Meeting some family
Trip Start
Jan 19, 2006
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Trip End
Jan 19, 2007
Te Aroha,
New Zealand
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
We headed north to a large town on the east coast, Tauranga and Mount Tarawera. Basically the extinct volcano is the dominant feature of the skyline here and is right next to the sea. Were going to do a walk around it but the rain started pelting down again so had lunch by the sea before wandering around the town of Tauranga. Is quite built up here and can tell you are heading towards Auckland and commuterville. Is still nice though.
After that we went further north through some lovely landscape of hills and fields. Is so green here (possibly due to the rain?!) Dave hit the nail on the head when he said 'it is more England than England' as it is so incredibly green and rural countryside everywhere.
We then drove through Matamata which is famous for being 'Hobbiton' in Lord of the Rings (and they milk it as you would do!). You can go and see part of the set that is left of the houses in the hills as it is on farmers land but we decided not to (still trying to save money from our extravagant trips on South island). On the way we managed to acquire a very large stone chip and crack to our windscreen from a kind stone which is incredibly annoying and probably not covered in our insurance but never mind!
Then drove up to Te Aroha to find some of Dave's relatives - have still not worked out exactly what they are but is Dave's dads 2nd cousin so we reckon its Dave's 3rd cousin or something removed or other! They moved out here about 30+ years ago and have a deer farm.
1-Morning by Lake Otekawa
Was lovely to meet them and spend some time getting to know them and about the family. Was also nice to have a proper cooked meal (that included venison and vegetables and not gherkins!) and sleep in a bed.Next day we had a guided tour around the farm to see the deer and how they are organised. Is right next to a river and in lovely flat open space with mountains in the distance each side. Also did some much needed washing and could even hang it out in the sunshine!
Then got taken into town to have lunch at a cafe and a 'flat white' which is a famous type of NZ coffee - like Latte but with less milk. Then had a wander in the bush and got a great view of Te Aroha and the surrounding area. Te Aroha is also famous for more thermal pools but are a bit thermaled out by now! (at that is saying something for me as I love things like that)
Spent some time discussing the family tree and Dave copying parts out for family back home. Still haven't worked out what relation Dave is to them though!
Back home for dinner and had hokey pokey icecream after I had asked where the famous honeycomb icecream was. Of course I should have known it was called hokey pokey - obvious really. Is lovely and lucky we have only discovered it now!
Watched some good telly programmes - 'House' with Hugh Lawrie and 'Boston Legal' with William Shatner. Was so nice to just chill and watch tv for a change (and not be in bed by 9pm!)
