Sunday January 16th

The day started off at 630 a.m. with the arrival of our young cousins at the crack of dawn. The boys were eager to play with them as much as possible as this was our last day in Australia. We got everyone up and moving and finished the packing of 8 suitcases and get to the airport. We packed both cars full of people and suitcases and headed off to the airport.

We were saddened by the drive knowing our holiday had come to an end, but with so many great memories, we were eager to get home.  We got dropped off and unloaded with lots of hugs. We would see them all in August at Jessica’s wedding.

We got all our bags checked quite quickly and proceeded to do some last minute shopping in the airport. The boys played some computer games at the Apple Store on the Ipads and we grabbed a quick snack at McDonalds as our meal on the plane wouldn’t be for an hour or so after we departed. We headed through security and quickly to our gate and were one of the last few people to board. We were seated right at the back of the plane and found a few movies for all of us to watch. We departed around 1230 pm and started into our meal shortly after.

The flight seemed to go reasonably well though Jacob was not feeling very well several hours in. He needed to lay down for a bit and not watch TV. They dimmed the lights about 8pm and encouraged everyone to sleep as we would be arriving in Vancouver in 7 hours and it would be early in the morning there. We had turbulence almost the entire trip and at times was a bit nerve wracking.   The boys slept for 5-6 hours and I slept for 1-2. We were awoken about 90 minutes prior to landing which was 1 am Sydney time. In a stupor, Krista and I ate breakfast while Jacob slept right through til we landed. We pulled into Vancouver at 730am though it felt like 230am to us. The boys filed off the plane and as the air crept into the hallway, it was clear we had arrived back in Canada.

We made our way through to get our baggage and through Customs. We headed to the domestic departures and were informed that our flight was going to be incredibly turbulent. We only had a half full plane headed to Calgary at 8 in the morning on a Sunday.  There indeed was quite a bit of turbulence but the trip went by very quickly. We arrived in Calgary at 11am and had to collect our 8 bags. We called Fraser and had him pick us up right after we got our luggage. The weather was shockingly cold as we loaded our bags quickly into our SUV. We had left +36 of Sydney the previous day and arrived to a lovely -21. We travelled down Deerfoot and arrived home just after 12.

After unloading all our suitcases, we cranked the heat up much higher than we normally did to ease the transition from Australia to Canada. We were surprised by a goodie basket from our next door neighbours who used our house for ten days to entertain all their Edmonton relatives over the Christmas break. We were also blessed by another neighbour who felt the need to blow up over 100 balloons and leave all over the house including cupboards, beds and coats. 

We soon after were greeted by Krista’s family. Amanda brought over a couple homemade lasagnas. Jessica brought some necessities like bread, milk and eggs.  We had a raucous visit for  a couple hours before sending everyone off on their way and settling down for  some much needed peace and quiet in front of the TV. After dozing a bit, we ate some supper and had the boys in bed by 7 and ourselves by 9. It had been an incredibly long day but we were very glad to be home. Tomorrow would be a busy day of catching up for the kids at school and the adults with their work.  We were thankful to be home safe and sound and for the blessings of an amazing holiday we would remember all our lives.

Saturday January 15th

Well the day started as usual just after 6 am when Lucas and Sienna made their morning rounds upstairs which resulted in Nicholas/Jacob following by 615. It was going to be another long day. We had great intentions of heading out to cliff dive by 9 but the weather was a little suspect and it had rained a bit. Tim had made no effort to call, show up or even turn his cell phone on so there was no rush to get moving. After reading several chapters and doing some emailing, Krista and Melissa decided they would go shopping for a few hours while the men watched the kids.

The kids and ‘the men’ packed up things and headed out to the playground for a couple hours. We played on the swings, played soccer and football and ran around for awhile.  We headed back to the house and took the kids into the pool for an hour until the girls arrived back at home from their spree. We had a delicious feast of BLT’s and I headed back to the books and finished off a couple papers due tomorrow. The kids played some games and watched TV until Devin and I left at 315 to play some golf. We headed for the local course Woolooware just a few blocks away. We met up with Devin’s friend Jimmy and his 5 year old son Tristan. We played 9 holes and had a great round. Devin insisted that we drink the 6 beer he brought followed by 10 oz. of Crown Royal. Needless to say, by the third hole we were both nearly legally blind. After 9 holes, I think I was about 5 over. I believe the key to a good golf score is copious amounts of alcohol!

We had to call Melissa to come and get us and we headed home to bbq some delicious steak. After an amazing meal and putting the kids to bed, we decided to play some Canasta. The boys killed them on the first hand by scoring huge and an 8000 pt. differential.  They came back two hands in a row and crushed us to win by an easy 5000 points. We dragged our butts to bed at midnight and prayed the kids wouldn’t make an appearance until at least 7 am. Not bloody likely…

Friday January 14th

As predicted, the day began at 615 am with the kids running laps around upstairs and making an appearance in our room downstairs so they could play with their cousins that they hadn’t seen in two weeks. It was going to be a long day.

We had aspirations of going to the infamous Bondi Beach today – now we weren’t so sure. After doing some house cleaning and several loads of laundry, we decided to be brave and tackle the traffic of Sydney on a busy Friday and go check out the beach. We packed a lunch and some towels and headed out after 9 with Sienna in tow. Melissa was kind enough to lend us her Tom-tom navigational system which was programmed to get us there.

As we headed up north, we were familiar with how to get to the airport having been there several times already, but once beyond that, things got a little busier than we thought.  We made a couple wrong turns and had to get back on track but we reached Bondi and eventually found the ocean looming on the horizon. As we approached the beach from the hills, it was quite a spectacle to behold.

The beach had several thousand people on it already and the waves crashing on the beach were huge compared to all the beaches we had been on in the last month. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and it was well into the plus 30’s by the time we arrived at 10 am.  We parked in the pay lot as we had three kids and tons of stuff to carry. It cost $6 an hour so we weren’t staying all day that was for sure.

We found a spot on the beach between the flags where there was lifeguard supervision and the kids quickly headed out to the water. The ocean was more alive than we had ever experienced and the waves bowled the kids over repetitively. They came in for a break and we fed them some sandwiches and juice to replenish them.

There were many interesting sights on the beach today – most especially a dozen or so girls who felt liberated enough to tan completely topless. This was a surprise to all of us as there were so many families on the beach and thought they were being a bit too brave-but needless to say, all the boys were giggling at our first experience of being around girls with ‘no booby patches on’ as Jacob would put it.

I decided to go for a swim and check out the waves. The water was a bit chillier than we had experienced when we were in New Zealand despite Sydney being much closer to the equator. Even at 20 or so degrees, once you got used to it the water was just fine. I went and grabbed the boogie board and decided to try it out on the waves as they were absolutely massive. People were surfing in some areas, boogie boarding in others and just body surfing everywhere. It is always a bit tricky as you can get run over by others as well as run people over yourself with the intensity of the waves.

My first few waves were good for 20m or so – but I caught a couple that took me almost 100m from way out in the ocean almost all the way to the shore. The waves were normally 4-6 feet in height but once in a while you would get two 20ft ones back to back that scared the daylights out of everyone. It was like a bunch of little ones followed by two tsunami waves and then calm for a minute before the next ones would come. The ocean being alive and full of sand and salt is relentless on the weak swimmers and many were sent bowled over coughing and full of sand.

After twenty minutes, I had to take a break as my body had been battered around enough for one day. The kids were starting to melt, so we took them for an ice cream and called it a day after three hours and $18 worth of parking. The walk back to the car was extremely scenic and there were well over 5000 people on the beach now. It was quite a sight to see.

We drove ten minutes away and stopped at a mall to see what a big city shopping centre looked like. There were 6 levels and more escalators than you can count as we combed our way through for an hour checking out the shops. This place made Southcentre look like a convenience store. We picked up a couple items and headed back to the car and started to make our way home. The Tom-tom guided us perfectly this time with no booboos as we arrived around 3pm. One of the most fascinating things on our trip is that for 90% of the time, wherever we have driven, there has always been an ocean or extremely large body of water out one window – very different from any trip we have ever been on.

We all jumped in the pool and had a nice refreshing swim for an hour. After a quick shower, it was apparent that a complete lack of sunscreen was not such a brilliant idea as my chest was completely on fire! Biggest lobster tan of all time was going to provide for an interesting attempt at sleep later tonight. Melissa got ready for a night out with Devin as they were off to the Women’s Tennis final in Sydney and Krista and I were going to watch the kids. Krista drove Mel to the train station and I kept them entertained for a while.

After spaghetti and meat sauce, the kids played for a bit while we had some bbq chicken and salad. We settled in for some games and a TMNT movie. We put the kids to bed around 830 but they milled about for quite a while with it being so warm in the basement. I did some reading of some texts and started a couple papers I had to write for Sunday as after 18 hours on airplanes, I don’t imagine im going to come up with much brilliance to share with my professor. Better get something done before then.
It was a great day of sun and sand – sadly it will all come to an end in 36 hours.

Thursday January 13th

Another beautiful morning as I arose around 7 and headed into the house to do some reading of my text material to get ready to start a paper that was due on Sunday. The blue sky with the sunrise was absolutely magnificent and very motivating to start the day. Jacob made an appearance by 730, Krista miraculously by 8 and Nicholas shortly thereafter, mad at us for all ‘leaving him alone’ in the cottage a mere 50 ft. from the bach where we were all in the living room.

Krista went and did a bunch of packing and the boys began a final game of Settlers of Catan before leaving. Krista had a much awaited hot shower as we were conserving water for the last 3 days and were doing all our bathing in the ocean. She was quite excited to be squeaky clean for our journey today.

After some breakfast and goodbye hugs, we departed down the driveway with the entire clan of Bayldons and friends all lined up the drive from tallest to shortest ( 8 in total ) chanting ‘Thank you for coming’ while waving both arms in unison forward and backward. It was quite a send-off as we headed along the windy roads back to the main highway and into Auckland.

 Once we got on the main thoroughfare, we were making great time to the city. We went over the massive bridge and into downtown with the enormous Auckland tower looming overhead as it cut into the deep blue morning sky. Auckland is a beautiful city only slightly larger than Calgary with about 1.2 million people. We headed over to a t-shirt shop to do a bit of shopping. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at McDonald’s so the boys weren’t starving for our little hike.

We arrived at the One Tree Hill volcano sight and parked about 2/3 of the way up. We hiked up the rest of the way travelling through a huge crater and up the sides and then the road to the top where a huge pillar liked to Auckland’s version of the Washington Monument reached for the sky. From the top, you had an amazing 360 degree view of the city reaching out to the sea as well as inland. After a few photos, we made our way down to the car and down towards the airport.

We stopped at a Factory Outlet store for some amazing clothing that was recommended to us by Helen, Extremely warm and breathable shirts that would be great for skiing. There was a 60% off sale on much of it so we bought one for each of us and a couple gifts and made our way closer to the airport in search of our rental car shop. After much dilly dallying around, we finally got proper directions to the place and it turns out it was 2 blocks down from the bloody shirt shop where we had started out thirty minutes prior. We cleaned out the million things and packed all our suitcases and bags into the transport van and bid farewell to our lovely little red hatchback. It had done us well across the north island and was fun to drive.

We arrived at the airport and got checked in easily as it was not busy at 230 in the afternoon. We did some shopping but the prices were absolutely atrocious of course. We should have stopped at a mall prior to getting there as we had lots of time, but we wanted to be sure we weren’t running late. Krista found some Ugg boots so she was happy about that after having been looking for the last 3 weeks for an affordable pair. We had a quick bite of sushi and headed through security. Jacob unfortunately had a water bottle in his backpack so we got a dirty look or two as they deposited it in the garbage and scribbled something on his immigration card as we headed in. Krista got her turn for the full pat down and bomb material check as randomly performed on people now and again – Darren had his in Sydney last week.

We headed to the departure side and had two hours to kill. The boys played video games at the Apple store and we grabbed a bite to eat at Burger King and headed out at 530pm. The Air NZ flight was fairly bare bones with a charge for everything from food to movies. We invested in a sandwich pack for $10 and were surprised to find that we could watch pre-recorded tv programs for free. Thank goodness as the boys were getting bored and we had a three hour flight. Time flew as we watched many tv shows and finally arrived in Sydney at 630 their time but 830 NZ time. After getting our bags and wandering down to the McDonald’s yet again, Devin met us and we snuck out of the airport before our 15 minutes was up and didn’t have to pay a dime – perfect timing.

By the time we got the boys home, fed and showered, it was 9 their time but 11 in our mind from NZ. Knowing full well that the Wiggins kids would be up bloody early, we all went to bed to get some rest after a busy day of travel and bidding farewell to New Zealand after a great couple weeks there.

Wednesday January 12th

The morning always seems to come earlier than wanted – today at 645am. I decided to head fifteen minutes into town to check email as I had been ‘off the grid’ for a couple days and was eager to see how my first class went that I had missed. I got into town and found the tourism booth by 8 a.m. but had to wait until 830 for it to open. I headed over to the New World grocery store and picked up a few items and headed back to the tourism shop. I logged in and retrieved my course outline and first two assignments due this weekend – yoikes! Let the reading/writing begin!

I travelled back to the cottage stopping to get fuel and a city map of Auckland so we could navigate our way to some shops, a couple scenic sights and eventually the airport where we head out tomorrow at 5pm.

Everyone was up and eating breakfast by 930 when I arrived home. We did some tidying and made some plans to go for another boat ride to a bay around the corner a bit. By the time we got 8 kids, 4 adults, a dog and all the supplies loaded on the boat, we were quite the spectacle travelling across the water.

We found a beautiful cove to moor the boat and hung out on the beach for the afternoon. We all went for numerous swims in the clear crystal blue water. The kids started to get a wee bit bored so Grant suggested burying a few in the sand and creating some neat figures. Rose was a mermaid, John was a race car, Isaac was an airplane, Charlotte was a Rolls Royce, Emily was a mermaid and Jacob was a hot rod! We went for a walk out on the rocky reef and found some smaller pools with very warm water to sit in for a bit and decided it was time to head home. We filled the boat with all our stuff and 13 bodies and headed back to the house.

The children played some board games while the ladies fixed snacks and supper of amazing Burgers and salads with fried potatoes. After the children were fed, the adults retired to the picnic table out back for a few brief moments of peace and quiet before being engulfed in children begging for dessert. Coconut and pineapple frozen ice treats were quickly devoured and with a sugar burst, a Frisbee and soccer game was borne. It quickly turned into water fights followed by a difficult time getting them into pyjamas. 

 It had been quite a breezy day which kept things a bit cool, but the children all had a great deal of sun and would be calling it a night earlier than usual. After the kids got into pyjamas and a bit of reading, they were in bed by 830. The adults sat down for a game of Canasta and even though the men went out first, the girls still won. We only had 4 decks instead of 6 so it made it quite difficult to score too highly but all in all a good match. We headed off to bed at 11 as tomorrow would be another busy day of driving and sightseeing. 

Tuesday January 11th

Tuesday January 11^th

Miracles abound as the boys slept in til after 8. I was up at 7 enjoying the brilliant sunrise and doing some computer work. Nicholas made an appearance in the room and promptly found a book to read. Cottage life is so much more laid back and all the children lead a much slower simpler life here than in the city. There is no TV, no Nintendo, no video games to speak of. They have each other and cards/games to play. They all get along absolutely famously and it has been nothing less of complete shock to see them interacting with great success.

We made an appearance for breakfast and were quickly reminded what it is like to feed a large family. There was a Rubbermaid container with approximately 5 kg of Muesli cereal for the kids to attack. We went through a couple loaves of bread for toast and two jugs of milk for cereal. With everyone fed and watered, we prepared for our morning at the beach.

The Bach ( as Helen and Grant call it ) is a little cottage built in the 1950’s overlooking a lovely bay north of Auckland. It has two secondary buildings with beds for guests to sleep in. We are staying in the red one, a lovely 2 bedroom place with a cot in the main room for Jacob. After changing into our swimsuits, we walked down to the shoreline with everything we needed for the morning as we would be down at the beach for hours. I carried two fuel canisters for the boat while everyone had random beach stuff.

Most of the kids either swam or paddled out on a rowboat to the motorboat situated in the bay anchored to the bottom. Grant had purchased the home-made boat from a local who took 3 years to build it and came complete with a 90hp motor for a heck of a deal. It has a very deep strong hull which is necessary if you are boating out on the open sea though they rarely go out that far with it. Grant took most of the kids tubing in the bay while a few of us remained on shore or went for a ride on the rowboat or the kayak. It was a beautiful brilliant sunny morning and we spent hours on the water. Darren got to wakeboard for a bit and had some tremendous success jumping the wake and switching directions. Nicholas was even brave enough to try it but had no success in getting up as the boots on the wakeboard are designed for an adult and he came launching out of them on every attempt.

We came back up to the cottage around 2 pm for a lovely lunch of corn fritas (fritters) and salad. Everyone had a bit of a rest around the place after lunch as we had a good dose of sunshine all morning. Eventually we got a bit of life back in us and played some games indoors during the heat of the day. The children all played the Settlers of Catan board game and even Jacob was quite astute at collecting the pieces required to build his settlement with roads and buildings! It was great to see the children working as a team with little or no conflict, the upside of a large family where you had to make your own fun. It reminded Krista and I of growing up with our siblings.

Grant got a small fire going in the fire pit while the kids organized a game of soccer as Krista/Helen prepared a meal for 12 people. The sun lazily made its way down as another day was coming to a close.  We had a delicious meal of steak and sausages on the fire pit and ate at 7pm. The kids all roasted several marshmallows and were full of sugar. They have a mixed bag of pink and white marshmallows in NZ – we will have to buy a bag for tomorrow as well.

Grant had the brilliant idea of going for a walk before bedtime, so we marched down to the beach and headed out for an island around the bend. With it being low tide, we could walk for ages. We came to the island that was now reachable as the tide was out, wandered around for a bit and then headed back by way of the road. When we arrived back at the bach, it was well after 9 as the daylight faded to black. We got a quick snack into the kids and off to bed for 930. We played a game of Settlers of Catan and miraculously enough – I won!! I never beat Krista at these board games as she and her family are so hyper-competitive but I managed to pull out a win despite my inexperience in playing the game. Beginners luck no doubt had prevailed.

We toodled off to bed for 11 as tomorrow we would spend another beautiful day in the water and off to a beach on a different bay for a few hours.

Monday January 10th

The mental alarm clock kicked in at 645 and I awoke and did some typing and picture sorting. I logged on to the wireless internet of the hotel which was free for 30 minutes and emailed like mad trying to get a few things posted before everyone was up and about.

The alarm went off at 8am and no one stirred at all until I opened the curtain a crack and the torture began. We got up and packed and filled the car with luggage before 9. We checked out and headed south and west towards Waitomo.

 
The drive was again simply outstanding as this time we were inland for about two hours driving through range after range of mountains and rolling hillsides covered with immense forestry in most areas with occasional bits of farmland scattered in between. There were heaps of sheep and cattle in any area of grazing land and surprisingly both the cattle and sheep were in paddocked areas crammed quite tightly for periods of time until the grass was eaten down before they were moved to another.

We drove past a few meat market factories that dealt with lamb, mutton, cattle and goat. We also drove over a couple immense dams that created hydroelectricity with many overhead lines travelling all over the country. We wound our way through the countryside eventually ending up at Waitomo around 11am.  We had until 1 pm until our tour of the caves, so we went and did the tour of the Glow worm cave first and got it out of the way.

Our tour began at 1130 with quite an odd fellow as our tour guide. He led us down the stairs into the deep cavernous areas with huge stalactites and stalagmites all around. The acoustics were quite amazing and the lighting that had been installed gave an ominous glow all about the place. After 30 minutes of various portions of the caves, we wound our way down to the glow worm cave. We sat about 15 people in a boat that was pulled along by ropes attached to sections of the cave walls. When it was pitch black, the ceiling of the cave came alive with thousands of green glow worms sparkling like stars in the sky. Each glow worm created a long singular string web that hung down from the ceiling. When a bug flew into it and stuck to it, the worm descended down it, devoured the bug, climbed back up and created a new web to hang down with hopes of catching the next bug. Not being able to see the web in the darkness, it looked rather amazing on the postcard and photos that were available after the tour was over.

We wrapped up at 1240 and had to hustle to our next cave 5 minutes down the road. We waited in the parking lot for a guide to appear and take us up to the cave. As we entered, it was pitch black and we had to get used to the light for a bit before entering. Suddenly the lights were turned on and we were able to see amazing sights of the millions of stalactites hanging from the ceiling. We toured into the cave for almost half an hour stopping to take many pictures along the way as the different types of lighting in many areas made for ominous views that was absolutely stunning.  We got a family photo taken inside and the boys thoroughly enjoyed the tour. About an hour later, we were out and headed back to the main area for a bit of lunch.

We ended up in a backpacker’s pub eating a burger and chicken nuggets. It was quite delicious and affordable. We went back to the gift shop and left some more money with those kind folks as it was imperative we help keep the economy going while we are here. The temperature had risen to the low 30’s and it was quite warm to say the least. We got the air conditioning on full blast and headed back out to the main highway to head north to Auckland.
Again the roads were very narrow and windy for the first 90 minutes, but then we hooked up onto a 2 lane freeway that straightened out and I was able to drive 120 km/hr for over an hour for the first time in 3 weeks of windy roads! It was very exciting! Not so much for Krista and the boys who were zonked out for over an hour but the peace and quiet was a nice gift as I sped through the New Zealand countryside.

As we approached Auckland, the traffic got considerably congested as we were seeing the beginning of rush hour and cars were everywhere. With around 1.2 million people, it is a bit bigger than Calgary and there are serious numbers of commuters everywhere. We made it through the city and out the north end and headed towards the ocean. We stopped for a snack at the toll station and had to pay a couple tolls for our travels down the main highway in the next couple days. The boys got out and ran around at the outdoor playground while I paid the tolls.

We hopped back in the car and half an hour later we rolled up to our cottage by the bay where we would be staying the next 2 days and 3 nights. Helen and Grant and their 4 kids were waiting for us with supper ready to go so after some quick greetings amongst us all, we sat down to a heaping plate of pasta and ham and a beer-a great way to end the day of travel. Helen and Krista have been friends for over 35 years and have kept in contact with letters/emails for this long. We had last seen them in 1999 while on our honeymoon in London where they were holidaying with their 1 year old Rose who is now 12! The kids have a couple friends staying the week so all in all there are 8 children about!

After supper, we went for a walk on the beach while the tide was out and the kids all climbed trees and walked in the muck of the ocean. It was a great evening and sunset. We had a quick hot chocolate and visit and called it a night. We got the boys settled in their separate rooms of our bach – short for bachelor pad – a separate building just back from their cottage – just a few bedrooms and no running water. The boys had a busy day and hopefully will sleep in tomorrow but I’m a bit doubtful….

Sunday January 9th

The day began early at 645 am as my mental clock kicked in as we needed to be up and gone by 8am. After a bit of typing and photo work, the 745 alarm sounded and I opened the curtains to a bright beautiful blue sky. Everyone else in the room was legally blinded and not happy with my decision. After everyone had a quick shower, we packed for the whole day adventure and headed out around 8.

As we departed the hotel, we were greeted by the strong sulphuric smell that envelops all of Rotorua. It is much stronger at the many thermal vents in the area but it is still a slap in the face for the weak of smell!

We went a couple blocks away and found a great little restaurant called Nando’s. They had regular breakfast fare at half the price of the hotel. We feasted on pancakes, eggs, bacon, ham, tomatoes, hot chocolate and of course a chai tea for $28NZD. The Canadian dollar is worth $1.25 NZD so everything is about 25% off in real dollars. The unfortunate difference is that everything is priced 25-100% higher here. You would not believe how fruit and vegetables cost an arm and a leg in a country that grows them ten months a year. We have yet to find one thing here that is cheaper than you can get in Calgary on any given day. 

We stopped at a bank machine and ‘topped up’ for the day as sometimes our credit cards work and sometimes they don’t.  We stopped at the information booth and determined where our two stops were for the day and luckily were able to pay for them there and save the hassle of line-ups later in the day. 

We headed south back towards Taupo to our first adventure – the Thermal caves and pools of Waikapu! Supposedly there was a geyser (guy-zer not geezer) that erupted everyday around 1015am and we were on a mission not to miss it. We arrived around 945 and found a seat beside it along with 500 other tourists. A tour guide appeared and told the story of how it had been there for 150 years and how it operated. In order for the geyser to truly ‘erupt’, a certain type of salt stone had to be inserted down the hole that reacted with the 30000 litres below. After a minute, the foam began to pour from the hole and a minute later we had 25m high water erupting from the earth! It was an amazing sight as the wind shifted occasionally and we all got a spray of water on us. The sulphuric smell was overwhelming here much more so than back in Rotarua. 

There were a few Asian tourists who insisted on standing up and having their photo taken while it was at its peak and almost got beaten up by the NZ and Aussies who had travelled a bloody long way not to have their view impeded. After 5 minutes, it erupted only to a height of 10m and everyone stood and took a hundred photos and cooperated. It went on for at least 20 minutes, so we decided to carry on back to the interpretive centre to begin our self-guided tour. As we departed, so did the other 500 people and it took a while to get reparked in the lot a couple km away.  We did a quick bathroom break and struck out on the tour.

There were 25 stops along 3 circular paths that would around the area. Each crater revealed some oozing pools of water in a multitude of colored stenchy water with steam arising from it.  Most were a yellow color, but we found orange, lime green and a few others as well. We stopped for many photos and a couple family pictures along the way. The waterfall was a highlight as well as the giant lake of steam sulphur that blocked out all visibility.  The boys’ favourite was the complete lime green Devil’s Lake near the end of the tour as in the photo. After a quick and expensive stop at the gift shop, we grabbed a quick bite to eat at the cafeteria and were off to part II of our adventure for the afternoon.

We drove about half an hour south toward Taupo and off to the East to the river. This was the largest river in all New Zealand and runs about 420km in length. We decided to go big budget and blow $300NZ on a Jet Boat ride through the rapids of the river! We got checked in and received our life jackets and headed down to the bright yellow 12 seater speedboats. We got to sit in the middle on elevated seats so we had a great view of our adventure.  Our driver Gary was the experienced veteran and by far the better driver! We did a couple turns and stops/starts as he explained how to hang on for dear life. The look on the boys’ faces was priceless as they were certain that death was near for them both.

We headed down the river at 85km/hr. with wind whipping at our hair and clothes. It was almost difficult to see as we were going very fast. Keep in mind, the river is only 20 feet deep and about 100 feet across at its widest so there isn’t a whole lot of room for error here. We got really close to the shore or to fallen trees and would turn away at the last second to the screams of all passengers aboard. We went over rapids and ramped up and down any wave we could find in the river. The waves were fairly tame but when he circled his finger like a lasso, we knew we were in trouble. We spun 180 degrees on a dime, the front of the boat edged into the water, and we shot backwards about 50 feet spraying water in every direction. Needless to say, we got repeatedly soaked all afternoon! The funny thing was that we would almost completely dry off going 50mph for a mile or two down the river and then get soaked again.

One of the most fascinating things was how clear the water was. Because a volcano had erupted millions of years ago, the main rock formations were pumice and therefore hardly any dirt or soil gets washed into the river. You could see clear down the crystal blue water to the bottom of the river and watch the fish swim by like they were in an aquarium. We went over to the side of the river and found a stream bringing cold water into it and found tens of rainbow trout enjoying the extra oxygen in the cooler water. We travelled up to the dam and prepared for the water to be let loose. Every few hours, they let the water go and create some serious rapids. We toured around in them for a bit and before you knew it, our 45 minutes was up. We returned to the office to pick up our CD of photos of our adventure and decided we had not had enough. We drove down the road to a boat launch and hung out in the river water for an hour as the water was extremely warm. To our surprise, a couple jetboats came down the river much earlier than we thought and turned hard at our location completely soaking all of us! It was a bit of a surprise but all in good fun! We got some good photos and video of the other group so that was cool.

After a while, we decided we should make our way back to Rotarua to blow some more money in the souvenir shops. The gas gauge was on E the whole way and a little stress was had by all, but we eventually came across a gas station and filled up. Gas here is $2 a litre – double the price in Canada and to fill up a little tiny car costs $100 every time. We had driven by this giant concrete smokestack a couple times and decided to find it and take some photos. It has something to do with electricity generation but have to do some homework to determine exactly what it is as there was no signage indicating what it was.  We got back into town and found the souvenir shops. We found a few with similar prices and picked up some more stuff.  We hit the grocery store and bought some snacks for our journey tomorrow as well as some breakfast items so we can make a quick getaway.

We got back to the hotel and unpacked all our wares before taking the boys to the pool to burn off some steam before bed. They didn’t get nearly enough sleep last night and were quite cranky for the most part of the day – the unfortunate side of taking small children on a holiday such as this. Krista stayed in the room to recuperate while Darren did some hard core typing of the events of the day before he forgets them…