To Whangamata and beyond...

Day 7 Saturday
FOSTER (and FERRIS – sorry Ferris followers, Lisa isn’t feeling well so my ramblings will have to suffice)

A few days behind again...

Had a pleasant evening at Whangarei with my NZ folk. Ate one of Cushla’s cows for dinner... Thought my asthma was starting up, but woke up feeling like crap with Bronchitis. Fortunately the emergency medical centres here are open more hours than ours (given it was Easter Sunday), and I was seen pretty quickly by Dr Rupert. Worth every cent of the $140 consultation fee!! Hopefully our medical insurance will cover that. 

Arrived at Whangamata around 2pm. This is where Stephen feels most at home – many happy summers as a kid and surfing weekends as a teen. The bach is just as I remembered it... 

 Whangamata

Boogie (our best man at our wedding)and Ellie (his wife) called in. He’s such a lovely guy. Pity we only catch up every ten years or more!

The Ferris’s arrived around 4.30 and the boys all left for a surf.

Days 8 and 9 Monday and Tuesday

The next couple of days were the same story, boys surfed and Lisa, Harley and I looked around the shops, bought hot lunches for our cold men folk for when they returned from surfing (rainy, cold weather), watched movies and read. Still feeling pretty lousy it was nice to just do nothing... 

Day 10 Wednesday

Packed up again and headed south to Rotorua – land of the bubbling mud.

Whilst we did actually see the bubbling mud for free, it is the only thing that has been.

I find it very disappointing that EVERYTHING (craters, springs, mountains etc) all cost money to see. They are natural wonders belonging to the country and its people, and all of them are under commercial operators who charge like wounded bulls.

Rotorua was definitely not what Andrew and Lisa expected. It is a little tired looking and doesn’t really give you the safest feeling.

Izaac was approached on our walk by a kid asking if he smoked weed. Not too sure if they were buying or selling.

The first night we did the cultural experience with the Mitai family. A bus collected us at 6 and we were driven to their property just outside the town.

We saw how the food was cooked underground (Hangi), 

 Andrew's serving

then walked through some forest to watch a reinactment of the Maori warriers in their Waka (canoes). Lisa and I bagsed one each – they are not too unappealing in their loin cloths with their buff bodies (well some of them) and Moko’s (face tattoos),although somewhat fierce looking. 

We then saw some of their traditional Maori greetings and fighting techniques. The women demonstrated some Poi action. A lot of the local Maori language and some rather humorous translations. Izaac adopted a Maori lady sitting next to him as his second mother and was lucky to get some running commentary and translations as the show went on.

57 hours of tattooing on his legs and bum

As expected, we Aussies were the target of a few barbs, though the Maori elder did apologise if the NZ  Rugby Haka scares us and he assures us they are being friendly...

Our hangi dinner followed and was wonderful...even I ate a bit of most things. Even Andrew managed to fill up, though he was still overcoming the shock of paying $36 for their cheapest bottle of red wine.

 With full bellies after the hangi...

Home and a good rest before our next adventure.

Day 11 Thursday

Headed out of town for some fun on the Luge. 

Lisa and I played photographer while the boys luged their way down hill and chairlifted back up 4 times each. The competition was on, but unfortunately for some, the Foster’s were just too good on the day. The Ferris’s may say we had the weight advantage, but we’ll just take the victory....

Lunch and a short wander around the shops before heading to the twilight markets ( mainly local food and crafts) and a lovely Thai meal.

 Boys will be boys....need I say more

Day 12 Friday.

Went to Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. 

Did a 3km walk around observing the “spectacular nature and natural thermal wonderland”. A rather fancy description of some sulphur smelling smoking pools, mineral terrace formations, volcanic craters etc. Was really quite interesting, especially the Lady Knox geyser (or geeza as Andrew likes to say) which miraculously goes off at exactly 10.15 every day – with a little help from some soap powder!

We then headed further south to Taupo - a beautiful city which is host to the largest freshwater lake in the country. We were lucky to get some very nice accommodation as the Ox Fam charity 36 hour walk taking place and I think there are very few places left to stay.

 Lake Taupo