Our next stop down thte East Coast of North Island was Tauranga, home of Mount Maunganui (behind CK on the photo!) which is yet another dormant volcano that we can add to our list of having climbed! Pretty small I know but we are already
making plans for climbing Mount Taranaki in a couple of weeks which will hopefully be much more impressive (actually having snow on the top of it!) and a much more strenuous climb so watch this space ... presuming we make it to the top of course! The heavily wooded island with the great beach that you can see on the photo with the sheep i
s Matakana Island. We were reliably informed (I think!) by a couple of 20 something local guys, while chatting us up(!) (well it makes a change from the 80 year olds and openly gay men who have approached us recently!!) that although it was ok to visit the beach and fish off there etc, under no circumstances should we venture any further inland! Apparently it's Maori land and inhabited by a fierce tribe who set traps and get their shotguns out for anyone who wanders too far off the beachs! So the story g
oes anyway! We have no current plans to find out for ourselves! We also took a day trip to Rotorua, which is a 'must see' in the area, as long as you don't
mind the constant sulphurous smell of rotten eggs all the time, which is the hydrogen sulphide coming up through the earth's surface which is particularly thin in this region. Pongs to say the least! The plus side of this though is that the area is full of hot springs, bubbling mud and thermal pools! If it had been a cold day we might have been tempted to
take a dip, but being as it was about 30 degrees we decided to give it a miss! Just walking through the clouds of steam coming off the pools was like being temporarily in a sauna! We finished off our w
eek in Tauranga by watching the Half Iron Man competition which was held over at Mount Maunganui (2km swim, then 90km bike ride, followed by a 21km run!) Whew! How exhausting! Felt the need for a bit of deck time back at the ranch after all that! Next stop is Lake Taupo, the largest lake in New Zealand! Internet access is a bit sparse at the moment so we will be back with more news on that when we can!
Our next stop down thte East Coast of North Island was Tauranga, home of Mount Maunganui (behind CK on the photo!) which is yet another dormant volcano that we can add to our list of having climbed! Pretty small I know but we are already 
making plans for climbing Mount Taranaki in a couple of weeks which will hopefully be much more impressive (actually having snow on the top of it!) and a much more strenuous climb so watch this space ... presuming we make it to the top of course! The heavily wooded island with the great beach that you can see on the photo with the sheep i
s Matakana Island. We were reliably informed (I think!) by a couple of 20 something local guys, while chatting us up(!) (well it makes a change from the 80 year olds and openly gay men who have approached us recently!!) that although it was ok to visit the beach and fish off there etc, under no circumstances should we venture any further inland! Apparently it's Maori land and inhabited by a fierce tribe who set traps and get their shotguns out for anyone who wanders too far off the beachs! So the story g
oes anyway! We have no current plans to find out for ourselves! We also took a day trip to Rotorua, which is a 'must see' in the area, as long as you don't 
mind the constant sulphurous smell of rotten eggs all the time, which is the hydrogen sulphide coming up through the earth's surface which is particularly thin in this region. Pongs to say the least! The plus side of this though is that the area is full of hot springs, bubbling mud and thermal pools! If it had been a cold day we might have been tempted to
take a dip, but being as it was about 30 degrees we decided to give it a miss! Just walking through the clouds of steam coming off the pools was like being temporarily in a sauna! We finished off our w
eek in Tauranga by watching the Half Iron Man competition which was held over at Mount Maunganui (2km swim, then 90km bike ride, followed by a 21km run!) Whew! How exhausting! Felt the need for a bit of deck time back at the ranch after all that! Next stop is Lake Taupo, the largest lake in New Zealand! Internet access is a bit sparse at the moment so we will be back with more news on that when we can!
1 comment:
oooh the constant smell of sulphurous eggs - are you sure you two have not been hiding out at our house for the past few days - sounds a bit like the smell made by a young child on the recommended 5 portions of fruit and veg a day! Only the smell of their vomit can beat it hands down especially as most of it usually ends up on yours truly.
Anyway, I am sure I am not alone in thinking that you two sorry to be blunt but middle-aged women are not challenging yourselves enough of his world trip which you should whilst you still have your mobility ......so maybe if any of your friends and family are reading this and are also concerned that your are not reaping the full benefit of this great opportunity....perhaps they would like to join my campaign to arrnge a special homecoming challenge for you somewhere in the middle of Snowdonia with a childs camping tent in Feb/Mar - with global warming - should be kin freezing then with a good chance of snow, freezing fog etc. We could leave you a couple of those nice hotcan meals, and even throw in a couple of those nylon sleeping bags (you remember those nice orange and brown ones that we used to have as children full of static and very little warmth!). In the meantime, hopefully someone will take pity on a worn out mother of two under 5 (who knows why I didn't have children early) who only reads this blog to make her realise that there are always people so much worse off than yourself! - yeah right - anyway gone off on a tangent - where can I get a good cheap spray tan, so I can send it to these two chums to prove to them that the weather in the UK is really not that bad....
All our love Bridge, Antz, Macy & Jack
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