Trains, planes and automobiles ~ well, two out of three ain't bad

For those of you who aren't in the know:

I'M ON HOLIDAYS!

Which I'm just a tad excited about - in case you couldn't tell.

Mr Aesop & I organised to visit his dad over the Christmas/New Year period about 6 months ago and consequently, as everything was planned and paid for so long ago, it's taken a while for me to realise that I am actually free of obligations for the duration.

I did a little crazy I'm-on-holidays-dance upon landing in Auckland, however that soon wore off once the three hours of absolutely nothing to do while waiting for our transfer set in.

And thence, onto Napier! An airport only slightly larger than a local country town hall, where I finally got to meet the father of my most favourite man. Hung over from the flight (in an international travel sort of way, not an I've-had-too-much-to-drink way), I didn't really know what to say or do, so, after the initial greetings, I opted for silence and smiling.

We were then whisked around the city centre (such as it is) and shown the night spots (three) and then on to meet the grandparents, who seem lovely, but by this stage I was busting for a comfort stop and well on my way to the land of nod, so I'm hoping I said the right things at the right intervals.

And then, home, real food and bed, ahhhhhhh.

For those of you who don't have the time or inclination to read on, the following is a pictorial essay of where I went and what I saw on my first three days in the country:

Taupo (where we stopped fro lunch and therefore spent most of our time there at a cafe, but the lake's pretty hard to miss)

Huka Falls

Craters of the Moon

Rotorua (there weren't any decent photos, so you got a map instead)
Thermal Wonderland (a lovely aroma of old eggs as well as plenty of nature's wonder)

The next day we drove up to Rotorua, via Taupo and a lot of exceedingly attractive scenery. The land of the long white cloud has long been in renown for its lush forests, magestic glaciers, towering mountains, lakes aplenty and much volatile landscape and the route we took was no exception.

About 10 minutes out of Taupo we went to see the Huka Falls. Where the Waikato River narrows from approximately 100m across to crash impressivley through a canyon a mere 15m wide. The volume of water flowing through often approaches 220,000 litres per second (thank you Wikipedia), this therefore contributes to quite a large amount of New Zealand's hydro-electricity supply (the river provides 15% of all of New Zealand's power).

On the road to Rotorua we stopped to take in the Craters of the Moon, a small but highly active geothermal field, complete with steam vents, bubbling pools of mud and some quite unique fauna (not much can survive with that much sulphur around). There are walkways around the whole area, as the ground temperature can vary from lukewarm to steaming without much warning. Of course, Mr Aesop's father (being the science teacher he is) decided these paths didn't get nearly close enough so we all traipsed off them here and there to get a better view. Depending on where you're standing, some of the craters make eerie sounds (that you can't hear when you're on the path *ahem*). At one point we jumped off the path near to get a closer look at the largest crater, however I discovered quite quickly (through the soles of my flimsy rubber thongs) that the ground was quite warm, so I jumped back on the path pretty quick smart.

After that it was on to Rotorua where everyone (quite literally) has a hot spring in their back yard. Now Rotorua has quite the aroma about it, most closely associated with week-old hard boiled eggs. Charming. Of course, once the olfactory shuts down after a few hours of torture, you are free to enjoy the town and surrounds. We enjoyed a delicious Indian meal for dinner and then went back to our motel to enjoy the naturally heated spa (don't put your head under the water or amoebas might attack your brain - wonderful).

The next morning it was off to Wai-O-Tapu which, according to their website, is New Zealand's most colourful geothermal area. After the few hours that we spent there I can't say that I have any evidence to refute that. It was amazing. Such vivid and surreal colours, with water varying from dirty greys to brilliant aquas and greens and temperatures from lukewarm to steaming and boiling furiously. And all the while smelling like rotton eggs - luverly.

New Zealand really does have quite a lot of unique and varied geography. After the beautiful, wide, brown and ultimitely dead* land of Australia, it's quite an adventure to come to a country that is so very alive**.

After the Thermal Wonderland it was off the Auckland, very briefly, and then on to Waiheke Island, but that's another post for another day. Probably tomorrow. If you're lucky.

*In that, everything earth shattering hapened millenia ago.
**Earth shattering things are still happening today.