Waitomo to Wellington

So when I last logged in we were in Auckland. I no longer have any idea what day it is so will just tell you about what we've seen since.

Waitomo Caves
Amazing caves with very cool stalactites and mites and then you descend to water level, get in a little boat that the guide then navigates through the caves by pulling on ropes suspended from the ceiling. The ceiling was covered in tiny specks of light - all little glow worms!! It was so cool.

Rotorua
Then we drove on to Rotorua which apparently is where the Earth's crust is thinnest. Our room overlooked the famous Geyser and the mud pools (at night you could hear the 'blub, blub' of the mud pools). Only thing is the smell takes a little getting used to. Then you enter a shop, look around and as you leave you have to get used to the smell all over again! We had a Diamond Pass for Rotorua attractions and luckily the nice people at the Geyser centre let us start using it a day early. So we went and looked at the geyser from closer quarters and around the Maori centre there.

Next day we headed to the Agrodome which is all about sheep - our expectations were low and we were very surprised at how good it was. They showed us the 19 breeds of sheep there are here in NZ, demonstrated sheep shearing (for which they get paid $1.50 per sheep - currently a dollar is about 40p!!!!), showed us the dogs as well, which walked all over (yes over) the sheep. After that we went on to the Gondola ride to take a look at lake Rotorua from above. I also decided to have a go on the luge ride they had there which was great fun. From there it was on to Paradise Springs which was a fascinating wildlife park where I had Wallabies, ducks and even a blackbird feeding out of my hand! We were also in time to watch the lions being fed. They really are amazing creatures although I think Mum is now getting a bit fed up of my lion roar impressions!! The final activity was the Polynesian Spa where we decided to pay an upgrade fee in order to go in the Spa pools rather than the general admission pools. There were 4 pools all thermally heated and looking out over the lake.

So much achieved in one day and we didn't feel like we'd rushed any of it. We did walk the 3kms into town and had Thai for dinner. We felt the walk there and back is making up for the lack of swimming and gym time!

Wellington
We were on our way today at 8!!! Yes Mum is ensuring I'm up and about early. Gorgeous blue skies and sunshine and a balmy 19 degrees! Mum took the first leg of the driving and I took the second. We stopped in Foxton for a spot of lunch and then took a slight detour to Otangi beach. I don't think I've been paddling in November before - I certainly have now. The beach was covered in Scallop shells and I mean covered and the sand was so black.

Finally into Wellington about 4. We've dropped off the car early as everything here is within easy walking distance and at least then we know the car is safe. We're here all tomorrow just looking around, may visit the Parliament buildings and the national museum. We've already managed to go up the gondola this evening. Then we head off to the South Island the next day (Thursday??) and after the ferry join the Transcoastal train.

I realise I've whistled through all of that and have not put pictures on today but I've come down without the camera and wasn't sure how long the Internet credit would last. I'll come down again tomorrow and hopefully add a few pictures.