May 13, 2014 To Rotorua

Veronika, owner of the firm we are using for our adventure in New Zealand picks up bright and early (This year that means 9AM!) and she proves a fountain of knowledge. Like sponges we soak up all we can learn while looking out at beautiful scenery and we say to Veronika,"this is beautiful!" "Not really" she says, "Wait till you see the South Island, now that is beautiful!" Damn. New Zealand, according to our guide, has been described as just a "big farm" and maybe so. Auckland is about 1.5 million and the whole county is only 4.5 million all together. Lots of space and little towns with feed stores and such. I think the folks are blessed with this life in this beautiful place and we still have much more to go.

Next stop is Rotura and we stop in land of volcanic activity that surpasses anything we have seen. Pots bubble, holes appear, lakes of hot and green and blue water and it is just fascinating. Steam vents all over the area and we know Mother Earth is not yet done with her work and the people in this area just live with what she offers.

So we go on and we land in a nice hotel with charm and close to a Maori settlement and we head inside to learn more. It started out cheezy but you know, we enjoyed it! Not unlike the Hawaiian dances but the men do the war dance and when they roll their eyes and stick out their tongue I got scared. Good thing that Cook guy discovered the place cause I would have just gone to the next island and see if they have a better attitude. We eat pig and chicken baked in the ground and have a happy tummy again.

We recorded a video of the native Haka dance for you!

But wait, there is more. With a few flashlights we head out into the wild and gather around a pool and off go the lights and on come the glow worms! Real honest to goodness glow worms which what dude glow worms do to attract the ladies. Must work cause there a ton of them. We get a closer look tomorrow at these worms. Speaking of tomorrow, its time to hit the hay, tomorrow is another day.

 

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