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Lovely boiling mud at Rotorua - yum Hello all!
Unfortunately the weather was pretty grotty for the last week in New Zealand , so when we arrived in Taupo from Wellington we weren´t able to do the Tongariro crossing which was a real shame as we had been looking forward to that most out of all our expeditions in the North Island - oh well that´s just the way the cookie crumbles I suppose.
We arrived in Rotorua, or ´rottenrua ´as the locals call it on Thursday, a couple of days before schedule. We visited the Te Puia thermal park where we had a lovely Maori man give us a guided tour of the meeting house and of the thermal areas. We also saw a couple of kiwis which were very cute! The pohutu geyser there was pretty impressive but sadly as it was pouring with rain you cant really tell the difference between the water falling from the sky and the water shooting up from the earth on my photos! Despite the awful smell my favourite attraction was the boiling mud which was just sooo out of this world. I was quite tempted to jump in until the guide told us it was about 95
degrees celcius! Eek, I dont suppose it would have been that great for my skin after all.....
Our second day was spent at Waitomo caves where we had signed up for the ´Black Labryinth´(woo-óooh) toobing experience. Once we had paid our monies we were suitabley kitted up in a black rubber suit, a black rubber jacket, rubber socks and a helmet, not to mention a pair of red shorts over the top! I have to say this was an especially sexy look for me, especially once I´d selected an inner tube which would remained wedged over my bum when I was bouncing over waterfalls in the cave - nice. Because we had to jump backwards over a waterfall in the cave we were given a practise above ground first and warned we had to jump far enough back once in the caves to clear a rocky ledge (gulp).
We clambered into the caves for an underground breifing before we made it into deep enough water to start floating down on our tubes. I have to say I thought it would be a bit more relaxing, but with the water thundering around you and the low cielings of the
caves along with the rocks and ledges to avoid and jump it was quite scary! The glow worms in the cave however were amazing, they looked like hundreds of little green LEDs had been inserted into the caves. In one slow part of the river I managed to get the instructor to push me through so I could lay back and appreciate the worms instead of having to paddle which was rather nice! I was getting quite worried about the big backwards jump we had to do to clear the ledge and get down intot he final section of the cave, but once I had waddled and edged myself to the ledge and pointed my bottom out into the gloom, a sharp shove in the chest and a foot held out behind my ankles meant I didnt have time to worry, nor much chance of hitting the ledge as I went flying backwards into the pitch black and hit the water with a thud!
On our final day in Roturua we went out to the thermal wonderland Wai-o´tapu. It was raining so hard the bus driver asked us why on earth we had come out on such a bad
day! Regardless we were there to see the Lady Knox Geyser errupt at 10.15 with a little help from a bar of soap thrown down the geyser to activate it. The rest of the park was full of strange and wonderful caves, lakes and pools which were green, reds, oranges and some, like the artists pallate, a combination of several colours different from each angle.
Thankfully the weather cleared up for the afternoon and we spent it relaxing in the outdoor pools of the polynesian spa overlooking the lake - all rather lovely darling! Aukland was the next breif stop, where we came across the strangest man in the hostel. He must have been at keast 60, a rather dapper chap on all accounts decked out in a suit, waistcoat and tie, not forgetting of course, oh so shiny shoes. Topping off this ensemble was a yellow and pink china cup and saucer he carried round in a bag. Had we not thought it was strange enough for a man like him to be staying in a cheap youth hostel we then bumped into him in the kitchen the next morning at 6am before we left for Pahia. He was stewing vegetables. !!!?????
Pahia was a welcome break from the miserable weather, the sky was blue and the weather was warm. We booked a 2 and a half hour trip on the bay to see the islands having been warned by Mum a full day can be a bit dull! The boat was called the excitor, and sped us out at 40 knots per hour to have a look out into the islands and up to ´the hole in the rock´ which, you guessed it, is a hole in one of the rocks! The next day was spent soaking up the good weather and pottering around Pahia before we went back to Aukland that evening.
We spent our last two days in Aukland sorting ourselves out for Chile and trying to get my glasses back which I had accidently left on the bus. After about 6 phonecalls and meeting up with two different drivers from the buses I eventually managed to locate them and get them back!
We arrived in Santiago on the 2nd after a gruelling 12 hour flight, and actualy arrived earlier than when we set off, how wierd is that!! Santiago was cold and after sleeping for 14 hours we spent the second day foraging for as much food as our spanish would enable us to buy! We managed to buy some fruit from the market where the men thought we were rather lovely! I think it´s the hair that does it! Unfortunately we were a bit tired to be cultural (oops) but we are returning to Santiago so there is time for that! We are now in Punta Arenas which is right down in the South and SOOOOO cold. When we arrived on Sunday the place was totally deserted and nothing open apart from the supermarket, but thankfully we have a very sweet English speaking host who is trying to help us sort out our onward travel. Everyone here speaks Spanish and very few English so we are having to pick up the essentials fast along with lots of pointing and signing, not to mentioning smiling furiously so people think we are insane and take pity on us rather than being cross we can´t speak Spanish!
We now have a bus booked to Tierre Del Fuego in Argentina tomorrow which is going to be even colder (I have to buy a coat brrr), but will hopefully be very beautiful to make up for it! In fact it is the city that lays claim to being ´The end of the world´ how aboutt hat for a travel destination!?
Lots of love and chilly hugs
Sassy xxx
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