This might have to go down as the best New Years Eve ever…

We drove back out to where we arranged that taxi. It was a cold morning, and I was a little nervous, as I was in shorts and a tshirt with a bathing suit underneath. The boat was a lot of fun, it took us to a few places before dropping people off at the destinations that they had selected. MK picked a place called Anchorage Beach. Most of these places you could only get to by boat, but there were a few that you could hike to, but none with roads. MK ran around and played and as it warmed up I sat on the beach, covered in spf 60 and bug spray, but happy nonetheless. I read a book and listened to music. We were out there the whole afternoon, then MK noticed I was still a little red despite my constant reapplication of the spf60 (not that I minded…) We went to sit in the shade and eat the little dinner I had packed. Out of the sun it was freezing, so I went back out. It was about time for the taxi anyway.

At home, we noticed that MK had forgotten to put sunscreen on his feet, which were fried. I couldn’t stop laughing. We managed to clean up and head out for dinner and drinks for New Years. The town Nelson that we were near had a nice bar that we had a good time at, but they didn’t do a countdown. We had our own. About three times, just to be safe.

The streets were pretty busy and the whole day and night was so amazing.

Check out these pictures, the difference between high and low tide at the same place:

We started our day out at Paradise Valley, the springs that feed many of the lakes, produce drinking water, and where most of the brown and rainbow trout spawn. I’ve never seen so many fish. There were neat birds, deer, llamas, alpacas, goats, more sheep, and even lions. Probably my favorite animals were the wallabies. I really thought about trying to steal one.

Our next stop was Te Puia, a little attraction with Maori history and stuff. I got to see a kiwi. I didn’t know that they were nocturnal, and that I had no chance of seeing one in the wild, so the one they had there was as close as it gets and I’m calling it a real sighting. Te Puia had many active geysers that we made it just in time for. We hiked around and saw mud bubbling, and yellow dirt and rocks and all that stuff, all the smoke coming out of the ground, you get the idea. MK deleted the mud pictures, sorry folks.

Boxing Day was a big sales day, we went to a store called Rebel Sports to check for sweet deals. The entire store was 25% off and every item was after that about 49% more than I would pay for anything. It was ridiculous. We went next to a Skyline Gondola ride up the highest peak in Rotorua. We had lunch at the top overlooking the town view. MK convinced me to take the luge sleds to get down, which was pretty funny.

As if stopping at Sheepworld wasn’t enough, we got to go to “Agrodome” and see sheep being shorn and doing tricks and sheep dogs and other farm animals and little lambs. Cute. And smelly. You only make $1.50 per sheep as a sheep shearer. No thanks!

All the geothermic activity makes you think one thing, right? Spas. I thought so. So our next stop was the Polynesian Spa. Threw on my suit, jumped in the mineral pool, and…unimpressed. The water was yucky. There were bus loads being dropped off every few minutes, and parts with kids running all around. We found one slightly secluded pool, but still were pretty disappointed, so we ended up cutting that a little short.

After a quick shower to get mineral and stranger water off 😉 , we headed to Mitai. We walked through the land of the Maori tribe to the village they had created where they performed a great singing and dancing show. They also showed us traditional fights and games, training exercises and tools. We then were ushered to a great tent for our hangai, the traditional feast. They dig a big pit and cook everything all day. We had kumera (sweet potato) chicken, lamb, stuffing, salad, and potatoes. After tea and dessert, we walked back in to the forest to see the eels and trout in the water, and yes, the GLOW WORMS in the forest.

I have been slightly obsessed with glow worms ever since the first one I got when my little brother was born, letting me know that everyone liked me better. So when I found out that there is some worm that glows in it’s larval stage, I really wanted to see that. Didn’t know they were real…But the thing was there all in these dark wet nasty caves in the middle of no where that cost a ton of money to get to. I got to see them for free. Stickin’ it to the man, woo hoo. That pretty much made my night. Unfortunately, I can’t share that with you because the pictures didn’t come out, so ha ha, I got to see them and you didn’t…

I’m so mean 🙂