Three weeks on the other side of the world
falling in love with white sheep, emerald green hills, the southern cross, and Ara Roa.

Rotorua

We flew from Christchurch back to the North Island for a few days. It's true that Rotorua smells like sulfur (rotten eggs) but you've just got to go there. The town is in the center of a huge volcanic crater and is surrounded by geothermal parks. What does that mean? Parks full of boiling mud, supernaturally colored ponds, geysers and very deep holes in the ground emitting very strange sounds. This is active volcano territory. The last eruption was in 1886. Not to worry.

Within about 15 minutes you really don't notice the smell. Okay, every now and then it wafts up at you, but then it goes away again. We stayed at the Princes Gate Hotel. Very pretty.

And right next to the lovely Government Gardens.

But what's up with the funky water in this pond? A hint of things to come?

Past the gardens you reach the lake. You can take airplane or helicopter tours of the volcanic geothermal area. Nah, I wanted to walk right in and get up closer. I feel like I just walked into season 4 of LOST.

More pretty sights, like black swans and their babies.

Then things start to get weird. Cameron's Laughing Gas Pool. Supposedly a soak in these warm mud pools makes you feel rather euphoric, just before you faint. Could this be the reason for the long pole kept nearby, to shout at people and pull them out just before it is too late?



We had dinner in town at The Pig & Whistle pub. How could we not? The next day we took Elite Adventure's half day "eco thermal tour" led by a Ben, a Maori guide full of great stories. First stop, some steaming, bubbling, boiling mud pools.

Really. It's hard to explain so just watch this 25 second video. Stand back.

On we go to the Wai O Tapu "wonderland of geothermal activity." Wai O Tapu means Sacred Waters in Maori.

Yes. That's the Devil's Home.

Warning: Please keep strictly to the formed pathways. Happy to obey. Very strange sounds come from down there. Ben says that he was an extra on Lord of the Rings, an Orc. He and a buddy carried Frodo and Sam on their backs. He also helped work on the sound. They dropped microphones down into these volcanic holes to create the creepy sounds of the orc caverns.

Don't hesitate. Just follow Ben.



to the Champagne Pool. As in bubbly.


And Lake Ngakoro. Yes, intensely neon green.



After this cold and foggy morning walk, Ben knows just what we need. Hot chocolate at the gift shop. Then a van ride to the tamed Lady Knox geyser. Park staff hop over the railing, walk right up and drop a bit of soap in there to make sure it goes up on schedule for the tourists.


Back in the van, to the Waimangu volcanic valley. This is what comes 100 or so years after a volcano erupts.


Down we go into post-volcano paradise.


Ben says this path was decorated with added greenery and used to film the hobbits leaving home.


After lunch at the gift shop, Ben drives us back to our hotel and back to the normal world. I mean New Zealand normal, where cows keep the roadside grasses under control. Ben says this is illegal and causes quite a few accidents each year. Those occasional craters and ridges in the fields? Just a little earthquake activity.

This afternoon it's back to Auckland for one more day before our flight home. One last odd thing before we leave. I couldn't get a photo, but along the road we passed a deer farm. Yep, deer acting just like cows, nibbling the grass inside a fenced pasture. Some earl's son or other imported a few deer to hunt long ago. Now they raise deer on farms for venison and skins.

A day in Christchurch

It's our second day on the south island and after riding the transalpine train yesterday, today we wanted to walk around in Christchurch and soak up the city sights and sounds. This is a lovely city.

The first people settled here around 1200, but Christchurch was founded in 1856 when the Four Ships brought 792 settlers here. It is the oldest city in New Zealand, modeled on Christ Church College and Cathedral in Oxford. The river is named the Avon, after the Scottish river Avon.



One of the bridges over the Avon is the Bridge of Remembrance. First opened in 1924 on Armistice Day, it has changed over the years to honor men and women who died in World Wars I and II, Korea, Malaya, Borneo, and Vietnam. 42% of NZ men (including Maori) fought in World War I. They had a casualty rate of 58%. (Have you seen the film Gallipoli?) New Zealand fought in all but the first few days of World War II. One out of every 150 New Zealanders died in that war, the highest death rate in the British commonwealth. New Zealand contributed medical, communications and peacekeeping teams, but did not send combat troops to Iraq.

School children in uniform walk along the Avon, past the Bridge of Remembrance...

On to a giant chess game in Cathedral Square.

And naturally, a grand Anglican cathedral.

Christchurch is known as the City of Gardens. Even in autumn, the Botanical Gardens were gorgeous. (May means spring in the northern hemisphere and fall in the southern.)

Interesting sculpture



The hydrangea and maple garden

Time for lunch at the Viaduct... yum. If you're ever in Christchurch, you must eat in an Oxford Terrace sidewalk cafe.

After lunch we were ready for another walk and so, we ended a really nice day with a few hours in the Christchurch Art Gallery.

The Transalpine Train

On Monday we drove back to Auckland, then took a short flight to Christchurch. We'll see the town on Wednesday. We spent all day Tuesday on the Transalpine train which runs all the way across the south island, from Christchurch to Greymouth and back again.

We get on here...

We're going out there...

It's rugged country and reminds me of the American west. This train follows an old stagecoach trail.

This is the "braided river." The river bed is very deep gravel, deposited during the quakes and volcanoes that shaped these mountains. The river is composed of multiple streams of water that run through the gravel in braids.

At the end of the line we have an hour to wander around Greymouth, a harbour town where the Greymouth river opens into the ocean.

Fishing, firearms and steaks.

The train was running behind schedule as we returned back across the island to Christchurch, but that turned out to be a plus. Back on the train, we returned through the mountains at sunset. Gorgeous.