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| Erin and Glenn near the still-erupting Lady Knox geyser in Wai-O-Tapu Geothermal reserve |
| Erin's Journal 01-09-03 & 01-10-03 New Zealand Today was raining - hard! We heard it early in the morning, and once again allowed ourselves to sleep in because of it. Any ideas of going horseback riding or hiking in the nearby areas was on hold, and we slowly got ready, hoping the weather would improve. But the rain held steady and strong for much of the day, so I started out by catching up on the past few days of journals, and even went back to a couple from Melbourne before the battery wore out. By then, Glenn was itching to get outside, rain or not. We decided to head into town to see what we saw, and then maybe to drive out to some of the hiking spots in hopes that the rain would slacken enough to hike a bit. Nope! It poured all the way to Hell's Gate, and when we arrived we decided not to pay the $12 each to get in, since we'd be sopping our wet way around the mud pools and seeing nothing but steam for our efforts. We'd passed a sign for indoor mini golf and go-karts, so we went back to check that out and had to make an appointment to come back to do the go-karts! They looked fun though, and I was grateful to have an excuse to go eat first. It was already after 1pm! So we headed back into Rotorua and found ourselves in a food court, where we shared some quick Chinese food. Then we went across the way and whiled away 2 more hours on the internet, catching up with emails. My mom had sent me one that said 'haven't heard from you in a while - guess you must be busy. Miss you!' This is in fact a direct order to get off my duff and write more to my mother! So I quickly complied, filling in the past couple of days' worth of activities. Yes, busy, but that's never an excuse for not writing to mom! Around 3:30 we headed back out to the go-karts, and waited another half hour for our appointment. During the wait, we played some Indiana Jones pinball, and I whipped Glenn's butt for a change. However, when we finally got into the zippy little go-karts, Glenn passed me perhaps 8 times in our half hour run. These karts went fast, and the slick track had our tires spinning out behind us on each of the 8 tight turns in there. Plus, there were two younger girls on the track with us as well as 2 other boys, and the girls kept getting hung up against the side wall on the far turn, causing traffic backups! Still, we had fun. We were filthy and tired after just half an hour, and needed a nice round of mini golf to ease back into relax mode. From there, we hit the grocery store on the way to KFC for some dinner, which we brought home and ate in bed. Then I wrote journals some more while Glenn read - we are having to schedule our journal writing time to keep up! It was a quiet day (as most rainy days are), and tomorrow we'll head on to the next stop, which will depend on the weather. 01-10-03 New Zealand Today was another ugly day out in Rotorua, so we decided to move on. It wasn't pouring like it was the day before, but we had other things to see. We'd figure out where to stay the nbight based on how the weather turned out further into the day. First stop was the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Exploration area, where the Lady Knox Geyser was made to erupt each day at 10:15am. We got a late start out of Rotorua, and were frustrated by some slow traffic, but we managed to make it just in time for the show. It was an impressive geyser, shooting up 15 meters for the first 30 seconds or so (and drenching the front row along one side with steam). We stayed a bit longer than most of the crowd, and were surprised to run into the same couple from the Swoop the day before! Eugene and Audrey had missed the geyser's main eruption, although it kept going off at lower levels for another hour or so, and we got to talking and exploring the rest of the geothermal pools for the next 2 hours together. Eugene lived in Wellington, where we'd all be heading by the end of the weekend, and he and Audrey kindly invited us to come have dinner with them one night while there. We parted ways around lunchtime, as Glenn and I were heading on to Napier rather than stay in Taupo in 'iffy' weather. There are too many activities to do in Taupo that require good weather for full enjoyment, so we'd take a chance that the weather would improve by the time we were heading back north in about a week and stop back there. We did see the Huka Falls sign not far from Taupo (which we had to drive through anyway), and ran into Eugene and Audrey again while checking out this impressive falls. Then we moved on and drove the next 3 hours out to the eastern coastal town of Napier. We arrived near the end of the day, and spent about 90 minutes searching for a place to stay. Surprisingly, the hostels were pretty full in this small town, and we ended up paying a bit extra to stay in a motel just outside of town. It was not the best place, but not the worst either, and it had a kitchen. We decided not to cook though, and went a short way in town to a waterfront steak place that looked good. We ate some HUGE steaks cooked to perfection, and wandered the waterfront and main town area afterward looking for something to do there. But the town was pretty closed up and boring unless you like bars, and we didn't feel like seeing a movie in the theater. We did come across a 1-hour photo place that had Glenn's entire name on it, even spelled the same, and vowed to come back with our cameras to meet Glenn's twin tomorrow! Then we drove back to the motel to watch the in-room cable, where for Mel Month they were showing Air America that night! |
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| A view over Rotorua, with the lake in the background. With all the sulfur in the air, it's a beautiful but stinky town! |