On the Kiwi Trail – Rotorua to Wellington
Our trip to New Zealand, part 3: On Sunday 2 of Mr. Wonderful’s Adobe coworkers rented a car and the 4 of us drove 2.5 hours to the Maori stronghold of Rotorua. The town is built over a mini-Yellowstone of hot springs, mud pools and scalding geysers. A bit too close to volcanic activity for my comfort, but the Maori are a culture of warriors. Balls of steel and all that. Te Puia owns a large chunk of the more active volcanic features and houses a living museum of Maori cultural. We shot video of the big geyser errupting (up to 30 m), saw the endangered Kiwi bird (those suckers move fast!), and took in a Maori cultural performance (poi and warrior dance, again).
I shot some cool footage of the cultural performance. These are really short clips, but enough to give you a general idea. The first is of the opening ceremony, where a man from the tourist “tribe” (in our case a huge guy from Tasmania) stared down a warrior from the host Maori tribe. The second is part of the opening singing number. Note the purdy harmonies.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcPSYzpNzzg]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKtR5Pbof5o]
Monday I wandered around Auckland again and had High Tea at the Langham Hotel. Am considering a new category: High Teas of the World. I might despise monarchy, but, boy!, do I love those Victorian remnants.
Tuesday we flew to Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. I stayed in that night and read. After a week one needs a break from the exhausting adventures of vacation. 
Wednesday Sweetie flew to Australia, and I met my blogging/twitter friend Sarah (AKA rainonroof)!!! It is so much fun having book friends the world over! She showed me around her city. We saw the Beehive and Parliament, climbed up for 360 degree view from the top of Victoria Hill, and strolled through a funky shopping district. She even found me New Zealand yarn. We had a great time chatting about books, books and more books.
After Queenstown and the Routeburn Track, Mr. Wonderful and I flew to the north island (see, Tez, I know there are two!) and stayed on the Viaduct waterfront in Auckland. New Zealand’s biggest city has a similar feel to Seattle, only warmer. Built around the same time and fueled by the gold rush, both cities sport cute Victorian buildings to more modern glass and steel structures. It’s spread out, but the downtown is still walkable (I walked so much my feet nearly fell off). Both cities have skylines dominated by a well-recognized skinny tower. Tourists can’t bunjy off the Space Needle. The vibrant waterfront has a busy harbor with small ferry boats that service the many islands. Sailing is huge in Auckland, and I realized the sailboat-racing hero of my cruise book #2 is a Kiwi.
As usual, Mr. Wonderful had meetings all day, every day, until late at night, so I amused myself exploring the city. I enjoy touring new cities, taking notes on the urban design and special interest in historic preservation. Friday I walked from the Westin on the Viaduct all the way up Parnell Street to the Auckland Museum. The large colonial building lords over the city from the top of a hill, providing great views. It reminded me of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (of Rocky fame). I saw a Maori cultural performance, which was very similar to Polynesian performances in Tahiti. The singing was lovely. The six-member team demonstrated the poi – softball-sized puff balls on long strings that are swung about and bounced off the body – and short and long blades. They finished with the war dance that is widely recognized from the All Blacks rugby games. Afterwards I took pictures of the Maori carvings for future ceramics projects and walked through the giant park grounds of the Domain.
The Domain is 75 hectares in the hollow of an old volcano. It has formal gardens, lawn bowling, and thickly forested paths, like Lovers Walk. A lot of the names in Auckland are English – Albert and Regent streets, I stopped by the Wintergarden, two greenhouses connected by a courtyard with shallow pool, to knit and was photographed by some strange asian tourists. I’m not sure if they thought I was a local or just odd. On the return trip I passed through the Auckland University campus and Albert Park, before finally arriving on Queen Street and locating a Borders. Since I can’t resist a bookstore, I checked out the selection of romance books down under. No Nalini Singh. Mass market paperbacks for $20. AAAAA!!!!
Saturday I took the ferry to the volcano island of Rangitoto and hiked to the top. The volcano rose out of the sea 600 years ago. Trees and brush cover much of the black lava rock. It was hot, but the beautiful 360 degree views were well worth it.
New Zealand is a beautiful pair of islands of soaring mountains and sparkling blue water, friendly people and not nearly enough sheep. We arrived in the picturesque village of Queenstown, “Adventure capital of New Zealand”, on Easter Sunday. This lovely walkable town on the shores of Lake Wakatipu is crawling with international backpackers. A trekking bus drove us 2 hours to the Routeburn Trailhead, where we began a 3-day trek though Fangorn Forest and up rainbow-bedecked mountains. No self-respecting Seattleite would be put off by a little drizzle. Fortunately we made it to the last shelter right before the big guns came out.
I can see why the Routeburn Track was named a Classic Hike of the World. It was gorgeous all around. The hut system allowed us not to pack a tent or stove, though we did have to put up with bear-like snoring. In the future we might reserve spots for both tents and huts so that we can use the indoor gas stoves, but spend the night in a more secluded location.
New Zealand Trip Reads:
Help! I need to stock up my Stanza iPhone library for my upcoming trip to New Zealand (April 10-21). Since Mr. Wonderful and I are going backpacking, I can’t pack too many paperbacks. On the other hand, there may not be a place to plug in my iPhone. When someone invents an ebook reader that doesn’t need batteries (or one that lasts a week without being plugged in), I’ll be the first in line.
