#22 Rotorua

The last day trip I took on the north island was to Rotorua. Some friends were going paddling on the Kaituna River and Lawrance said he could get his hands on a double kayak and take me down the rapids. As much fun as it is being the shuttle bunny, as I am known, I had been wanting to go down the Kaituna since I first learned of the existence of the Topo Duo. I had been down the waterfall once before while rafting - the 7 meter one we flipped on.

Would you trust them to get you down that?
I was nervous about the boat flipping and being stuck under water, but we did some practice rolls up by the floodgates and I was surprised at how quickly Lawrance could roll us back over. We would be under for only a moment and he would flip us upright, almost as soon as we had gone over. We did that a few times and after that I was sweet to go.

Now I understand why these guys are so addicted to paddling waterfalls. It is really fun. And all I had to do was sit in the front and paddle when I was told to and Lawrance did all the work. The smaller falls had more of an impact because the boat we were in was pretty heavy and the water slams into the person sitting up front. We actually didn't even flip on the waterfall. So glad I got to do it.

After the river it was time for some serious action, so we went to the luge tracks.

Gentlemen, start your engines.

Of course it turned into a race and everyone was running each other off the road. I took some of the corners on two wheels and lost to Simon because he cheated and pulled on my brakes when I was passing him. Not that I didn't do the same.

We went way faster than this guy.

The lifts to get back up were painfully slow. We could have walked faster. And we couldn't take our helmets off.

View of Lake Rotorua from the lift.

View of the lake #2. Work it.

Aw.

#21 Hawke's Bay II

I went back to Hawke's Bay for a concert that I got tickets for back in January. Simon and I both got work off and I booked a campsite because it's cheaper and more fun to camp anyway. Once the day came it was pouring rain, naturally. The campsite was completely flooded so we found some elevated ground under two big pine trees. It took a while to set up the tent, not only because of the rain but because the wind kept blowing it away. I tried to get gumboots at The Warehouse, but not a single pair was left! Jerks.

We put on as much rain gear as possible and brought a tarp to use as a canopy.
Other concert-goers were much more experienced than us and had an entire shelter set up involving umbrellas, chairs, and tarps. The show was at a winery, so I picked up a bottle of wine and we ate cheese and crackers under the leaky tarp.

Knock knock.

When the show started we stopped trying to stay dry (we had failed anyway) and stood in the rain to watch. I have never been so soaking wet for so long at one time. When we got back to camp the inside of the tent was still dry. Amazing.

It was supposed to storm through Sunday, but the rain stopped sometime in the night and Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day. We met Lawrance and went to the aquarium, where I saw my first kiwi, which was way cooler than I thought I would be. They are funny birds. They don't seem too bright. They dig for bugs. Then run back and forth. Then dig, run, dig, run. No wonder they're endangered.

Lawrance & Simon being their charming selves. They, too, will be endangered soon for the same reasons as the kiwi.

Coast of Cape Kidnappers.

Trees living on the edge

Say hello to my little friend

At the point of the cape there is a gannett bird colony, which is why most people walk out there. But the walk got boring and I'm not into birds anyway, so we turned back early. I took off my shoes for the last part of the walk and proceeded to immediately step on a wasp stinger.

My new weight loss program.

#20 Northland & Raglan

In February Marketa and I took a trip up to Northland, which is the northern part of the north island - it's in the north, just north of everything else. And there's a lot of water around but also some land, so it is called Northland. It was the first area of NZ to be settled by Europeans.

We first went to Paihia, a really cute little beach town which serves as the gateway to the Bay of Islands. Marketa and I rented two kayaks to paddle out to some of the nearby islands. The beach was covered in paua shells (aka abalone).
I took lots of pictures of shells. Marketa practiced her strokes for Huka Falls.



I thought my grandma had paid me a surprise visit, but it wasn't her.

That night we had a romantic dinner complete with wine, candlelight, and the best seafood I've had in a long time. Unfortunately the wine didn't have exactly the effect I had hoped for and instead of hitting up the beach bars we went to sleep.

The next day we took a cruise through the bay and saw lots of dolphins.


We came to Motuarohia Island, which has two lagoons, and went snorkeling. I found an octopus, so that made my day.

It's fair to say that the water was pretty clear.
Then we walked up to the highest point on the island to see the gorgeous views.

We drove west across the peninsula and came to the twin towns of Opononi & Omapere. There was a huge sand dune across the bay. We wanted to slide down the thing but the sand was hot and we were feeling lazy about getting a ferry across.
The beach was so beautiful that we stayed there all day swimming and laying around. I couldn't believe there was hardly anybody there.


There were plenty of cool rocks to keep me busy for hours.

We took a second trip to Raglan, a renowned surf town on the west coast. It was an overcast day, but still wonderfully humid.

On the drive back we stopped by Bridal Veil Falls for some refreshments and to look at the waterfall.


New Zealand countryside.

I pulled over several times to get pictures of the sunset.