Rotorua 15, 16

Passing through Tongariro National Park on the way to Rotorua.

 

 

Looking over Lake Taupo.

 

Lake Rotorua.

 

 

Bikes make a different Christmas tree in a park near the lake.

 

 

Looking over boiling waters at the extensive volcanic area of Wai-O-Tapu (Sacred Waters).

 

 

 

The Artist' Palette; hot and cold pools and steaming, hissing fumeroles.

 

 

The happy tourists; David, Jenny, Joy and Bill.

 

 

Bridal Falls.

 

 

The Champagne Pool. A fifth of a hectare of bubbling water with an ochre petrified edge.

 

 

Boiling mud.

 

 

In the evening we went to the Mitai Maori Village, Rainbow Springs, for a Maori cultural experience. It turned out to be both fun and informative. This is one of their ancient war canoes, a waka.

 

 

Maori warriors paddling a waka.

 

 

The stroke looks quite scary.

 

 

The cultural performance was both interesting and fun.

 

 

There was a lot of singing and dancing.

 

 

This man explained the significance of the tattoos.

After the performance, we had a delicious hangi, then we one a rather dark walk to a Maori village and along the river to see the glow worms.

 

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Wellington 12 & 13

Wellington Harbour from the car on the way in.

 

 

We picked up Jenny and David from the Wellington airport and went to our apartment. This is the view from the balcony.

 

 

The first thing we did was was walk around the harbour to the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa. One of the exhibitions was a rather graphic exhibit about Gallipoli.

 

 

A Maori entrance.

 

 

Next day we took the Cable Car which climbs 120 metres up the hill to the top entrance of the Botanical Gardens.

 

 

 

On the way up we were treated to a light show in the tunnels.

 

There is a cable car museum at the top.

 

 

The view is impressive.

 

 

Many of the houses are wooden. Some houses on the steep hills have their own little cable cars for the use of the owners.

 

 

We walked downhill through the Botanical Gardens, which were lush and interesting.

 

 

In the Begonia House at the bottom of the hill.

 

 

David, Jenny and Bill at the rose garden.

 

 

Part of Parliament House, known as the beehive.

 

 

Street art nearby.

 

 

The birthplace of New Zealand's most famous writer, Katherine Mansfield.

 

 

 

 

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Napier back to Wellington.

The National Aquarium is in Napier and we saw a Kiwi here. No photos though!

 

 

A seahorse.

 

 

Close up and personal with a big turtle.

 

 

Lots of Fairy Penguins here. They have all been rescued one way or another.

 

 

Gardens in Napier.

 

 

Taking a tour!

 

 

The Napier Port. Many cruise ships dock there now.

 

 

Our favourite visit was to the Mission Estate Winery, in the hills just outside of Napier. It was established in 1851 by pioneering French Missionaries, the Marist Brothers, and is considered to be the birthplace of New Zealand wine.

 

 

It is in a beautifully restored seminary building

 

 

Bill by the fountain in the grounds.

 

 

The Mission wine barrels.

 

 

Like most of the North Island, it is very windy around this area and tall hedges like this are built to protect the crops.

 

 

Heading back towards Wellington, we stopped at Hastings for a while, where we met Chloe and her friends.

 

That that night we stayed at a peppers Resort at Martinborough, a little town in the Wairarapa wine country.

 

Beautiful grounds.

 

 

Even a hedgehog!

 

 

We set off early the next day to pick Jenny and David at the Wellington Airport. It was a lovely drive through the hills. This memorial commemorates the march that 60,000 of New Zealand's First World War troops made over the Rimutakas from Featherston Camp to Upper Hutt.

 

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