Rotorua

Sean and Kailani on the luge

Hangi Feast

Maori Show

Watching the green rolling hills with sheep and cows at our campground at the Waikite Thermal Pools

Wai-O-Tapu

08.31.08: From Papamoa, we drove into the Lake Rotorua region. I read in our Rough Guide how you can smell the sulfur coming from miles away, so my nose was on guard. I didn’t smell anything until we finally came right into town. Then, I looked to the side of the road to see a sign that said “Wastewater Treatment Facility”. So, I’m still not sure what I was smelling…

We stayed at the Top 10 Blue Lake Holiday Park (Campground), just a few minutes from the city of Rotorua. It was set right across the street from Blue Lake. There were pine trees on one side of the lake that were obviously planted. It’s pretty strange to see trees growing on a mountain in rows. I read somewhere that they are actually California pines that were planted as an experiment to see how they would grow. Apparently, they ended growing four times faster than in CA. On the other side of the lake is native bush mixed with ancient cycads. It’s quite an interesting mix.

This region has been a popular tourist spot for years because of all hot springs in the area. Because of this, it’s grown to have a number of other tourist activities to do as well. After settling into our camp sight, we were given a perplexing number of brochures to look through. But, we finally settled on a small but diverse list of categories to conquer: hot springs, Maori culture, thrill ride and animal experience for Kai. After, we went on a walk on a trail that went around the lake. Sean and Kailani stopped to throw in a fishing line out while I continued around the lake. Unfortunately, there were no fish when I got back to them. So, we went back to the campground and made dinner. The campground had DVDs available for rent and it was refreshing to see a movie that we’ve never seen, Madagascar.

The next morning, Sean went fishing again. Kailani and I stayed in the camper and ate breakfast. She insisted we watch Madagascar again. I’m glad that we needed to return it after that. Although it’s a good movie, I’m sure if we bought it, it would have been watched a zillion times by now. Again, Sean came back with no fish. But this time, the trail was closed for “Tree Felling”. I think that’s what they call when they purposely clear trees from the forest so they don’t fall down on their own and cause an accident.

Later that morning, we headed down to town to a store called The Outdoorsman Headquarters. Technically, Sean still needed a fishing license in order to fish at the lakes. Luckily, we were camping at a lake that’s OK to fish in, because he found out that it’s illegal to fish at the next lake over, Green Lake, since it’s Maori land. I started browsing through their selection of New Zealand merino wool thermal insulating clothes. The weather had turned cold that morning (FREEZING!), so timing was just right. I ended up picking a camisole made by Icebreaker. Still, I’m kicking myself that I didn’t also get a long sleeve shirt. It’s so incredible warm and soft! If you are in cold weather, I’d definitely recommend this stuff! I also strolled into their footwear department. I was still wearing my Keen sandals with socks. My toes were also freezing. For two weeks in Australia, I (as well as Caitlin and Tutu) had been on the hunt for some new Uggs, but never found anything that looked like good quality or style. Later, we found out that Uggs was actually bought by an American company. I guess that’s why there is a better selection of Uggs in the US than in Oz. Go figure! Anyway, at the store, I found a great pair of Merrell boots with fuzzy detailing and lined with Thinsulate. (No sheepskin, but that’s OK.) Nothing was cheap, but definitely worth it.

From there, we went to the Skyline Skyrides, took a gondola 200 meters up to the top of Terawera Mountain for great views of Lake Rotorua and then did some luge rides down. There are a number of places in town where you can get your adrenaline kicks: zorb, sky diving, bungy diving, etc. I’m sure Sean and I would be up for all of it. But, it was nice that we actually found something that was for the whole family. We all had a fun time. Kai was able to ride tandem on the luge. So first, she went with Sean, then with me, then with Sean again. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t the greatest. It was misty up there and it kept looking like it was going to start pouring. But from a positive perspective, it motivated us to go down faster. At first, I was wondering if it’d be too much for Kai to handle. But after every ride, she kept asking to go again. We might have an adrenaline junkie in the making. When we were done, we got back into the gondola to go back down the mountain. It started raining pretty hard, so I guess we were just in time. Later that afternoon, we went back to the campground so Sean could go fishing again, this time legally. Unfortunately, the rain never let up.

The next day, we checked out of our campground at Blue Lake and went to the Waikite Valley thermal pools. The great thing about there is that they have a campground attached to their facilities and if you stay at the campground, you can bathe for free. As you are going to Waikite Valley, you take Highway 5, named The Thermal Explorer Highway. As you go, you can see big clouds of steam coming all up and down the road, hence the name. At the campground, we settled in and had lunch before jumping into the pools. Sean had the lamb stroganoff with couscous and I had some kumara and something (I can’t remember, but it was a Maori name) soup. We were impressed with both. The stroganoff sauce had a kick of cinnamon, which I think disguised the normally gamey flavor of the lamb well. At the pools, Kai found a friend to play with, another two and a half year old, Hannah, who was half Kiwi and half Cambodian, from Rotorua. Her parents owned St. Andrews bakery in town. Just as some other locals that we met there said, they preferred this place over others like the Polynesian Spa in town because it’s much more sedate and less crowded.

Later that night, we went to a Maori show and dinner run by Mitai (equivalent to a Hawaiian luau). There, we saw a performance of traditional Maori dance, music, song and chants. Then, ate a hangi dinner, where the chicken, lamb, potatoes, kumara and bread are steamed to perfection in a Maori earth oven (which I think is heated by hot springs). After dinner, we ended the night with a bush walk around the village where we saw glow worms and spring water pool that bubbled up several million gallons of water daily, and had freshwater eel and trout living there. Although it was not the most intimate way to experience the Maori culture, it was still fun and interesting.

The next day, we went to the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, where Sean wanted to see the Lady Knox Geyser that goes off every morning at 10:15am sharp. No, it doesn’t naturally go off at the same time every day. In fact, naturally, it would go off any time between 24 to 72 hours. But every day, a ranger puts a soap-like substance into it (I’m sure, some kind of surfactant), which releases it’s surface tension and makes it go off. We all did our “oh’s” and “ah’s” and then walked around the rest of the park to see more bubbling thermal hot pools. You can see several different colors in the water and on the land, depending on the presence of what minerals there are. The rest of the landscape was a mix of native bush with what appeared to look like a holocaust zone.

In the afternoon, we went into town to the Rainbow Springs Nature Park for the Kiwi Experience. We toured a conservation center dedicated to reviving the rapid extinction of the kiwi bird. We learned everything you want to know about the kiwi, went through their working nursery and got to see live kiwi in their nocturnal room up close without any glass barriers. I was so proud of Kailani in the later environment, as it was absolutely necessary to be quiet. She wanted to see them so bad, she did exactly what she was supposed to. Later that afternoon, went back to the campground to have lunch in their café (more well-done deep fried Dory and chips for Sean, and a chicken burger with mango chutney for me) and bathe in the hot pools again. It was so nice there, we couldn’t get enough!

Our last morning in town, we went to Hannah’s parent’s, St. Andrew’s Bakery, for a quick “takeaway” breakfast. Sean had the best steak and mushroom pie he’s ever had. I had egg rolls that were so good, Kailani, who has never cared for them, stole the rest of what I had. After stopping by the local New World to stock up again, we were off a couple hours back toward the coast to Whakatane.

Papamoa Beach

08.30.08: After leaving the winery in Bethlehem, we hit the nearby town of Tauranga. Past that was a stretch of beach along a peninsula. Because it was lined with pine trees, it reminded us of Manly Beach in Australia. Although this is a surfable beach, again the water was flat. Just our luck! At the very tip of the peninsula is Mount Manganui. It seems like such a strange sight that there’s this little volcanic mountain that sticks off the end off that tip of land, but there it is. You can hike up it. As well, there’s a campground at the base that has hot springs. I wasn’t too keen with the fact that they were chlorinated, so we passed and went further down the road.

We drove down the coast until we came upon another Top 10 campground at Papamoa Beach. We didn’t spend more than a night there, but do have to give mention of what great beachfront facilities they had there. The playground had what they called a “jumping pillow”, which was a big inflated “pillow” set into the ground for kids to jump on, just like the one at our campground in Ondres, France. (See Kai on it in blog entry dated March 12, 2008.) The bathrooms were worth mention too, with details like the marble tiled floors/walls and Hans Grohe faucets.

The next morning, we went to a café for some good stomach-filling Sunday brunch, another one for some free internet time and a Happy Birthday call to Sean’s mom. And then, we hit the road again. For the first time, we headed inland, towards Lake Rotorua.

It seems like, since we’ve come south of Auckland, that there are generally more people than in the Northland. But still, this country is so peaceful and less populated than so many other parts of the world. This, along with all the beautiful scenery and beaches, it is really starting to make me feel like I’m more relaxed than I’ve been in years! Yes, we ARE enjoying New Zealand immensely!

Hahei and Hot Water Beach

08.28.08: From Auckland, we drove to the Coromandel Peninsula and headed to a place called Hot Water Beach. The New Zealand Surf Guide said there was a campground there, but our camping atlas didn’t show one. We were hopeful when we saw the little tent picture on the road sign pointing that way, but couldn’t find anything when we got into town. The town itself was very cute. There were probably only three businesses, a café, a market and a surf shop, and the rest were cute little cottage style houses mixed with modern-designed houses nestled on the cliffs in the cove surrounding the beach. Again like Muriwai, it reminded me of Aptos, but less country and more as it was being re-built with nicer houses in the 90’s. We stopped to ask one of the locals about the campground and found that it had closed a year or two ago. Also while we were talking to him, we found out that a swell had just hit the day before. That day, the waves were barely breaking. Just our luck! And, as Sean would say, “We should have been here yesterday!”

Considering how beautiful the weather was and I hadn’t used our new board yet, I decided to paddle out and catch a few ripples. This beach was named one of the 10 Most Beautiful Beaches in the World and that it was. After I got out of the water, we watched the sun set while some guy fished at the shoreline with a bottle of wine. We thought “What a life! What else do you need besides a bottle of wine and a fishing pole?!?” Finding another campground was not an issue. There was one a couple kilometers down at the next beach called Hahei.

The next morning, we headed back to Hot Water Beach. But this time, not for waves. New Zealand is literally a hot bed of geothermal activity and Hot Water Beach is one example of this. Underneath the sand, there are reservoirs of water that are heated by hot volcanic rock below that. So on a low tide, you can dig a hole in the sand and, if you’re lucky, it’ll fill with hot water. As we approached the beach, two of the three local shops advertised they had spades for hire (shovels for rent). We should have grabbed some. Instead, we went straight for the beach to check it out. There were already several holes dug, some of which had bathers sitting in them and others were empty. It took some testing to see which holes had the right temperature. Some of them were too hot and others were cold. Finally I found a good one that wasn’t too hot for Kailani. The hole was shallow, so I dug deeper with my hands as I sat in it. After a while, I got pretty good at shimmying my feet and butt into the sand to get deeper into the water. Kailani had a great time jumping in and out of the holes and playing in the sand. Sean made friends with another bather, Manu from Hamilton. The next thing I knew, they were picking mussels off of a 10-15 foot rock that sat about 10 yards out in the ocean. Sean also met Manu’s friends, who were out getting paua (abalone) and sea urchins (don’t remember the Maori name for that one). After learning that you didn’t even need to dive for the paua, Sean ended up trying his hand at it, but no luck. The tide had started to come in by then. Manu’s friend was also nice enough to give Sean a couple urchins for us to try. For how big and spiny they are, it’s surprising how little you actually eat from them. But, they tasted good.

We decided to leave for the campground and cook the mussels. Unfortunately, we had no more white wine. I looked in our atlas and found a nearby winery. As we got close to Purangi Estates winery, I had some uneasy feelings about being in a pretentious wine tasting room after spending my day rolling around in the sand. But as we walked up to the building, it was so rustic that I was surprised that it was still standing. We were also the only one’s there, so no worries. We met Danny who was doing the pouring in the tasting room. I believe it was his family who owned the winery. He started talking with his fast New Zealand tongue, and we could only get 50% of what he was saying. Somehow, I caught something about surfing and fishing at Hot Water Beach yesterday, and then realized he was talking about me. Ah yes, who else would it be but the guy fishing with the bottle of wine? He was a very interesting guy to talk to, not only about wine, but he had some interesting stories and tidbits about all things native and the history about New Zealand, feijoas, Maori and kauri trees to name a few. And, he wasn’t afraid to tell the truth either. The winery made a small selection of wines from grapes, but also made quite a few fruit liqueurs. Mostly, because the growing conditions on the Coromandel Peninsula are really not the best for a huge variety of grapes, but there are other fruits that are grown that they can ferment. The feijoa liqueur seemed to be a popular one. After talking with Danny for a while about the quality of what we put in our mouths nowadays, I finally asked him if they use any sprays on their grapes. As it turns out, they’ve been growing organically for over 20 years, before “certified organic” was even invented. They just haven’t bothered to pay to be certified, probably because they are such a small winery. So after a fun visit, we left with some Sauvignon Blanc for our “Hottie Rock Mussels” and a bottle of Merlot Malbec. Back at our campground, the mussels were great and I had some Pitango Tomato, Basil and Ricotta Risotto to go with it. This place definitely has our vote as one of our favorite spots!

The next day, we hit the road again, this time heading a couple hours south down the coast. As it got closer to lunch time, we were getting hungry. We ended up stopping in the town of Bethlehem at the Mills Reef winery. I read that they had a café, so thought we could do some tasting and lunch. This winery ended up being the exact opposite atmosphere as the last. It had some gorgeous gardens and nice outdoor pavilion area and their “café” seemed more like THE place to go for a weekend brunch celebration. There were several well-dressed large groups eating there, probably celebrating birthdays or something. Luckily, we got a table outside and away from the crowds. I got the macadamia and panko crumbled fish and chips and Sean got a dish with fish, shrimp and scallops, prepared three different ways. It was all very good. Kailani wasn’t hungry, but played around in their pavilion area (as long as we could encourage her to do so). The waitress was nice enough to bring a few tastings of their best wines to our table because I knew it was probably not going to be a good idea to spend any bit of time with Kailani in their tasting room. We ended up with a couple glasses as well as leaving with a bottle of their 2007 Hawke’s Bay Pinot Gris Reserve.

I’m usually a red wine drinker, but I am growing fond of the New Zealand whites, at least so far. They seem to have more flavor and complexity. Or, perhaps there is more seafood around here to go with it. I’m not sure. I seem to have better luck with the bottles from the wineries, rather than ones from the grocery store. I’m sure it’s for several reasons. However, it sounds like a good idea to make it a point to get wine from there. If anything it’s more fun that way!

Auckland: Part 2

08.27.08: From Houhora Heads, we hit the road for several hours towards Auckland until we were back at the Westfield mall in Otewa Valley, the northern suburbs of Auckland. Going back to the same ole New World Market made it quick stop for groceries. After, we hit The Reservoir again for another pretty good dinner of oysters on the half shell, BBQ ribs and a salad. Again, we were impressed. The oysters were topped with some kind of seaweed slaw with a hint of mint, and dab of wasabi mayo. It was quite an interesting combo, subtle enough in taste to just compliment the oysters. The ribs were nothing worth merit, but the side that it came with was really good. It was a casserole made with chorizo, kumara and tomatoes. The sweet of kumara and the spicy of the chorizo in a tomato sauce rather than the usual milky/cheesy sauce was a surprising change of pace. Later that night, we found our way to a campground in North Auckland, the only non-waterfront location so far (and the second non-beach location) and crashed for the night.

While we were driving back to Auckland from the Northland, I read about a couple of places that I wanted to check out. So, when we woke up the next morning, we needed to plan how to get there. Waikete Island, aka The Wine Island, was the first place. You needed to take a ferry to get there and it was pretty cost-prohibitive to take our camper on the ferry. So, we thought about just going as passengers on the ferry for the day. But, I couldn’t find any information on public buses over there. Also, there were not guarantees that wineries would be open for tasting because it was low season and many are only open on the weekends. So, we scrapped that idea. If I’m lucky, maybe we’ll try to go there again when we’re back in Auckland to return the camper, before we fly back to The States.

But getting to the other spot, Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World and Antarctic Adventure was a piece of cake. So, we checked-out of the campground and drove further into the city to get there. This was definitely another place for Kailani. They had some of the HUGEST stingrays we’ve ever seen. And, although it’s not the first we’ve been to, Underwater World has the world’s first transparent underwater walk-through tunnel. We saw sharks, stingrays, fish and turtles swimming around and over us. And best of all, because Kailani’s been watching two movies recently, Surf’s Up and Happy Feet, both of which feature penguins as the main characters, it was fun to see their rare Fiordland penguin conservation area. To view them, you get to ride a Snowcat (that’s specially geared towards being a ride) around this loop where the penguins swimming and hanging out on the ice. Overall, it was a short but fun little trip.

Afterwards, we were hungry for lunch and seafood sounded great. We headed back towards the Auckland CBD (Central Business District) to find some food. Considering we were right there near docks, it was a bummer that we never found a seafood restaurant. Instead, we found a food court near our parking lot and ate some Thai noodles. They were worth eating and we were pretty hungry by then, but definitely not anything special.

From Auckland, we hit the road again. This time, we were headed a couple hours southeast then northeast to the Cormandel Peninsula. Again, it was easy driving, not hard to navigate with our road atlas, and we went past more rolling hills with lots of sheep, although more cattle were starting to appear as well. We also went through a scenic reserve forest that was absolutely stunning.

Houhora Heads

08.26.08: Houhora Heads was really just a place to stop over on our drive back down south to Auckand. It seemed like a nice little beachside campground on the east coast of the Northland. But, we only had time to eat dinner and crash. Again, I think there was only one other camper on the grounds. In the morning, Sean woke-up early and went fishing, but got skunked again. Then, we headed back towards Auckland.

Shipwrecks

08.25.08: We again headed from the east coast to the west a couple hours, this time to Shipwrecks Bay, aka Ahipara Bay. After going through more rolling hills with lots of sheep and some farms, it felt like we were getting further from civilization. Then as we got towards the bay, there was a small town where most of the houses were built in the same style as mobile homes with mostly corrugated siding. A few kilometers away, there was a small town as well. I noticed that many walked around with bare feet in the local Pac-n-Save.

Before getting to the campground, we saw that most were driving right onto the sand to hang out. We did the same. There was a break in the rainy weather and it was clear and sunny for a change. So, Sean and Kailani played in the sand for a while, while I put together chicken and chunky Thai satay sandwiches for lunch. As the tide came up to the campervan, we decided to move to the Te Kohania Camping Ground, which was only a couple feet up in elevation. This was Maori land, so they collect a “koha”, aka “fees”. It was definitely the most rustic campground we’ve stayed at so far. There were no electrical hook-ups, kitchen or laundry. And, I preferred to use our own bathroom facilties rather than what I saw. Besides the groundskeeper, I think there was only one other camper staying here. The swell had supposedly hit, so Sean surfed later that afternoon. It looked a bit mixed up and crazy for my taste and I was lazy, so I passed.

The next morning, we woke-up and looked out the window to see a group of about five dolphins frolicking in the ocean right in front of our campervan. Though we’ve seen this several times in Santa Cruz, it’s still always an awesome sight! Sean ventured out to do some fishing while I stayed back waiting for Kai to wake-up. Instead of fish, he came back with another bag full of mussels and some pictures of sea lions that were hanging out right there on the rocks at the bay’s point. He also noticed the swell was dying, so he jumped out surfing again. When Kailani finally woke-up, I fed her breakfast and we went out to get a closer look at the waves. As we were walking over the rocks on the bay’s point, I would have probably tripped right over a baby sea lion had Kailani not spotted it out for me. This beach was definitely teaming with life! Getting a closer view of the guys out in the water, it was looking pretty fun. I was ready to do a quick jump in water after Sean. But wouldn’t you know it, it started to rain again. So instead, we jumped into the van and fixed ourselves another awesome lunch of mussels steamed in Ascension Voigner, butter and a squeeze of lemon. Shipwreck’s definitely got our vote for “best spot” so far!

After lunch, we drove up to Cape Reinga, the furthest north you can go on the North Island. (New Zealand is broken up between two islands, The North Island and The South Island.) The Northland is what the northern part of the North Island is called. And basically, it looks like a long rectangle dangling off the south part of the North Island. Somehow, it appears like a straight shot up to Cape Reinga. Not quite! It was way more twisty and windy than we though. And in fact, we went through the Raetea Forest which contained the Maungataniwha mountain range. But finally, we made it there. There is apparently a lighthouse right at the tip. As well, you are supposed to be able to see where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean by difference in the color of the water. Unfortunately, there was road construction at the end of the road that blocked our view. At least, we were able to see each side of the tip. Seeing the vast Pacific Ocean out there brought up thoughts of how the ancient Polynesians crossed it in forty days with seventy five canoes. Boy, were they brave! We headed back down south, stopping halfway at Houhora Heads to spend the night.

Huruku Falls and Waitangi Treaty Grounds

A view of the falls from our camper.

A carving in the Marae (Maori meeting house)

Ngatoki Matawhaorua, the world’s largest war canoe

08.23.08: As we left Mangawhai towards the highway, I was got a call from Caitlin. The school year was starting at Sonoma State, there were things I need to take care of and I hadn’t been connected to the internet since our first day in New Zealand. It didn’t appear that any of the other campgrounds had internet access, except for the second one we stayed at in Muriwai. And there, when the groundskeeper let me on his computer, the keyboard all the sudden stopped working. So, I passed. Along the highway, we found a lodge that had a huge banner advertising they had internet. I walked in to find an internet “machine” where you stick $2 coins in and it gives you a certain number of minutes. I stuck the money in the machine but it wasn’t connecting me. I asked for help from the lady tending bar only to find that it was broken. She refunded my money, but we were out of luck with the internet.

As we continued our drive, it didn’t rain hard, but it was steady. So we just bee-lined it all the way up. Our next stop was the Huruku Falls campground, which sat inland, next to a river and waterfalls. The view of the waterfalls right from our camper definitely gives this place some merit! AND as if by luck, this campground offered wifi. So with access to the internet, I spent most of the afternoon catching up on business again as well as finishing up on some blogs from Australia. Sean and Kai explored outside, enjoying the sounds of the rushing waterfall and feeding the local ducks the leftover ends of my Pitango 7 Seed Sourdough Spelt bread. That night, it rained so hard we could barely sleep!

The next day, we woke to some very rushing waterfalls. Sean originally wanted to fish, but the water was rushing way too hard to even do that. The water looked like chocolate milk. So after getting dressed, we went to the nearby Waitangi Treaty Grounds. It was along the coast and we did see a couple surfers out in the water enjoying the new swell, although I personally didn’t even see anything breaking out there.

Our first stop at The Grounds was their café for lunch. I heard great things about their meat pies last year while doing some travel research. It struck me as strange that a café adjoined to a big tourist spot would get such good merits. But, there were more locals than tourists enjoying their Sunday brunch there, so that was a good sign. I ordered the smoked eel and kumara (a NZ sweet potato that you see on menus everywhere) cakes on top of a salad with farmhouse cheese and a glass of Sauv. Sean got the scallops on top of a homemade ravioli with a Steinlager (which he says tastes different than in The States). And, Kai got the chicken nuggets, chips (fries) and a Phoenix Organics apple and feijoa juice. The feijoa is a green fruit that is related to the kiwifruit but doesn’t have fur. To me, it looks like a small mango and tastes like a soft tangy pear. Anyway, all was phenomenal! (…except for maybe the chicken nuggets, which were “standard”.) Afterward, we still had some room to try the lamb pie, which was good, but nothing like our first dishes.

The Waitangi Treaty Grounds is described as “the most symbolic place in New Zealand for Maori (original natives) and Pakeha (non-Maori, usually white)” because it was here in 1840 that Queen Victoria’s representative William Hobson (U.K.) and nearly 50 Maori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi. The short version is that it was supposed to afford Maori protection and guarantee them rights over land and resources. After the treaty was signed, the settler population grew, demand for land increased, and the government passed laws that gradually stripped Maori of control of their affairs. This led to the New Zealand Wars of the 1860’s. From my perspective, the first part sounds very similar to the history of the US, where white men came in and declared land as theirs, when natives were already living on it, then “gave” it back to them. Later, they wanted to take it back.

Anyway, the Treaty Grounds consisted of the Treaty House, colonial style, built in 1833-34 and has displays on how the settlers, aka “white folk”, lived back then. Also, there’s the Maori meeting house, built between 1934 and 1940 as a cooperative effort between all Maori tribes, rather than one single tribe. That had some pretty cool tribal carvings inside. Also housed on the grounds is the Ngatoki Matawhaorua, the world’s largest war canoe built from two huge kauri (New Zealand native trees) by five northern tribes and measuring over 35m in length. It seats 80 warriors and is traditionally launched very year on Waitangi Day, a New Zealand national holiday. We basically ran from one sight to another, because it was consistently sprinkling and looked like it would rain harder at any moment.

So far, New Zealand seems like it’s hard to unbury it’s history, especially anything before when settlers came. So I’m glad that we learned a bit more about it. However, I’d still like to know more about it’s native Maori culture. So hopefully, we can dig up more as we explore the country.

As we headed back to the campground for the night, we stopped by a grocery store. I ended up finding Primal Earth organic shave gel for Sean who had been in need of some for quite a while. When I got back to the campground, I read the label to find that it was made locally and was impressed by what and how it was made. I wish I would have seen what other products they had available! I think they also have a shop in Wellington, so I’m hoping I run into these products again.