We've had a luverly time!

Hellooo

Kev has finally arrived and we've all been a family again!

Collected him at Auckland airport on July 7th, just in time for our daughter's 21st! Yayyyy! Had a fabbie dim sum lunch and he's been falling asleep early each evening ever since! Tonight he's still awake and it's the grand old time of 8.32pm - must be finally over it! (He fell asleep on our friends' settee after a sumptuous dinner the other night - ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS LASAGNE!)

Tomorrow he's off to Turner's auctions to look at buying a car - 4 wheel drive thingy to fit in my NEW BOOGIE BOARD (woohooo) and son's future surf board and tents and fushing rods and snorkels and flippers and chairs and sand and mud and shells bits and insects and lots of ourdoorsie things like that!

I'm back to work tomorrow - boohoo - dont wanna go........ However, needs must and all that boring stuff.

Well - we've just got back from a fabbie holiday to Rotorua - thermal smelly land.

Day 1

Left Auckland and made our intrepid way down to the Waitomo Caves via Hamilton. "Now what's special about the caves?" I hear you all ask - well apart from being dead interesting and full of stalagtites (sticking tightly to the roof of the cave) and stalagmites ( that might one day reach up to join the stalagtites) and rivers and things - they are also full of GLOW WORMS!

We began our tour by following our knowledgeable guide through the maze of caves and ended it by sitting on a boat, floating in the pitch blackness through the twinkly worm lit wonderland.

However it was all over way too soon - but was very magical. The worms were just like the night sky except moving ever so slightly so as to make you think there's something not quite right with your eyes and feel in need of an emergency optician trip!

Here's a photo of the exit of the cave:



and here's a piccie of a spider's house in the rocks outside the cave:



After an emergency trip to the souvenir shop to buy tat, we set off full of excitement for Rotosmellyplace. After travelling across ranges, through Hobbit land, past lakes etc etc, the pong announced that we had finally made it!

Our hotel was luverly - we had rooms next door to each other and, after a very strange and rather costly Indian meal (onion bhajis = onion rings with curry flavoured batter!), settled down to watch Sky TV and conk out - shattered!

Day 2

Woke up to another sunny day and after a scrumptuous continental brekkie (which only 3 out of the 4 of us made it to), we set off with our togs (Kiwi word for swumming cossies) to the Polynesian Spa.

Have a lookie see - it was WONDERFUL. The water felt sooo good on the skin, there were pools of different temperatures and it was all outside - in the midst of winter - not bad eh?!

http://www.polynesianspa.co.nz/

Here's what we could see from one of the loverly hot pools - can you see the steam coming out from the opposite shore? Rotorua is full of steam pushing its smelly way out of its various parts of town!



After a fabbie morning lazing around in the pools, we made our way out for lunch to a delectable Italian Restaurant for a very unhealthy lunch of pasta, garlic bread and mouthwatering cakes - corrrrr!

Once we managed to dislodged our sated bodies from the chairs, we dragged our feet onwards to the wonderful Rotorua museum. What a pretty building! We explored it fully - from the basement right up to the roof tops:




Very nice bowling greens!


Here's the very pretty bath house also included in the museum price (where you could have a swum if you'd have known to bring yer togs along).



The museum was very informative - we watched films about

1. the pink and white terraces (the chairs we sat in moved and shook violently in order to recreate the earthquake that destroyed them - causing much mirth and statements such as "lift your feet off the ground - it's more fun", "ha ha" etc (ie totally losing the impetus of the seriousness of said earthquake and causing son to announce that it was wicked and that he was going to have another 'go')
2. and the sad story of the Maori platoon in WWII (very sad).

Here's another link for you to find out more about those luverly long lost terraces:

http://www.rotoruanz.co.nz/information/about_rotorua/history/rotorua_stories_pinkwhiteterraces.htm



Went back to hotel and just snacked on fruit due to being still VERY FULL from Italian lunch (world cup winners by the way - we watched the match from the comfort of our hotel beds that morning!)

Day 3

Another sunny day dawned and we set off full of excitement for the LUGE!

It was GREAT fun. We had 5 goes each and rounded it all off with a ride on the Sky Swing - woohooo!

SKY SWING: Thrilling and exhilarating ride of 120kph with a spectacular view of Rotorua City and lakes, special designed safety harness.


This is what we were strapped into! It was sooo much fun - had the giggles for ages afterwards. We screamed our heads off when Adam pulled the string that let us go and swung us 2 seconds later at 120kph over the hillside! Bought the DVD of it - you can just see the camera on the top rhs of the photo - we were HILARIOUS!

Slept very well that night - after a soak in the hotel's private spa bath and a swim in their cute little loverly warm pool.

Day 4

Woke up to a miserable day - dull and rainy, but never mind. We went for another lovely breakfast at the Fat Dog (huge pieces of toast!) - I had porridge today! Kev had eggs benedict, Corrie scrambled eggs and Adam French Toast - all BIG PORTIONS (we didn't order big - they just came like that)!

Poem on the toilet wall was all about worms! Read it whilst dutifully washing me hands!

Moved on to view a very pretty church, buy some lovely Maori wood carvings and to eat lunch next to the lake whilst watching loads of black ducks and 6 black swans. We threw bread at them during odd intervals. The sea gulls were very good at catching the bread in mid air and we all spent many happy minutes entertaining ourselves by throwing the bread in different ways in order to catch them out - they were very good and way too quick for us!



The afternoon was filled with a visit to a Maori thermal village and further smelly steamy holes in the ground, bubbling mud, strange coloured pools and geysers!

We left Rotorua around 2ish and made our way back home to Auckland.

Guess what! We made a stop in Hamilton for snacks of sushi and leg stretching and I found a boogie board in the sales - yayyy - a real one - just need the short flippers now - dying to use it! Roll on the warmer weather!

Well - that was us and our little break away - really enjoyed it and thanks to everyone who recommended the various eateries, sights and hotel.

It was great.

Fun word of the week is no longer Titirangi (ha!). It is now Puinui (pronounced pooey nooey). Isn't that a cool fun name! One drives through it on the way to the airport one does.

I have another fun word for next week, but must get the spelling right first.

Oh eck - back to work tomorrow - sob sob!

Will speak soon.

Tara!

x Sue