Final Destination for 2008

2/17/2008

After Australia we flew into Auckland, New Zealand. The city of Auckland is big and busy with plenty of tall buildings. The one attraction we went to see before driving out of the city to our hotel was the Sky Tower. The Auckland Sky Tower is the tallest in the southern hemisphere. It is 328 meters tall which is over 1,000 feet. If you are brave enough you can actually jump from a platform at 220 meters and fall at 85 kilometers per hour onto an inflated bulls-eye below. Unfortunately, it is weather depending and the ride was closed for the day.

“Auckland is the only city in the world built on an active field of volcanoes. The youngest and largest is Rangitoto, which erupted out of the sea about 600 years ago. Many of Auckland’s volcanic cones can be seen from Sky Tower’s observation decks.” ~from the Sky Tower brochure.

After the Sky Tower, we drove out of Auckland for at least an hour. Our next attraction was the glow worm caves!  Once you have climbed down far enough into the cave, to escape the daylight, you can see millions of tiny blue lights on the ceiling. Those lights are the glow-worms. There’s water flowing through the lower portion of the cave so our tour included a boat ride. We sat in the boat drifting peacefully through this dream-world of tiny blue specks. I didn’t know glow-worms were a real life creature until we pulled into the parking lot of the attraction. Anyone who wants to learn more about these amazing little creatures can visit: http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/animals/news-deadly-glow-worms-new-zealand  

Our next stop was the Maori Cultural Center. The Maori people are natives to New Zealand. This visitor’s destination was built around geothermal geysers with plenty of bubbling mud. We watched the mud bubble up like boiling water and we saw some steam and water sprays from the geyser but we were not able to see any exceptionally large eruptions of water. Nonetheless, we still enjoyed the cultural center. There is a lot of information about the Maori people and wildlife and it is presented in an easy to understand, entertaining manner.

Our hotel was in Rotorua. It was about a 3 and a half hour drive from Auckland to the hotel. I noticed that New Zealand looks a lot like Oregon. The biggest difference was driving on the left side of the road. Otherwise, as far as looks go, it’s pleasantly green just like home.

The first thing we did when we woke up in Rotorua was go to the sheep show. I was not particularly excited for this little excursion. For some reason, a sheep show didn’t sound that fun to me but once we got there I really liked it. It was very interesting. We saw 19 very different breeds of sheep. We were able to watch demonstrations where sheep dogs would herd the sheep without ANY barking or biting. I even got to bottle-feed a baby lamb.

At another stop, down the road from the sheep show, I got to ride in a zorb. I changed into some shorts and t-shirt that could get wet. I was driven up a really big hill in a van. Then, I crawled into a super-duper-sized inflated sphere. A staff member at the top of the hill tossed a bucket of water into the center sphere with me (just the water, not the bucket). Once the staff member taps three times on the outside of the sphere you take four steps forward and……Whoosh! Down the hill I flew while in the very center of this giant, clear beach ball thing. The water makes it so you slide around the inside of the ball. This is supposed to enhance the ride. I was bouncing and sliding and flipping out of control! It was one of the most fun things I have ever done! I took three trips down the hill.

After my zorb-ing adventure, We went to the luge. This luge was bigger and better than the one in Singapore. It had three different tracks to choose from. The tracks were much larger and had things like tunnels and places where your cart turns sideways. We tried all three tracks.

The last stop of the day was the wildlife park. We were hoping to hold some lion cubs but the cubs had grown since the advertising we saw. They were now too big for people to hold. They did let us touch them.

Before going to bed, we went to dinner and a Maori cultural show. Jim was chosen from the audience to act as their chief by accepting the gift of a fern. I learned a poi dance and Jim learned a warrior dance. The Maori Warriors would stick their tongues out and bulge their eyes to try to scare the enemy away and prevent an actual battle. It was pretty funny to watch Jim try to imitate the proper face during the warrior dance.

Putting my best face forward!

That fabulous chin tattoo is the real deal!

Yesterday, we flew to Tahiti. We crossed the International Dateline so we actually got there the day before we left. Tahiti is a French island so that is the language here.

At the beach on Tahiti.

Today we borrowed a kayak from the hotel and paddled around the ocean a little bit. I think we are just relaxing for the rest of today. We can’t really do anything else anyway because everything on Tahiti is closed on Sunday. The only thing we found open was the grocery store. Even the hotel gift shop is closed. Oh well, I guess we will just have to lay by the pool or play in the warm ocean water. Darn!

For one reason or another, I never finished the journal. I guess I was so busy relaxing in Tahiti I just couldn’t get to my journal. We stayed in Tahiti for a couple of days before boarding the Tahitian Princess cruise ship. The ship stopped at several Polynesian and Cook Islands. It was my first ever cruise and I loved every bit of it! I love eating whenever I want. I love formal nights. I love shopping. I love excursions at the different stops. I just love cruising! This ship was especially nice for a couple because it only held 620 passengers. This means less waiting for elevators and I also feel like you get more personal attention on cruises like this. I have since taken a larger cruise and I definitely like the intimacy of the smaller vessel.

On the cruise we were, of course, assigned table mates. We had a table of six. There were us, and two sisters with their husbands. The other two couples were from Boston. We got along so well that Jim and I have visited them at least twice in Boston since the cruise.

Once the ship came back to Tahiti we had a few more days to enjoy the island. We took a jungle tour and road around the very rugged mountainside. Our guide stopped at various locations, a waterfall, some different plants of interest and a restaurant. The restaurant was particularly interesting because it was so deep into the jungle covered hills of Tahiti. It’s crazy to think that they even have electricity out there!

Tahitian Waterfall.

After Tahiti we flew to Rarotonga. We did more relaxing and a bit of drinking. There happened to be a few Australians there who made friends with Jim. They got to talking and playing cards and began to throw back the tropical drinks. A few mini umbrellas later and we were both a bit toasty so it was early bed time for us a couple different times. Our tiny little resort was right on the ocean. It was so relaxed and fun there. I wish I had written about it when it happened because I would think I could have done a better job at capturing how fun our short stay there was. One thing that I remember from Rarotonga was that they had issues with people dying from coconuts falling of the trees. You have to be careful when going for walks around the island.

Well, that concludes the trip. The first time I ever left American soil was a pretty epic journey for me. I learned a lot about travel and Jim. I’m glad we were crazy enough to do it!

One more Tahitian sunset please. Thank you.

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