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Published: August 9th 2010
- wandering around town, seeing a film, k road boutiques
- day trip, waitomo caves rotorua flavio american
- devonport
Hello again! Well, here we are again, about to leave another country and its flown by! Over the last few days it hasn't stopped raining in Auckland which has been annoying at times, but we've (once again) definitely made the most of our time here.
We've continuously wandered around the city and found unusual graffiti, even more unusual transvestites, so many boutiques and vintage stores (don't worry I have resisted temptation), every nationality of food you can imagine, and so many huge shopping centres! Its been a cool city to explore, we're staying just off the infamous K'road renowned for its colourful community - the transvestites, the young, the poor, the students, the immigrants - makes up for quite an unusual setting, and a good exploring base. But the best thing we've done on the North island is definitely a slightly pricey day trip.
Yesterday we visited the Rotorua region and the Waitomo caves on a twelve hour tour. At 6:30 am we were greeted by our Brazilian tour guide, Flavio and told that we would only be joined by one other 'couple' so we'd almost got a private tour! The two Americans joined us after we picked them up from a very nice hotel and off we went along the motorway to reach our first destination of the day - the Governmental gardens in Rotorua which were beautiful and surrounded by the famous geothermal hot springs which are then exploited by expensive surrounding spas (which our tour guide didn't recommend), there was also a large memorial for the ANZACs who died during WW1. We then visited the local jade factory; jade is really big in the Maori tradition as its used for making any kind of ornaments and jewelry. One common necklace we saw in many photos and drawings in earlier visits ot museums and art galleries, was the 'tichi'. To me, it looks like a slightly deformed baby but also slightly cute - i don't mean to be insulting but it just has a human touch to it, without being realistic. Apparently it is a good luck charm designed to be given to someone else as a gift; the shape etc represents respected ancestors who have died (I decided not to mention what I thought it looked like), but now to buy such a gift is very expensive as jade is now so highly valued.
Then it was back in the tour bus, which now had an unusual stench of mud baths, to visit Whaka - well thats the shortened name, the real name consists of 36 letters! Whaka is a traditional Maori village which is still inhabited and surrounded by geothermal mud baths and steam pools. As part of our trip we were given a guided tour around the village by one of the women who lives there. It was really interesting, their understanding and respect for nature has really paid off; she mentioned that there are now only 3 geysers left around the village but before the 'white men' (as Europeans are referred to through out the whole of NZ) entered and 'exploited mother nature' there were 35. Our bad.
The mud pools look harmless from the surface but really can be above boiling temperature, and even just the land surrounding the pool (which is fenced off) could burn your skin like raisens. We thought it best to believe the guide. We also saw how they use the boiling water to cook corn on the cob (Ed was happy), roast meats and generally create an outdoor kitchen whilst having nearby communal baths. Within this small village there are also two churches, one anglican and the other catholic but the Maori way of thinking is pretty relative when it comes to religion. As there is 'one ultimate being' praying can be done anywhere, with any faith, explained our guide as all theists, to some degree, accept this claim.
This was all very interesting but the most entertaining aspect of our tour was the traditional maori dance performed by some of the community members. It was awesome, in the literal sense of the word, although similar to what we saw in the museum it felt a lot more 'real' due to the setting around us - except maybe the camera obsessed asian tourists who crowded the benches!
Luckily, our tour also incorporated a lunch here, so all those elements of the kitchen we had seen were now put to use - to a proper roast! It was great and such a treat after the constant diet of pasta and porridge (although Ed does make good porridge) and then we set off for another long drive to the popular Waitomo caves.
These caves had incredible natural formations due to their underground origins and limestone walls. It was so busy when we went but it is amazingly beautiful particularly the final aspect of the tour. In almost silence we went in to the darkness of the deeper parts of the cave by boat, where the millions of glow worms surround you. It was absolutely stunning - it was as if you were looking up at the stars but they had all been squeezed together just for you to see. Lucky us! We also had a wander around the bird sanctuary and saw the native, slightly bizarre, kiwi bird which was fun. It was a great day and left us feeling exhausted!
Today we rose late (a general bad habit of ours) and got a ferry to the nearvy town Devonport - which is very popular with tourists due to its boutique shops, good walks and surrounding views. We walked up Mount Victoria and could see elements of Auckland from all directions which was lovely, but we also gave in to an 'unnecessary folly' (Ed's phrase of the trip) - we bought two books. There is only so long I can go without reading for, but now my thirst has been quenched and Ed's has too - it may make the flight back a little less tedious!
Now my eyes hurt and Ed's nearly asleep and we still have to pack and eat so I will have to love you and leave you. Can you guys believe we're home so soon?! Results are now looking quite forboding on the horizon....but we shall ignore those and focus on seeing you all! Tomorrow we go to Fiji and to the sunshine! Out come the jangles/flip flops/thongs...
lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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...and now for fun in Fiji
Hey guys, great to hear from you - 2 blogs - what a treat! The horse riding on South Island sounds amazing and I'm glad the day trip to Rotorua worked out well. I bet you enjoyed the roast!! Hope the flight to Fiji is smooth. Make the most of your last week (and the sun). We're all very excited about you seeing you in just over a week :-). Lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxx