First impressions

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well, just come out of the shower after the first real day of my travels. I seriously wonder whether Austria is the only country in the world that knows how to make showers. It seems wherever I go the showers (and plumbing in general) itake a lot of getting used to. How are you supposed to wash down below with these overhead showers that give you a trickle at the best of times. Rinsing the soles of the feet is near takes an ounce of genius (lucky for me then - hehe). Well, I suppose I need some reason to go back home at the end of the month - and I think this will be the only one 😊

Last night I slept from nine til nine - I seem to be coping well with the jetlag (what's that???). As soon as Martyn and Joy (btw for those of you who are not familiar with my family situation: Martyn is my uncle (or is it a second cousin???), Joy is his wife and Bronwen their daughter - my cousin.) got me to their lakeside dwelling in Ngongotaha near Rotorua, Bronwen started planning my days for me! And everyone seems very anxious to get me to do one or the other of these adrenalin-pumping adventure things the kiwis seem so keen on. I have succesfully declined bungy jumping and river rafting, so now Bronnie is convinced to get me zorbing! That's the one with the big transparent ball in which you roll down the hill. Well, she still has a while to get me inspired :-)

After breakfast (well, at quarter past eleven! an early start is relative...) we set off towards Lake Tarawera to have a splendid picnic lunch - even had coffee to round it off! Very civilized indeed! Then the next stop was the Buried Village. This is an excavated village that was buried in mud after a massive eruption of Mt. Tarawera in 1886. Apparently the explosion was heard as far as Picton on the south island - check on a map how far that is! Must have been horrific. It was not only the village and its inhabitants that suffered, it also destroyed the so called pink and white terraces, which were a major attraction for victorian tourists. Even the black and white photos that remain of this natural wonder convey what an awesome sight these terraces must have been - terraces of pools, cool water in the bottom ones and getting hotter as you climbed up the terrace until you reached the boiling lake at the top. I was quite annoyed that I couldn't go to see them! They were NZ self proclaimed "8th wonder of the world" - I wonder how many 8th wonders there are in this world altogether ;-)
Apart from various houses and whares (maori dwellings) partly dug out of the deep mud we also got to see a water fall, hear very noisy cicadas and see beautiful lush vegetation - punga galore! (that's the ferns that are one of the national symbols of NZ).

After that the next stop was Red Woods - a forest of Californian Redwoods that are just about a hundred years old - and they are absolutely massive! What will they be like when they've really grown up???

As soon as we got back to Ngongotaha (wow, I was quick learning how to spell that one;pronouncing it properly will still take a little while though) I went for a swim in the lake. Well, at least that was the general idea. In the end it turned out to be more of a walk, the first 800 metres are shallow as a paddling pool - even for little me! But it was a nice little dip.

So, that was today. Bronnie wants me to savour the night life of Rotorua with her tonight - so we'll see about that. I quite fancy the idea of a cosy bed, although I'm not that tired. Still I'm never a night bird at the best of times, am I??

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Photos

punga
my first "rolled up" punga - typical NZ image

buried village
this is one of the buried buildings

Redwood
just to prove I really am here: a pic of me in front of a Redwood

waterfall at Buried Village
another one with me in it

Comments

[LouXXXX]

amazing
I am so glad you 're having such a marvelous time!!!! The pictures are amazing and I am sure they don't depict even half of the magic!!!! I ll keep on following your journal and I shall email you soon, with more details of my life! I am in London at the moment.....where it's snowing!!!!! Take good care of yourself..... Lots of love