Sheep, cows, and green pastures….

Friday, July 29
We slept in a bit on our first morning in New Zealand (Pokeno, NZ on the North Island). We awoke to a windy, cool winter day. After some coffee and fresh kiwi fruit provided by our Airbnb hosts, we left Pokeno and drove about an hour south to the city of Hamilton. The scenery on the way was pretty; lots of green rolling pastures with cows and sheep (and more cows and sheep). We drove to the Hamilton city center and found lots of restaurants, including many with Asian cuisines. In fact, many signs in New Zealand (especially in tourist areas) are in both English and Chinese (similar to English and Spanish in the US). That surprised us. We ate at a place called the Iguana. Because it is winter, the soup of the day was pumpkin (which I had). John had a pizza that had venison and venison salami as the main ingredients, and Thomas had one with Cajun-seasoned lamb and tzatziki sauce. The Cuban sandwiches Megan and I ordered definitely had a twist to them as they were not flat and the pork was pulled and saturated in a tomato/barbecue-style sauce (more like spaghetti sauce, very different).  After lunch, we drove down to Waitomo to see the glowworm caves. This was something Megan wanted to do because she read about them awhile back. We weren’t sure what to expect but had a very good tour. We first walked through a limestone cave and our guide explained the area and how the caves were formed. We then went into a second cave that had tons of glowworms, and our guide explained what they worms were. Despite their name, glowworms aren’t worms at all; they’re actually the larval stage of a type of fly. They are tiny invertebrates that attach to the cave roof and emit a blue florescent light. In the darkness of the cave, the sheer number of the glowworms made it look like you were staring up at millions of stars. We all thought the trip was pretty cool, to say the least. We left Waitomo and drove about another hour south to Taumarunui, our home for the next two nights. The cabin was on a river with cow and sheep pastures behind the house and mountains in the background. Unknown to us, the house did not have central heat. The house was heated by a wood-burning stove. The temperature in the house was comfortable, neither hot nor cold, as long as the stove was burning. I loved the smell of the house, and John loved the pioneer feeling of it all, so we jokingly called him John-boy. It was interesting with no Wi-Fi for the past 2 days. It’s been nice. We have been relaxing, playing cards, and enjoying the scenery.

Saturday, July 30
The plan for today was to snow ski at an active volcano called Whakapapa (Faw-ka-papa). Yes, that is how it is pronounced. However, the conditions were not good (low visibility, high winds, and most slopes closed) so we did not get to do it. To go up the ski lifts, every car had to have 4WD and chains on the tires. We were not willing to risk it with our rental car. We will get another chance to ski on the South Island in a few days. We attempted to get a few pictures in the snow, but it was rainy so we couldn’t get too many. We left there and had a great day in the town of Taupo. It is a lake town resort with lots of shopping and dining. We ate lunch at a restaurant called The Waterside. The food was very good – 3 of us got Fish and Chips. By the way – hot chips are what they call French fries. And you don’t ask for coffee with cream and sugar, you just ask for a flat white (Starbucks must have stolen that).

We all have adjusted well to the time change, but the kids tell me when they ask for the time, I usually give them the Greenville time (at time of this writing it is 3:30 pm Saturday in Greenville, but here it is 7:30 am Sunday). John has adapted well to driving on the left side of the road with the steering wheel on the right side of the car. It was pretty scary at first, but I think he has the hang of it. But I will still say a few Hail Mary’s as we are traveling. Hope you will do the same and keep us in your prayers as we venture through these foreign lands.

Up next: We just arrived in Rotorua, NZ. The kids just left for a tour of Hobbiton while John and I check out the hot springs.