LO AND BEHOLD...

I have FINALLY uploaded and sorted and organized and pulled it together and posted the pix from AUxNZ!! Check it out for some serious eye-boggling wanderlust.. :)))

https://theadventuresofpm.shutterfly.com/pictures

Enjoy and stay tuned for our next adventure.. coming up soon!!!

If anyone's out there..

Ok this unpublished post is beyond old and it's my last from the trip.. please read on if you care to!

Our first night back in Sydney was exciting!! It was great to be back in a power city after a quiet week in The Port. After checking into our hotel in Pott's Point, we headed out to Darling Harbour. It was about a 25 minute walk from our hotel so not bad at all. Pott's Point is a quieter part of Sydney and there's a few small bars, bakeries & restaurants. Along with some random pet shops, homeware boutiques and banks. It's close to King's Cross which once was a very bad part of Sydney. It's improved now! More on our experience there later! Once we got to the Darling Harbour, we had to find a spot to watch the fireworks! They were part of the Vivid light show I had mentioned last week. Unfortunately, practically ALL of the restaurants on the Harbour (and there were many!) were packed!!! We ended up watching the 'works from a little balcony near a bar. It was AMAZING!! The last time I saw such a great firework extravaganza was when I was a pre-teen visiting the East Coast! Anyway the show lasted about 10 mins. and before that, there was a light projection show on the water of the Harbour. It was so very cool! Once it ended we started scouting for a rez and ended up at an Italian place. Of course, P had more Kang meat. He's loving it!! Hah! During dinner, I asked a group of girls next to me about any fun night spots. There were plenty and they told us about some they liked right on the Harbour. I was excited but talking to them made me miss my own girlfriends!!!

The first bar we hit that night, Hotel Tokio had a live band and a cool vibe! Got bored a few songs later so we tried to get into a couple clubs nearby but PM wasn't dressed the part so they didn't let him in. So I went in anyway.. Just kidding!!! :)) We headed back towards the hotel with plans to hit some spots we had seen on the way to the Harbour. Once we got close, we realized the party was at King's Cross! This area had completely come to life from the time we had last seen it in the early eve.! The first place we went to was way too wild and full of young'ns so we headed to a couple other places. This scene was really diverse and each nightspot seemed to play towards a certain age group. One of the bars reminded me of one in Vietnam.. Very fancy, decorative & colorful!

The following morning and the last couple days have been a whirlwind. We have managed to practically see all of Sydney on foot. :0 On Sunday, we had brunch at an outstanding spot near our hotel. It was called La Buvette & a great start to the morning! After a yummy meal, we walked through the Royal Botanical Gardens to the Opera House. Wow!! I was stunned by it's unique design. It's cool a design so innovative was created in 1973..Afterwards it was time for a coffee break! As we headed for The Rocks, we stopped into Guylian-a Belgian cafe that made the best Eclair I had ever tried!! The chocolate was so creamy and smooth. It was TDF!!! PM got a double macchiato shot and I got a lemon-grass & ginger tea. That goodness brought us back to life!! We headed for the Contemporary Art Museum which was also located in The Rocks area. P & I really hit the jackpot for Sydney b/c there was free stuff going on all around!! First the Vivid Lights and then the Bienalle Museum walk! If we had more time, I would have loved to visit every museum around there.. Once we left the museum, we headed towards some shops but since it was Sunday- many places were already closed. Bummer!! Back on the streets, the Vivid Lights had just turned back on so we got back to it!! We wandered around Circular Quay near the bridge and picked up some wraps and yummy mulled wine for din. After we ate, we were on a mission to find the entrance to walk the Sydney Harbour Bridge! We found the stairs up to it and another couple told us it would take 15 mins. to walk across. YEAH RIGHT!! I knew that wasn't true b/c the bridge is huge!!! In actuality, it took us about 25-30 mins. power-walking!! I suppose it may have been shorter if we didn't stop for pix etc. I was relieved when we finally made it to the other side. We saw some more Vivid designs and went to Luna Park where they had a bright shiny ferris wheel!! Got our tix, waited in line and made it on. It was FREEZING at the top and around! Ay yi yi!! There was more cold coming up for us b/c we had to wait 30 mins. for a water ferry back to the Opera House. Boy oh boy that was NO fun!! But we came, we saw, we conquered. When we got back to the opera house, we managed to see the rest of the Vivid lights b/c it was on the way back to the hotel. There were so many cool designs, from robots to a lit-up car. The designs that stood out to me the most were hanging glass bottles that had lights shinning through them and a bunch of clear beach-like balls with pictures of mouths in them laughing along to the audio. It was pretty clever and you'll be able to see what I'm talking about through pix. 12 hours later- our tired legs were screaming for bed!!!

Monday: Off to explore the suburb of Sydney- Paddington & Oxford shopping precinct. Tucked into a place for brekkie and had some great Egg Benedict's and Bloody Mary's. Yum!!! Once we finished, I declared "let the shopping commence"! Haha jk- but really, it was on! We visited a lot of cool shops and I ended up with an amazing cape-like necklace and a dress for my lovely friend Keri's upcoming nuptials! Shopping in those towns was fun but Central Sydney is where it's at! Any shop you can think of is there.. From Zara to Prada-- they've got it all! It's basically 4 malls connected together within less than a half a mile radius. How insane is that?!! You've got MidCity, Pitt Street mall, The Strand, and Queen Victoria Building. The Strand & the QVB stood out because they were old rustic buildings renovated to add stores but the original decor was maintained. Overall, it was a fun day for me but you'll have to ask Plamen how he liked it! :p

Tuesday: Our last morning in Sydney was a hustle! We took a train to Bankstown to pick up some cosmetics for my family. It's a Viet community so I felt right at home!! However, we didn't get to enjoy it because we had to return to the hotel quickly to catch our shuttle. The rush turned out to be unnecessary because our shuttle was..wait for it.. 45 mins late!!! Ahhh after a few maddening phone-calls, we were eventually picked up. Lesson learned to ALWAYS book airport transportation while booking flights! I'm usually good at it but I didn't bother for this trip. Man was I sorry!! Our nice driver hurried us to the airport and we managed to make the flight. :)

Back in SFO, Plamen and I went our separate ways b/c I was back on another airplane to visit my best childhood friend, Karishma in Toronto. She was graduating!! I managed to make some phone calls to my family and couldn't help but tear up. Especially after hearing my nephew Ethan's sweet voice asking me when the heck I'll be back! The homesickness was in full swing.. Anyway, I felt much better when I was reunited with K and her loving family. They always smother me with love and good food! What more can I girl ask for?!

Rainforest Action

Ok WIFI in Sydney was few and far between so here's my post- few days late.. Current status: SFO>Toronto & missing home!!! 

Hi mateys! Currently writing from our plane from Cairns > Sydney. The last couple days have been action-filled! After a last minute booking, we took a rainforest tour on Th. We were picked up at 7:20am (EARRRLY) and greeted by our driver Adrian. He was a fun guide!! Loved his energy from the start. He also introduced us to the others who were touring with us, Bridget & Nicole. They were a great mother/daughter duo from Melbourne, AU. Made me miss my mum!!! We drove down the road and picked up Nigel & Bridget. They were Kiwis* so it was exciting to talk about our recent trip to their home country!! Jealous when Bridget told us she had done the lusted Tongariro Crossing a few(!) times! Adrian teased them and thought they a couple.. Then they told us they were bro & sis. Haha!! 

Anyway about 10 mins. down the road, A decided to pull over to show us some sugar cane plants at the factory nearby. It was really cool to see the machine at work grinding down the plant so quickly!! We were back on our way and as he did a U-turn, the car lost power steering!! Everyone got really nervous (myself included!). It helped that Adrian stayed calm and told us his next move. He managed to pull over and call for another bus which came within 5 mins. He handled the situation well and we all managed to find the humor of it! We got into the new bus and headed for Mossman Gorge. This area is part of the rainforest and closed off to the public so only tours are allowed through. We began our walk in and Adrian educated us on the different types of plants around us. I was still waking up!! :p He showed us a plant called "Stay-A-While" and it has the name b/c it's pricklies will cling on you and take a while to peel off if you brush across it!! We also learned that you can't tell an age of most trees in the rainforest through it's rings. The gorge also had a beautiful stream with large rocks around it! It was a great start to the tour.

Once we finished there, we drove to a look-out that gave us a nice view over the Coral Sea. We could spot out the Port from there too! We all sat around the for tea and muffins and learned more about one another. It was really nice to talk to some locals and learn about their culture first-hand. :) After some laughs, we were back in the car and on our way to the Daintree River. Croc-croc-crocodile time!!! We hopped on a small boat and went cruising around the river. The first croc sighting was of a medium sized female croc on the shore. It was still even when we approached it. We saw some birds that inhabit the river and then two croc-lings! One was on a tree branch above the river and one was well-camouflaged on shore! It took me a while to find it with my poor eyesight hah!! Binoculars helped spot it and I also liked em b/c I could zoom into see their scaly skin & eyes!! We saw some more on the shore along the river then we spotted Scarface, a dominant male croc. Only half his body was out of the water and he was facing inward so I couldn't really see his face. I really wanted a croc to come out and chomp at me from the river but it was still a really cool and unforgettable experience! I enjoyed seeing them in their  natural habitat. And even though we also saw a few of em, we were told there's one every 1km of the large 110km river! 

Once we got done visiting the crocs. Adrian picked us back up from the river tour and we left for Noah's Valley. This was a special experience because he showed us around another part of the rainforest. We came across a creek where he picked up a rock and some stones to draw on the rock with! It was to represent the materials that aboriginal people used to use way back in the day! This was neat to see. We also learned about ants who mimic spiders and vice versa. These insects do this to protect themselves in the forest! It's common among plants too. Interesting right?!! We were introduced to a poisonous heart shaped plant and a red flower that can make you blind if you rub it on your hands then your eyes. Eek!! I spotted some "ants" that were actually spiders! After that, I didn't know what was what!! After roaming around, we went to a cool treehouse-like picnic area for a steak and fish lunch! That was delicious!! Over lunch, Adrian told us about his ski trips to Japan and their culture. Dying to visit now!! We went down to wade in a  stream after lunch.. Conditions weren't right so we couldn't swim in it. Bummer!! 

Our 2nd to last stop was Cape Tribulation and it was a look-out and beach. It was named by British Explorer James Cook after his tribulations at sea. ;) We stopped at Daintree Ice Cream company on our way back to Port Douglas. It's a creamery that has designated  flavors each day so you don't get to pick! We got a bowl of Pineapple, Jackfruit, Blackberry & Wattleseed. That was a nice ending to the day! I enjoyed the tour but I wanted to see more of the rainforest! Anyway, we really appreciated Adrian's genuine  personality and got lucky with a fun group!  

Once we got back to the hotel, we got ready for dinner at Zinc. It was a really open and airy restaurant. It had the perfect beach vibe. They had a great cocktail list and I finally got to try Barramundi!! Plamen got duck wrapped in bacon. Both were so good! The restaurant was beautiful and there was even an aquarium inside the toilets. ;) 

Yesterday we rented bikes and rode to the Wildlife Habitat. I absolutely loved it because we got to interact with the Roos and feed em!! They were hopping around and many had babies in their pouch. There were also wallabies. I was in heaven! After spending literally an hour in the Grasslands habitat playing with the friendly & playful animals, we checked out more crocs and a tree kangaroo. We finally moved onto the Wetlands habitat and saw some koalas. Most of them were asleep in the tree so we didn't get to interact with them. Guess they sleep 18-19 hours a day!! Hey I'd like that lifestyle! The Rainforest habitat there also had cassowaries, cockatoos and parrots. We ended the day at the beach and shopped around town. The Port has many beachy boutiques full of great souvenirs! There's so much hand-made jewelry and other unique crafts. I wanted to buy it all! 

The rest of the night was spent packing and prepping for our return to Sydney.

Today, we got up and finished packing. Then we picked up some pies at Mockas- a famous pie bakery in town. They had a great selection of pies and sweets too! After returning our bikes we headed back to check-out of the hotel. From there, we took a shuttle back to the Cairns airport for Sydney! Looking forward to ending our vacay here in this lively city! 

Pix to come...

*Kiwis- A New Zealand native 

The. Great. Barrier. Reef!!!

Day 2-Port Douglas: We both woke up the next morning with one thing on our mind: MUST BOOK GREAT BARRIER REEF TOUR. After an $11 coffee break :P, we went to the office of Wavelength tours to try to work up a deal. We got that and a free t-shirt!! (Sorry-- just got distracted by a mobile ice cream cart driving across me here on the beach!! Must resist!) Anyway trip got booked for Tuesday. Yeah!! We spent the rest of the day at the beach. It's a beautiful beach but the only con is swimming is restricted to a netted area due to the (DEADLY) jellyfish stingers... Bummer!! It's hard to be a mermaid when you're contained to one area.. ;)) We both still enjoyed the water and the warm weather though. The sand is very fine here.. Unlike any other beach I've visited.  It was superb to just relax!! Took it easy that night in prep for the following day! Just cooked some fish to eat for din-on the couch and watched some more TV- still on the couch. PM's kinda night!! 

Day 3: Excited out of our minds as we got ready for G.B.R!! We got picked up at 8am for the boat and after a brief orientation- we were on our merry way to the Opal reef! There were about 20 other people with us so it was a fairly big group. The marine biologist team urged people who experience motion sickness to take Demadryl but we passed b/c Plamen and I have both never had a bad experience with boats. Phew!! It was a rough 1.5 hr. ride out to the reef but we made it to our 1st site- Beautiful Mooring. 

It was amazing to see all the reef around us-- it made us SO ancy to jump right in!! After getting our (tight & hilarious) shorty wetsuits and snorkel gear on.. We waited our turn to get in. The water was chilly (low 70s) but it was alright b/c we were at the GREAT BARRIER REEF!!! Adrenaline warmed us up quick!! Plamen was extremely worried about my swimming abilities but I managed to impress him.. & myself. I must give credit my wetsuit and fins!! I actually thought I'd have to rely on a noodle to help keep me afloat but nope! I'm a big girl now!! We had an hour to explore so we made our way around the reef and saw many striped, neon and colorful fish.. Among them were parrotfish and butterfly fish. Some rain began to come down but it was only sprinkling and definitely didn't put a damper on things! PM swam around with the underwater cam and snapped lots of good shots!! 

We got back on the boat and after a short tea break, we were shuffled to our 2nd site: Bashful Bommie. This site especially stood out to me because I got to see a beautiful BLUE starfish. 2 of the guides on the tour also gave tours around the site. He showed us a clam (I think) that releases a mucus that can be used as a sunscreen. It's 300 SPF+++ Wow!! The rain also really started to come down on us here!! An hour later, we got back on the boat for some lunch. The lay-out was good! It wasn't the standard pre-packaged food that's typically provided on tours. It was fresh bread, spreads, deli meat, chicken and some kind of oriental noodles. Yum!!! It definitely re-fueled us hungry snorkelers. During lunch, we were given a "course" about the reef by Peta, one of the 3 friendly attendants. Some tidbits I picked up from it is that 50% of the reef has disappeared over the last 27 years. How terrible is that?? Unless they can figure out how to help it, it may only be around for another decade. :( She also showed us a shell of a Cone snail that's the 2nd most dangerous organism in the Reef. It releases a toxin that's so poisonous it can kill you!! It looks like a pretty shell and people tend to pick up not knowing it's harm!! I also learned there's about 1600 species of fish & organisms inhabiting the reef. After lunch and a short rest, we powered away to to our last snorkel site which was about 10 mins away. I got to take a mini-nap!! The last site was called Sno and was especially exciting. Apparently, Nat. Geo has claimed it's one of the best parts of the reef they've ever seen! They were absolutely right- it was a marvel.. Reef everywhere and it was so close to the water surface- you could just swim right on top of it. I tried hard not to step on the coral but it was difficult not to. :/ We were told to look around the edges of the reef at this site. Many more fish were around there!! About 45 mins of exploration, we were summoned on the boat to head back to the dock. There was fruit and cheese to nibble on. Plamen really wanted to sit on the top deck so I followed him up. It began to get rocky so I headed down to avoid going overboard after such a lovely day! The stairs down weren't so smooth for me and the wind was blowing my cover-up UP!! So as I hurried down to avoid flashing my friends for the day, I skipped a step and fell back into a the fruit waste bin after a bump in the water! If that wasn't enough entertainment, I managed to turn around right into a pole! Maybe I should have just stayed upstairs?!? 

After finally settling into a seat, I stayed put! As the boat went on, I couldn't stop thinking about every fishy I saw at the reef and how incredible it was to be swimming right next to them. I felt SO alive and grateful for my existence! Plamen wouldn't describe it like this but I'm certain he felt the same! Smiles all day long. It was a one of a kind thrilling experience and another check off our long bucket-list!! We walked back to the hotel after the boat docked and got ready for a night out! We went to Salsa Bar & Grill and got lucky with a table near the front. It had a great view of town and the water. We ordered a Caesar salad and Tuna Tataki starter and a couple cocktails. Super good!!! We were excited for our Main course. P ordered a Kangaroo meat dish and I went with Pork belly. Side note- appetizers are called Entrees here. The waitress and I went back and forth with each other over this.. I was in need of some clarification! She was clearly annoyed hah!! 

Our mouths were watering when the Mains came out. Plamen devoured his meal and I worked through mine slowly. It was very filling! I tried his and have to say Kang meat is good!! It's texture is different from other meat and it's taste is also distinctive. If I had to describe it, I'd say the closest comparison is beef. Although that's not really it. We worked through some more cocktails and hit the town! I don't know what kind of excitement we were looking for but either way, we didn't get it. The vibe of the town was dead so we just hit a bar for some Peroni's (on tap-- yum!!) and headed back for bed. That's all for now- gotta get back to soaking up the sun!!! :))) Thanks for keeping up & loads of love to those back home!! 

Sydney>Cairns

G'day mate!! Currently blogging on our plane to Cairns(pronounced Can-nes). I'm going to begin with Friday but can't wait to share more about last night in Sydney. Our final night in Auckland was just as all I wanted it to be and it was great to party with some locals. We ate at Ortolana for dinner which is a Mediterranean rez in BritoMart. The food was ok! Plamen had Spatchcock- some fancy bird and I had a pumpkin pasta dish. Afterwards we headed down the way to a roof-top bar called Ostro. They had a superb drink menu full of various cocktails & loud music. We were happy kids!! Plamen ordered a "Dark Walker" & I got some concoction with the "..Trouble" in it. ;) We headed out to the balcony and sat by the fire pit.. The atmosphere was chill and the crowd seemed to be a little older- prob. 30's. 30's is the new 20!! 

After taking in the harbor views on the other side of the bar, we headed to the next bar. It was called Tyler's St. Garage and it was super dark & ominous inside. Very much rock & roll! Buncha neon lights and a completely different vibe.. Loved it. There was also a live band playing a cover of Schoolboy Q & another rock band. We hung for a bit and made our way to the bar 1885. The music was even louder in this club/bar! The crowd was more touristy than local so we fit right in with our All-Terrain jackets. Hah!! ;))) Shook our buns a little to some pop & rock then we left for the RV! Party was still going outside so stopped at a few more joints on the way back. Most were empty and didn't have the vibe of BritoMart. :/ Ps- the fun of BritoMart comes with a price! Cocktails were upwards of $15 & up!! 

So the bars on the route home looked like fun but they had a cover charge! So we decided to skip em b/c it was already late!! Our last stop was memorable b/c the club was full of 18 y/o!! Apparently that's the legal drinking age here. Would love to hear your thoughts on that!! Needless to say, we both felt old in there so we took the queue and went "home". 

We got up the next morning and packed up for our flight out to Sydney. We moved a little slow but somehow we managed to pull it together!! ;) It wouldn't have been a satisfying trip if we didn't try the popular national snack- Pie! So we went to PieFace (speciality pie bakery) before we headed back to the RV center. PM got a chicken pie & I got classic minced meat. Yummy!! It was a nice warm snack (I saved mine for the plane). Made it back to the RV center and did some last minute dishes etc. b4 we could return the car. Kea rentals require the tanks are emptied from the car also so that took a second. Quick and all but it's much different than dropping off a standard rental car. I have to say the overall experience with the camper was good. It was satisfying to do all we wanted without having to wait around for buses and shuttles. We got to experience New Zealand from every angle!! However, I missed my space and the road was becoming exhausting. I could tell it was starting to hit Plamen too. Forgot to mention how fog-ridden the last part of the drive from Taupo to Ragland was. It was like a scene out of "Silent Hill" & the kind of fog where you don't see the headlights of the car on the other side of the road until they're almost right next to ya!! Eek!! Oh yeah the poor guy was too nervous to let me drive so he did all week. I got to drive it once in Tauranga- guess that was enough for him! Anyway, a week was just right!!

Flight to Sydney was on time & it was a smooth ride. We found a decent hotel for the night close to the airport and had some downtime before we headed out to town. Let me tell you- it was VERRRY nice to have a good sized shower space and a fluffy bed!! I know not to waste water but it was nice to not have to check the water tank after every use like in the RV. So having it for a week definitely made me realize the amount of water we consume on the daily! It's plentiful!! 

After some rest, we took the train to Circular Quay which is the main area right next to the Sydney harbor bridge. The ride was packed! It was full of locals, families and tourists. It was so congested that we had to be let off at a stop before Circular Quay- St. James. This was not a bad thing at all because we got the experience VividSydney. It's a light walk all over the entire city!! You'll see the pix soon- it was amazing!!! Many AU artists have come together to create structures and designs for this 2 week-long presentation. Each piece was so creative and unique.. I was blown away!! It was a really great experience and can't wait to be back there next weekend!! They had food vendors set up (very similar to what we see at a local Farmer's market) and I had a serious craving for an oriental dish so I got a combo dumpling dish. YUM!! Plamen got an oversized sausage dog.. We both enjoyed our good. Walked around some more.. Experienced some light shows including one over the Sydney Opera House. Can't wait to share the vids. Grabbed a couple beers on the pier and headed back to the hotel. We had an 0500 wake up call for our flight out to Cairns so no party-party for us!

Hello Sunday! The airport was about a mile away from the hotel so Crazy P wanted to walk there. It wasn't an easy wake up call to say the least!! Anyway we made it and dropped our bags to be checked. We flew with TigerAir for this ride and huge relief b/c we pre-paid about $40 to check in luggage. If we didn't pre-pay for this it would have been $180!!! Wild right?!! That would of been the cost of the flight! It was a rocky ride to Cairns but 3 hours later, we got there and were welcomed by some really humid air after deplaning! We are staying at a place in Port Douglas for the next 5 days (which is about an hour away from the Cairns airport). A shuttle here would have cost $90 so we opted to rent a car for one day which was $60. Not a bad outcome b/c the rental enabled us to stop in Downtown Cairns and we had lunch at a really cool seafood rez. Many of these dishes were dairy & gluten free. These types of rez seem to be to be common in AU! We headed back to the car after lunch and we noticed a crazy amount of Flying Foxes a.k.a. Fruit Bats in some of the trees in Cairns! They make a really distinct noise and that got our attention. Cool but creepy!! 

Got back to the ride made our way to Port Douglas. By some miracle, Plamen let me drive! Driving on the other side of the road here is shocking at first but you just get used to it!! Though, the signals really threw me off today b/c I kept hitting the wipers instead. ;) We stopped at a really cool tide pool-like beach along the way to P.D. There were many baby Mud crabs poking out of the sand there!! An hour later, we made it to the hotel. Relaxed a bit then headed out to grocery shop for the week.. Just ate dinner, laughed over some Modern Family and about to hit the pool now! :) 

Missing home and hope all is well with my loved families & friends! 

Would love to hear how the weather has been, anything new and how the last day of school was for the kiddies. B.t.w, summer is just kicking off at home and the first day of Winter just began in AU!  

Ps- here's some shots from my phone.. Plamen hasn't uploaded his pix yet-- that's where the goods are!! 

Lake Taupo & on

Hi! Currently blogging with a Ginger Beer in hand from a car park in.. Auckland! Yep we decided to spend our last night out here in our latest favorite city. The hustle & bustle is even bigger than last Sat. night. This may be due to a 3-day weekend for Kiwis.. It's the Queen's birthday weekend! The last 2 days have been eventful. We ended up coming to our senses and skipping The Tongariro Crossing. Huge bummer but we got to do other epic stuff! Plamen says he wants to come back to do it and I say take the Go-Pro and record the adventure for me! ;)) 

Yesterday we discovered that a "walk" here is actually a hike!!! We trekked to Huka Falls which is near Lake Taupo. It wasn't strenuous but there were many ups & downs on the trail. Oh yeah we didn't spend much time on the Lake T but it looked astonishing. It's the biggest one in NZ. Beautiful homes surrounded it! So the start of Huka Falls led us to a thermal pool.. The water was the perfect temp but we skipped it! It looked like a spot popular among locals and tourists. It took us about 40 minutes from the parking to the falls. Once we got there, we were blown away!! The falls were just wonderful! The water was a beautiful turquoise blue & guess you can even take a rapid jet through them for $100/pop. Hah!! We saw to view it from different spots & took plenty of photos. We returned back to the car and headed out of Lake Taupo towards Waimangu to the attraction we weren't able to the do the day before. 

Got there, bought (student ;) tix) & began the journey around the park. Winter is the park's low season so we had the place to ourselves! We passed many craters and cool steamy volcanic areas.. Like something out of a movie!! Reminded me much of the 90s film Dante's Peak. It was near but we didn't get to see any lahar due to lack of recent eruptions. Boo!! I was looking forward to that. PM dared to touch the water from one of the boiling streams and guess what- it was boiling!! Haha!! We ran into many fantail birds along the way and they began to follow us. Sweet little birds.. After a trek through a  swamp, we had finally reached the end of it! There was a view spectacular view of Lake Rotomahana. Quiet, serene and there were even black swans. We saw a hedgehog & wild black pigs as well in the area. Anyhow, It took us about 2 hours from start to finish. Tiring but worth it and fun!! 

After that we made the 2-hr. journey to Raglan. We got to a campsite after dark and had some lamb chops on the grill before going to bed. The weather was a little frightful but it cleared up the following morning. Once we woke up, we walked a wee bit to see the black sand beach which is part of The Tasman Sea. So very cool!! Sand was so soft but water was freezing. The waves were a little more rough-- guess it's a hotspot for surfers! Didn't get to see any however.. :( We left the park and made our way to Bridal Veil Falls. Another great sighting of a 50M waterfall & there weren't any others around. Oh except some goats that were wandering through the trees! I must say the best part about these sights is that it almost always takes less than an hour to walk from parking to the view. It makes it such a quick trip and the reason we were so efficient this week. Ps- I never thought I'd use that word on vacay! 

We hung out at the falls for a bit and returned to Raglan to explore downtown. After shopping around some unique shops for souvenirs, we ended up at The Shack. It's a local organic cafe that serves baked & hot goods. We had the best mushroom soup there!! Deelish!! Great spot & I absolutely loved the atmosphere there. Surely one of my favorite beach towns. ;)

We left for Auckland and stopped at Villa Maria winery before going back to the city. It's the Most-Awarded winery in NZ so I had high expectations! It was an expansive winery but the wine was not enjoyable. What can I say- I'm a wine country girl and these wines were not comparable. :/

Beer done & about to head out for our last night in NZ! Cheers & thanks for keeping up with the blog!! Would love some comments.. ;)

Pix to come but I added some pix to the previous post! 

Tauranga & Rotorua

The town of Tauranga wasn't spectacular so we spent one night there and headed to Rotorua the next morning. Much of the waterfront of Tauranga was under construction so aside from cafés and shops- there was not much to see. It was also low tide that morning so The Bay of Plenty wasn't so plentiful! Once we were on our way to Rotorua, I looked through brochures for an activity. We stopped for some gas on our way there and was shocked to learn that gas is pumped before you pay in this country. Crazy right?! They really trust their citizens round here!

Our first stop was a thermal park that we saw as we were driving into town. The first whiff we got once we stepped out of the car was sulphuric & reminiscent of rotten eggs- not pleasant at all. After a few minutes, it went away (or we just got used to it!). :P Anyway, it was pretty neat to see steam flowing out from thermal deposits in the ground! Unfortunately, P and I were both feeling a little sick so we decided to take it easy at a Polynesian Spa. After all, it was voted one of the Top 10 International Spa's in the world! It was fairly affordable so we paid $34 a pop to relax in their thermal pools. Every pool there had a view of Lake Rotorua & it was relaxing indeed!!! Just what we needed after a few active days being explorers!! The only downside was they don't provide you towels or amenities. I thought this was silly especially considering their world ranking! We left after a few hours and headed for a campsite to charge up for the chilly night! It was one of the coldest nights yet.. The grass at our camp spot was frozen and so was the water to fill up our supply! Fortunately, the sun came out and we got to fill up before heading back into town. 

Once back in Rotorua, we tucked into a cafe and had some of the best coffee ever. I also had a delicious date & walnut muffin. I'm just loving the goods they have round here- ginger, figs and dates are among them. These are common ingredients around here! Funny enough, I used to cringe at those exact things as a kid but appreciate them so much now!  Afterwards, we shopped for some souvenirs, visited a Maori Art Gallery and headed out of town to an attraction called The Buried Village of Te Wairoa. On our way there, we stopped at Blue Lake and took in the views. Pure beauty! Once we made it to the village, we took the self-guided tour. This attraction is unique because it is the actual location of a village that partially became covered in mud after a volcanic eruption in 1886. This eruption also created Lake Rotomahana which you'll see in the pix. We got to roam around the grounds with Thomas (the IPod guide ;)) and came across the old wooden huts of villagers and even some sheep. One of the huts belonged to a tohunga* who had predicted the eruption! The story goes that 4 days before the eruption, a nearby Lake Terawera tour guide and tourists saw a phantom canoe with peddlers that had the heads of dogs. The old man predicted that this was a negative omen indeed and urged the town to prepare for disaster. The eruption that buried about 150 people alive happened shortly after!! Creepy right?!! Anyway, a trout stream was a highlight and the best part was a 30m waterfall! Me oh my!! 

After about an hour there, we took off for the next attraction: Waimangu Volcanic Valley which was on the way to Lake Taupo (NZ's largest lake). We stopped at Green Lake down the road which as you'll see in pix, is directly opposite of Blue Lake. The color contrast is not that apparent but the green does appear slightly darker than blue. The big difference is Blue Lake offers kayaking etc. & Green Lake is completely preserved by the Maori so no touchy-touchy! We drove about 30 mins to our next attraction only to find we had missed the cut-off for the last tour. Boo! I was really looking forward to craters and as described in the brochure, "a newly-formed earth". Hah! Luckily, the road up and down was filled with plenty of sheep, elk and cows. That was quite the sight! 

So after the let-down, we drove off to Lake Taupo. On the way there we pulled into a glass-blown gallery which was neat. Many unique pieces with a hefty price tag! This Lava Glass gallery also offered lodging and classes. 

Once we made it to Lake Taupo, we were in for another bummer. Bad planning & poor weather has stopped us from one of our most lusted activities- The Tongariro Crossing. This 6-8 hour hike is not treacherous but due to it's location and altitude, weather conditions can become extreme within minutes! We came prepared with gear but have learned that wind speeds of 70km on the track have deterred shuttles from even heading that route. We've called just about every shuttle service! So we are currently kicking ourselves for not checking the weather and making this the first stop after Auckland! It had been sunny & decent earlier this week! Whining aside, unless the weather gods are good to us our last couple days here in NZ and the forecast looks up, we won't be risking our little lives! 

Aroha, MD 

*Tohunga- Maori village practitioner of a skill

Aroha- love