TravelStream™ news feed for member elviebird on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/elviebird en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:35:58 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elviebird/nz_2007/1197023280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elviebird/nz_2007/1197023280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elviebird/nz_2007/1197023280/tpod.html Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:35:58 -0500 Chris & Vicki's honeymoon Down Under

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Wellington, New Zealand

It was a very, very long drive to Wellington.

But it was a beautiful, beautiful city. Looks a lot like San Francisco, right on the coast with lots of steep hills rising out of the water and houses all along the mountainside. It's a pity we didn't get to do more there. It was really just a resting point before we went on to the South Island. We did, however, visit NZ's national museum, Te Papa. Lots to learn about geology, biology, ecology, and culture. And we also took the cable car up the hill to a great lookout point, and also the Botanical Gardens.

So, the Botanical Gardens in Wellington make the one in Atlanta look like a weed patch. Seriously. It's not so much tropical greenhouses as it is a series of paths linking different gardens from around the world. My favorite part was a section of natural NZ forest, which looking like something out of the jungles of Jurassic Park. I wish I could describe it more, but its getting late and I need to sleep before we move on tommorrow. However, I loved the feel of Wellington, and if I could ever move here, I would probably pick Wellington (or maybe Dunedin, where we are now, except its a tad chilly here). The Interislander Ferry to the South Island via Picton was gorgeous. Green mountains and blue ocean. Really, what more could you ask for? I wish I could upload the photos...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elviebird/nz_2007/1197022440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elviebird/nz_2007/1197022440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elviebird/nz_2007/1197022440/tpod.html Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:27:56 -0500 Chris & Vicki's honeymoon Down Under

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Rotorua, New Zealand

So I lied in my last post, but only partially. We still don't have free internet, only fairly cheap internet, so even though I am a few days behind, I will try to catch it up. We are now paying by megabytes, so I'm unable to upload any photos.

Ok, on to the Smelliest City in the World (so called by Chris) - Rotorua. We ended up driving there after dark through the Middle of Nowhere again. Still surrounded by sheep and farmland. We knew we were getting close, though, because the smell hit us before we ever even saw the town. Rotorua is famous for its hot springs, namely, sulphur springs, where boiling water naturally comes out of cracks in the surface. Sulphur, if you don't remember from chemistry class, has the wonderful property of smelling like rotton eggs. So the whole town smells like the bathroom after Jeffy has done his business.

Oddly, Rotorua is the first town in NZ to have sprung up on tourism. This is evidenced by numerous souvenir shops all over the downtown area. It really is a beautiful town, and I would to have liked to stay longer if it hadn't been for the smell. We spent one day perusing the shops and eating meat pies. That evening we went to the Tamaki Maori Village for a cultural encounter - a show of sorts, then the traditional Maori meal, or Hangi, which is meat and veggies cooked in a earthen pit. It was very interesting, very slightly hokey, but that was to be expected. Perhaps the best part was that Chris was elected co-chief of our bus, and so had to perform the Haka (war dance). Unfortunately, it was so dark that my photos of that particular experience came out pretty poorly.

The next day we went to a geothermal reserve called Hell's Gate, which is a pretty accurate name. The smell was stronger there, but not nearly as offensive. We walked right up to boiling lakes, boiling mud, and steam coming out of cracks in the earth. Pretty bizarre stuff. The photos we took really do look like some level of hell from Dante's Inferno.

In the end though, we really were happy to leave the odor behind and make our way to Wellington.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elviebird/nz_2007/1196841900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elviebird/nz_2007/1196841900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elviebird/nz_2007/1196841900/tpod.html Wed, 05 Dec 2007 03:14:08 -0500 Chris & Vicki's honeymoon Down Under

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Waitomo Caves, New Zealand

Well... we've moved on from the caves to Rotorua, Wellington, and now we're in Christchurch... bt unfortunately, this may the last post for awhile. Gone are the days of free internet access, so we're relying on internet cafes... and are unable to upload photos or take the time to write entries. For now, I'll just say that everything has been great (except hotel parking in some notable cases). I developed a theory this morning while we were on the Interislander Ferry that New Zealand actually gets more beautiful the farther south you go. If my theory is correct, that means that by the time we get to Milford Sound, my head may actually explode from awe. So far, New Zealand is the most beautiful place I've ever been, with an astonishing diversity of landscapes.

I could write on and on and on about the amazing things we've seen so far, but I'll leave you with this: We were traveling south on a major motorway today along the east coast of the South Island (sheer mountains just fall directly into the most perfect blue-green ocean) and we decided to stop at a little pull-off on the side of the road with a path that led to the beach. There, not more than 10 feet from us, was the largest seal colony on the island. Seals napping on the rocks and playing in the surf, literally close enough for me to touch (which of course I did not, given as how this is mating season and being mauled seems unwise).

You don't see that very often in the States.

Well... hopefully we can get some photos (and better entries) up soon!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elviebird/nz_2007/1196570160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elviebird/nz_2007/1196570160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elviebird/nz_2007/1196570160/tpod.html Sat, 01 Dec 2007 23:44:32 -0500 Chris & Vicki's honeymoon Down Under

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Waitomo Caves, New Zealand

The drive to Waitomo was spectacular. At first the scenery was pretty blah, but once we got out of the city everything just opened up into rolling farmland. You can see for miles (or kilometers here, I suppose) fields of cows and sheep, with a background of mountains. Chris was just awed by the landscape. We definitely understand now why everyone makes such a big deal out of the sheep here. Because they just dot the landscape like little white cotton balls.

We embarked on a 4 hour blackwater caving trip in Waitomo. The Waitomo Caves are home to the famous New Zealand glowworms, really the maggot of a fly that uses glowing excrement to capture their prey. And here we noticed another difference from the States - even though the caves are a major tourist attraction, it didn't seem as commercialized as everything in the U.S. is. The farmers actually own the land, so the caving companies just lease the rights to the caves beneath. We donned wetsuits, then took a short hike through a pasture full of bleating (and eating and pooping) sheep to get to the cave entrance, which in reality was just a vey tight hole in the ground with a ladder descending into the black.

Most of the tour was spent walking, crawling, and wading through stalagtites and stalagmites, really amazing geology. Picture rocks jutting out of the ground at impossibly sharp, knifelike angles and trying to climb over them in water filled boots without hurting yourself. We also had a wonderful float in the middle, where the only light came from the glowworms overhead, which looks a lot like stars in the night sky. In the quiet of a cave, it is awe-inspiring.

That awe, however, was quickly erased during the "cold" section of the cave - where we had to dive in and swim a short section in 13 degrees C (55 degrees F) water. You could feel every single leak in the wetsuit. And it was cold enough to literally take your breath away. By the end, I had never been so happy to see daylight and a hot shower. But it was well worth the trip. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to bring cameras into the cave so we don't have any photos of the amazing glowworms. Not that a mere photograph would do it justice anyway.

From Waitomo we drove on to Rotorua, through literally the middle of nowhere. The biggest town we saw consisted of 2 dozen homes along one road with a convienence store. This is definitely New Zealand farm country, with beautiful scenery straight out of Lord of the Rings. In fact, the place where they filmed Hobbiton wasn't too far away.

Stay tuned for Rotorua... which Chris has affectionately dubbed "The Smelliest City in the World."
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elviebird/nz_2007/1196566320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elviebird/nz_2007/1196566320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elviebird/nz_2007/1196566320/tpod.html Sat, 01 Dec 2007 23:35:50 -0500 Chris & Vicki's honeymoon Down Under

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Auckland, New Zealand

Even when you expect it, it's really hard to fathom how LONG an 18 hour plane ride really is. Five hours from Atlanta to LA, then another 13 to Auckland. Thankfully, Qantas really does cater to its customers with little TV screens on the back of each seat, and movies on demand. It was a pretty uneventful flight except that neither Chris nor I are really able to sleep on planes, and as a result we slept less than 5 hours from when we left Atlanta to when we landed in Auckland, about 42 hours. Customs was very painless, although they had to clean and disinfect my hiking sandals before they would let me in the country. Unfortunately, one of our bags snuck away and went on to Melbourne, Australia, so Chris was minus his toiletries for the first day. We did get it back by the next morning, though.

Our first scare was that our rental car ended up being a manual, even though we had asked for an automatic. Driving on the left side of the road in a strange city is wierd enough without having to worry about the fact that the stick shift is now on the driver's left side. Thankfully, Chris is the one doing all the driving and he only had one forgetful moment (induced by sleep deprivation, I'm sure) where he tried to drive in downtown Auckland on the wrong side of the road.

Auckland was just like any other city, and as NZ's largest, still quite small from our Atlantan point of view. There is a LOT of asian influence here, evidenced by another Chinese, Korean, or Japanese restaurant on every corner. We have noticed that what everyone told us about the Kiwis is true - that they are an exceedingly friendly group of people. Everyone has been incredibly polite and helpful to us, which is very unlike Atlanta where it feels like you're pulling teeth just to get an answer out of someone.

We spent our first day napping, shopping, and recovering from the flight. We were ready to get moving the next day, onto our first adventure at the Waitomo Caves, about 3 hours south of Auckland.
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