Thursday
Mark was working the first half of this week, and couldn't help but notice all the male house officers sporting facial hair reminiscent of a bad 70's movie - turns out it's all in honor of Movember. With Mark away, it was up to Sherry to entertain Cerine. Monday they stayed close to home, and caught New Moon (the latest Twilight movie). Tuesday, Cerine had to go to Tauranga to get a document notarized; they were told at the lawyer's office that they'd need an appointment and to come back in an hour. So, they took the opportunity for a little walking tour of The Strand. Sherry also went to a thank-you luncheon for all the parents who helped out at school this year. Wednesday, Sherry and Cerine went kayaking on Pilot Bay. Sherry lost track of where Cerine was and hurried to catch up to another kayaker who looked like her, but it wasn't! Sherry had tired her arms out leaving Cerine far behind in her wake...lol.
Tauranga Rose Garden
On the railroad bridge over Tauranga Harbour
Jack, Teegan, Deisha, & Ro watering their garden
Ro woke up early this morning, scared of the closet, so we didn't get much sleep. Nevertheless, we were up at 6am in preparation to go to White Island. Ro didn't want to go to school, but we assured him this would be the first and only time he'd ever have to go to school on Thanksgiving! Mark and Cerine's White Island trip was cancelled at the last minute, due to high winds, which would make landing on the island treacherous. We were already on the road when we got the call, so we improvised on the fly and swung south to Rotorua.
Our first stop was the Okere River, a section of the world-renowned Class V Kaituna River, just north of town. We saw Okere Falls, a 2.5m drop that looked especially pretty in the morning light; farther down is Tutea Falls (7m), the highest commercially-rafted waterfall in the world. We continued through Rotorua, detouring west on the scenic route towards Lake Taupo, along State Hwy 30. We paused to take a few pics of the imposing Horohoro Cliffs, then stopped by Lake Ohakuri. We saw "Rainbow Falls" in our atlas near the Ohakuri Power Station, and we searched for them for a good 30 minutes, but no luck. We suspect they were destroyed when the dam was built.
Okere Falls
These cliffs could be seen for miles
Ohakuri, largest lake on the Waikato River
A New Zealand traffic jam
Since Cerine wasn't going to see White Island, we decided on the next best thing: the geothermal park known as Orakei Korako, one of the finest thermal areas in the world. There were several other visitors there who had made the day trip down from the coast after getting bumped from the White Island tour. They were going to re-book White Island for tomorrow, but we had already made other plans (more on that later). After taking the ferry across Lake Ohakuri, we began our self-guided tour of the park.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orakei_Korako
Although Orakei Korako is not as strikingly desolate and alien a landscape as the White Island crater, the thermal areas here were much prettier and more varied, with lots of greenery to break it up. And it's a heckuva lot cheaper than White Island! It would also be better for kids, since you can see the park at your own pace instead of shuffling along with a tour group, listening to a guide. Orakei Korako is also full of surprises, with a new cool thing to see around every bend, whereas you can pretty much see all there is to see at White Island (albeit from far away) standing at the highest point in the middle of the crater. After completing our tour, which wound through at least a couple kilometers of native bush, we thought about hanging around indefinitely waiting for the Diamond Geyser to erupt (it usually does it every few hours), but that would have put us getting back too late for Thanksgiving dinner. There was a call button on the dock that sent a signal to the boat to come pick us up.
Jetboat racing by the Emerald Terrace
Rainbow Terrace
Rainbow Terrace and Hochstetter Cauldron
Amazing silica terraces and crystal-clear, hot thermal pools
The honey made from these manuka flowers is a NZ delicacy, and a cure-all for most of Mark's Maori patients
Cerine and the Golden Fleece
Artist's Palette dotted with beautiful azure alkali chloride pools
Looking out of Ruatapu Cave
The pool in the cave was so clear, you couldn't see the edge of the water
Climbing out of the cave
On the way home, we stopped briefly in Rotorua at Te Puia, a famous Maori arts and crafts institute and home to the Pohutu geyser. It was NZ$40 just to get in the door, though, and we didn't have enough time to do it justice, so we just checked out the extensive gift shop and walked down the block to where we could see a geyser through the fence for free ;) Our last stop was at the giant roadside kiwi at Kiwi360 in Te Puke, something we had neglected to see when we visited with Norma and Carver. After climbing to the top, Cerine put it well, "That's a lot of stairs for a view of...nothing." Basically, you have an expansive view of the roof of the visitor's center, the parking lot, and a bunch of trees.
Te Puia, "our place" to the Maori
One of many geysers at Whakarewarewa
The falafel stands in NZ aren't as good as Rockefeller Center's, but the weather's a lot better
There would be no pecan pie for Thanksgiving this year; when we got home, Sherry and Ro were decorating the pavlova cake with kiwi slices. Ro mostly just helped lick the whipped cream out of the bowl. To give Sherry a chance to finish dinner in peace, Mark took Ro for a brief play in Coronation Park. The weather was quite warm today, and with the kitchen going most of the afternoon, Sherry finally relented and opened Ro's bedroom window to get some cross ventilation through the apartment. We have kept it locked up till now, because it opens onto a wind tunnel/skylight which ventilates to the roof, and features a four-story drop straight down. When we first moved in, we were afraid curiosity would get the better of Ro and he'd take a tumble, but he's a lot more careful about such things now.
Can I help some more, mommy?
A pre-feast stop in the park
These hippos weren't as hungry as we were
Thanksgiving dinner was a little unorthodox, but delicious all the same. Turkey is practically unheard of around here, so Mark had roast chicken, while the vegetarians had a hearty roast vegetable pie and string beans with slivered almonds (a Hill family standby). Instead of the Cowboys or Lions, we watched NZ vs Pakistan cricket. After we were completely stuffed, we retired to the couch with another round of tonics for more Flight of the Conchords.
A Hill Thanksgiving
I want more gravy!
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