Kia Ora, New Zealand!

Our Route for the Day

Surprisingly, we all pretty much slept through the night, which was a pleasant surprise for us all.  We were up by 7:00 am, and made our way to a great little American-themed diner around the corner from our hotel.  While the decor was vintage Americana, the food was "Kiwi chic."  We still remark that we had some of the best coffee of our lives in this little place.  I'd like to think it didn't taste so good simply because my body craved it.  This morning, too, we also quickly learned that New Zealanders really do use the term "Kia Ora" as part of their daily lingo.  It is a Maori word similar to aloha, in that it means everything from hello to excuse me to good luck, and onward.

Morning in Auckland

Our Americana-Themed Breakfast Joint

After breakfast, we walked a couple of blocks to the Hertz office, where we were to pick up the first of three rental cars during our trip down under.  Things could not have been smoother for pick-up.  I brought along our GPS unit, for which I had purchased New Zealand maps, and into which I had pre-programmed all of our hotels and attractions for the coming two weeks.  As it turned out, our car had Android Auto, so I set up the GPS unit and my phone, set to Waze, as we left the rental agency.  It was a Sunday morning and traffic was nonexistent, which helped ease me back into driving on the left side of the road.  Anna sat up front and had the job to occasionally remind me, "kept left."  We got back to the hotel easily, parked the car, and then went to get our luggage and check-out.  Everything fit well in the car, and I punched our first destination into the GPS and headed out.

We drove a few blocks before I realized that I was not able to turn at the places the GPS was telling me to turn.  At one point, I turned down a dead-end street, which -- according to the GPS -- was a through street.  We then realized that the GPS was not synched to the streets, and we were off by several blocks.  Anna worked with my phone while I drove, got Waze up and running, and entered our first stop.  She led me to the highway, which led us south out of Auckland.  About an hour after we left Auckland, our GPS finally synched itself, and worked flawlessly for the rest of the trip, which was a godsend, particularly as the car we were to have on the south island didn't have Android Auto, so the GPS was our only navigation tool.

Our first stop was to visit the Glowworm Caves at Waitopo, which was about a two-hour drive from Auckland.  Most of the drive was through farm land.  We had expected, too, to immediately see large concentrations of sheep, but instead we saw field after field with cows.  In fact, while we did see more sheep on the south island, all in all, I believe we saw more cows in total during our trip.  We later heard that the size of New Zealand's sheep population has gone down by 40% over the past decade (due to over supply and lower demand), while the dairy industry has skyrocketed.  Powdered milk, evidently, is a huge cash industry for the country.

As we drove over the rolling low hills, we occasionally caught glimpse of a snow-capped mountain in the distance, which we later learned was Mt. Taranaki, which is often mistaken (and used in movies as a substitute) for Mt. Fuji in Japan.  Evidently it is much cheaper and easier to film in New Zealand than Japan, and Mt. Fuji is usually overrun by hikers and tourists.

The glowworm caves are just that -- caves in which millions of glowworms live.  No pictures were allowed, but the tour consisted of a walk down into multiple large chambers of a cave system, while the guide explained that a certain type of moth (I can't remember its name), while it is in a larvae stage, attaches itself to cave ceilings and oozes down a long string of mucus.  They emit a glow, similar to fireflies, which appear like stars in the night sky.  A river run through the caves, and insects that are drawn downstream fly upward, attempting to reach what they think is the night sky, and are instead trapped in the strands, which the larvae then essentially suck up and consume the insects.  In reality, they are glow maggots, but glowworm sounds much more marketable.  The tour ended with us boarding a boat which sailed us through the cave in total darkness, save for the sparkle of the glowworms on the ceiling.  I have to admit it was something to see.

Walking to the Entrance of the Glowworm Caves

No Pictures Inside!

Emerging From the Cave

We continued the journey south, but took a turn eastward, toward the center of the north island.  I should have pointed out that Auckland was a far north as we would get during the entire trip.  We would be spending the next two nights in the resort town of Rotorua,  It sits on the shores of the lake of the same name, and had a definite beach town feel to it.  It draws tourists thanks to lots of outside activities, a heavy concentration of geysers and thermal fields, and it is also the primary center for Maori (the native New Zealand people from Polynesia).  A small island in the center of Lake Rotorua is considered the most sacred Maori site in the country.

Before checking into our hotel, we went to the Wai-O-Tapu thermal park, which is essentially a miniature Yellowstone, in terms of geysers and hot mud pools.  Rotorua is also known as "sulphur city," thanks to the almost ever-present sulphur smells, which were in clear abundance at Wai-O-Tapu.  While we knew it was going to be summer when we visited New Zealand, in checking the weather forecasts before leaving, we had all packed for temperatures in the 40's-60's.  On this afternoon, the temps were in the upper 70's, and were all a little hot during our walk through the park, over a series of trails and elevated walkways.  We all lamented not packing shorts and worried that we'd be hot for the rest of our trip.  Rest assured, aside from this day and the next, this was not a concern for the remainder of our trip, and in hindsight, we all packed appropriately.

Many of the places we stayed during this trip were geared toward long-term vacation goers, meaning that they usually had kitchens, and some even had washers and dryers in the units.  They were also usually very large.  We had a two-story villa booked for our two-night stay in Rotorua.  When I went in to collect the keys however, I noted how stifling hot the reception room was.  The woman there walked me over to our unit, and as soon as the door was opened, I saw several fans set up.  I asked about the air conditioning and was told that the hotel sat in the "sulpher zone" of the city, meaning that they could not have A/C units.  Evidently the sulphur concentrations are high enough in this zone that the HVAC coils deteriorate in six months or less.  I was, however, less interested in the science than worried about sleeping in the heat.  We opened all the windows we could, went to dinner, and hoped things would cool down after sunset.  Did I mention that the sun did not set until almost 11:00 pm?

Our Hotel, but Only for One Night It Turned Out

Ever since we had left Waitopu, my nose had been running incessantly.  I felt fine, but I just could not stop my nose from running.  I concluded I had an allergy to something, but I didn't know what.  As we had every conceivable over-the-counter drug with us, I loaded up on allergy medicine, which helped a little, but certainly not fully.  Oddly enough, it persisted through the next day, but ended -- not to return -- the day after that, once we got to the ocean, at Napier.  I still don't know what allergen it could have been.

After dinner, we explored the town and drove through the Government Gardens complex.  It was a bit cooler when we got back to the hotel, but with the windows open, the unit smelled strongly of sulphur.  Our beds were located upstairs in a loft.  With all the fans going, we were able to get some sleep, but I was especially bothered by the heat and smell, and resigned during the night to try and find a solution for the next night.

Down by the Lake, After Dinner

Lake Rotorua

Government Gardens in Rotorua