New Zealand: Second week bulletin

Dear family and friends,

We're about to complete the second week of our stay in NZ, and wanted to tell you a bit about the things we've done this past week. On Friday, 18/11, we reached Rotorua, which has a reputation as the world's smelliest city. We actually didn't find it bad at all. But there are occasional sulphurous fumes, since the city sits in the middle of a large geo-thermally active area, which made our week very interesting - geysers, hot pools, bubbling mud and vulcanic sites. But even more than that, just walking through the streets, every second sewage hole is spewing sulphurous fumes, and every single hostel and hotel in town has a hot spa, fed by natural hot mineral-rich water.

The weather was also very very good - if anything, some days we felt it was too hot and sunny (we had to upgrade our 16 SPF sunscreen to something more serious :-). There is a huge variety of attractions around the city, and we picked 4 of the most impressive (some of the attractions can be seen in the photos we uploaded). In these places we saw huge geysers, colorful water pools (due to mineral deposits), boiling and bubbling mud which was quite peculiar and smelly, and a village that was buried under a volcanic eruption some 120 years ago. As our geologist source tells us "New Zealand to geologists is like Mecca to the Muslims" (thanks, Akiva). We now understand this saying perfectly. Rotorua is also a major center of Maori culture and heritage, and we saw a performance of Maori song and dance, and various traditional crafts such as wood carving and weaving.

One of the most enjoyable aspects for us in all those sites is Noga's endless curiosity and astonishing patience - she has a million questions, and really listens to our explanations. She is especially taken by the whole idea of volcanic eruptions. She actually insisted on going back to a museum display at the buried village site, and patiently listened to explanations about different types of volcanos and eruptions. Needless to say, this adds much to our enjoyment and provides interesting conversations.

Hadas, although not quite so interested in learned explanations, seems to be having a great time as well. She really loves the backpack baby-carrier that we got for her, and has even taken two or three naps in it. She is almost constantly happy, probably because our current out-doorsy way of life suits her active nature very well. Her vocabulary has also expanded some (in addition to the all encompassing "mamani" - me too): Any negative statement is immediately transformed to a defiant "LoBaLi" (I don't feel like it), and we hear plenty of those during the day. The second runner up is "Lama?" (why?), in most cases followed immediately by "Kacha"('cause).

Both girls are extremely friendly and communicative. They've already picked up some very basic English words, mainly "hello". Actually, the day after they learned it they were shouting it at anybody who passed near us. When this happened in the hostel it wasn't so bad, but when Noga started shouting at people out the car window, we realized we had to put a stop to it. So now they only shout it to every second person :-) Of course, as soon as anybody responds they become shy and hide behind the closest parent's leg.

After four lovely days in Rotorua (spent in a very friendly and comfortable backpackers hostel), we moved on to Taupo, a town sitting on the shore of a large lake, which was once the crater of yet another volcano. Generally, the whole center of the North Island is full of lakes and we're visiting quite a few of them, some for longer periods of time, and some just for a couple of hours so the girls can play in the sand and feed the ducks and swans that always turn up. Swimming is still out of the question, it is way too cold.

Near Taupo we went to see the Huka falls, reputedly the most beautiful water falls in New Zealand. Although the falls are not very high, the sheer volume of the water passing is astounding. They are so powerful, that no-one has even found anything adventurous to do on them (kayaking, rafting, jumping, swimming, jet boating, bungy etc.), and this is indeed very rare here :-) We also went on a few terrific nature walks, or as they're called here bush walks. This is very easy to do, since wherever you look there is bound to be a stream, a forest, a lake, a waterfall, or just a beautiful mountain.

Today Anat hiked the Tongariro crossing trek (isn't that a coolname?). It's a full day track, which traverses a mountain and passes between two peaks. Also on the way are (once again) volcanic craters in vivid colors, crystal clear and tourquise (!) lakes, some more sulphurous activity and a dense forest to finish with. The hike is very beautiful, and although many people tackle it every day, Anat started out very early, to try and beat the masses - and she succeeded to a large extent. It was a great feeling to be out trekking for a whole day, with time for observing nature and concentrating on the magnificent views around. Even the weather played along - although it was cold and windy, there was no rain (only a bit of snow and ice). And finally, for the last hour or so even the sun came out - who could ask for anything more?!

Tomorrow we are heading further south, and plan to reach Wellington (the capital, situated on the southern tip of the North Island) and cross over to the South Island within a week or so. As you understand from all the above, we are having a great time!

Love,
Hadas, Noga, Giora & Anat