auckland - 2-3
I was stood up, so I ventured out to the city center. Surprised to see so many ethnic food and people, diversed storefronts on the main Queen st. Saw the skytower but did not go in. Not much in terms of architecture. Auckland was hilly and I carried my bottle of water and beef udon up the hill back to the hotel Amora. My room was at the end of the hall, a corner room, spacious with a balcony and kitchenette with stovetop, microwave, utensils, cups and plates, a dish rag and even a washing machine. The hotel amenities will remain thus throughout the rest of the hotels on this trip. there's a view of the top of the sky tower from the room balcony. Little Snowie enjoyed looking out the window. After the meal I read my book, the 7 1/2 deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. A bit confusing but very catching. decided to email Peter for the no show. At 7, he did showed up and drove me across the harbour bridge to the takapuna beach on the north shore in his brand new red mazda. There were still a few people on the beach at the late afternoon hour and one could see the rangitoto island, NZ newest volcano, from the beach. we dined at the Mexico Takapuna on mexican tapas. five spice duck leg soft shell tacos, beef skirt carne asada, Crispy cauliflower florets, pomegranate lamb piccadillo, patatas bravas. our plates were small round metals with handles. very cute. Good meal and good company. In NZ, the bill doesnt come to you on the table. One must pay at the cashier. Back on auckland proper, peter led me through the harbour to get the feel of the night lights and life. It was a quiet refreshing stroll after a 29C hot day with people hassling and bustling. I quite enjoyed auckland.
Flying over from Air New Zealand wasnt too bad. Sitting on an aisle seat, got hit in the head by a glass bottle. Some stupid girl shuffled the overhead bags and caused a bottle to fall on my head. it hit the corner of my left eye. it hurt and i rubbed it throughout the flight. It took about 5 days for the pain to complelety disappear. the meal service onboard was one of the lousiest. No drink before the main meal except for a flight attendant coming around offering water from a water bottle. menu was either beef with rice or chicken with beans. small lousy green salad, suspicious looking pudding, cold bread roll and that was it. soft drinks, juices, wine and tea and coffee came on the same cart, so one needed to ask for a drink for the meal and tea or coffee at the same time. Breakfast was either cold cereal or scrambled eggs with chicken sausage. however, one can order drinks and snacks using the onboard monitor in between the meals. Middle seat was empty, so pretty comfy flight. Saw the latest terminator movie. very bad. did a bit of reading and slept a bit and whosh, the 13 hrs went by. Arrived at auckland at 5:30AM. overcast and a bit cold. The drive to the hotel was up and down very quiet streets, few people out and the city looked gloomy and dead. but after a short wait at the reception, my room was ready. altogether, not a terribly bad start in NZ.
Hobbiton 2/4
After a brief city tour where we only stopped at the harbour to photograph the bridge, we drove to Matamata for lunch. Got some mac n cheese to eat some and save some for dinner. The 2 hours in Hobbiton was like walking in the real Hobbit shire. Eveything was exactly as in the movie (of course, it was the actual movieset) minus the hobbits. of course neither Bilbo nor Frodo was in sight. Our canadian guide was super funny, cracked many LOTR jokes and along the guided tour quizzed us quite a bit about the movies. Saw Bagend (baguette) at the end of bagshot row, and Sam's house. the walk ended at the Green Dragon Inn (where's rosie cotton? oh she got the day off) and I've ordered a ginger beer which by the way, didnt come in pints. Drove south along the east shore by the bay of plenty and arrived in whakatane in late afternoon. Downtown consisted of 1 vibrant lively street with a few interesting stores, all along the river. Our residence for the next 2 nights, the white island rendezvous motor lodge was right on the river. My eco friendly cabin was quite brand new, with a fully equiped kitchenette. rainshower in the bathroom. very comfy bed. private patio with table and chair. Ate my left over mac n cheese there with littleSnowie and we were quite satified and happy. Around 11PM while I was in bed reading my book, the earth shook. 5.8, Welcome to NZ.
Wai-o-Tapu Geothermal and Mud Pools / Whakatane 2/5
The Motel brought breakfast to the rooms/cabins. yesterday we had to choose among the breakfast offered. I chose hot (scrambled eggs, bacon, potato) for this morning and continental (cereal and bread) for tomorrow morning. They messed up Allan's and mine and brought us both the cold breakfast. I didnt bother insisting on hot breakfast since they said I'd get it tomorrow. Hated cold breakfast. It was supposed to be a trip to the White Island today. But since its eruption, it's closed probably permanently. Big major bummer and sour disappointment as I was really soooo looking forward to it. When do we ever get to be on a volcano summit without having to hike up the mountain first? So instead, we did the wai-o-tapu geothermal and mud pools. Most of the pools were spewing smoke. the artist's palette, the champagne pool is a lake with blue blue water and deep orange color rim with white smoke covering it. The bubbles caused by carbon dioxide, created a Champagne-like effect, thus the pool's name. The most far away Ngakoro lake had a minty green color so beautiful. and the very brilliant neon green roto karikitea whose color I just couldnt take my eyes off. this crater is filled with the excess sulphuric water from the Champagne Pool. The vibrant color is a result of a deposit of minerals being suspended in the water and refracting sunlight. and finally the rua pumahu crater lake has a bottom of boiling hot mud and the sounds from this crater were featured in the scenes of Mordor. This area not entirely extremely impressive but I've enjoyed doing all the 3 circuit walks. next the mud pools, literally with muds spewing up like geysers. the entire waiotapu is cashless, so if you didnt bring your atm or credit cards, you'd go hungry as the cafe wont accept cash or you cant buy anything at the gift shop. Bought tshirts and a baseball cap for souvenirs. Got a mince pie for lunch. Thus began my meat pie lunches for this trip. Although they were nothing spectacular (all have the same shape and size and dough, making one believe they're either sold frozen or baked by the same place), i loved them because I simply love meat pies and they are hard to come by at home. next we drove to rotorua, not much to see, just drove by the harbour (why?) and only a brief stop at the government garden which had beautiful flowers and maori status at the main entrance. the blue baths were closed but the building looked very grand in Elizabetean Tudor style.
Back to whakatane in the afternoon for a traditional Te Po Banquet. First we did the Mataatua (the face of god) Marae, the Maori meeting house That Came Home. This marae travelled the world before being rebuilt and returned home to Whatakane. After crossing the portal, we were formally welcomed by a big maori shout before we could enter the marae (no shoes inside). then we sat opposite the maori family and exchanged songs and touched noses with each member of the family. The video they showed on the carved walls of the marae was quite ingenious and creative. It told the story of how the princess whose name I could never remember, saved the people by swimming to the boat which was a tapu (taboo). The entire inner wall of the marae was decorated with wooden statues of maori ancestors. Afterward, we were offered a weak kava kava tea, maori donuts and chocolate cookies. then to the te po which was at a local maori family house. the chicken and pork were cooked in a metal pot with ashes for about 4 hrs. the meat was dry and unsavory. We were offered steamed mussels which were good but not excellent, corn on the cob, baked kumara, the maori sweet potato, and regular potato. The meal wasnt nearly as good as any of the ones cooked in the earth that I had, like the one in wahiba sands or in mexico, or in a luau in hawaii. The family sang and performed the traditional maori songs and dances for us. Sorry, but i didnt really enjoyed either the meal nor the entertainment. Somehow it all seemed too touristy and lacked the real feeling of a true maori banquet or family style. But I've quite liked whakatane, the tiny town next to the whakatane river running into the bay of plenty. it had good vibes, tranquil waters and one could even see the Moutohora, the whale island from the shores of the river, and one could just made out white island from afar.
0 comments :
Post a Comment