Rotorua to Wellington

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Hi All,

I think I wrote last time about the Mauri Cultural Centre but had not downloaded pictures from that trip. I have sent a few this time.

Hope my pix are coming through OK. I am sending them using Shawphoto rather then the Travel blog. I didn’t think the blog pix were great quality.

You will need to highlite the address for the pictures, put that address into your address bar and then go from there. Let me know if there might be an easier way with as much quality. I can’t believe the expense of internet and the lack of it. At this motel, it is $20NZ for 2 hours time. I will put the cut and paste stuff at the bottom of the blog so please look for it. I am also trying to type this as a word document and then will cut and paste it to my travel blog. That way I don’t use up quite so many minutes. I see all kinds of friends on Skype but don’t even suggest a call or a chat. If I actually get internet that is a little less money I will Skype everyone, can’t wait.

My GPS that Santa Claus brought me is wonderful to have. Her name is Karen and she hails from Australia. Great accent!! Only once did she try to get us to turn Right into a one way road going the wrong way. We forgave her!! We can enter exact addresses, cities, cross street etc. What technology. If we miss a turn, she just calmly tells us to carry on and I can see that she is taking us around the block to get back to the right road. She doesn’t cry and scream like mere mortals might!!

After leaving Rotorua,we stopped in a little town of Taupo and had lunch with some Home Exchange people I have been communicating with. We will spend 1 night with them only because it just doesn’t work but I think they might be spending some more time in our house. They are meeting a brother and sister from Ireland in Vancouver. We have 5 weeks of accommodation lined up using Home for Exchange so basically Larry and I will be homeless for 5 weeks during the next year. Please take pity on us!! Who knows what will become of Clay!! Oh, maybe he will move out and we can go stay with him. I will have suggest that to him. That might work.

We spent the night in Hastings, North Island of NZ. We were all going to ‘gaze at the Gannets’ (some kind of unique birds). When we went to book it, they could only take 1 person so Bonnie took the trip. The rest of us were heart broken!! But we adjusted. Bonnie took off down the beach on a trailer towed by a tractor. There was 3 wagons, they traveled down the beach going in and out of the water for some thrills, then they climbed a steep hill and got a birds eye view of these birds. She seemed to really enjoy it. The rest of us prowelled around Hastings.

Bonnie was done with the Gannets about 7PM, then we headed out to Ann and Geoff’s. These were people that our friends James met at LaPenita RV park. He mentioned to Ann that his friends were traveling to NZ and one thing led to another and we ended up staying there for 2 nights. It was wonderful to meet their family. They live in a great farmhouse with lambs, cows and horses in their back field. Ann and Geoff packed up themselves and their 5 children (6-13 years) and flew to LA, bought an Econoline van and a 33 ft trailer and spent 1 year traveling in US, Canada, Alaska and Mexico. Can you imagine!! They are an amazing couple and the children are wonderful. I have enclosed a few pix. The kids are very self sufficient, polite and just a joy to be around. They are all so very different personalities. They were not home schooled while away and none of them have missed a beat. They are bright kids. Could any of us imagined packing up and going off for a year!!

We spent the next day exploring Napiers, Art Deco Days. Did a walking tour to check out the nuances of Art Deco. Very similar to either Miami beach or South beach. A very cool town then back to Ann and Geoff’s for lamb roast. The next morning we took off for Wellington.

Wellington has a wonderful museum, Te Papa. We spent a good 4 hours there and enjoyed every minute of it. Lots of great displays but around every corner some kind of sit down interactive show to watch. It happened to be their 10th Birthday so lots of entertainment.

Off to catch the ferry across Cook Strait to the South Island. The ferry was huge and the water got quite rough as we left the harbour. Bonnie and I popped Gravol and were both fine but we weren’t walking anywhere, that’s for sure. As we were leaving Wellington, the Queen Victoria was arriving with a Fire boat welcome. She is the newest Cunard ship and was very impressive.

Ross, Bonnie, Larry and I are having a great time. Getting along just fine and doing lots of cool stuff.

We have been getting 2 bedroom motel type accommodation. It works well. We each have our own bedroom but have a common kitchen, living room. Sometimes we share a bath and sometimes we have our own. This is definitely more economical way to go. We usually pay about $180 - $200 NZ for a 2 bedroom suite but would probably pay about $135 each at least for 2 separate suites. We have breakfast in our suite and usually pack a lunch for the road. We even have been cooking lots of dinners as well. Larry usually cooks as he loves to and Ross and us do the dishes and cleanup. NZ is very expensive so we are choosing a very different type of holiday then we are used to.

Cut and Paste for the pictures below::

http://photoshare.shaw.ca/view/5373496414-1203484711-37144/53734

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