To continue on with the Northern part of our trip, our next stop was a tiny town called Kerikeri, here we drove down tree lined roads and bought fruits from little wooden shacks, picked our own fruit when we could and popped into a few more wineries. The best fish and chips were in Mangonui, we loved it so much, we had dined on Terikehi for lunch and dinner!
12/1 Rotorua (3 hours south of Auckland)
The last 3 weeks seemed to have flown by, we are now back at Auckland after our trip to the North and are preparing for the central part of North Island. Rotorua is our first stop, the thermal springs and mud pools are located here, you can't miss the town, one whif of the sulfuric air and there's no mistaking that you are here. We arrived late in the day and decided to go to the Polynesian Spa in hopes of a little pampering, unfortunately, they were all booked up so the two of us spent the next 3 hours being amused by the bus loads of chinese tourists that poured in at all hours of the night. Although we didn't really get to relax, it was an interesting evening watching this spectacle. The next morning we headed out with Kess and Helen to Rainbow Springs were we saw our first Kiwi, watched poor little sheep get shaved, fed exceptionally large trout, and saw a psycho dog go nuts trying to heard his sheep. The park had a little of everything NZ in it, a perfect spot to see a slice of farmlife. Tonight we headed to another bit of NZ life, we treated ourselves to Maori cultural experience and a Hangi, which is equivalent to a Luau. The Maori's were the indigenous people of NZ who accepted European settlement into NZ in return for British protection. The two cultures seemed to interact much better here than in Australia where we saw much clear defined boundaries between the aboriginals and Aussies. We choose a company owned by two Maori brothers and got to experience the traditions of visiting a Maori Marae (meeting house) and see the daily activities of a traditional tribal village, all was topped off with a Hangi, which was dinner cooked under the ground just like a luau.
12/3 Napier-Hastings, Hawke's Bay (2 hours southwest of Rotorua)
Finally, we arrived to the sunniest place in NZ, of the 22 days here, we have had all of 4 sunny days, so we are happy as clams, we bask in the sun and actually found it too hot as we got so used to the wet, rainy days. Napier is like an art deco living museum. The town was devastated by an earthquake in the 30's and must of the buildings were built in art deco due to the style of the time, in trying to maintain their history, the buildings have been kept in their original facades. The next two days are spent taking in more wineries, fruit orchards and the best ice cream ever, fresh fruit smashed into vanilla ice cream...thinking of bringing this back to the states..
12/5 Lake Taupo (2 hours north of Hawke's Bay) Happy Birthday DAD!
Like most days, we woke to see a pure white sky of clouds and wondered if there was a chance of it clearing up, you see, I've been waiting for the past 3 days for the weather to clear so I can do the one thing I vowed I would do before I left home, Sky dive in NZ. Between the bad weather and checking my sanity, the days dragged and the hours passed slowly as I tried to decide why I still wanted to do this and whether I was crazy to do it in such unpredictable weather patterns...this was my last chance as we couldn't wait any longer so miracles of miracles, a small patch of blue sky opened up one hour before my scheduled flight and we drove to the airport with our fingers crossed. Since this was my mission, Tony gladly stayed grounded to be mr. cameraman. At 2pm, the signs were all a go ahead and I waited alone for an hour while the company gathered up their crew and other jumpers that have been waiting for days to jump. Given the weather, our only choice was the 12k ft jump which was alright by me, any less wouldn't be worth it and it was good even number...so we harnessed in, and I thankfully was first up. Two other English girls, Jane and Ruth were going up with me and together, we bonded quickly and hopped into the tiny little plane. There were 9 of us in total including the cameramen and instructors and we were all piled on top of one another and off we went. The plane was supposed to take 8-10 minutes to bring us up to 12k ft, during this time, I could only think of how giddy Tony and I were when we first landed in Paris and got snubbed by the subway lady who told us she didn't speak English..in English...and I thought of the friends we made all along the way in Spain, dancing til all hours of the night...and of picking up strangers on the train and spending the next week with them travelling through to eastern europe, trekking from one country to the next...then there were the horrible days of being sick in Bali and the most amusing days in Chang Mai trekking through the jungle wondering if we were going to get Malaria...so many memories and today was the grand finale, I knew that after this jump, if I had to go home, it would be alright, I finally felt complete and fulfilled and was so happy that really words can't come to mind to describe this year I have been so lucky to share with Tony. With all this going through my head, we got up to 12k ft quickly, the door opened and just our luck, the clouds were not going to work with us, it's been over a week since they have had any jumps since the weather hasn't been good in NZ. The door shuts and a short meeting between the powerheads occurs with a discussion to fly around and wait for an opening, I am thankful that we still have a chance but a little nervous that I will be the first to jump in over a week and the weather...well, it wasn't pretty. We circled...and circled...and waited, tried once again and then again and we descended to 4 k ft as the opportunity just wouldn't present itself. Now, after all this waiting and contemplating, there was NO WAY I was going to leave that plane by foot. I was so bummed as were the other two that we gave it one last shot and zipped back up to go for it. In a matter of minutes, we were back to 12k ft and the door opened and miracles of miracles, we found a hole and out I went! We backflipped out and flew through the air at 200km/hr. My ears were popping and the feeling was such a rush...euphoric really, the chute opened before I even had time to wonder about it and suddenly it was silent, the air was warm and still and I felt I was suspended in time. Jason, my instructor and I could talk in our normal voices as he spun us around and swoop in and out of the thermals.