My trip to New Zealand, Feb-March 2007.
[Draft - Version 1.2 - 14 Mar]
Friday, 23 February
Arrived bright and early in the dawn light.
Went to Richard's and dumped off my suitcase. It was time to change to shorts & tshirt and convert to the daypack. I was scheduled for an 11am deep tissue massage.
And ohboy did I need it. While Richard had his massage, I spent my time wandering out the shops buying souveneirs and looking around.
Afterwards we went to this neat restaurant for a late lunch. For some of their dishes, they bring the meat out raw with a heated rock, and you cook your meat on your rock.
We bummed around for a bit until it was time to go to Spookers. Can you say haunted house and haunted corn maze? While I did not wet myself, I had a jumping good time. I'm not quite sure if the group who were scared shitless of the chainsaw guy could say the same... they did scream and run around a lot.
Saturday, 24 February
I couldn't go to New Zealand without trying to find some caches. Looking through my list, I settled on one at an interesting site, to pique Dibby's interest. We went to Musick Point. A site on the eastern shore on which sits a radio station building. When we arrived it had been a bit drizzly, but was clearing up, which I am sure made the wedding party that was there very happy.
We took a grassy route back into the brush, mostly to avoid the wedding-goers. Once there, we poked around for about 10 minutes before I finally figured out where it was. Tree cover messes with reception, so once I was in the right area, I needed to look for things that may look "out of place". I dropped off the Pelican TB I'd picked up in Australia and grabbed a green lizard guy to take back with me to the states.
After replacing the cache, we went to the cliff edge and looked out across the water. Lovely view. Our stomachs let it be known that it was time for lunch, and onward we travelled.
We stopped at a food strip along the beach, just south of Bastilon Point. I noted the cache on my GPS and we figured we would take a look after lunch. Settling on individual pizzas, we took them over to the beach side and ate, tossing bits to the birds. Entertainment!
Afterwards we headed over to Bastilon Point. A short walk into the brush and we were at ground zero. Which contained no cache. :( I stubbornly looked for over 15 minutes, but finally conceded defeat. [The cache was later verified as indeed missing.]
That was it for the day. I was tired and I don't really remember what else we did with the evening, but I bet it had to do with WoW or watching Red Dwarf.
Sunday, 25 February
A day of complete and utter rest. Didn't even get out of my PJs. Spent it playing WoW after a rough night with "monkey music" keeping us awake. [I think the music finally stopped around 330am]
Monday, 26 February
It wasn't very windy today, so we opted to go to the Sky Tower and try to do the jump. Unfortunately for Richard (or perhaps we should say fortunately?) he didn't come in under the weight limit. I was jumping solo.
Timed for a 2pm jump, I wasn't too scared until I was standing on the edge of the platform. Hooked up to cables... High up in the air. Once you're hooked up to the cable you're to ride on and holding onto the side cables, you are so over balanced that the only thing you can do is "let go and step forward off the platform". *gulp* *let go* *step off* I'm FLYING! You come to a stop before you go too far so they can take a photo of you dangling in the wind, and then down you go! It was exhilirating. I would have jumped again (for free!) but I crash landed (which thankfully did not end up on tape) and feared that a second time may leave me with more than just "twinges".
After a nice lunch, we headed over to Kelly Tarlton's so that I could spend some time with the penguins. Their squarium is really nice. I should go to the one in Baltimore to see how it compares, as KT's was REALLY COOL. [And that's no pun!]
Tuesday, 27 February
Spent the day doing nothing in particular. Richard had a job interview midday, so while he was at that, I worked on catching his shaman up to mine. When he got home, I'd gotten him into an SM run. He took over and I joined in on my shaman.
Afterwards we decided it would be just as good a time as any to go to Minus Five Degrees. A bar made entirely out of ice. It was very COOL [Pun intended!]. We were the only two in there for awhile. The 30 minute time limit is more to prevent visitors from freezing toes than to keep people from outstaying their welcome. Even with a heavy overcoat and gloves, I was feeling quite nippy by the time we left to obtain dinner.
Wednesday, 28 February
Time for a side trip! We got up early and headed for Rotorua. Nothing special about the trip down. We were greeted in Rotorua by the wonderful smell of sulphur. We obtained a hotel room (with a hot tub that we never used) and grabbed a bunch of attraction pamphlets. Putting our feet up for a few minutes, we looked through them, weeded them to "must do", "want to do", and "i don't think so" piles, then determined where to go in order to best utilize the time we had.
So, for the rest of today, we settled on Rainbow Springs & the Kiwi Encounter, the Skyline Gondola (and possibly Luge), and then a rest in the Polynesian Spa pools.
We got to Rainbow Springs right before a Kiwi encounter tour and it had space for us! So we did that portion first. It was really neat, learning about how they take eggs from the wild, incubate them, and raise them from hatchlings so that they're large enough to fend for themselves. We got to see a baby Kiwi being fed! In the "night room" we stood mere inches from Kiwi in their "runs". No glass!
Afterwards we toured through the Rainbow Springs. A nice enjoyable walk through native plants and creatures. In their aviary we got up close and personal with one bird who felt the need to sit on the arm rail, mere feet from us.
A bit of obligatory shopping in the gift shop and it was off to the Skyline Gondola. When we got there we took one look at the display luge and individually decided no way in hell. Dibby said I was more than welcome to go down myself, but I just looked at it and it was very easy to imagine crashing the flimsy looking thing and breaking something. No way! Just take a ride up and enjoy the view.
What we did do at the top was use their little rifle range. 20ish pellets and a gun with a scope on it and I was able to hit most targets. And apparently I "shoot like a guy", which I found interesting, as previously I'd been unable to hit things... but that was without a scope. The directions for the tin targets said to hit them in the body, but I discovered that if I hit the chicks and ducks in the body, they wouldn't knock over, so I aimed for the heads. THEN they knocked over.
We wandered through the gift shop, then over to a bungy swing. I tried to convince Dibby to go on it, but no dice. So we rode the gondola back down so we could head to stage 3 of our evening, the spa!
We got into the large 39C pool first, but there was really no place to sit and it started feeling chilly, so we moved onto the other area, which had smaller, but warmer pools. Bypassing the 40 as it was fairly full, we went into the 41C. Bliss. But it felt a bit too cool quickly. So we moved over to the 42C. We couldn't stay in that one for very long as it was entirely too warm. The 40C pool had cleared out, so we spent over an hour lounging in it. Sooo nice. Well, until we went over to the little rinse off shower thing which was ICE COLD. Brrr. We'd been watching people use it and figured it was a bit cold due to their reactions, but boy I was not prepared for how cold it really was!
Feeling hungry, we went to this place called Breakers. They had a pool table, so after dinner we engaged in a couple games of pool. I lost the first, discovering that I was playing against someone GOOD (nevermind that I kept accidently knocking his balls in). The second game, I won by default, as he sunk the 8 ball a little too soon. haha. The third game... *sigh* He had the game won before I had managed to sink even one of my balls. I spent some time practicing shooting on what was left, and then it was time to consider bed.
But we didn't go to bed yet. We'd brought a couple DVDs, so we stayed up watching those while praying the guy on the other side of the wall would stop snoring long enough for me to fall asleep. We watched Superman Returns and another movie that I do not remember the name of. (And sadly, do not remember what it was about, either)
Thursday, 1 March
Early start, but not too early.
Wai-O-Tapu - Geyser & really long walk
Cross country drive to Waitomo Caves
Glowworm Cave tour (incl boat ride)
Drive back to Auckland and play WoW. :D
Friday, 2 March
Auckland Zoo
Saturday, 3 March
Trip to walk on the beach and collect sea shells
Attempted to find some caches.
Stepped into the mud
Found muggled cache at the botanical gardens
Found second cache
Tried to wait out a pair of kids for cache #3.
Played WoW.
Left for home :(
[Draft - Version 1.2 - 14 Mar]
Friday, 23 February
Arrived bright and early in the dawn light.
Went to Richard's and dumped off my suitcase. It was time to change to shorts & tshirt and convert to the daypack. I was scheduled for an 11am deep tissue massage.
And ohboy did I need it. While Richard had his massage, I spent my time wandering out the shops buying souveneirs and looking around.
Afterwards we went to this neat restaurant for a late lunch. For some of their dishes, they bring the meat out raw with a heated rock, and you cook your meat on your rock.
We bummed around for a bit until it was time to go to Spookers. Can you say haunted house and haunted corn maze? While I did not wet myself, I had a jumping good time. I'm not quite sure if the group who were scared shitless of the chainsaw guy could say the same... they did scream and run around a lot.
Saturday, 24 February
I couldn't go to New Zealand without trying to find some caches. Looking through my list, I settled on one at an interesting site, to pique Dibby's interest. We went to Musick Point. A site on the eastern shore on which sits a radio station building. When we arrived it had been a bit drizzly, but was clearing up, which I am sure made the wedding party that was there very happy.
We took a grassy route back into the brush, mostly to avoid the wedding-goers. Once there, we poked around for about 10 minutes before I finally figured out where it was. Tree cover messes with reception, so once I was in the right area, I needed to look for things that may look "out of place". I dropped off the Pelican TB I'd picked up in Australia and grabbed a green lizard guy to take back with me to the states.
After replacing the cache, we went to the cliff edge and looked out across the water. Lovely view. Our stomachs let it be known that it was time for lunch, and onward we travelled.
We stopped at a food strip along the beach, just south of Bastilon Point. I noted the cache on my GPS and we figured we would take a look after lunch. Settling on individual pizzas, we took them over to the beach side and ate, tossing bits to the birds. Entertainment!
Afterwards we headed over to Bastilon Point. A short walk into the brush and we were at ground zero. Which contained no cache. :( I stubbornly looked for over 15 minutes, but finally conceded defeat. [The cache was later verified as indeed missing.]
That was it for the day. I was tired and I don't really remember what else we did with the evening, but I bet it had to do with WoW or watching Red Dwarf.
Sunday, 25 February
A day of complete and utter rest. Didn't even get out of my PJs. Spent it playing WoW after a rough night with "monkey music" keeping us awake. [I think the music finally stopped around 330am]
Monday, 26 February
It wasn't very windy today, so we opted to go to the Sky Tower and try to do the jump. Unfortunately for Richard (or perhaps we should say fortunately?) he didn't come in under the weight limit. I was jumping solo.
Timed for a 2pm jump, I wasn't too scared until I was standing on the edge of the platform. Hooked up to cables... High up in the air. Once you're hooked up to the cable you're to ride on and holding onto the side cables, you are so over balanced that the only thing you can do is "let go and step forward off the platform". *gulp* *let go* *step off* I'm FLYING! You come to a stop before you go too far so they can take a photo of you dangling in the wind, and then down you go! It was exhilirating. I would have jumped again (for free!) but I crash landed (which thankfully did not end up on tape) and feared that a second time may leave me with more than just "twinges".
After a nice lunch, we headed over to Kelly Tarlton's so that I could spend some time with the penguins. Their squarium is really nice. I should go to the one in Baltimore to see how it compares, as KT's was REALLY COOL. [And that's no pun!]
Tuesday, 27 February
Spent the day doing nothing in particular. Richard had a job interview midday, so while he was at that, I worked on catching his shaman up to mine. When he got home, I'd gotten him into an SM run. He took over and I joined in on my shaman.
Afterwards we decided it would be just as good a time as any to go to Minus Five Degrees. A bar made entirely out of ice. It was very COOL [Pun intended!]. We were the only two in there for awhile. The 30 minute time limit is more to prevent visitors from freezing toes than to keep people from outstaying their welcome. Even with a heavy overcoat and gloves, I was feeling quite nippy by the time we left to obtain dinner.
Wednesday, 28 February
Time for a side trip! We got up early and headed for Rotorua. Nothing special about the trip down. We were greeted in Rotorua by the wonderful smell of sulphur. We obtained a hotel room (with a hot tub that we never used) and grabbed a bunch of attraction pamphlets. Putting our feet up for a few minutes, we looked through them, weeded them to "must do", "want to do", and "i don't think so" piles, then determined where to go in order to best utilize the time we had.
So, for the rest of today, we settled on Rainbow Springs & the Kiwi Encounter, the Skyline Gondola (and possibly Luge), and then a rest in the Polynesian Spa pools.
We got to Rainbow Springs right before a Kiwi encounter tour and it had space for us! So we did that portion first. It was really neat, learning about how they take eggs from the wild, incubate them, and raise them from hatchlings so that they're large enough to fend for themselves. We got to see a baby Kiwi being fed! In the "night room" we stood mere inches from Kiwi in their "runs". No glass!
Afterwards we toured through the Rainbow Springs. A nice enjoyable walk through native plants and creatures. In their aviary we got up close and personal with one bird who felt the need to sit on the arm rail, mere feet from us.
A bit of obligatory shopping in the gift shop and it was off to the Skyline Gondola. When we got there we took one look at the display luge and individually decided no way in hell. Dibby said I was more than welcome to go down myself, but I just looked at it and it was very easy to imagine crashing the flimsy looking thing and breaking something. No way! Just take a ride up and enjoy the view.
What we did do at the top was use their little rifle range. 20ish pellets and a gun with a scope on it and I was able to hit most targets. And apparently I "shoot like a guy", which I found interesting, as previously I'd been unable to hit things... but that was without a scope. The directions for the tin targets said to hit them in the body, but I discovered that if I hit the chicks and ducks in the body, they wouldn't knock over, so I aimed for the heads. THEN they knocked over.
We wandered through the gift shop, then over to a bungy swing. I tried to convince Dibby to go on it, but no dice. So we rode the gondola back down so we could head to stage 3 of our evening, the spa!
We got into the large 39C pool first, but there was really no place to sit and it started feeling chilly, so we moved onto the other area, which had smaller, but warmer pools. Bypassing the 40 as it was fairly full, we went into the 41C. Bliss. But it felt a bit too cool quickly. So we moved over to the 42C. We couldn't stay in that one for very long as it was entirely too warm. The 40C pool had cleared out, so we spent over an hour lounging in it. Sooo nice. Well, until we went over to the little rinse off shower thing which was ICE COLD. Brrr. We'd been watching people use it and figured it was a bit cold due to their reactions, but boy I was not prepared for how cold it really was!
Feeling hungry, we went to this place called Breakers. They had a pool table, so after dinner we engaged in a couple games of pool. I lost the first, discovering that I was playing against someone GOOD (nevermind that I kept accidently knocking his balls in). The second game, I won by default, as he sunk the 8 ball a little too soon. haha. The third game... *sigh* He had the game won before I had managed to sink even one of my balls. I spent some time practicing shooting on what was left, and then it was time to consider bed.
But we didn't go to bed yet. We'd brought a couple DVDs, so we stayed up watching those while praying the guy on the other side of the wall would stop snoring long enough for me to fall asleep. We watched Superman Returns and another movie that I do not remember the name of. (And sadly, do not remember what it was about, either)
Thursday, 1 March
Early start, but not too early.
Wai-O-Tapu - Geyser & really long walk
Cross country drive to Waitomo Caves
Glowworm Cave tour (incl boat ride)
Drive back to Auckland and play WoW. :D
Friday, 2 March
Auckland Zoo
Saturday, 3 March
Trip to walk on the beach and collect sea shells
Attempted to find some caches.
Stepped into the mud
Found muggled cache at the botanical gardens
Found second cache
Tried to wait out a pair of kids for cache #3.
Played WoW.
Left for home :(
posted by chelle @ 23:30
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