Wellington-Auckland

It's Thursday night and we've made it to Auckland with no dramas...although it was a bit of a shock to come into the biggest city in the country (although still feels quite small compared to Toronto). Here's the recap on what's been happening since our last post.

Friday- enjoyed a visit with my second cousin once removed and her family just north of Wellington. We enjoyed a delicious roast dinner (nice for us backpackers!) and watched the Friday night footy on TV.

Saturday-drove north to Taupo. The day started off rainy and cold but cleared up by the time we got to Taupo (small town on the biggest lake in New Zealand...Lake Taupo). So...like the good little campers we are decided to pitch our tent at the local holiday park. It was SO COLD....even more than on the west coast....so didn't really get much sleep. It was cloudy the next day so we weren't able to do the skydive we were thinking of doing either (although I think that was ok for me anyways!). You can dive really anywhere in NZ but it is cheapest to do it in Taupo.

Sunday-Spent the day driving up to Rotorua (only about an hour drive but we spent about 4 hours stopping at all the free tourist spots.) This area of NZ is known for it's thermal and volcanic activity and so there are tons of thermal hot springs and mud pools to see. Got to Rotorua and it was pouring rain so decided that maybe we shouldn't camp and found a cheap double cabin at another Holiday Park.

Monday-Spent the day around Rotorua exploring the free thermal park area in the morning and then went to the Polynesian Spa in the afternoon (a place where you can soak in the hot springs overlooking Lake Rotorua). The weather was clear and sunny and the springs were so relaxing. Monday night we had a traditional Hangi (Maori meal) and watched a Maori concert. We learned about traditional games, songs, the language and we also got to see a HAKA (you know, what the All Blacks do at the start of every game). The meal was delicious...we kind of wished we could have taken the left overs for lunch....haha!

Tuesday-Drove to the Coromandel Peninsula and stayed in Coromandel Town. The drive was amazing! We took the west coast road and it was at times literally right next to the coast (so curvy and hilly). Were the only people at the hostel (until another couple came around 8:30pm)...so pretty quiet night.

Wednesday-Drove around the north part of the peninsula and then over to Whitianga. We visited Cathedral Cove (an area on the beach where the land arches over the sand...like a huge hole in a rock (ok we'll post a picture next time) and then to the Hot Water Beach. This is where you can dig your own pool in the sand at low tide that is HOT because it is thermally heated. We didn't actually dig a hole or swim but we watched others laze in their pools and we could see steam coming from the water. Stayed at the YHA in Whitianga and totally lucked out. We were just going to get a dorm room and then found out that we could stay in a double that had a full kitchen, bathroom and TV. And all overlooking the ocean!!!! It was like our own little apartment and so paid a couple of extra dollars and enjoyed our little home for the night.

Thursday- Made our way up to Auckland today and had no trouble finding the hostel (and they have parking...yeah). Spent the afternoon walking around and then bumped into some friends from the Flying KIWI so are going to meet up with them just now for a couple of drinks.

I am loving seeing new things everyday and getting excited for new adventures everyday. I was so giddy to be in a real city again today and I even took a picture of the mass of people crossing the road...but you have to understand all the traffic stops and the pedestrians get to cross anyway they want...like from one corner to the opposite/diagonal corner....

PS. Getting so sick of .95c spaghetti from a can...It is so sick and we thought we would be real backpackers and buy the canned food that was on sale (like yeah we are only paying 1$ for our dinner....but it is SO gross.) But don't worry we did have a lovely butter chicken curry last night with rice..that (yes mom) we made ourselves...or should I say Brendon made (I did the dishes!).

Swimming in Kerosene Creek (A thermal stream just outside of Rotorua).

Kristin soaking her feet in the same creek.

Boiling hot mud pools which reminded Kristin of the BOG in the movie "The Labrynth". And believe me it didn't smell great either (like sulphour).

Kristin and I at the Polynesian Spa.

This is our Hangi meal. It's cooked on super hot rocks that steam the food in a pit dug into the ground. It was soo good!!! We had chicken, lamb, potatos, kumara (sweet potato), stuffing, salads and desserts.

This is what the west coast of the Coromandel Peninsula looks like....endless rolling green hills.