Sulphur City

We welcomed Granna and Court home from their south island excursion on Friday (the 15th- yes, we are a bit behind) and didn't give them much down time. We were up and at 'em early the next morning for our weekend excursion to Rotorua- aka 'Sulphur City'. This is a hugely popular tourist destination located 3 hours south east of Auckland. It is well known for its active thermal environment (in simple terms- volcano waiting to blow), creating thermal springs, spurting geysers, bubbling mud, and a rotten-egg smell from the sulphur-rich air. It is also a region full of Maori culture, with many cultural centres and performances to choose from.

After a relaxing lunch at "Fat Dog Cafe", we headed to our first stop- Te Puia. This thermal reserve was a great introduction to what lies beneath the soil in this region. Steam vents and bubbling pools are everywhere, and the main attraction is the geyser that explodes every hour, spurting steaming water 100 feet up into the air. It was an amazing sight to see, equally amazing that we were allowed to stand right next to it as it blows! Apparently the locals aren't too worried of the region exploding sky-ward as long as these vents and geysers keep releasing their pressure.

That evening we took Court to a cultural show and buffet dinner at Mitai Maori Village, while Granna and Georgie had a rest. The food was average and the presentation was a bit cheesy, but the performance was fantastic, complete with a full haka at the end. No matter how many times we see it, the haka still makes our hair stand on end.

The following morning as we walked out of our motel room (Regal Palms 5 Star City Resort, complete with mini-golf course - only the best for us), we were greeted smack in the face by the pervasive rotten-egg smell. Clearly the winds had shifted, or perhaps the parking lot fissured and spewed its earthly contents, but there was no avoiding the sulphur air. It wasn't at all noxious, it just smelled. Apparently the locals are used to it- god knows how long that would take.

After a nice lunch at the Princes Gate Hotel, a very lovely restored 19th-century hotel, we proceeded on to the Polynesian Spa. Named a "World Top 10 Spa" by somebody who apparently votes on these things, it had a number of mineral pools of different temperatures to soak in, all maintained by the underground geothermal activity. The ladies booked a mud-wrap pampering session, while Scott and Georgia hit the kiddie pool. Georgie was squealing like a little girl (appropriate), and clearly has developed into a true water baby. No mud-wrapping for her, but we were able to purchase some Rotorua Mud to take home with us, and perhaps we'll save a little bit for her down the road.

After cleaning off the mud, we all hopped back in the Subaru wagon for the long drive back to Auckland. No one was particularly keen on driving as we were all pretty relaxed from the spa day, but we managed to get back in one piece.

All in all, a great weekend in Sulphur City, while the air back in Auckland smelled particularly good for the next few days.

Birthday Bonanza

Debbie (aka Granna) and Auntie Courtney arrived early last week, and just in time to celebrate Georgie's first birthday! Georgie is milking every second of extra attention they are providing. In addition to making sure they got their Peach fix, we spent the week showing them our favourite Auckland spots - Devonport for brunch, Mt. Eden, One Tree Hill, wine tasting on Waiheke Island, Auckland city tour, and enjoying the coffee culture on the beach in St. Heliers.

Soaking up some rays (and caffeine) on the boardwalk in St. Heliers

Wotherspoons in front of a crazy tree in Devonport

On Saturday, all tourist activities came to a halt in order to celebrate the Peach's birthday. She didn't have any idea what the fuss was all about, but seemed to enjoy the sensory overload of the day...balloons, music, blowers, cake, hats, boas. You name, it was here. The big event was computed live via Skype to the Millers - almost as good as having them here in person.

Showing off her new bike to K and S Miller

First experience with fire and cake - she loved both

We spent the birthday afternoon at Butterfly Creek - a great petting zoo and butterfly house just outside of the city. Here, she ate, she drank, she experienced her first train ride, and she frolicked with numerous furry friends. She topped the day off with a rip around the neighbourhood on her new set of wheels. She was completely cooked by the end of the day so was in bed and dead to the world by 6pm.

Hot (pink) Wheels

South Pacific Escape

Last week we were off to visit the polynesian island of Rarotonga. In doing so, we dodged a week long wind and rain storm in Auckland - that's right, it apparently lasted the entire time we were away. Rarotonga is the largest of the 15 islands that comprise the Cook Islands. Getting there is a four hour flight from Auckland, and you cross the international date line en route (we left Sunday at 4pm and arrived there on Saturday at 8pm...weird). Well worth the journey though - when we got off the plane and were greeted with warm breezes, an old Maori gentleman strumming his ukelele, and amazing smelling leis placed around our necks.

Though the largest of the Cook Islands, Rarotonga is still quite small - just 32 km in circumference. It has a wonderful, laid-back vibe where everyone adheres to "island time", ie. no one pays much attention to time at all, so the bus that circles the island comes every hour on the hour (give or take 15 min), the chemist opens at 10am (give or take 30 minutes), etc. Makes you totally chill out about keeping a schedule.

Beach, lagoon, island...amazing

Weeeeee!

Our resort was situated on the amazing Muri lagoon. It was very shallow, so no matter what the tide, you could walk from the mainland to two small islands across the lagoon without encountering water higher than 4 feet. This made it great for water sports, snorkelling, and Georgie splashing. As luck would have it, the little lady got sick the day we arrived with a virus (not surprising considering I was invited to a playdate a few days before we left where the mom neglected to tell me until 30 mins after Georgia had licked every virus-ridden toy in her house, that her baby was quite sick with a bad cold...). The first few nights weren't great for her/us, but she had some major naps during the day, and because our room was on the beach, Scott and I could enjoy the beach just outside while she snoozed away in her 'bedroom' (ie. pak n' play strategically placed in the bathroom - the house cleaning staff either thought us crazy or neglectful, perhaps both). We snorkelled, we kayaked, we explored, we read, we drank Pina Coladas and BFKs (a Cook Island special - frangelica, Bailey's and Kahula), and we replenished our Vit D stores. That about sums up what was a great week.

SW tearing it up

From our patio

The good news about being back in NZ...spring has sprung. The sun is back, daylight savings time has kicked in, and the lambs are plentiful. Next week, we're looking forward to Auntie Court and Granna arriving and celebrating a big first birthday.

Almost one

Big Week in NZ

It was an eventful week here. I'm sure most everyone heard about the earthquake that rocked the city of Christchurch on the South Island. Luckily, there were no fatalities (quite surprising since the quake registered 7.1 on the Richter scale and caused an estimated 4+ billion in damage). We didn't feel a thing on the North Island, but Michelle and Chris, though quite a distance from Christchcurch when it happened, were woken from sleep in their hotel room by shaking beds, creaking walls, and doors slamming shut due to the tremors. They were in Christchurch only a couple of days before the big event, so narrowly missed all of the excitement. On the same day as the earthquake, also in the south island, a group of tourists crashed in a small plane during take off for their sky diving adventure and all sadly died. So, for a country that usually doesn't draw much international attention, making 2 headline stories in one day was a big deal, although neither story was one they were happy to tell.

Michelle and Chris on a hot air balloon ride over Christchurch (pre-quake)

Michelle and Chris arrived back in Auckland on Thursday for one night before their journey back to Canada. We had a nice evening celebrating Michelle's birthday and hearing about their amazing South Island travels. On Friday morning, we popped by Mount Eden for them to have one last spectacular view of Auckland before heading to the airport. It was a great visit - we were sad to see them go.

The view from Mt. Eden

On Sunday, Scott, Georgie and I decided to explore the north shore of Auckland. We drove to town of Devonport for brunch and a stroll through some of the lovely shops in the area. The cafe we chose was great, complete with a play area for the kids and a great (big) brekkie. Georgie had her first big girl breakfast out - a massive portion of delicious pancakes and berries. We meandered through some great shops before heading back to the south side of the city for the rest of the afternoon. All in all, a great day.

How's this for a generous kiddie portion?

Georgie devouring some reading material...

And finally, I took the plunge and quit FaceBook this week (this one's for you Scott and Chris). So if you were one of my FB friends prior to my retirement, please send pics and updates to my email account (millerpei@gmail.com) from now on.

MacAulay/Millspoon shot

Welcome Michelle and Chris!

We were really pumped when Michelle and Chris decided to swing by (from Halifax no less) for a visit. They arrived on Aug 27 in time to celebrate Scott's birthday. It has been amazing to have such good friends here to visit, and as an added bonus, it seems they brought some sunny weather with them (thank god).

On Saturday, we crammed into the Subaru and started out for the Coromandel Peninsula. The peninsula juts into the pacific east of Auckland, about a 2 hour drive from the city. The clear day made for some fantastic scenery along the way. We got settled in our great cottage (complete with outdoor hot tub), and set out to explore Coromandel Town. It is an old gold mining town jam packed with heritage buildings, great cafes, and artsy shops. We panned for gold at the Coromandel battery but sadly lefty sans nugget. Scott bailed in the creek so took with him a soaked sneaker and pants. We finished the afternoon with a short hike on the ridge above the town to catch part of the sunset, and then headed home to admire the southern hempisphere consetllations while sipping vino and soaking in the hot tub. Heaven.

The scene from one of several stops we made along the drive

to take in the amazing landscape

The MacAulays with Coromandel Town in the background

We were up bright and early the next morning to start the day. First up, a great brekkie in one of the town's cafes (Chris had already mastered the complex art of ordering a kiwi coffee by this point). We hit the road to drive to the eastern side of the peninusla. We took the road less travelled and made a few stops along the way, one to visit a waterfall and the other to see a group of the massive, towering, solid-as-a-rock, Kauri trees. The definite highlight of the day was hiking to famous Cathedral Cove beach to see the impressive limestone rock arch and natural waterfall shower. Before heading back to Auckland that afternoon, we re-fueled at a great cafe near the hot water beach in the area.

Along the hike to Cathedral Cove

Mich and I with the limestone arch in the background...the pic doesn't do the impressive structure justice.

After a great weekend escape, Michelle and Chris left for their south island adventure and we got back to our usual thing here in Auckland. We're looking forward to having our visitors back for one more night at the end of this week before they head back to Canada.

Back On Track

The rainy weather finally let up this weekend so we got ourselves geared up to do some exploring. First up: Butterfly Creek on Saturday. This is kiddie heaven with a large petting zoo, butterfly house, aquarium, and a great play area. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more: Georgie, who loved seeing all of the animals and trying to imitate their sounds, or Scott and I watching her taking it all in. Her favourites: petting the new lambs, playing with some young kids (of the goat variety) and clucking with the chickens. We'll go back there for sure. We stopped at a winery for a quick tasting on the way home...Scott's treat for the day.

We made our way to the west coast beaches of Auckland on Sunday afternoon. It was definitely worth the windy 1 hour drive to get there (this says a lot considering I was green with motion sickness by the time we arrived!). Karekare is a beautiful and amazingly undeveloped beach which was made famous in the filming of The Piano. We explored the untouched black sand beach and watched the pounding surf. There are several good day hikes in the area. We walked a short distance on one of the tracks which lead to the impressive Karekare falls.

We followed the coastal drive further west from Karekare to visit Piha beach and were rewarded with spectacular coastal views along the way. Piha is a beautiful but very dangerous beach, well known for it's wild surf and dangerous rip tides. Despite the risk, it is a popular surfing area and there were a few young guys (?fools) trying to catch some waves while we were there. There are more great day hikes here that we didn't have time to do this trip, so we're already plotting a return visit.

All in all a great weekend. Next up - Scott's birthday and a visit from Michelle and Chris MacAulay this week. We're looking forward to seeing some familiar and friendly faces!

A Picture Worth a Thousand Words...

I've been a blog slacker recently. It's one part laziness, one part lack of inspiration, and one part dealing with a sick munchkin (this sickness only lasted one week, but felt much longer). Re: Georgia being ill: nothing serious. Just a nasty fever, cough, and more snot than I imagined could flow out of a 10 month old, but it meant we were pretty much house bound for a week. My mental health was in serious question by the end of this period, so I'm happy to report for all of our sakes that we are up and at em again. Here is the picture to prove how miserable she was...

Otherwise, things have been quite ordinary these days. I think we were feeling travelled out after our move, so we've been laying very low for the last few weeks. I also sometimes try to live in the illusion that we are on permanent vacation. Sadly, this is not the case: there are second hand beater cars to buy when you realize that you can't cope with being a one car family, there are knees to fix, and the day-to-day running of a house, I'm sad to report, never goes away. On a positive note, the recent down time has allowed us to get into a nice routine, and for Georgia and I, that means lots of activities during the week. She is now 10 months old, and really benefits from more structured things to do. Our schedule, as it stands now - Monday: playgroup, Tuesday: daycare at the gym while I work out, Wednesday: swimming lessons, Thursday: storytime at the library/music group, Friday: another playgroup. We've also recently joined the community's toy library...brilliant concept. Do these exist in Canada? If not, great business idea.

Healthy again, and demonstrating how she wants to spend all of her waking hours these days. Our backs are killing us...