New Zealand: Part 2

December 30, 2009

Woke up in Waitomo at The Waitomo Lodge Motel around 8:00 AM. Had a good night sleep. It was a bit hot in our rooms, but very comfortable beds. Were planning to leave around 9:00, but that’s just not possible when repacking the bags for 5, showering and eating breakfast. And, like Rob says, “We’re on vacation”.

Mark and Erin decided to take off while we finished getting everything together. While repacking we realized that we didn’t have Ella’s coat. So, we backtracked to Waitomo and Spellbound, playground, Curly’s Pub and swings, but never found the coat. Bummer!

The drive to Rotorua was beautiful with green pastures, rolling hills, cows, sheep and horses. It looked a bit as I would expect Ireland’s landscape would look. It was a 2¼-hour drive. The weather was perfect. Blue sky, 70s and big puffy clouds. We finally bought an IPod adapter for the car so that we could listen to music and it significantly changed the kids moods. Yahoo! They were all singing the different contemporary Christian songs and loving life.

As we arrived in Rotorua, we immediately came upon the Kiwi Encounters, which was exactly where we wanted to go. They gave us a bit of a deal on the tickets with the “Family” rate and having an Entertainment Book coupon. This was 45-minute tour explaining and showing the kiwi life cycle and the efforts to build up the kiwi population. The kiwi birds were pretty much becoming extinct as a result of predators so there are these organizations that take the eggs from the wild, hatch them and keep the birds until they are about 6 months old. Some interesting things about kiwis are that they are nocturnal, flightless, the size of a chicken, their egg is the size of an ostrich egg (15% their body weight) and they have a long, pointy beak with nostrils at the end of it. They have a big plump body with a tiny little head and they walk very funny.

After the tour, we went next door to the Skyline Ride. First we had lunch on the lawn under some trees and a glass/cup of wine. Then, we went up the mountain in a gondola. This was a much different experience than the last gondola ride that we had with Jeremy Anderson in Stowe Vermont, bundled up in snow gear and face masks in 0 degree weather. The view on the way up and at the top was beautiful. You could see Lake Rotorua and rolling green hills down below. When we got off the gondola we went over to these big bins and found helmets to fit each of us. I continue to be a bit hesitant to put much used helmets on our heads after the whole “incident” this summer, but we had no choice. Then… we got on our carts to go down the Luge!!! Ella went in her own cart, Amelie went with Rob and Pieter went with me. This was amazing! None of us had ever done this before and then to do with such an incredible view! We first HAD to go down the “scenic” route, which was a blast, and then hopped on a chairlift back to the top. On the way back up, Ella said she would only do the scenic route. Then I heard a small voice coming from the chairlift in front of me, “Fine! I’ll do the intermediate one.” So, next we went down the “intermediate” route. This was faster and steeper, but oh, so fun!!
Our plan was to meet Mark and Erin at Rydges Rotorua, our hotel, around 5:00. When we got there, they weren’t back from their stuff yet (thermals and massages) so the kids and Rob went swimming in the pool. The pool was connected to the hot tubs so the water was very warm. Pieter spent the whole time doing dives/belly flops into the pool. I bet he has a bit of a red belly right now.

Mark and Erin came to our room. They’d had a great day and looked very relaxed. We had a beer and played Bananagrams while Erin showered and then headed to The Amazing Thai Restaurant on Fenton Street around 7:00 PM. Amelie was kind of falling asleep on the bed before we left, but rallied to go and then Pieter fell asleep in the car during the 5-minute drive! When we got there, Pieter cried for about 10 minutes “I want to go to sleep!!” I felt like a bad parent, but knew we all needed some chow. Once Pieter got over it all, it was Amelie’s turn again and she cried the whole time their about how she wanted to go back to the hotel and go to sleep. We had an amazing dinner, none-the-less. I got green chicken curry (yum, yum), Rob got some amazing beef curry, Ella and Erin got tofu pad thai and Mark got some chili chicken dish that was so spicy I felt like I was burning my mouth with fire when I took one bite. It was too much for Mark, but Rob loved it. I left as soon as I was done with my 2 tired chickens who did actually fall right asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow. Poor kids getting dragged all over the place and are completely off their schedules!

Another totally awesome day in New Zealand!

Well, tomorrow is New Years Eve. We might have to make sure some naps take place so that our kids don’t fall apart again.