Saturday, December 29, 2012
Free Unique Natural Attraction in all of NZ Hot Water Beach
30 days of December in the North Island
We are 30 days into this adventure and I finally feel like I can take a break on this rainy New Zealand day. In six days we take the ferry to the south island. We will load up our little campervan on to the big ferry and during the 3 1/2 hour tour we will take in the sights from our prebooked "no children" zoned area. :) First we will watch Wellington disappear and before you know it we will be moving through the Marlboro sounds. Well, that is how they describe it on a clear day.
But I am getting ahead of myself. I should reflect on our last 30 days before jumping in onto the future. Most people tend to spend more time in the south island then the North Island. This is what I have to say about the North. -Subtropical - not to hot and buggy like the tropics, but warm and fun. The ocean is warm/ not hot and is refreshing on a hot and sticky day. The beaches and views on a sunny day are amazing. The low population here makes everything better, "its small town"! Friendly helpful people and very few of them at that! I love the unique rainforests with all the ferns, all the clean water everywhere. All the beaches are pure and have sea shells everywhere because they have not all been pick over buy beach combers. Everyone has a boat, more per ca pita than anywhere in the world. With that said the lakes and ocean are not crowded it is easy to find a secluded spot.
When it rains you head to the hotsprings! We have come across some very nice ones, natural and commercial. My favorite is the Lost Spring that serves cocktails pool side and does not allow children. :) ahhh relaxing... Also, we found Hot water beach to be another awesome rainy day or anyday thing to do. Yes hot water bubbles up out of the sand, great fun and crowded! It was very interesting to meet people from all around the world at this event!
We went to one of the active volcano's and watched it puff some steam, cool. I guess there are about 3 volcano's puffing in the country right now. We also went to Rotorua and got a look at what Yellowstone could have been if it was allowed to be privately owned. $50 bucks to see a mud pool??? WTF. Poor souls. There are only 4 places in the world to see thermal activity like our beloved Yellowstone. 1.Yellowstone, 2. NZ, 3. Iceland, 4. Ethiopia. I feel so lucky to have spent so much time in Yellowstone, that I passed on the Kiwi experience.
I love the agriculture, all the avocados, apples, oranges, lemons, lemoncello, lemon cake, apricots, plums, olive groves, kiwi fruit, peaches, grapefruit must I go on and on! Holly Holstein!! Do we have some dairy cows! I have never seen so many milk cows and it looks like they beat out Wisconsin on the shear volume of cows munching grass! Needless to say there are some amazing cheeses over here! The creamy blue especially! So why then is a gallon (3.78liters) $7.00!!! The locals say all the cows are producing powdered milk for china. Oh and that brings me to fuel, gasoline is $7.00 a gallon too! Thank god our little campervan gets 22 miles to the gallon.:) With all NZ oddities I still feel pretty lucky in this life to see these things and learn these lessons.
But I am getting ahead of myself. I should reflect on our last 30 days before jumping in onto the future. Most people tend to spend more time in the south island then the North Island. This is what I have to say about the North. -Subtropical - not to hot and buggy like the tropics, but warm and fun. The ocean is warm/ not hot and is refreshing on a hot and sticky day. The beaches and views on a sunny day are amazing. The low population here makes everything better, "its small town"! Friendly helpful people and very few of them at that! I love the unique rainforests with all the ferns, all the clean water everywhere. All the beaches are pure and have sea shells everywhere because they have not all been pick over buy beach combers. Everyone has a boat, more per ca pita than anywhere in the world. With that said the lakes and ocean are not crowded it is easy to find a secluded spot.
When it rains you head to the hotsprings! We have come across some very nice ones, natural and commercial. My favorite is the Lost Spring that serves cocktails pool side and does not allow children. :) ahhh relaxing... Also, we found Hot water beach to be another awesome rainy day or anyday thing to do. Yes hot water bubbles up out of the sand, great fun and crowded! It was very interesting to meet people from all around the world at this event!
We went to one of the active volcano's and watched it puff some steam, cool. I guess there are about 3 volcano's puffing in the country right now. We also went to Rotorua and got a look at what Yellowstone could have been if it was allowed to be privately owned. $50 bucks to see a mud pool??? WTF. Poor souls. There are only 4 places in the world to see thermal activity like our beloved Yellowstone. 1.Yellowstone, 2. NZ, 3. Iceland, 4. Ethiopia. I feel so lucky to have spent so much time in Yellowstone, that I passed on the Kiwi experience.
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