ROTA"VEGAS"

Well we had an interesting week.  First our image of New Zealand as a paradise on earth free of any badness was shaken a bit but we finished the week with a fantastic road trip though the middle of the North Island.  The week started off us receiving an $800 electric bill for the month of July.  It was a fairly cold month for here and evidently a few of the floor heaters that we had purchased really chew through power.  No wonder they were so cheap.  I think we have things sorted out and hope to have a bill in the $200 - $300 range in the future.  When we had just about recovered from that shock I woke up one morning to go to a meeting at the hospital only to discover that someone had pinched our 1995 Honda odyssey, a sweet vehicle I'll have you know, right out of our driveway.  Of course we had left the keys and Jenny's wallet in it never imagining that it would be stolen.  It turned up about an hour later stuck on a dirt road about a mile from home, likely taken by some drunk @%$* in the middle of the night, with only the wallet and an old iPod missing.  A bit of a lesson in never letting your guard completely down but I cannot imagine this happening much here in Oakura.

Not letting that event get to us we cancelled the credit cards and packed up the mini van later that afternoon and took off on our planned trip to Rotorua.  Rotorua is situated in an area with lots of geothermal activity similar to Yellowstone and is also known as the heartland of Maori culture.  Being the biggest tourist destination on the north island there is also an abundance of  adventure activities, shows, and cultural experiences to attend.  I have heard it referred to as the Kiwi version of Las Vegas though there really is no comparison.   There are many beautiful lakes near Rotorua and one of our new friends here in Oakura lent us their family retreat on Okareka lake for the weekend.  Another example of the wonderful Kiwi generosity we have benefitted from.

Okareka Lake

One of the touristy shows we took in was an agriculture based one on a sheep farm.  (not quite Cirque du soleil in Vegas)

Skyler picking out dinner

I would have never guessed that there are 19 different types of sheep in NZ

 45 million sheep means 10 sheep for every person in New Zealand

 Next we took a gondola to a mountain overlooking Lake Rotorua for some exciting Luge runs

 Kind of like the alpine slide except you have to steer these and you can pass and bump other riders and they go quite fast.

 Owen was the speed demon, flying off the track several times.

 Owen and I chickened out on the sky swing.  I think they could hear Skyler's scream from Auckland

The neon of Roto"vegas"

 We did get to see a few Kiwi birds at a nightime bird sanctuary.  You have to be patient as they only come out at night.  Interesting that a country would choose a blind flightless defenseless bird as their national symbol.  Not all that intimidating.  New Zealand is likely the only place these animals could survive as there are really no predators, absolutely no snakes in the country not even zoos (one of my selling points to Jenny).  The biggest threat to Kiwis now are possums which were introduced by europeans and cause quite a problem here.

Thanks to the Wilsons for the use of their cabin

 The best mountain biking in NZ is also outside Rotorua in the Whakarewarewa forest.  Excellently created and maintained trails with everything from kids loops to the National downhill course where they hold international mountain biking races.  The kids are awesome on the trails.

 Also there is a spectacular redwood forest there.  These redwoods were brought over from California around a hundred years ago.  They apparently grow about 3 times faster here thanks to the climate and iron rich soil but with the rapid growth the wood is less dense and not as suitable for building with as the California redwoods.  There are also vast forests of pine down here that originated in North America and they have a pretty successful timber industry here as a result

Owen doing the Haka, or Maori war dance.  The farther you can stick out your tongue the more ferocious you are.

Their tongues aren't the only thing the warriors like to stick out.

Loads of geothermal activity in the central north island

 Some shots of NZ highway 30 on the way back to Oakura.

 As we are driving down the coast Mt Taranaki appeared like a ghost coming out of the sea.  A welcome sight as it means we are nearing home.

And of course another sunset over the Tasman

 We had an excellent weekend and on our return we got the great news that Jenny's wallet had been turned in to the police and all that was missing was the few bucks that she had in it.

Alls well that ends well right.

Try and pronounce this place