The Thermal Village

We spent a day visiting the Thermal Village. This is a Maori village that is open to tourists but is an actual proper place where they live still! It was fantastic and we had a very handsome guide with a deep rich voice.

This is a view of the village across the geothermal landscape and the sign with it's full name - and at only 36 letters it is quite short up against the winner with a name of 87 letters! And we couldn't even pronounce the shorter version on the brown sign.

This is the Maori meeting house next to the Catholic Church. When the Christians came (according to our guide!) they thought that the Old Testament was similar enough to their beliefs so they went along with it. (Mind you - shouldn't that make them Jewish!?) Anyway, the chief had to decide. Will we be Anglican or Catholic? And his final thoughts were.... "You on my right hand side will be Catholic...and you on my left will be Anglican" And so it was!

Due to the heat in the land all the bodies had to be buried above ground so it gives the graveyard a very odd look.

Some of the earlier houses they built were only for sleeping in. They used the local fern trees and they were very sturdy.

Part of the trip was a cultural show. It was completely entrancing. The music is so rhythmic and they introduced guitars to attract the younger members of the tribe. We even had to join in and sing a song about the Maori vowel sounds.

This is Pohutu Geyser or the "Big Splash". It erupts between 10 and 25 times a day and can reach 98 feet high. When we were there it just kept going for well over half an hour continuously erupting. The only thing that spoiled it was that the view of the water was often hidden by the steam, but it was fantastic.

Mud pools in the village.

This is the "Champagne Pool" where the steam rises to give you a facial; it helps with hay fever and sinus problems; and then bubbles just like Champagne!

We had a Hangi Meal which is all cooked in muslin bags or pots put into the steam under the ground and cooked au natural! It was lovely and the meat was so tasty and fell off the bone.

The whole place was fascinating and when we got back to our hotel we had a mineral bath there which was very relaxing. The water was warm and it left your skin all smooth (and turned my silver ring black / purple!)

We are now in Auckland staying with Dave and Steve (and doing the washing!) until we do a round trip via Gisborne and Napier. More details to follow.

Gordon's Birthday in Rotorua

Happy Birthday Gordon! And as a special treat we went on a "Duck" trip, the WW2 amphibious vehicle that his Grandfather drove. This was our 6th trip on one and it is a bit of a passion! We particularly like the duck whistles you get to frighten bystanders!

The trip took us through parts of Rotorua and into 2 other lakes. We were unable to go into Lake Rotorua itself as they re having a terrible water weed problem here in NZ and these must not be transferred from one place to another.

It was a good trip and even the sudden down pour as we went into Blue Lake did not deter us.

After the trip we had a walk around Sulphur Bay which is a nature reserve and a geothermal landscape. It really smells bad at times but apart from the occasional dreadful pong the constant background odour is not at all unbearable.

One of the parks by the Lake is called Government Gardens and was absolutely delightful. There were old bathing pools, one of which is now a museum, ponds, rose gardens, statues and bowling lawns.

One geothermal hot spring which made us laugh was called "Rachel's Spring" after a lady from the UK who came over and started advising people on the youth bringing properties of the water! Not sure if it was true or went down well but she built up quite a reputation for herself. No comment!

Hobbiton in The Shires

On our way to Rotorua we stopped off at the Alexander Family Sheep Farm where there is 1200 acres of land with 13,000 sheep roaming around! We got there just in time to catch the 11 am tour and jumped on the waiting mini bus. I got to sit in the front seat which was exciting. Our guide, Theresa drove us past the "Animal Kingdom", the technical carpark and the movie star caravan park - but these where only signs on the land which had been returned to farm use.

Then went into the area where Hobbiton had been filmed. Theresa was a great guide and knew all the stories about the film such as the second time that Gandalf hit his head in Bilbo's house was unscripted but it looked so good they left it in!

This is Hobbiton with all the hobbit houses built into the hills. Only exteriors were filmed here so they are filled with soil and are built of ply wood!

One of the houses had been "made safe" for the visitors. So here is the view across the Shires from Bilbo's house (with some human in the way!) and Gordon in the front door.

One of Theresa's many tricks was taking this amusing photo for us!

We saw the "Party Tree" and the "Lightening Tree" (the scream you hear when the dragon firework goes off is another unscripted part left in); where the mill, bridge and pub were; and where Gandalf comes into view on his horse and cart. In all it was fabulous.


At the end of the trip we saw one of the sheep being sheared and then got a chance to feed one of the lambs. So sweet.

And as a grand finale, after seeing the sheep on the farm; being sheared; and being fed we thought we would finish off by eating one and had a yummy lamb burger and kumara chips for lunch. The chips were made from a local sweet potato and are far better that potato chips!

Wellington, Wellywood, Wanganui and Wet, Wet, Wet.

After we had sailed over from Picton we spent a day in Wellington - the capital city! It was a lovely hot day and the place is full of fabulous buildings, shops and cafes. There is also a harbour (obviously - we came in by ferry!) and lots of water activities. At the end of the day we ended up spending 3 hours in the museum which was varied and very interesting. This is a modern built Maori Meeting House that is so beautiful.

The following day we went to "Wellywood" which is the film capital of New Zealand. We visited Weta Caves which is a special effects company that works closely with Peter Jackson amongst others. Loads of fabulous models, costumes and other artifacts to both look at in a mini museum and purchase in the shop. This included original Lord of the Rings armour.

Dr Grordbort and his Victorian Ray Gun - soon to be made famous on the silver screen.
Do we need to label the other photo, my precious!


On our way out from Wellington we stopped at a town called Otaki that had the finest Maori church in NZ. The combination of Maori art inside and a familiar Anglican exterior was unusual but worked. We also saw the meeting house there to add to our Maori pictures.

Next stop was Wangatui where we spent a couple of hours before tea exploring. Again loads of fabulous architecture, museums and parks. The thing that intrigued us the most was walking into a hill through a tunnel dated 1916 where a lift dated 1919 took you up inside the hill to the top from where you can climb 176 steps to the top of a tower commemorating soldiers lost in the world wars.


This is us at the top of the tower!


From there we hit rain, rain, rain. At one stage it looked as if the road we were on would flood. This picture is at New Plymouth and is the least of the bad weather!

We carried on in the rain to Hamilton. On the way we stopped off at The Kiwi House to see a Greater Spotted Kiwi and a Brown Kiwi as we knew would never be able to see them in the wild!


While in Hamilton we went to see the Bridal Veil Falls. This is an example of the good side of the rain - as the falls were in full flow and hitting the pool from 180 ft above.


Back in Hamilton we went on a boat trip along the river and then found the "Riff Raff" statue. It is of Richard O'Brian (in character) who worked there and was inspired by his job at the cinema to write his hit - and those of you who know Rachel well should be able to work out what the show was!!

We are now off to spend a few days in Rotorua for Gordon's birthday - should be some good pictures there!