Day 5 New Zealand
This morning fines me up early (3:30am) - organizing pictures, tweaking blogs and getting a little work done.
There are a couple comments on the blog from Melanie and Mick (THANKS!) – It is so nice to get comments – it helps make the blogging feel more relevant. (Mick you should have logged into IM we could have chatted – I was awake).
I underestimated the amount of work blogging and organizing pictures was going to take – also need to build in time for ensuring I have internet access.
It is storming outside now – funny, for 4 the weeks preceding our arrival not a drop of rain yet since our arrival it has rained at least a little every day.
I can see how a visit to New Zealand could consume the better part of a year – we have stayed on the North Island and just barely scratched the surface – we are not even going to see the world famous Bay of Islands. The South Island is supposed to be eve re spectacular – how I cannot imagine as I find this place to be quite magical and overwhelming. Everywhere you look there is an incredible view, such a variety of features –and the constant reminder of the volcanism and the ever changing planet. It actually makes me feel minor or insignificant – which in the grand scheme of things an individual actually is. The fact that the place is populated with an almost gruff adrenaline seeking population and a very large indigenous population is apparent and endearing. And the quality of the food – especially the meat – it is like nothing I have ever tasted.
We have today and tomorrow left then off to Australia –we want to fit in some surfing and I would like to have a little time in Auckland – perhaps we will stay there tomorrow evening since our flight leaves so early for Sydney. I expect when the Girls awake we will head towards the coast.
We ended up hitting the Rotorua museum on our way out of town. A nearly private tour – only one other couple from England and us. The guide was an elderly gentleman with one lens of his glasses opaque – he must have been blind in that eye.
The museum building was originally built as a medical facility that used the natural thermal spring water as a treatment. The Dr., a well known and respected individual from Britain, (a snake oil salesman according to the docent) – was given creative liberty to pick the architecture of the hospital if he agreed to come build and run the location. He had a love for Elizabethan architecture thus the architecture of the bathhouse. It was started in 1905 and opened in 1908 – but not completely built. They have continued to complete the building according to plans over the last few years with the final building scheduled to be completed 2011. The building has had to withstand significant hardships, hydrogen sulphide, frequent localized earthquakes etc. There was a special air conditioning system that treated the air prior to entering the wing that had the Maori artifacts and artwork.
We got to go into the basement where the rotten egg smell forced me to peruse the exhibits quite quickly. There were a couple cinemas presentations.
Four main displays, the bath house, a Maori center a display regarding the 1886 volcanic eruption – the biggest in modern times. 125 people killed and a display that at first I was indifferent to but after watching the movie with interviews of people that lived through it I found myself feeling very sad – almost in tears. The display chronicled the B Company Maori battalion and their exploits in WWII. They were sent to Greece, retreated to Crete – later they deployed to North Africa and Italy. They became well known as a crack troop – they did not give up and were very aggressive. The kids that joined were mostly underage and a large majority 3574 dies. This represented a significant portion of the Maori population and destroyed an entire generation. They joined because there were no prospects at the time and to prove themselves to the British as valiant and deserving citizens – to me it seemed a tragedy – almost that they were taken advantage of. I was choked up for quite a while after the exhibit.
From there we drove to the excavation of the buried village – the village that had been destroyed by the volcanic eruption in 1866 – June 10 12:30am.
A nice nature trek to a waterfall and some very cool relics – everything had been covered by 1.5- 3 meters of volcanic mud.
From there we drove to Tuaranga and the Mount. I had to pull over and catch a 20 minute cat nap in a small town while Pam and Allysha shopped. I could not keep my eyes open.
We found a great motel on the ocean – a great rate and wireless internet. We walked around town scoping out the surf shops for tomorrow. We are here mainly to surf – I would like to go to White island – an active volcano but that will have to be next time. The town was closing down at 5ish – we ate a spectacular meal – back to the room where sometime after 8 I fell asleep (I was so tired I cannot even remember falling asleep.
The town reminded we of a beach vacation site – almost like Santa Cruz.
Oh and during the walk around town we saw a very large cruise ship that looked quite familiar – it turned out to be the "Mercury" from Clebrity Cruises – the same ship we took to Mexican 3 years ago – what a coincidence.
