VOLCANIC ACTION!

Lots of rain this week.  They say that in New Zealand you can experience all 4 seasons in one day.  I experienced that one day this week.  The elevator in our office building has been broken for a couple of weeks, they are waiting on a part to arrive so they can fix it.  My office is on the top or 3^rd floor (in NZ the ground floor doesn’t count as a numbered floor, so we’re really on the 4^th floor).  It was the end of the work day.  I looked out the window and it was sunny out.  So I put on my coat and walked down the stairs.  As I got to the front door on the ground level to leave, I noticed it was pouring rain.  So I climbed the stairs back to my office on the top floor and retrieved my umbrella, then walked back down the stairs.  By the time I exited the front door, the rain had stopped and it was sunny again!  So I just took my umbrella home with me, rather than climb the stairs again to put it back in my office.

The work week always seems to fly by. That means we are keeping busy trying to keep up with the work flow.  I am jogging or playing pickle ball about every day after work, as well as walking to and from work, so I’m feeling in pretty good shape.  Alisa and I have had no colds or sicknesses while here. 

Friday I went to work a little early, so Alisa and I could take off around 3 p.m. for the weekend.  We had packed the car the night before.  Even leaving a little early we got caught in rush hour traffic trying to leave Auckland.  We lost about an hour in slow moving traffic on the freeway until we were well beyond town, many people must have been leaving for the weekend.  Anyway, it took us 4 hours instead of 3 to get to Rotorua, our intended destination.  This is a well-known tourist town of about 10,000 people built over a volcanic hot spot.  Steam comes out of the ground, water, gutters, everywhere that there is a hole, and there is a mild sulfur or rotten egg smell everywhere.  The town is quite picturesque, out in the country with rolling hills, again it reminds me of the San Joaquin valley in the spring when everything is green.  Because it was about 7:30 p.m. when we arrived and we were tired from traveling, we drove straight to our bed and breakfast, and just ordered pizza delivery for dinner.

Saturday we spent touring.  We started at the tourist information center in town, where we got oriented and found out what was happening.  We then walked across the street to a little bakery where I had a steak pastry pie and Alisa had a bacon and egg pie for breakfast.  Then we walked through the downtown area, quite quaint, to the city park.  There we ran into a farmers’ market and enjoyed roaming that.  There were plenty of hot steamy spots in the park, and a wading pond where we could soak our feet in the hot mineral water.  We hiked around the downtown and lake back to where we had parked our car. Then we drove to the nearby redwood forest to hike around that.  It is an interesting place, over a hundred years ago someone brought back coastal redwood seeds and planted them, such that it is now a forest with lots of native plants and ferns growing as well.  Someone gave them a slab of giant sequoia from near Visalia, which they have on display with dates marked on the rings, going back to Christ’s birth, similar to what’s found in Sequoia Natl. Park.  Unfortunately, someone varnished their slab, apparently to preserve it, such that it looks unnatural, almost fake.  They even have a suspension bridge about 30 feet up in the grove and about 500 meters in length that you can walk around.  We decided to save the bridge for next time we visit.  Instead Alisa and I just hiked around the grove, it really did feel like hiking through the coastal redwood park in the bay area.  From there we visited Te Puia, a Maori tourist village.  We started with a buffet lunch then walked around to see the geysers, and even saw a kiwi, NZ’s national bird which happens to be nocturnal so it’s hard to see (they had a darkened kiwi house).  We were also treated to a Maori song and dance show, almost felt like the PCC in Hawaii.  By then we were tired so we went back to our house for a nap.  At 6 p.m. we drove to Hell’s Gate, which was in the mountains nearby.  There we first sat in a hot mud bath, then showered off and then sat in some natural heated mineral baths for a while.  There was a light drizzling rain that provided an interesting contrast.  After we showered and dressed again, we stopped by a gas station to fill up the car and buy some milk for breakfast.  We were tired so we went back to our place and got to bed early. 

This morning we dressed and attended one of the 2 local wards.  Their church house was on a hill, with good views.  There were a lot of friendly church members there, it reminded me of my home ward growing up.  There were Maori’s, people of European descent, Philippinos, us (Americans) and even a Japanese family, quite a melting pot.  After church we walked around a local Anglican Church down by the lake, and a nearby Maori village.  By then we were ready to head back to Auckland, which we drove in an easy 3 hours.