On Saturday we took a morning walk in the Redwood forest, which despite being an introduced species seems to fit in fairly well. Certainly a good place to unwind and get away from the noise of the town, though it does get rather cold down in the shade.
We drove further south to check out a few of the local lakes - mostly volcanic calderra (extinct craters), each with a unique colour or attribute. This is Lake Tarawera, which until an eruption some 120 years ago used to come much closer to the viewing site. 
We made it back to the other side of town for the Kiwi Encounter tour, which takes you through a kiwi egg hatchery. Very interesting little birds these, you can appreciate the need for a hatchery when you see an egg next to one of them - the analogy is like giving birth to a fully grown three-year-old...
More fun than the tour itself though was the outrageously camp guide Dion, who I'm sure could only have gotten more excited if he suddenly discovered a that kiwis came in hot pink velour rather than feathers.
We also stopped off for a look around some recent thermal activity in the middle of town at Kuirai Park. Feels somewhere between a movie set and a fantasy land.
We thought we'd be smart and hit the Polynesian Spa at dinner time, on the basis that everyone else would be at dinner. Unfortunately everyone else had the same brilliant idea, so it was pretty busy. Still, there was enough room to find your own personal space, and once we'd figured out which pool wasn't scaldingly hot we settled in for a good soak. Thanks to James and Jacq for the lovely gift, would love to go back again. Eventually the sulphur fumes got overpowering, so we retired for a home cooked meal. Could have passed on watching Vanilla Sky though, should have figured it would be dismal (exhibit A: Tom Cruise, your honour) but it kind of sucks you in at the start.
Apart from hiding all the chocolate eggs on Sunday and making Jo find them, Sunday was a return to normal - drove back early to Auckland to beat the traffic and take care of things around the house like more gardening. Oh - here's a fun one for you: the local councils don't collect garden waste. You have to pay for a private collection service to take away the contents of your garden bin, trouble being that they only do it every 4 weeks, and our bin is already full again after one week. So I'll have to slow down with those hedge clippers...
Love to all, please keep in touch and let us know what you're up to.
Matt and Jo.
1 comment:
Check out "open your eyes" the original Spanish film on which "Vanilla Sky" was based. It is more ambiguous at the end as to whether the guy is just off his tree or if it's a computer, or the classic "and then I woke up" ending. Also, it has Exhibit B: Penelope Cruz in all her naked glory. Well, top half naked, but that's worth the price of a download...
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