Bay of Plenty of Good Times

We are now in Opotiki which is on the Bay of Plenty, just before the East Cape begins on the North Island.

We are staying with Marie and Tom who live in very windowy house on a hill overlooking the beach and my new love--the sea. I don't know what it is, but the sea calls to me! I love the way the air feels and smells near the sea. I love the way my hair looks near the sea. I love the sound of the waves. I love hot sand under my feet and between my toes. I love rinsing out my sandcastle pail in the ocean and shrieking when a wave unexpectedly crashes into me... I LOVE THE SEA. (Too bad the midwest is nowhere near the sea...sorry Mom! )

Anyway, we have been weeding and trimming grass and making a mower path and cherimoya (a strange looking delicious fruit) and picking avocado hunting (Brian is the king at this with his eagle eyes) and inventing new ways to eat all the avocados we found. We have also hit the beach a few times to play in the sand, look for shells and just sit and read in the sun.

We have also been enjoying the view, the sound of the waves, the beautiful house, the 2 English pointers (Mr. Darcy and Meg), and the use of the big well stocked kitchen. Brian had the chance to make his famous bread in a real oven! and I made some pretty wonderful brownies from scratch (with the help of an amazing recipe from the NYTimes website).

Before Opotiki and after Tauranga (from whence my last update was written) we spent 3 nights in Rotorua. The air always smells of sulphur because the lake and valley upon which Rotorua sits is a volcanic crater with heaps and heaps of hot springs and steamy spots throughout. We camped out in our tent in the backyard of a backpackers. We got to use their kitchen and showers etc. so it was civilized camping. The first night was pretty cold but by the second night I had 3 layers, a hot water bottle and a fleece sleeping bag liner (Thanks Karen for strongly suggesting we bring this! It has saved me twice!) to keep me soundly sleeping.

We spent our first day in Rotorua walking around town. It was a Sunday and the city bus didn't run so we decided to take in the attractions within walking distance. We visited a lovely church situated next to the lake. It had Maori carvings mingling with the more traditional Anglican church set up. There was a window looking out to the lake which had an image of Jesus etched into the glass so that it appeared that he was walking on the water of the lake.

After the church made our way to Government Gardens which had lawn bowling courts as well as petanque (a French Bocce Ball game that we learned to play at Marie and Tom's-- they also have a court which we weeded one morning) courts. The gardens are in front of the museum and the bath house. We visited the museum which has been converted from a medical facility where soldiers returned from war and people with skin ailments and rheumatism went for treatments in natural steam powered hot baths and mud baths and all sorts of interesting cures of questionable effect. There was a section of the museum on the Maori Battalion that NZ sent to WWII. The accompanying film was really moving. This battalion lost almost half its members and a bunch of the survivors were injured. There was another film about the eruption that formed the lake and valley where Rotorua sits. This film included shaking seats to simulate the earthquakes and fear!

We also walked around the park next to the backpackers where there are numerous areas of thermal pools and geysers and boiling mud and steamy ponds. It was really fascinating.

That evening we sat around the backpacker lounge with a group of JET alumni (English teachers in Japan) from around the country (half of them were Japanese themselves). We played games where you wrote one line of a story and passed it along, and also did the same with haikus.

On Monday we were ready for some adventures. We took the city bus to sky ride where we rode a gondola up a big hill and then had 5 turns to ride down the hill on little scooters called the land luge. It was great! The first ride is on the scenic track which is so you can go slow and enjoy it while you learn to maneuver the luge. Then We upped it to Intermediate a few times and Advanced a few times. It was wicked fun. Whooo! When you get to the bottom you ride a chair lift up again and zoom back through the luge line and down the hill.

We caught the next bus and headed to ZORB ROTORUA. YESSSSSS. We opted for the 2 person water zorb because you are free inside the zorb and can push each other around to make the ride straight down a grassy hill a bit more interesting. You are shuttled by van up the hill and then you have to dive into the zorb and the guy at the top teases you and zips you in and then pushes you down the hill. It is so great. We stayed a while to watch a guy go down in the dry zorb, where they harness you in and you just spin around and around. He was shouting like Goofy does when he halls off of things. So fun!

Tuesday morning we packed up our gear and got a ride to the highway where we started our journey to Opotiki. We got a ride from 4 different vehicles to complete our trip. Each experience was different. The first woman had a 4 year old boy in a car seat and she took us past her turn off to a place she thought we'd be able to get a ride. The second guy also had a car seat-- empty. He was a refugee from Kurdistan. He also took us past his turn. The next ride was an older couple, he had had a stroke and so their car was pimped with an extra pedal and a turning knob thing. They also took us farther than their turn to the road that leads right to Opotiki. The last ride we got was from a British guy and Tommy, the year old beautiful baby in the car seat next to me. They took us up the windy road to Tom and Marie's door. Very considerate. We have been lucky.

Now we are packing up, getting ready to leave Opotiki for Gisborne. We are zipping along the East Coast in 3 days on our way down to Wellington where we have our final WWOOF host for the North Island. This week we have finalized travel plans that will get us to Gisborne, Napier, Wellington, across to the South Island and then down to Christchurch where we will try and find jobs for the month plus until Devin comes to visit for the holidays. Those travel plans have also been finalized to get us up to Blenheim for Christmas and then back across to the North Island and up to Auckland in time for Devin to fly home and for us to explore the far north of the North Island and get back to Auckland in time to fly back to Christchurch to begin our tour of the South Island.

We are really looking forward to all the adventures to come; they are sure to be as amazing as those we have already experienced. This is a beautiful country with wonderful people and we are thrilled to have had the opportunity to see so much of it already and to still have more to come. Yehaw!

Cheers!