Pictures of Going to and in Rotorua

These first two pictures are from the bus at Lake Taupo. It was a crystal clear day and absolutely beautiful.

This picture was taken in the park Kuirau. They have park benches right next to the geothermal activity. It smelled so bad. I thought it was kind of funny that they have these benches right next to the smell. I guess people here don't notice it anymore.

These next few pictures are also in the park. You can see the fences. The orange gate is the recent activity that sprung up. Since they don't have time to keep building these fences, they just section areas off.

The steam is coming from yards, showing that the activity is right in their backyard. Kind of an interesting place to live.

This is along Lake Rotorua. It was quite beautiful.

This is in the town of Rotorua. Quite a nice area...if you can take the smell out of the equation.

On the Way to Rotorua

Thursday 1 July 2010

Sorry for the delay in writing. So now we are to the second day. We got up at 7:15 and got ready for the 8:30 bus to Rotorua. We were making our sandwiches when I realised our bus did not leave at 8:30, but 8:00. So then we quickly finished our sandwiches and instead of having a leisurely breakfast, we ran downstairs to get to the bus stop. We got to the door and could not open it. I kept trying to turn the handle. The reception was closed until 8:00, so we couldn't ask anyone. Then I noticed a number pad. The reception gave us a code so that we could get in the building after hours, but I didn't know we needed the code to get out of the building! So I punched in the numbers and turned the knob. Nothing happened. I did it again. Still nothing. Then I punched the numbers and pressed enter. Still nothing. Then Mom noticed a big green button that said push and told me to try that. So I did. It worked. I was so occupied on pushing the numbers, I never even noticed the green button.

So then we were flying down the streets. One of Mom's suitcases was off balance, so it kept rocking every time we hit any kind of bump. It made it difficult to roll down the streets. We did make it eventually and hopped on the bus immediately.

We were impressed with the bus. It was actually roomy and quite comfortable. As we were traveling up the North Island, the sights were incredible. We went through Tongariro National Park. The trees and forests were absolutely beautiful. We saw a mountain range with snow all over them. We circled around those mountains. Then we went around Lake Taupo. It was majestic. Alison was actually in Lake Taupo at the time (going skydiving), and I considered texting her that we were there. We only stopped for 5 minutes, so she wouldn't have been able to see us. It was absolutely beautiful though. I was really excited, because I didn't think I would actually ever get to see this lake. I knew this would be my last trip to the North Island, so I was so happy I got to see this lake.

After 7 hours, we made it to Rotorua. The first thing that you notice once you leave the bus is, of course, the smell. Any of you who have ever been to hot springs, geysers, or sulfur areas, you know the smell. Rotten eggs comes to mind. Anyway, we walked to our hostel, which was a really nice hostel. We quickly put everything away, and then rushed outside for a self-guided walk before the sun went down. This was a very touristy town with all the shops and cute streets. Then we went to Kuirau Park, which has a lot of geothermal activity. This park is in the middle of the city and is a popular area, so the geothermal spots are sectioned off by wooden gates. The only problem is, you never know when or where activity might occur. So people have to be on their guard. There were places where there was caution tape around to warn people not to go over there. There was no wooden fence, because there was not enough time to build it. Obviously a lot of recent activity had occurred. Because you never know when or where activity might occur, you have to be very careful where you step. You don't want to scald your feet. Of course as we are walking through this huge park, it starts getting darker. It is hard to see where our feet were being placed, so we tried to rush out of the park. Naturally, the place we had to go through was soaking wet and muddy. So we had to tread lightly, desperately hoping it was not geothermal activity, but the cause of recent rain. Fortunately, we did not fall in any hot springs.

Once outside the park, we started going around the park and up to Lake Rotorua. Once we had the view of Lake Rotorua, we had the view of residential areas. The striking thing about this area is that geothermal activity is literally in people's backyards. We could see steam rising out of yards. Why people would want to have property on an unstable and unpredictable land is beyond me.

Then we walked to the Government Gardens. It was hard to see at night, but it was still very pretty. After this, it was way to dark to see anything, so we headed back to our hostel for our dinner and got ready for our Rotorua tour tomorrow.

Pictures of Wellington

So here are a few pictures of our Wellington trip. The first one is of the Beehive. This is the most impressive building, but the Parliament buildings are next to it.

After our tour, we went in a Cable Car, up to the Observatory and Botanical Gardens. This picture is actually in the Cable Car museum, but this is how it looks basically.

Here is the entrance into the Botanical Gardens. There is another entrance, but you have to walk up an incredible hill. We decided to take the Cable Car, and walk down the hill instead.

This is to the side of the observatory. Since we didn't go inside the observatory, we made use of the sundial. It was almost lunch time!

Here is a view of the city in daylight from Te Papa I believe.

This is a view of the city at night. Quite spectacular.

Back to Wellington

Wed 30 June 2010

So I guess it is about time to get this holiday underway!

Okay, so we got up at 4:20 am (a very ungodly hour)! We got ready quickly (or as quickly as you can at such a sick time), but we still had a few last minute things to pack and put away. We had kiwifruit for breakfast. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Then we got our stuff out of the house and I set the alarm. As soon as I set the alarm, I have to go out and lock the door. So I leave and shut the door...and the keys drop. Of course it is pitch black outside, so I can't find the keys anywhere. I start feeling my way around, but it is quite chilly outside, and I can barely feel my fingers as it is. Mom tries to find a light in her bag when I hear the keys. My fingers apparently hit them, so I could hear them, but I couldn't feel them. So I quickly locked the door, before the alarm goes off. Relief. What a way to start off.

We had to stand outside for a few minutes before the supershuttle picked us up. We then arrived at the airport and electronically checked-in. I was quite fascinated with checking-in electronically. It was kind of fun. I know I am weird.

Anyway, It was a tiny airport and it took us a whole 30 seconds to check-in, send our bags away, and go through security. We sat for a while, since we were early. Eventually we got called in and sat down in the narrowest seats I think I have ever experienced. These seats would make anyone feel like they were obese! We couldn't move very much, so it was a very good thing it was only a 45 minutes flight! Fortunately, they did have a snack on the plane, (although, maybe we should have eaten it afterwards as I don't think the seats could have taken any more pressure than they were already receiving! Mom and I were the last people to be served our snack, and by the time we received the snack, they were already collecting rubbish. So I ate my muffin as fast as I could.

We unbuckled our seat belts and stood up as soon as the sign went off (so that we could get the circulation flowing back in the lower half of our bodies). We went down and got our luggage and got the supershuttle to take us back to the city, where our hostel was. We checked in...and I found out that I reserved the hostel for the day before! So then I was panicking and asking if I could change the day to today. She said that wasn't a problem, so we went to our room. Quite embarrassing for me to make a mistake for the first day! At least it didn't ruin anything...just my pride.

We walked in the room, and there was someone there who was asleep. So we tried to be as quiet as we could, but it is a little difficult to do that when the door sounds like a cannon. So we decided to rearrange our things for the day outside the room. That way we wouldn't disturb our roommate. That would have been a good theory if no one was up and about. But of course, at this time, the whole world is coming out to get ready for the day and have to leap over or squeeze past our stuff as we try to organise our stuff. Not a pretty picture.

So we finally get everything ready and then decide to fix our lunch. There were toasters in the kitchen, so we have this brilliant idea to toast our peanut butter sandwiches. That was fine, but when the bread popped out, we put them down on the plastic bags, which melted together from the heat. We couldn't get the bread into the bags, so we had to rummage through everything to find other bags we could use. It was an interesting experience.

We finally get out of the hostel and set out for a day in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. We only had one day here, so we had to see as much as possible. The forecast was rainy (no surprise as this is just about the wettest city in New Zealand). So we first head to Te Papa (the biggest museum). We go in and find out that they don't open until 10:00. I think it was around 9:15, so then we decided to walk around. So I take her for a walk around the wharf, and then we start heading to the Beehive and Parliament buildings. We arrived and they scanned everything we had, and then had to give our bags to them. Then we were able to take a tour.

On the tour, they said Parliament was going to be in session at 2:00 if we wanted to come see a question and answer talk among Parliament members. Our tour guide showed us all kinds of rooms. She said that they don't wear the wigs anymore, because they can't hear as well with them on. Makes sense. We saw the library, a chair display, a board with sashes of different countries represented in New Zealand. We went through the hallways of the offices of the different Parliament members. Many of the doors were open, so we saw some of the members (including the Speaker of the House. Then we saw the debate room. There was one side that said "Ayes" and the other "Nos". Our tour was actually longer than it was supposed to be, because we had a very inquisitive group. I could tell you some of the questions and answers of the group, but I think it would make this already lengthy entry even longer. I will mention that I noticed a New Zealand flag that was in a frame. It was tattered and had scorching marks. I read the caption and found out that it was a present from the United Sates from the Twin Towers disaster. Apparently, they uncovered the flag, and gave it back to New Zealand. I thought that was kind of cool.

So we left and went on a cable car to the top of the hill, where the botanical gardens were. By this point, the sky was clear with a few clouds and the sun was bursting through. It was quite beautiful. We went through the cable car museum and then headed to the observatory. It was closed for refurbishment or something, but was open now, but we discovered it would cost $18 to go in. We figured the LA observatory is 100 times better and bigger, and it is free. So we walked on by on to the gardens. Of course sign are horribly marked, so we did our best to walk to the rose garden. It wasn't easy as there were paths that branched off everywhere, but we did make it. The sad thing was, none of the flowers were in bloom. It was a beautiful setup, but no flowers. During our walk through other gardens, there were flowers in bloom, but no roses.

Then we made our way back to the city. We made it just in time to see Parliament in session. We went up in the stalls and watched as they gathered in their seats. We heard a sound and all members of Parliament rose and it was silent. A man with a gold, ornate scepter slowly marched up to the front as the Speaker of the House followed. The scepter was laid on the table and the Speaker of the House stepped up to the throne. He did a prayer that was actually quite nice. Then everyone sat down.

Then a lady stood up, was recognised by the Speaker of the house, and asked a question. Then a man stood up to answer that issue. There was tittering on the "No" side and the speaker had to speak quite loudly. Then there would be another question and the same man would answer. There was constant noise and scoffing. It got so noisy that the Speaker of the House stood up and said it was too noisy and that he couldn't hear. There was still constant chattering. Then, a question was raised about the Prime Minister. As soon as the word "Prime Minister" came out, there was laughing and one person said, "The Prime Minister is Useless." At this, the Speaker of the House was basically saying, cool it and don't be saying these inappropriate things. Although he said it, the smile on his face showed his true feelings. It was like he agreed, but his position of authority required him to take a stand. We left at this point.

We then went to Te Papa and looked for almost three hours, and we walked through quite fast. The best part of the museum is the Colossal Squid (in my opinion anyway). After the museum, we walked through Cuba Mall, which is a street of little shops. Then we sat down and had dinner (more peanut butter).

After this, it was really dark, so we went to the room and got ready for bed. We both had top bunks. The girl under me had stuff all over the ladder, so I couldn't get to my bunk. I actually had to climb up Mom's bunk, and then crawl over her bunk to my bunk in order to get into bed. We only had a bottom sheet, so we slept with our clothes, sweater, and jacket on. It was still cold, so I lifted up the bottom sheet and wrapped myself around it. I looked like I was in a cocoon.

So ends the first day...

Pre-holiday events

25-29 June 2010
Well, hello!

I guess it has been quite a while since I last wrote. A lot has happened, so I will have to break up this trip over the next couple weeks possibly. So I will start where I left off. A couple days before the trip, I purchased my ticket home. I will be returning to the States on 21 November. Just in time for the holidays. I am pretty excited about it.

On Sunday, I sang with the Songsters. It was interesting, because everyone else was in uniform. I was the only one in colour, so I stuck out like a sore thumb. It kind of made me self conscious, but people were really nice. I had a lot of people coming up to me telling me it was nice to see me singing up there. So that made me feel good.

Alison and I experienced another Vegemite catastrophe. It was not a pleasant taste, especially when we had no idea we were eating it!

Also, on Sunday, Alison and I got down to business with our Australia trip. We got all our flights of where we want to go in Australia. We booked one tour and hostel. We also booked our flights to two other countries...Fiji and Samoa! We are quite excited about this trip. We didn't finish everything, but we got some stuff done. We just wanted to get the bigger stuff out of the way before our big trip in New Zealand. It was frustrating when we encountered card problems, but we got it worked out finally.

Alison left for her big trip on Monday, and the Captain and his wife left Monday as well. So I had the house to myself Monday night. I finally got down to packing Monday night and organising everything. Tuesday was agonising trying to get through work when my mind was on picking up my mom at the airport. Everyone said goodbye and wished me well on my trip. They were so sweet!

Finally, I got on the bus and went to the city where I got another bus to take me to the airport. There were some interesting people on the bus who were talking loudly and obnoxiously. I really meet interesting characters while riding the bus. I got to the airport and ran inside. Mom was the only person sitting down and reading. As I approached, she saw me. It was a tender moment...

Then we rushed back to the bus to go to another bus stop so that we could go home. I had never been out this way, so I really had to pay attention to where we were going. This was hard to do as I have not seen my mom in over 5 months and she had lots of stuff to share about her Australia experience. It was so nice to catch up!

So then we made it home and quickly got ready to go back into town. I took her to a great Greek place that has amazing lamb souvlakis. I know it sounds funny to go to a Greek place here, but there are so many Greek places here, that I figure it is practically a kiwi meal. My mom loved it. Then we walked around the city a while, and then went back on the bus to go home. At home, we packed and got everything ready. Then I had her try pavlova, hokey pokey ice cream, and whipped cream. A true kiwi dessert.

By this time, it was nearly midnight, so we quickly got ready for bed, as we would have a very very early morning tomorrow!

And now starts the holiday!

Pending Holiday

Thursday 15 July 2010

Sorry about not writing. I know it has been several weeks. My mom is here and we have been all over the North and South Islands. I have much to share, but my mom is still here. I don't want to waste any time with her, so I will have to update later next week. Tomorrow, I get to do some Whale Watching. I am so excited! Well, until next week!