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 3rd floor (in NZ the ground floor
doesn’t count as a numbered floor, so we’re really on the 4th 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.
