Blogs from Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 93

We've signed up for something called the Magic Bus to get around the North and South Islands of New Zealand. Departing from Auckland, our first stop was Rotorua - an inland town known for its Maori population and natural thermal activity. The city is aptly nicknamed "Sulphur City," but it turned out to be a really nice spot to celebrate the New Year. On the way to Rotorua, we stopped at the Waitomo Caves, where we donned wetsuits and ventured into the caves for what they call "Black Water Rafting" on innertubes. The caves are covered in glowworms, insect larvae that literally glow in order to attract food. When the flashlights are off and everything is quiet, the caves are truly stunning, and the slide down the... read more

Here we are on the Central Plateau having climbed the heights by bus. We've looked around and seen the geothermal effects on the landscape and now off to Opotiki by bus again. Next stop is the East Cape. Weather cooler and cloudy today.... read more

We made it. That isn't saying much as we had a wonderful flight including sleep. Aneta too which means the flight was really that nice and smooth. So we landed in Auckland and after 2 hours deciding on vehicles at the airport we made our way into the city, on the other (wrong) side of the road. I say we but really Aneta. I just kept repeating, "This is so weird." Day 1, which is really day three b/c day 2 never existed (some int'l date thing-a-ma-gig), was spent walking around Auckland and a ferry ride to Devonport. This is actually a suburb of Auckland and one takes a 12 minute ferry to avoid the traffic of going around by bus. This made us start thinking that a ferry from Malibu to Santa Monica might be ... read more

In Which We Say So Long to the South, Hello to the North ... and It Turns Into Winter Spent several days leaving the South Island and getting positioned into the North Island where we could spend a couple of days to relax toward the end of the journey. Drove through the Alpine Pass, took the train up the coast and rode the ferry into Wellington. Not much excitement to be had, though it was nice to spend a day on the train and ferry instead of driving ourselves. Extremely choppy on the ferry. They said it was rough, though we'd hate to see what rated "severe." We all did well, but there were people dropping like flies everywhere ya turned. In the interest of privacy, I shied away from the photos. It's turned to winter ... read more

10.-11.11. - Horuce pramene v okoli Rotorua Od sopiek sme sa vydali dalej po sopecnom pasme, ktore sa taha od vychodneho pobrezia az po zapadne. Tentoraz sme sa vsak dostali do udoli s horucimi pramenmi, ktore su oblubenou zastavkou mnohych turistov. Bohuzial na severnom ostrove sa samoty v prirode uz nedockame. Nase kroky viedli popri krasnom jazere Taupo, kde sme stravili takmer cele poobedie citanim slovenskych kniziek pozicanych od Kuziho a Kari a pozorovali sopky Ruapehu a Tongariro na obzore, ci nahodou nevybuchuju (uz sme boli dostatocne vzdialeni od nich.... takze uz mohli....). Vecer sme sa ubytovali v kempe, ktory mal priamo vo svojom areali termalne pramene, z ktorych tiekol potocik s naozaj vriacou vodou a ako inak.... aj bazeny. Takze vecerne a samozrejme aj ranne kupanie v horucich bazenoch bola pridana hodnota, ktoru sme znacne ... read more