Rotorua is considered the “gateway” to the Bay of Plenty area on the east coast of the North Island.  It’s pretty built-up with lots of shopping and hotels, but for a couple of nights it makes a nice change to the relative isolation we had at Discovery Lodge in Tongariro National Park.  There’s even a Starbucks just down the road from the hotel!

I wanted to drive over to the Pacific Ocean for the afternoon but the weather was cloudy and drizzly so we spent the morning wandering around town then headed out to visit the Redwoods Forest and the Buried Village in the afternoon.

The Redwoods Forest is an amazing place.  Mid-18^th century, they planted 150 species of trees to see which ones would survive in this climate.  Almost half died, but the redwoods sure survived and have grown up large and tall.  Most spectacular though are the enormous ferns (the size of trees) that grow alongside them, some as high as 30 meters.  Peter was absorbed by the photographic opportunities and I did a wonderful hike through the forests – marital bliss, each of us in our own worlds!

My photo really doesn’t capture the magnificence of the forests so hopefully Peter is going to post some of his pics on facebook!

The Buried Village is also not far from here.  Quite a tourist trap but I convinced Peter to go in because it captures the impact of a huge volcanic eruption in 1866.  Given that we’re spending so much time in active volcano territory, it was very interesting to see what happens when there’s a spectacular eruption that actually buried a whole thriving village that was a prime tourist destination in the 1800s.  The tourists at that time came to see remarkable “White and Pink Terraces” which were large hills with sides of layered white and pink stone.  Very pretty to look at and filled with hot sulpher spring pools for bathing, all of which attracted tourists from around the world apparently.  The 1866 eruption completely buried the whole area so they are no more.

The Village “tour” included a waterfall where Peter agreed (reluctantly) to pose.

All in all, the vegetation and scenery is so far more reminiscent of Hawaii than anywhere else, although even Hawaii’s ferns are nothing like what we see here!

It was a  5:45am start today.  Catching the shuttle bus to the beginning of this 19km hike, with no way out until the end where the bus picks us back up.

When the alarm goes off at 4:45, we wonder what we’re doing – still jet-lagged/travel-foggy and still not quite recovered from driving on the wrong side of the road all the day before, and we haven’t done any hiking since last summer.

However it was well worth it.  We hike up through all sorts of volcanic territory, including one active volcano (which last erupted only 2 years ago!) and see all sorts of fumeroles, some emerald lakes, stark landscapes and pass across the base of Mt Doom (for you Lord of the Rings fans.)  The views are spectacular, often more than a 180 view.  You look out as far as the eye can see, over volcanic ranges, volcanic wastelands, lush forests, farmland, tropical vegetation and Lake Taupo.

Best of all, the weather gods smiled greatly upon us.  We started the hike before daybreak under a cloudy sky.  But the day dawned bright and sunny and we had terrific views for most of the hike.  When we were about halfway down, the clouds started rolling in and we had foggy landscapes in front of and under us and it was really quite mystical for a couple of hours.

We were easily the oldest people on the hike – don’t think we saw anyone else over 40. It was a bit of a downer being constantly passed by all these nimble and well-tanned  youngsters!  In the past, it’s always been us doing the passing!

But we completed the hike in about 7 hours, and were none the worse for the wear after.  So for that, we must be grateful.

Today started with a highly stressful drive out of Auckland in rush hour, on the wrong side of the road, and no route prepared.  (Lesson: gotta prepare the next day’s route before leaving the hotel room!)  Fortunately our Garmin lady came to our rescue and got us safely to Waitomo where we went for a tour through the limestone caverns to see one of New Zealand’s most famous sights, which is glowworms. These are actually native fungus gnat larvae which hang down from the roof of the caves on shiny strings like those used by spiders to create their webs, but thicker. The larvae glow in the dark (for some chemical or other highly scientific reason which Peter would elaborate on if he had his own blog!) which then also lights up the strings.  It’s actually quite beautiful, like looking up into the milky way during a very dark night, although this particular site is highly highly commercial. But worth the little side trip.  We spent most of the rest of the day driving to Tongariro National Park where we’ll do a long hike tomorrow over the Alpine Crossing.  Best accomplishment today was acclimatizing a bit more to this right-hand drive stuff – Peter is doing a great job but it seems to require full concentration from both of us!  Fortunately, we had no navigation “discussions” today!

• people are incredibly friendly and helpful, without overdoing it. Like the man who volunteered to show us where to climb down some hidden stairs to the most amazing pedestrian walkways and an art deco pedestrian bridge over the motorway. We would have missed the most pedestrian-supportive zone I’ve ever seen. And the woman who quietly showed us how to get back to the motel when we were in the midst of our navigation “discussion.”
• the drivers are totally laid back and accommodating.  Cars in line for exits move slowly and leave big spaces between each vehicle, and no-one ever jumps the line.  No-one ever seems to speed or tailgate.
• found out that the total population of the country of New Zealand is 4.5 million.  Auckland has 1.5 million.  Goes to show just how spread out the rest of the population is.
• my favourite NZ wines are no cheaper here than they are at home! (Except maybe that Cloudy Bay which was $15 for a 6 oz glass.) A bottle of Oyster Bay is generally $18 in the grocery store here as well.

We’ll remember Auckland as the place where we survived our first  “wrong side of the road” drive, from the airport to our hotel. We were very worried about the right-hand driving but, surprisingly, it feels more dangerous as a pedestrian because the cars constantly come at you from directions you can’t naturally anticipate. We spent most of the day walking around, and still have trouble predicting where to look before crossing the road!  We spent a good part of the day along the waterfront, which is really very lovely, filled with marinas and walkways and lots of pedestrians.  Right now the Volvo Ocean Race has a village set up full of information about this international sailing race which is currently stopping over in Auckland for a couple of weeks.  I should mention that we did quite a bit more walking than we intended due to some marital discussion over navigation – “let’s use the iPhone map” vs “I don’t need the map, I have a terrific sense of direction.”  But, if you’re going to wander in circles endlessly, Auckland is not a bad place to be!  Especially when the temperature is PLUS 26 instead of minus 26 like it was at home less than a week ago.

Something to do with the international date line but still can’t figure out how we can completely lose a day without feeling anything at all.

Earlier today, we were hanging in the hotel room watching the planes take off.  From the same viewpoint, I see the mountains and Peter notices the fruit trees in bloom (even though you can’t actually see them in his shot.)  Between us, we’re hoping for a balanced perspective over the next couple of months (although I need to work on my camera technique!)

Waiting to board our flight to Vancouver. Brain feels like mush. Body also pretty tired. Four months of planning takes its toll!  We’re both glad that this flight is only 5 hours then we get to chill out in a hotel before the biggie tomorrow evening to Auckland. Not sad to say goodbye to this Toronto  winter and getting excited about what’s ahead!