Tauranga, New Zealand

12/31/10-1/2/11

We were in the 2^nd time zone in the world to celebrate New Years, 21 hours ahead of everyone back home in So Cal. We had New Years on the ship. It was a formal night (Richard’s favorite!) (Editor’s note, not Richard’s favorite). They had several parties going on in the bars and clubs – but the central atrium was the place to be at midnight. We secured a prime spot early, complete with our bottle of champagne (courtesy of Princess, for our newlywed game winning), and band playing. At midnight, they released a ton of balloons and streamers from above, and the crowd went wild. It was a fun place to be.

Happy New Year!!!


  The day following was a sea day (probably much needed after the festivities from the night before) and the day after, we stopped in Tauranga, New Zealand. From there, we took a tour into Rotorua, where there is a ton of geothermal action (hot springs, geysers, etc).

We stopped first at a kiwi farm – a requisite stop apparently, it being New Zealand and all. Kiwi refers to the fruit, the people of New Zealand, and the soon to be extinct bird. We went underneath the growing kiwi vines. We tasted some kiwi, and some kiwi wine made entirely of kiwi fruit, no grapes.

                                     

 

We then drove through the winding hills to Rotorua, which is a town on a lake (which was formed from the spring water).

We stopped at Te Puia which is apparently Maori for “tour bus parking”. We saw a Maori cultural performance – Maori, by the way, are the native people of New Zealand. The Native Americans of New Zealand, to be politically correct.

                                                      The warriors stick their tongues out to appear fierce

We then went on to see some crazy geysers (interesting note: Aussies and Kiwis pronounce the word “geezers”. So if you want to see a bunch of actively exploding old people, this is the place). The geysers were unreal – they can spray up to 35m high, or higher. You can get up very close – in fact, the walkway next to it is covered in a steam and mist from the geyser. The entire geyser area is covered in a plume of steam. There are steam vents in the ground all around too. It’s really an amazing sight.

                                     

We also saw boiling mud pools, which look like something out of a movie. Hot gurgling bubbling mud pools.

We saw a couple of kiwi birds – they are nocturnal, so you have to go into a darkened area (simulating night) to view them in action. Action, being a loose definition, as they basically just skitter around. They are sadly close to extinction – thanks to their complete lack of ability to move or defend themselves?

Afterward lunch, we went to some other hot springs areas. Saw giant boiling pools with steam billowing off of them. They are all different colors depending on the amounts of sulfur.

                                           This is what happens when you spend 23 straight days together

Following that we drove back through to Tauranga. There we power walked on a path around a mountain near the port in the beachy port town of Mt. Maunganui, just making it on the boat in time. We were prepared to miss the boat and drive to Auckland, as Rotorua was that cool.

                                     

                               
Note: By the way, for those of you were confused and started googling "alien new zealand" after one of our last posts, no we did not actually see any aliens. That creature pictured is the character "Gollum" from Lord of the Rings. Which was popularly filmed in New Zealand. No, we did no go see where it was filmed, as we have no interest, and haven't actually seen the movies.