting stuff that the guides don't let you do (for liability reasons). 12 July 2001 After another frosty evening, we set out for Craters of the Moon (there's a Craters park in Idaho we've visited). Our navigational skills were off that day, however, possibly due to everything being upside down over here, and we ended up going the wrong way around Lake Taupo. We stopped in Taurangi for lunch. We finally came around to Craters of the Moon after lunch. It didn't have the impressive scope of the park in Idaho, which is 80-some square miles of lava flows, but it was an active thermal area with steam pouring out of vents in the earth. We followed a family of Chinese tourists around a carefully laid wooden catwalk. I mention the Chinese tourists because we saw them at every stop from Craters to Rotorua. We had a goofy smile acquaintance with them you might say, because we didn't actually talk to them, we just smiled goofily at each other. We forged ahead to Rotorua. Rotorua smells of sulfur and tour bus exhaust. At the tourism center we found the Ambassador Thermal Motel, which is an 'authentic' Thermal Motel meaning they had a bath with real mineral spring water. We didn't actually use it. After dinner at Herb's place (sirloin steak), we went to the Polynesian Spa, which is the main thermal spa in Rotorua. We went for the "Lake Spa Retreat" which had 4 different pools of various temperatures, a bar/lounge, and award-winning loos. No joke! You might think this would be really romantic, but unfortunately Carolyn likes much hotter water than I do. I wouldn't even look sideways at the pool she preferred. And to my credit, she was the only person I saw in that hot cauldron all night. I chilled out (not literally - the temperature of the pool I was in was about 38 Celsius) with some Japanese tourists. We had enough after a while and headed back to the motel and sleep, sulfury sleep. 13 July, 2001 We went to the "Fat Dog" for breakfast, which was another big, delicious brekkie of the type we had become accustomed to in OZ and NZ. We then set out for a hike. We hadn't yet used the trekking poles (collapsible fiberglass walking sticks) we had brought, and thought it was time for a good strenuous hike to test them out. We chose Rainbow Mountain for our test track, which turned out to be ideal. The local map suggested that a summit hike would take about 90 minutes. With the aid our trek poles we made it in about 50. The view from the top was certainly better than any Skytower ever built. I photographed a panorama, and we drank some water (we did break a slight sweat). We strolled back down the hill, looking for rocks along the way, and prepared ourselves for a visit to Hell's Gate. |
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After our sweaty hike up to Rainbow Mt..- which I might add was steep and muddy. We were glad to have our trekking poles and also surprised to see a bunch of elderly people coming back down from the summit. They make 'em tough in NZ. On all our steep adventures we've seen very spry elderly gentleman ascending to the summits-no problem. Well we needed a little R&R after our cardio hike/trot. Hell's Gate is yet another "thermal area" -which means it features boiling mud pools, a mud volcano, silica terraces, sulfur formations and generally speaking a lot of sulfur steaming craters. It also happens to have mud baths. We took a walking tour of the thermal wonderland and then headed straight for the mud. A nice Maori gentleman set us up with goggles and put us in the mud and then told us he'd be back in 15 minutes for us. His daughter, about 7, wandered in and out of the mud area- slightly fascinated. The spa part of Hell's Gate has been open about 2 weeks- it was her first visit and she's not allowed in the mud. We piled it on our faces and sat in the murky muddy water. Of course the heat started to get to JJ, but I was loving it. Eventually our Maori host came back and told us to take the coldest shower of our lives. Have you ever heard the expression- "Here's mud in your eye?" Well, OWWW! It hurts. This mud burned. We washed it off and out of our eyes and then went to soak with the 7 year old in the other hot pool. We sat with a view of steaming pools of boiling water. It was extremely relaxing and pleasant except for the recurrent stinging mud in our eyes pain every time we shut or rubbed our eyes. This actually continued into the night, but by morning, our skin was silky smooth and our eyes were all better. 14 July 2001 We prepared to board the ship. We drove from Rotorua to Tauranga- our port and went straight to Hertz to drop off the car. While still in the parking lot, we called the shipping agent- lucky thing that, because we found out we would not be boarding that night but the next morning- so we elected to hold onto the car a further day and get a room in Tauranga. The Harbor City Motel suited our purposes and was brand new. We checked in and had lunch in a cute little bistro on the harbor. After lunch, I convinced Jay to go to "Kiwi Country"  - a theme park devoted to the hairy berry which we'd passed on our way into town Theme park is stretching it a bit. They do take you around on kiwi shaped carts which look like they might have been stolen from a local tilt-a-whirl, but otherwise its just an orchard/packing house/ eat kiwis please kind of tour. Our guide Simon really talked up the new variety of "golden kiwi"- only 5 million shipped last year- look out for them on your local grocer's shelf. I tasted them- they're very sweet- a lot less tart than your average green kiwi. The part that made it a theme park I guess was the orchard full of fruits grown in New Zealand- that had a curious sign which read "POISON- Do not eat" I didn't know how to take this- after having accepted a new Golden kiwi straight from the packing crate- the poor little guy was too small for shipping and destined to become jam or jelly-quite tasty though. Anyway, the other thing that strove to be a theme park, was a falling apart wooden maze- one of several mazes we saw in NZ. and some slides for kids which our friction filled wardrobe didn't allow us to slide down very elegantly- but oh we tried. On the way back from Kiwi country we took a random turn following a sign for an "adventure park" which was 600 m down the road. The Papamoa Adventure Park turned out to be a farm of sorts. It was clearly family run. The woman of the house offered us free coffee or tea. Chickens and pigs and roosters ran around the yard. Children screamed. There was adventure all around. Of course we didn't have a camera to record all these roosters and chickens stacking themselves up in trees. It was very silly looking. They'd hop inside these bushes from one branch to the next. Each chicken/rooster on a different level until they were all stacked up inside a tree. Not being familiar with chicken behavior I don't know if this is usual or not, but it was funny to me. Of all the adventures available to us, we selected the "dirt track luge". As we rode up the VERY steep hill in the back of a flat bed pick up the man who ran it promised us a real NZ experience. He correctly pointed out that you couldn't do this in the states because someone would sue the pants off you. He told us all this while strapping us in to what were essentially go-karts minus the motors. We wore helmets and had our arms held in with little handcuff like devices. Then, he gave us a shove down the steep dirt track. We both laughed hysterically as we barreled down the course. I of course used the brakes with a lot more frequency than Jason, but even so it was a bumpy and exhilarating ride which nearly ended in disaster on several occasions. We only got to experience half the course, because the bottom part-"Oy it gets really steep down there mate" was under repair. What a ride though and all that for 2 bucks! We give this site a thumbs up. That night we dined at the ever popular "Burger Wisconsin." It was actually the second restaurant we saw named for Wisconsin. The burgers were good, but probably "burger NZ' would be a better name for it. I don't think they put sour cream and sweet tomato relish or plum sauce and eggs and pineapple on burgers in Wisconsin. They do all of this in New Zealand. 15 July 2001 Port of Tauranga,Mt. Maunganui Wharves Okay today we were really really gonna board the ship. We dumped our car back at Hertz and took a taxi to the ship. There she was looking very freighter- like in the port- surrounded by Fork Lifts and lumber. We climbed up a steep wet ladder, bags in tow and were led to our classy cabin by a crew member who then went and fetched the steward, a Phillipino gentleman named Marcos. Marcos showed us around and introduced us to the "Master" AKA the Captain. We didn't hear the captain's name, but that seems to be OK- everyone just calls him the master. The captain is a soft spoken Indian fellow. He seems a bit shy, but very dignified. I've taken to calling him Polo or Picard in my head. Polo- because 2/3 people we met on board are named Marco- so there must be a Polo around and Picard after the captain of the Enterprise on TV-whom he resembles in his quiet yet complete command of the vessel. Jay is amused that they call him the "Master" because it makes him think of Dr. Who. After the introduction phase, we ate lunch - a hearty German kind of lunch with homemade chicken soup and steak and potatoes. Followed by the richest ice cream. Then we disembarked again, because it turned out the ship was not departing until the evening the next day. We spent a good day hiking to the summit of Mt. Maunganui- 232 meters in a steep steep ascent- which again was full of the aged. At the top, we saw several killer whales in the distance-it was neat being above the clear water we could watch the whales swim under water and then surface. We rushed back down to see them close up, but only saw them at about the half way point. There were sea kayaks and boats following the pair of Orcas through the harbor area. This was another way you could keep your eye on them- follow the entourage. The we walked along the beach - collecting again AMAZING shells. The whole beach there was all whole shells- no sand even. It was getting late, the sun was eating and we trekked back the 2 miles back to The Tasman Challenger, where a hearty dinner was awaiting us. 16 July 2001 We took care of some business in town this morning, took another walk and then returned to the ship- we were prepared to depart at 7 PM tonight. Unfortunately the cargo won't be ready to go until 8 AM tomorrow. We've adjusted our itinerary on the other end- we now fly from Surabaya Indonesia straight to Singapore on 29 July-if we actually arrive on the 29th. If not we bought fully changeable tkts-so we'll fly out the 30th. This brings us up to date. We're sitting in our cabin on the Tasman Challenger- now slated to put to sea at 8am tomorrow morning. We've eaten dinner. We're drinking some very nice NZ wine and relaxing. We'll next be in touch across the equator! Love and Kisses, Carolyn and Jason |
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CIA World Factbook entry for New Zealand |