Day 8: Last Day!

Tuesday, March 17

We woke up on the last day of our trip with mixed emotions--
on the one hand excited to have one last day to explore,
on the other hand disappointment at having to leave so many New Zealand sites unexplored,
and on the third hand I've only ever daydreamed about having,  a serious longing to be back home in our own beds!

The ship and hobbit hotels had the cool factor and all that going for it, but by this point we were all ready to head home.

Our first stop after checking out of the hotel was the world famous Waitomo Glow Worm Cave which was only a very short drive from the hotel.  They don't allow any photography there, so this picture of a boat exiting the cave is the only photographic evidence I've got of our trip there. (Glen is in the third row on the left side on that boat).  

I've borrowed the following picture from another source  to give you a glimpse of how beautiful it really is.  So what makes this cave so cool (as well as many caves in New Zealand) is that deep within the caves, a very ugly insect that so happens to also glow in the dark, makes its home on the ceiling of the caves.   Their bioluminescence is a very striking and beautiful contrast to the blackness of the cave and people come from all over the world to see this amazing sight.

photo credit:   Planet D

AFter that awe-inspiring experience we got on the road and started heading back toward the airport, but this time instead of going straight there, we went through the city of Hamilton so we could see the temple!

It was a lovely, warm day with blue skies and we were happy to visit a place that, although we'd never been there before, still somehow seemed so familiar to us.  

We explored the visitors' center...

and in a major small world moment,  met the parents of my friend Catherine,  who are senior missionaries serving there at the temple.   

It was fun making the connection with Elder and Sister Monson (no relation to the more well-known Thomas S. Monson) and we enjoyed having someone there to talk to and who knew the coolest photo shots at the temple!

Spence was engaged in conversation at this point and missed this photo op.

Elder and Sister Monson's last piece of advice before continuing our journey to the airport was to  stop in the tiny town of  Pokeno for some tasty (and cheap) ice cream.    

On the way there though we kept seeing signs for Pokeno Bacon and were not too disappointed that there was a Pokeno Bacon store right next door to the ice cream shop(s).   We went to see if they had anything pre-cooked that we could buy and scored the jackpot when they gave us a whole plate of cooked sausages that they had cooked up for giving out as customer samples and were about to throw away because they were closing for the day.    We bought some dipping sauce they sold and made those sausages and ice cream our super nourishing last meal in New Zealand!

After that bit of indulgence we got back on the road and before long we arrived back in Auckland where we could see that  Cyclone Pam had definitely affected that area a lot more than the  area where we had been when it hit.

We found this one last spot for a family picture (minus the photographer).   We thought the foggy view of Auckland in the background was pretty cool and hoped to find some passer-by who might be willing to take a picture with all of us in it, but alas there was not a soul in sight and we had a plane to catch!  

After that, we drove back to the Auckland airport, returned our rental car, and settled in for the long haul  way home (13-hours to LA, and another  5-hours or so back home).      We arrived back to Virginia in the wee hours of the morning and had a limo waiting there at the airport to bring us home.   We enjoyed the last little taste of luxury and arrived back home with only a couple of hours before diving back into the middle of a busy week of "normal life".

It was the trip of a lifetime and we are still in awe that it actually happened.  Thank you to Make-a-Wish for making Spence's wish come true!   It's almost unbelievable to us that they paid for all of our transportation, housing, food, and activities while we were there….just to give hope to one sick teen.   It meant the world to Spencer and to us….THANK YOU!!!!

Day 7: Hairy Feet and Kiwis

Monday, March 16

By Monday we were pretty worn out  and as a result it turned out to be the most low-key of all of our days in New Zealand.   Even the drive from our little hobbit hotel to our first activity of the day--the Hairy Feet Tour--ended up being oddly silent.  After six days of excitement, I think our adrenaline stores were finally starting to run low and it was all we could do to keep from snipping at each other all day long.

Sagging energy levels and edginess aside, we, with as much excitement as we could muster, arrived at the Hairy Feet Tour all bedecked in rain gear to be prepared for the potential deluges of rain that Cyclone Pam might have brought.    Luckily it only sprinkled and we (mostly) enjoyed a lovely three-hour tour of one of the sites where the Hobbit was filmed.  Like Hobbiton this picturesque locale  (also a sheep farm) was discovered by location scouts via helicopter.  Sir Peter Jackson (the director of the Hobbit movies) had come there and declared it just right for some of the filming, a fact which made the tour guide/owner very proud.  

There were no props here as there were in Hobbiton, only the gorgeous backdrop that can be seen through some of the scenes of the movie.    The tour guide/owner had a booklet with pictures from scenes of the movie, so that we could be reminded of which scenes they were, and imagine ourselves standing right where some famous actor had stood before us.   

He took us walking on trails that he'd built himself

…and pointed out distinctive rocks, tree limbs, and the limestone cliff faces that could be seen through the movies.

The rock Thorin is sitting on in the picture below is one of the rocks also in the picture above...

Then the guide had us stand underneath the distinctive rock shown in this clip….

and reenact it for posterity to see.   

He also happily used my camera to snap family shots of us in several different locations! 

We so rarely get pictures of us all together, do not be surprised if one of the photos in this post ends up being in our Christmas card this year! 

Hopefully the smile fakers aren't as obvious to anyone else...

Luckily there was nothing fake about this view though….WOW! 

After we stopped ogling over the view,  we found food ASAP, which helped the mood of the fam at least slightly.   Then we went to the Kiwi House in Otorohanga where we saw a real live kiwi.   But pictures weren't allowed, so this is all we have!

I can't remember what else we did that day (and have no pictures to remind me), but suffice it to say that there was some good old-fashioned comfort food involved (pizza) as well as some time for everyone to chill.    

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Day 6: A Donkey on the Roof

Sunday, March 15

 I usually have a gazillion different things to blog about and I can barely keep up with all my ideas for the blog, however I think I've developed A.D.D. when it comes to New Zealand.  I so rarely try to slog my way through so many blogposts on the same general subject, that it's been hard for me  to get excited to recount yet another day of our trip and I can only imagine how intensely boring it is for you,  dear readers.   It's only the realization that I am already starting to forget some of the details that's keeping me on task tonight and I hope you'll forgive me as I make my way continuing to blog about  the last few days of our trip!

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Sunday morning dawned bright and clear, making it hard to fathom that a cyclone was quickly bearing down on New Zealand.   Cyclone Pam had already decimated the island nation of Vanuatu and we were a tad nervous about what it might do to our plans for the remainder for our trip.   We knew it would be weakened by the time it potentially arrived and that the infrastructure of New Zealand was much more modern than that of Vanuatu, but still we worried about being in an unfamiliar area with potential power outages and roads flooding, etc.  

In the end, the cyclone turned out to be nothing to worry about, but at this stage we felt like we were racing against the clock.   We were still close to the east coast and wanted to be at our final destination, which happened to be much further west, before any of the storm hit.   We went to church in Rotorua and left right after sacrament meeting to be on our way.

We arrived to our next "hotel" and had to laugh when we arrived to a little visitor grazing on the roof.    

The inside was anything but fancy, but it was adequate for our needs, and the kids were quite taken with the cuteness of the  hobbit-ness of it all and the friendly donkey on the roof.   

The second night we were there, we ended up split into two different rooms….a hobbit room and a ship room (shown on the right below).   It was actually an old ship transplanted into the country and made into this fun and quirky hotel!   All in all, we were happy enough with our stay and it was nice to be so close to everything else we wanted to do on our trip.  

That Sunday afternoon after getting checked in, we took a drive and hiked to Marokopa Falls.   It wasn't a long hike from the road, but the kids amped up the difficulty by going off the trail and scampering over rocks and through mud to get to the base of the waterfall.

It was the biggest of all the waterfalls we saw in New Zealand...

and provided a perfect backdrop for lots of pictures! 

I love my silly kids!

After that we went on one more hike on the Ruakuri Bush Track.   This was a fun and funky hike that could have only taken about 1/2 hour, but there were so many cool natural features along the way, that we kept stopping to explore and/or take pictures.

 

There were boardwalks along cliffs, bridges...

small caves, rocks to scramble over... 

 

tropical vegetation that made us feel like we were in the jungle….

and even a good spot to rest the camera and use the timer to capture a picture of the whole family.    

It turned out to be a great Sabbath Day, taking the sacrament,  moving our bodies, and enjoying this little corner of God's beautiful earth!

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Day 5: Mudpots, Maoris, and Wallabies

Saturday, March 14:

By this point on our trip, our body clocks were pretty adjusted to New Zealand time, which meant the kids were taking advantage of being on vacation by staying up late into the night.  Because of that and the physically draining day we'd had the day before, we had a hard time dragging ourselves out of bed this particular morning.    If we'd been at home, we probably would have indulged in a lazy Saturday morning, but alas we were half-way across the world and the call of more New Zealand excitement proved too much to keep us in bed for too long!

Our first stop of the day was Skyline Rotorua Gondola and Luge!   Our GPS led us a little astray in getting there, so by the time we arrived the day's heat and the weekend crowds had already kicked in.

We enjoyed the fact that the gondola was large enough for our whole family….

so I could make sure that everyone had their sunscreen on...

and then ooh and ah over the lovely view together! 

After the gondola ride and the conversations about how much better we liked the view of Rotorua from a distance, we went on to the next part of our adventures….the luge! 

 

We had a grand time getting on our inner bobsled...

and ended the morning with tired arms, sweaty backs, and an appetite for ice cream!

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After a little rest and some nourishment, we headed to Whakarewarewa Viewpoint Track, which was essentially a moderately difficult hike partway up a mountain.   Along the way we passed boiling mudpots...

which the kids were obsessed with throwing rocks into, so they could see them swallowed up in the bubbling mud!

The view from the look-out was amazing and once again we marveled at how lovely the over-commercialized Rotorua looked from a distance.   We especially enjoyed being able to see some of the geothermal features...

including this erupting geyser that  people had to pay $30 to see up close. 

 Rotorua is situated over a hotspot in the earth's crust, much in the same way that Yellowstone National Park is.   There are geysers, mudpots, hot springs, and the smell of sulphur everywhere!  The main difference is that YNP was protected and made into a National Park for everyone to enjoy and Rotorua had a city built up around it.   Most of the main attractions are privately owned and require an entrance fee to see, so being able to see the erupting geyser from above was actually quite a treat!  

We also enjoyed the beautiful New Zealand forest we walked through along the way, including some more redwood trees!  The girls were enamored with the Kiwi wildflowers and enjoyed making little bouquets for themselves.  

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After that enjoyable hike we headed to Kuirau Park to relax a bit.  Kuirau Park is just a city park with walking trails, water features, and a big playground...

but since it's in Rotorua, it also had dangerous thermal areas within a stone's throw of the playground...

The pond there was unfenced, bubbling, and smelled of sulphur and we had to laugh at how different Yellowstone would have been if they had decided to commercialize it and turn it into a city instead of a national park.  

We enjoyed the leisurely pace (and the cooling weather) here and it allowed everyone the opportunity to unwind a bit. 

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Our last adventure of the day was the Tamaki Maori Village.   

It was a challenge getting there and buying our tickets, but after a whole lot of running around, a pitstop at an iSite tourist spot we eventually got squared away.   

The Tamaki Maori Village was a fun cross between the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii and Medieval Times.   It was extremely commercialized (as was everything else about Rotorua), but  actually ended up being one of our favorite activities of the whole trip.  

Everyone was dressed head-to-toe in traditional Maori costume and we enjoyed the "stations" where we learned little tidbits about the Maori way of life.  

…including how to do the Haka!  (you can see Spence, Glen, and Adam if you look on the back row) 

Ellie got to try the poi ( a traditional Maori rhythmic activity)...

As always, Ellie loved meeting people and learning more about them.  

The Maoris only came to New Zealand about 800-years-ago, but in that relatively short amount of time developed some rich traditions...

After some more traditional Maori song and dance….

we enjoyed a hangi feast that came straight out of the ground.  

It really was an enjoyable experience and one we would highly recommend to someone spending time in the Rotorua region! 

Driving home from the Maori Village was the latest at night we ever drove while we were there, but it was also the coolest.   There were animals EVERYWHERE on the way home, including two wallabies which practically sent our car into hyperventilating excited hysterics.    We were convinced they were baby kangaroos until we got back to the cabin and looked it up.   It turns out that they were actually dama wallabies, which had been introduced to NZ from Australia and ironically only lived in the very immediate vicinity of where we happen to be!

We didn't get any pictures of the wallabies we saw, but this is the same species.

Seeing the wallabies was the perfect way to end another adventurous day in New Zealand!