I am in love with this country! It is so dang pretty! Clean and prosperous, lovely people, breathtaking country side that changes constantly, tidy towns, bountiful national pride, and happy cows and sheep everywhere. It's forest, farm, lakes, hillocks, and mountains, and the coolest fern trees woven in with pine and many trees I have never seen before. And the ocean - dark sand and heavy surf and teal water. Vineyards, citrus groves, and corn fields. And I love the signs on the sides of the roads that tell you to drive safely and put your "sunnies" on. And stop and buy your veges here (pronounced veegees) and no "I" in the spelling. And the signs that advertise kennels for dogs and a cattery for the felines. How cute is the word cattery?
We arrived last Wednesday morning (Tuesday morning back home - we lost a day but we'll get it back) at 5:30 am, dropped our bags off at our hotel, not able to check in that early of course, and in our dead tired state, wandered all over Aukland waiting for time to pass and places to open, and loitering at parks and the harbor until they did. For two days we explored this wonderful city on foot and on the hop on and off bus; museums, parks, gardens, aquarium, neighborhoods, the harbor, the gorgeous University campus, and an aerial view from the 1076 foot iconic sky tower.
We went to an area covered with geothermal pools, sunken craters full of boiling mud, lakes and puddles where the water temps are boiling, steam rising from holes in the ground, waterfalls where the water is hot, strange colored water from different minerals, geysers, etc. This area is near the town and lake called Rotorua. I love the color below. Downside - the area smells like rotten eggs!
That's all for now!
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