From Wellington, New Zealand

Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2011 It may be freezing in Cleveland, but it's hot in Rotorua!

These tongues will scare any tribe away!

After a huge breakfast prepared by our hostess Sandi, we are off to see the Whakawerawera Thermal Area, maintained and lived in by the Maori.  Not a whole lot to say about it, just incredible that they live there.  One advantage they have is a built in oven for steaming their food.  They just build a box around a steam vent, wrap their food in foil, and voila!  Several hours later they have the tenderest food you ever tasted.  This process is called a hangi.  We experienced this in spades later that evening in a cultural experience (Mitai) complete with a fantastic hangi meal and the best Maori show I have seen yet.  Back to the morning, the best part of the tour was the eruption of two geysers, Prince of Wales Feathers, and Pohutu.  The Pohutu geyser spouts up to 100 feet, pretty spectacular.

In between these two cultural experiences, we did touristy things, soaking in the hot springs of the Polynesian Pools.  We got soaked in more ways than one, but it was worth doing - I was a very mellow fellow after a half hour at 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrentheit for you backward Americans).

Best looking 69 year old bathing beauty I have seen!

We also took a gondola ride to the top of the nearby mountain to get a view of the entire Rotorua area.   There is an unusual aspect to this volcanic area.  Lake Rotorua is basically a caldera formed by a huge eruption several thousand years ago.  But there is a volcano within a volcano, as the island in the middle of the lake is a dome volcano, which erupted more recently.

Wednesday, Feb. 9  Rotorua to Wellington

After another sumptuous breakfast from Sandi, we rushed off to another thermal area, Wai-o-Tapu.  This was quite spectacular and very similar to Yellowstone in many ways, but much smaller in scale, which makes it much easier to take in.  Very colorful pools, including this one, the color of a lime popsicle!

On to Lake Taupo for lunch, where we stumbled on our best lunch yet in a sidewalk cafe.  My club sandwich had a fried egg, bacon, brie cheese, and assorted other ingredients and sauces.  Karen had a BLAT, bacon-lettuce, avocado, tomato.  My pre-trip diet is now history.  Continuing on to Wellington, a long drive, but interesting because of the changing landscape (from rain forest to desert-like high plains) and from mostly cattle on the farms to mostly sheep the farther south we went.  Those wimpy tourists who fly from city to city miss the real country.

We are now in Wellington, the capital.  We are in room 441 at the Museum Hotel.  What's the significance?  The Lonely Planet Guide, which I used extensively to plan where to stay, recommended asking for this room because it has a fantastic view of the harbour.  So when I booked it on the internet, I requested this room specifically, never expecting to actually get it, but we did!  And the view is great!  Sometimes things work!

Jim