Home again!

After much time in airports and airplanes, we are finally home.  Dave and Sandy have returned home and Greta and I are settling in.  There is much to do - pay bills, take care of leaves and fuschias, get ready for Christmas, but all good things to get done.  It was a great trip and many great experiences.  Now to start thinking about our next great adventure!

Five and a half weeks, and we are still on schedule.

A Cockatoo saying goodbye.

One last boat race.

Our last afternoon in Auckland we spent taking a ferry over to Devonport and walked around.  Then we finished packing, went to bed early, got up and headed to the airport.  Return our third rental car for this trip to the Auckland Airport Rental cars by  

The moon over Devonport in Auckland

11 AM.  In line for our 2:15 trip to Fiji,  until the lady in front of us started sounding exasperated, because her son had texted her that the flight had been canceled.  (The original plan was for us to fly from Auckland to Fiji, 6 hour layover, and then fly on to LA, and Portland.)  When we got up to the desk, the agent said that because we had a continuing flight, we would sit in Auckland until 10:45PM, and then have a direct flight to LA, including $24 in food vouchers per person.  We will be getting into Portland within an hour of the original plan, and have a much easier time of it.  A VERY GOOD THING WHEN YOU ARE EXHAUSTED!

Hobbiton

Sam Gamgee's home

Steve in front of Bag End

Ann Currie in red coat

No comment needed

On our way to Auckland we stopped in Matamata.  Greta, Dave, and Sandy looked around town and did emails while Steve took a tour out to the film set of Hobbiton where part of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit were filmed.  When we got off of the tour bus, we noticed a film crew was there and they started to film us.  Then a lady in a red coat started to interview some of us (but not me).  I tried to ignore them and then some of the Americans among us had their pictures taken with her.  I started paying closer attention and realized she was Ann Currie from NBC and found out they were going to show parts of our tour on this coming Friday's NBC morning show (unfortunately it didn't happen).  She was there because the premier of the first part of The Hobbit is in Wellington tonight and tomorrow the Prime Minister and some of the actors are going to be in Hobbiton.  So maybe my face will show up on NBC this Friday.  In any case, wandering around Hobbiton, seeing Bag End, and the mill and Green Dragon Tavern, and more scenes from The Lord of the Rings films was great!  It did my Tolkien loving heart good to be there.

Visit to Tamaki Maori village

A welcoming challenge

Uncovering the fire pit

Our last night in Rotorua we visited a Maori village named Tamaki for an introduction to their heritage and a hongi meal.  We rode there by coach.  When we got there we were met by various warriors in costume doing their welcoming dances/challenges.  After that we went to various village locations where they  talked to us about their traditions and asked for volunteers to try them out.  Then we went to their village meeting house where they performed songs and dances.  When that ended they took us to the eating lodge for their roasted meats and vegetables along with a buffet of several other items, drinks, and desserts.  I enjoyed their lamb and tried a mussel and Greta tried their fish.  We both had their roasted kamura potatoes.  For dessert we tried Kiwi pavlova, a meringue with kiwis and passion fruit.  It was all very good!

Rotorua

Okere Falls

Kayaker over Okere Falls

Blue Lake (Tikitapu)

Green Lake (Rotokakahi)

We were fortunate to sit next to a couple from Rotorua, when we came across the ferry from Picton to Wellington.  

They had some good advice for us tourists.  "Don't stop at any places in town where you see bus loads of tourists getting out!  See the thermal fields at Wai-o-tapu, hike the trail past four waterfalls at Okere Falls, see the blue and green lakes (he didn't know the Maori names of Lake Tikitapu and Lake Rotokakahi), and take a heli ride over the craters.  Sound advice! Unfortunately, the sun wasn't in a good position to bring out the blue and green colors.

Lady Knox Geyser - Wai-o-tapu

Lady Knox

Mud pool

Artist's palette

Champagne Pool

Bird's nest in side of crater.

There's a reason the sign says the Lady Knox erupts at 10:15.  The story is, this area was the local prison, and the prisoners were given the job of clearing the brush.  When they found the hot springs, they realized they could save time not having to build a fire to heat water to wash their clothes.  They also realized that it would be more intriguing to build it up like a tower and have the water come out the top.  (The hottest water is down below, and the cooler on top, and to create a geyser something has to happen to break the stasis). If they tossed some soap in, the water would come bubbling out.  So now, in 2012, they can and do, toss soap into this very same geyser at 10:15 each day, and enthrall bus loads of visitors.  After seeing the geyser, we checked out some bubbling mud pools, complete with plopping sounds, and then walked a "trek" that led us up, around, and past 25 unique thermal sites.   Unique, with the color produced by the different minerals, the shape, and the way some are being used.  The birds have discovered, that if they lay their eggs in some of the holes on the walls of the craters, the heat from below will incubate their eggs.  We did just fine with the odor!  

Taupo and Nellie

Nellie and the hot creek.

Active volcano is flat mountain on right

Lake Taupo

Black swans at Taupo

After a weekend tramp into a hut and back, Nellie, a friend of Kierstin's from Stanford, met us at our motel for dinner.  New Zealand is now her home while she works for her Phd.  It was so good to visit with her, and be able to ask all our questions.  After dinner, we walked across the street to Lake Taupo, the largest lake in New Zealand.  She scooped up a handful of water from a little stream running down to the lake, and, as expected, it was warm.  She was also able to straighten us out on the volcanos, and show us the one that is currently emitting gas.  After we said goodbye to Nellie, some people have to go to work on  Mondays, we filled our mineral pool spa on our back deck.  "The hot water is natural  mineral water extracted directly from 30-40m below where you are standing.  It is very  hot 70-80 degrees Celsius, so please do NOT put any part of your body directly in the hot stream, as it may scald."  The water came out of one 4" pipe, scalding water on top, and cold water on the bottom.  We slept well after that.