Today we did something I don’t think I’ve ever done before–we left the bach (cottage) a day early, left the beach, opting for sightseeing over relaxing. My cottage addiction was over-ruled by my desire to see more of New Zealand.

The town of Whangamata is a wonderful seaside town. The beaches were beautiful and the bach was lovely. But the roads both north and south of the town are curvy, winding two-lane roads that are a bit challenging to navigate, especially shared with big logging trucks.

We started out Monday morning to visit a hot water beach about 50 km north of us. It was cloudy and grey with intermittent rain so we thought a hot water experience might fit the bill. (I experienced a hot water beach during my last visit. At low tide, you start digging in the sand until your pit starts filling with hot water. ) After driving for an hour, I started thinking that I wasn’t keen on repeating the trip the next day so I asked John to see how much further it was to Cathedral Cove. It was only another 10 km, so we decided to continue on.

Cathedral Cove, pictured here, is the location for an opening scene of Prince Caspian, a Narnia movie. The four children were riding a train in England and found themselves coming through this stone arch. John and Anne had visited it in the winter of 2011, but were unable to go through the arch because of the tides. Anne and I got as far as Hahei Beach, but ran out of time to take the 45 minute hike to Cathedral Cove. So it was a “must do” on my list. And it was pretty awesome.

We stopped next in Hahei and also at Hot Water Beach, but missed the low tides there so we were unable to dig for the warm water experience. (I met two travelers from England tonight who’d been there yesterday about the time we drove past on our northward journey. They said there were lots of people digging.) We came back to our bach and enjoyed the tub instead 🙂

Today, after a morning walk on the beach, we drove south to a quilt shop 🙂 and then on to Mt. Maunganui, aka The Mount. It is a busy seaside town on the edge of a huge commercial harbor. At the end of the thin peninsula and the town of shops and beach bach(es) that fill the area is an extinct and very distinctive volcano. Anne and James climbed The Mount on their honeymoon, but John and I opted for a lazy stroll around its base. About 3/4 of the path is between beautiful ocean beaches and rock formations and the pastoral scenes of the green mount, complete with grazing sheep. It really was lovely. We had a nice lunch in town, a bit of exercise and then were on our way further south to Rotorua.

 

 

 

 

 

Rotorua is an inland lake with thermal activity going on beneath the surface so similar to Yellowstone. Initially, I wasn’t interested in visiting Rotorua because mud pools and sulphur smells don’t seem all that appealing to me. It is also a very commercialized area where you can pay large sums of money to roll down a hill inside a PVC ball, bungee jump or race down a mountainside on a luge, none of which interests me in the least.

It is, however, the heartland of the Maori culture and high on Lizi’s wishlist was the Tamaki Experience. My guidebook called it the most glitzy of the Maori shows, but fun. So Lizi and I spent the money and enjoyed watching tatoo’d Maori men and women sing, dance, and look very scary. It was fun and now Lizi is satisfied with her trip to New Zealand.

 

The Maori people are similar to our Native Americans, having arrived about 600 years before the pakeha, or white people that settled in New Zealand. There were the usual battles for land and resources and a treaty that was eventually signed, but not necessarily honored. Although the Maori people have faced some of the same problems as our Native Americans, it seems like New Zealand has embraced the Maori culture in remarkable ways in recent years.  Almost every town and road–at least the ones that don’t sound as if they came straight out of England–has a Maori name and that if you don’t know anything of the language (or pronunciation) you are at a loss (as I most definitely am) in telling people where you are or where you are going. One of my goals before coming back is to learn some basic Maori, especially the rules of pronunciation. Also, the haka, a loud, menacing war dance, is performed before each rugby game by the All Blacks. (Four boys that James’ is mentoring performed a haka at the reception too.)

So we’ve been very touristy today. Tomorrow we’d like to briefly visit Taupo and sail or kayak to the stone carvings. We’ll then return to Cambridge and try to see the Glow Worm Caves at Waitamo with James and Anne before heading to Raglan for Easter weekend with the Bruce family.