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May, 2003 In New Zealand, we toured the Waitomo Caves which has a vast area of naturally sculpted limestone formations with stalactites and stalagmites. Our next stop was the Glowworm Grotto which houses the arachnocampa luminosa, a glowworm unique to New Zealand which emits light to attract food (sorry we weren't allowed to take photos of the glowworms). Then, we explored a Whaka Thermal Reserve which displays gushing geysers, boiling mud pools and steaming underground rivers. Then onto the Agro dome which provided us with examples of life on a sheep farm such as sheering a sheep, milking a cow, and bottle feeding a lamb, etc. We then were able to tour Paradise Valley Springs Wildlife Park that is an open style wildlife park in which the lions are the only wildlife in the park which are not found in the wild in New Zealand. During our visit we also attended a Hangi dinner and Maori Concert, and in our spare time we were able to explore our own interest. For example, Rankin and other folks participated in the luge run ... racing each other down a concrete slope in little metal carts with only a steering wheel and brake. I wasn't there to witness the events ... only the aftermath which after seeing Rankin's pants and multiple injuries, I determined that he must have used the "ass and elbow" braking technique. Though Rankin experienced a few injuries, he still managed to explore the countryside with a couple of the guys with ATVs. A group of girls, oh yeah and Charlie, went horse back riding through the scenic hills and valleys of New Zealand, and met up with Rankin and the other guys near the end of our journey. Everyone seemed to have a great time. After about a week, most of the group returned home. We were fortunate to continue our stay and spent an additional two weeks in New Zealand. While in Auckland, we sailed an America's Cup boat which was an exquisitely smooth sail. We then managed to find our way across town using the local transportation (i.e. bus) where we went to the play "Hot Makata" at the Pumphouse. Finally, it was time to head to the time share in Taupo which is south of Auckland, so we rented a car and after making many wrong turns arrived in Taupo. At this point we needed a rest to recover, so we took a few days to kick back and relax or shall I say recover from our excursions --- shall we say luge events. Once we were fairly recovered, we continued our adventure. We played golf where the holes were surrounded by steaming geysers, went to a rugby game, attended "The Barber of Seville" opera, strolled through Napier on an Art Deco walking tour, visited many wineries in Napier and Hawke's Bay bringing home about 12 bottles of wine, and lastly (actually by far last), we got re-engaged at the "Craters of the Moon". Needless to say, we had a wonderful and exciting trip to New Zealand. The pictures below represent some of our excursions.
Paradise Valley Springs Wildlife Park
Horseback and All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) Riding
Though New Zealand and Australia were fabulous, we had been gone a month and it was time to go home or at least back to Deltaville. |
