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Published: February 12th 2012
So I finally have a little more time to write. The motel we're staying in has free internet on desktop computers and free laundry...so I'm writing while I'm waiting for our clothes to dry😊
The computers we've tried so far don't seem to like the program that travelblog uses to upload photos, but I've been able to (very slooowly) add photos to an album on Facebook. For those of you that don't have Facebook accounts, you should still be able to see the photos if you follow this link:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10101088586885037.3076664.8623642&type=1&l=f5e0e3b3c5
E-mail Briana if you can't see them for any reason and we'll try to figure something else out.
I'll give a little more detail on some of our favorite activities so far. The water in the gloworm caves was very cold, but we wore wetsuits to keep us warm, and we floated down the stream in black intertubes. It actually required a fair amount of climbing and squeezing through small spaces. We even had to jump backwards off a few small waterfalls. The best part by far was when everyone turned off their headlamps and we floated in complete darkness with only the gloworms as light. It was quite beautiful, almost like the night sky out in the country but the lights were even brighter and had more of a blue/green hue. The gloworms themselves are pretty icky looking, and they let long strings of gooey material hang down to catch bugs, but their lights are beautiful.
Hobbiton is a place on a sheep farm where scenes from Lord of the Rings and the upcoming movie The Hobbit were filmed. It is the village with "hobbit holes". I'm not allowed to give much description- we had to sign a confidentiality form- but we will be able to post more pictures when we get home. It is actually a very beautiful place with lots of flowers and butterflies😊 The family who owns the land runs a working sheep and dairy farm, so we also watched a sheep shearing demonstration and Briana bottle fed a lamb.
Zorbing was a cool experience- although it would be an expensive hobby. The rides lasted longer than we expected, and we didn't quite know what to expect because we couldn't really see outside when we were in the ball. We took videos while we were inside with the waterproof camera, but it is taking way too long to upload here.
The rest of our time in Rotorua we spent looking at the various geothermal spots and actually got used to the smell of sulfur. We did a little bit of souvenir shopping as well- it would be easy to go overboard because there is so much cool stuff to buy! Yesterday we did a 1.5 hour hike through the redwood forest in Rotorua. Redwoods aren't native here, but they grow well. There are lots of ferns as well, so the green in the forests was just beautiful. The trees were full of the cicadas- they were so loud!
Our drive to Taupo was uneventful- took a walk around town and hung out by Lake Taupo to watch the sunset. It was an early bedtime for us because we woke up at 5am this morning (that's the second time this trip so far!) to catch a shuttle to Tongariro National Park. We hiked the Tongariro Crossing, which is 19.6 km or 12.2 miles up a mountain and down the other side. The first few kilometers were a pretty steep climb up and it quickly became cold and rainy as we walked through some clouds. After we reached the summit the rain and clouds cleared up a bit and we were rewarded with some beautiful green and blue colored lakes. The mountains we hiked through are actually volcanoes that are technically "active"- the last one errupted in 1996- and there was lots of evidence of volcanic activity. We finished the hike by 2:15pm, so we had plenty of time to relax and enjoy the sunny afternoon back in town. We tried to find the "hot water beaches" that we saw on the map, but were a bit disappointed. There are many hot water springs that run into Lake Taupo, which makes some of the top layer of water warm, but the bottom is still very cold.
Tomorrow we'll spend the morning in Taupo and then head to Napier/Hastings/Hawke's Bay for the day. We're not really sure what's in store but some options include: tour of the art deco buildings in town, National Aquarium, wine tasting, ???. After that we're flying down to the South Island to spend a few relaxing days in wine country (Marlborough) and some fishing towns.
Feel free to leave your questions or comments!
Love,
Briana and Brian
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Mom/Barb
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Updates great
We loved the glow worms Did you see the mud pits when you were in rotorua? It was absolutely the bog of eternal stench from the movie labyrinth with the bubbling mud and the sulphur smell!