Between Ski Sessions in National Park

So we've been very active the last week or so (a lot more active than last week at least), we just got done with a day on the slopes. We're spending a few days skiing Mt Ruapeho in Tongariro National Park on the North Island. I would still categorise us as beginners, but we've been doing a pretty good job of picking up skiing (both of us had only been once before in North Carolina, so that doesn't really count.) The skiing here is great- well, we haven't actually been on much of the mountain, but it's still great to LOOK at. I think I have gotten enough courage from the time spent on the bunny slopes to tackle a real hill tomorrow.

Before skiing, we spent a few days in the Hawke's Bay Region, which is on the east coast and is known for being New Zealand's best winery area. We took a tour one day, visiting several different vineyards, and then the next day had a personal tour at a vineyard (thank you Sarah G. for that connection!) If you happen to be looking at New Zealand wines, we'd definitely recommend Matariki- they're excellent! The claim to fame of the town we stayed in, Napier, is that after a massive earthquake in 1931 the whole city was re-built in the art deco style (it felt a bit like being at Disney World, where all the buildings matched and had some sort of theme.)

We also have visited several geothermal areas (not all of them reek of sulfur), and seen many more along the side of the road- it's funny to be driving and see small pools all along the roadside that are steaming/bubbling. At one park we saw a geyser, advertised as erupting "every day at 10:15AM", and come to learn that the way it's so reliable is that someone working the park actually pours soap down the spout of the geyser to cause it to erupt (Steve and I felt that was a bit of false advertising, but fortunately the rest of the park was pretty cool so we got over the bit of false advertising with the geyser.)

A few observations that I have found funny/interesting over the last couple of weeks:

1) Water runs down the drain counter-clockwise here (can't remember if it's the other way around in the States?)

2) When New Zealanders try to impersonate American accents, they generally end up sounding like someone out of a John Wayne movie, with a very thick country accent

3) The El Camino has made a comeback in the form of the "Ford Falcon" (except the new version actually has a cover for the bed so it's much classier)

4) We haven't confirmed this is a trend across the country, but at breakfast this morning at our lodge a NZ family ate spaghetti on top of toast..... not exactly how I'd like to start my breakfast but may be very common. WE'll get back to you on that one!

Off to relax and rest tired legs now, hope to get a few more photos loaded soon!

Our friend, the traveling gnome, from Sky Tower in Auckland (the view is straight down.)

The beach at the Bay of Islands

Hello from Rotorua

Greetings everyone,

I'm writing this post from a very small internet cafe in Rotorua (on New Zealand's North Island, most well-known for their hot springs..... and that the entire town smells like sulfur!) It's pouring rain, so a nice time to sit down and write an update. We have been very busy the last week traveling around the North Island in a rented campervan (I have decided to put my "learning to drive a 5-speed" lessons on hold until we get to Australia where there are much straighter, flatter roads than here.) Steve has done a fantastic job of getting us around the island- remembering to stay on the left, and basically navigating what feels like a giant box on the curvy roads of the Northland. We have basically been doing a town or two a day, so here are some highlights of the last week:

-Driving along the eastern coast from Auckland to Keri Keri- seeing the beautiful Bay of Islands and basically every other beautiful scenery you can imagine (literally every hill you go around could be a post card, it's absolutely amazing)
-Stopping at the Hundterwasser Toilets (interesting piece of "functional" art in a small town- the same artist that's done buildings in Europe, especially Austria)- apparently he spent the latter half of his life in NZ and decided to contribute to the local area through an artistic project
-The Kauri Forest (the giant Kauri trees are amazing- some are over 50 meters tall, you basically drive through the middle of the forest with these trees towering around you)
-Sheepworld-yes, truly a stop for tourists, but all joking aside it was actually pretty fun/interesting. We were the only ones there (go figure it being a Wednesday afternoon in the middle of nowhere), so we got our own personal show featuring sheep dogs, sorting sheep (I got to volunteer to help sort about 20 sheep into different turnstiles- don't think I'd make it in that line of work), sheep shearing (the world record is held by a Kiwi- about 790 sheep sheared in 9 hours), and we both got to feed baby lambs.
-Yesterday was the coolest thing we've done to-date- we went blackwater rafting in the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves. This involved wearing a wet suit, repelling down a 35 meter hole (it's literally a hole in one spot) into limestone caves, then ziplining, tubing, swimming, floating, and climbing our way for the next 4 hours through these amazing caves that have glow worms living along the top (the actual explanation of these creatures is much less appealing, so we'll stick with the name "glow worms"). It was us, 4 UK girls, and two guides, and it was AMAZING! After weaving our way through the caves, the last adventure was rock climbing out of 3 water falls in the caves (Steve and I definitely agreed that they could never get away with something like that back in the States.)

OK, running out of $ in the internet machine, have to stop the post. We're still alive, and having fun!

Cheers,
Anna

We're in New Zealand!

Greetings from Auckland, New Zealand. There's a lot of pressure writing the first post of what's sure to be a lengthy blog (Steve keeps reminding me that it has to be funny, and short so people don't lose interest, so here goes...)

We flew out of Atlanta on Wednesday morning (actually ran into a Georgia Tech friend at the airport, so Dr. Gary May gets the award for being the official last person to see us before we left for our trip- sorry Mom(s)!) We sat next to a very nice lady on our Atlanta- Los Angeles flight- she was 80 years old with the face of a 20 year old (plastic surgery is an amazing thing.) The LA- New Zealand flight was remarkably uneventful considering it was 13 hours long. Steve and I both lucked out and got rows of seats to our own, so we were able to fit in some decent sleep.

Now that we're in Auckland, here are some highlights of the last few days:
1) Staying in the first 5-star hotel to open up in Auckland in 7 years (it's a Westin- we're staying on points.) When we rolled up at the check-in desk wearing our hiking boots and backpacks they didn't know what to make of us. This is officially the best accomodation experience we will have on this trip, which has helped us get over the 15 hour time difference (plus we have definitely taken advantage of the free food in the concierge lounge, free internet, etc.) It's basically downhill from here- we move on to hostels, camping, etc. but what a great way to start off!
2) Visiting SkyTower- the tallest free-standing structure in the southern hemisphere- equipped with its own glass floor so you can tell exactly how high off the ground you are. In true New Zealand fashion, you can even pay to jump off the top of the building.... excellent...
3) Ordering a meter-long sausage at a local eatery. Basically a giant hot dog- nothing terribly exotic, but still interesting.
4) Waking up without an alarm before 6AM two days in a row. I don't think I've ever done that in my lifetime. Sure it was actually 3PM EST in Atlanta- but still, I think we deserve some sort of credit for that.

Now that we're basically over jet lag, we will be doing more exciting stuff other than laundry in the hotel bath tub... a few highlights to look forward to in the upcoming week(s):
1) Us renting a campervan to drive across the North Island (they drive on the "wrong" side of the road here, you know) ;-)
2) Me learning to drive a 5-speed
3) Visiting such exciting locations as the Bay of Islands, including the northernmost point of New Zealand, going skiing on several different mountains, and other locations whose names are escaping me right now all in the above-mentioned campervan

I guess the first post wasn't so short, but hopefully funny enough :-)