Tuesday 5th
In the morning we woke up early as we had some tasks to do before Shamil arrived. We went to the post office near Green Lane to give in the passport form, but apparently they would not accept the new form number… After a little messing around we decided that it would be easier to go to the British Consulate in the city later in the day to get to the root of the problem. We drove to Sandringham and the market near there, getting some fresh food getting back early enough that I thought we should go to the Library and get our Library cards – they are really helpful here. We managed to get home dropped off the food before heading to the airport. We arrived in time as Shamil had just cleared customs and come out. It was pouring by now – Shamil had definitely brought the weather with him – so we just headed home and made ourselves comfortable and had pumpkin soup for lunch. We were going into the city to sort out the passport issue but Shamil was a little tired so we let him rest and left (he wasn’t impressed with the weather!), but luckily Bhavni said lets try another post office – the Newmarket one. I don’t know what the person behind the counter did, but somehow she managed to get the system to accept the form. So we were back home sooner than thought – only to find Shamil pretending to sleep in a our cold house! (its the NZ homes!) Dinner at Home – I made Beetroot Risotto.
Wednesday 6th
We left at around 8.30am catching the SH1 and SH2 south. We stopped at a disused gold mining area somewhere near Kaimai Mamaku Forest, where there were some ruins across a bridge. Here Shamil and Bhavni took lots of photos till I had to drag them away so we could carry on. We headed past Tauranga, (the sun had come out and the beaches looked inviting), stopping at Wairu to buy a MP3 connector and finally with Shamil’s choice of music (oh oh) we carried on to Rotorua (mmm the smell of sulphur!). We checked into the Kuirau Lodge. Now that we were late…we decided to forego lunch and head to the Whakarewarewa Thermal Village, getting there just in time for the afternoon Mouri culture show (where Shamil convinced us that we were having a private show just of the three of us…only to find that we were the only ones waiting outside for a show that was already in full process indoors). We had a tour of the village (Te Whakarewarewatanga O Te Ope Taua A Wahiao meaning The gathering place for the war parties of Wahiao) and the use of the thermal waters for cooking and daily life. We saw the famous gysers erupting, but the weather had started closing in so the skys were grey. (all Shamils Fault – for bringing us the great British Weather, in addition to all the goods we had asked for especially the Velan)
When we finished we went to the Polynesian Spa, where after catching a quick bite to eat we spent the next 3 hours in 38-42 degree hot water watching the light fade away by the lake Rotorua. After getting to the hotel and changing it was dinner time and after much contemplation we settled on the Mexican restaurant called The Mexican – fresh torillas yum, The yet hungry – Bhavni and Shamil wanted deserts so we went to a posher place afterwords. Back at the lodge in the British spirit – we watched the Queens Jubilee Concert.
Thursday 7th
In the morning we went for a walk around Kuirau Park looking at the thermal pools there which were really nice, then having got some food (award wining pies apparently), we drove down the SH5 and SH1, where we stopped just near Toupo at the Huka falls. 7 Olympic sized swimming pools of water per minute. Just outside Toupo there was a look out point where we got our first real look at the lake and how massive it was. We carried on past to Turangi where we stopped for a late lunch – toasted sandwiches and chips. There was a tourist I-Site here and when taking to them we were advised to go into the national park on the mountain drive, and not just drive past on the desert road as we originally planned. Driving there we stated to get glimpses of the mountains (well volcanos) – they were sheathed in cloud but everynow and again parts were visible. When we got to the village on Mt Ruapehu we changed and went on the waterfall walk there, which was meant to be a 2 hour walk. Shamil and Bhavni went into photo overdrive here! The walk was brilliant – rugged terrain, sweeping vistas and forests. We got to the falls (9m high) and had a sit around though we got slowly wet with the sprey. When we were nearly back, Shamil realised that a part for his tripod attachment had gone….
As it was getting to sunset I drove further up the mountain road, but still driving we were nearly into the clouds so the view below was disappearing, so we headed back down towards lake Toupo. Getting to the main roads, the view of Mt Ngauruhoe was brilliant with the cloud disappearing and the red reflecting of the snow, so we took many photos. Driving to the Omori villages and checking in, we warmed up and got ready for dinner which was at the on site restaurant. It was a slightly strange meal (well I enjoyed it – but it was incomplete), grilled Holoumi and fried Camembert with salad. I enjoyed the wine and the deserts we nice. Well they threw the bottle of wine in after we pointed out the weird food. We had a really amazing view of the moonlight on the lake.
Friday 8th
We woke up early to catch the sunrise over the lake. After checking out we drove north stopping at Taumarunui for some food at a cafe, before driving to the Waitiomo caves, stopping at a few places where the scenery was amazing. We bought tickets to two caves – first the Glowworm cave. As we were waiting, Shamil being Shamil suddenly said ohh no – looking at him he looked in a small panic and said he forgot his glasses – he was wearing his prescription sunglasses, but it was too late to go back. In the cave we had a guide showing us the cave and some of the formations before we had a boat ride in the dark seeing the expanse of blue light from the glow worms – well Shamil trying to see through his Sunglasses. After we went to the Aranui cave (Shamil had got his actual glasses on now), which had some really large stone formations and was quite a large cave.
After the caves we went to a place which did horse riding, but it was too late in the day as it would be an hour trek and the horses took an hour to get ready. Its something for the future. We drove back to Auckland, stopping at a small Cafe for some dinner.
Saturday 9th
After a lazy morning we drove near to The Domain and we went to museum spending a bit of time there. I made Shamil walk all the way to Queen Street, which was a bit of a distance, but we got to a camera shop in time for him to get the tripod part. We caught the bus back to near the car and got ourselves take away Thai from De Grande and got ready.
Driving to Sky City we had a couple of drinks before we entered the theatre to watch the play “A Shortcut To Happiness” by Rodger Hall, which is a comedy “Ned’s life is just tickety-boo. Sure, he’s adjusting to retirement and life on his own, but he’s very comfortable with his lot. All that changes with his offer to sort out the financial woes of Natasha, an attractive Russian immigrant.” It was a funny play – lots of local humour – though we got nearly all of it. Afterwards we had a little drive around the city and across the harbour, but the rain reduced the views somewhat.
Sunday 10th
Being the last full day, we did not want to do too much running around, so we drove around to St Heliers Bay and parked there, slowly walking to mission bay, as Shamil was teaching Bhavni about using the SLR. At Mission Bay we stopped for a bite of lunch – Italian. On the way home we went shopping for some ingredients and made home made pasta – ricotta and spinach tortellini.
Monday 11th
Bhavni and I woke up early as it was her first day at work. Shamil woke up to say hello and bye to Bhavni before she left, before going back to sleep. After dropping Bhavni I had a couple of hours at home, before I had to drop Shamil to airport.
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