Saturday, September 26, 2009

New Zealand 2009 - Tales of the Camera Sherpa - Part 6

Lots and lots to tell about but it is way late so I'm going to have to make this just the high points. Plus I took a bizillion pictures and the internet at our hotel is way slow so those will have to wait as well.

  • Woke up in Rotorua - it was pouring rain - boo :(
  • Go to neat church in town for photo op - There are hundreds of people dressed in black at the church - there's some major funeral going on
  • Wife says she's ready to just slit her wrists but we head out anyway to do the tour around the lake
  • Drive 45 minutes and find we missed the turn off and are heading back north to where we were yesterday.
  • Turnaround come back to some Okere Falls. Rain miraculously stops and we get over an hour and a half of picture taking.
  • Start around lake again. Rain starts.
  • In spite of rain we still find places where she can stop and take pictures.
  • Eat lunch in car in parking lot of hike to spring where it is pouring
  • Go back to Rotorua and check on church again. Still packed. Police tell us funeral will be going on until Tuesday. Boo :(
  • Head out of Rotorua towards Taupo. Rain is stopping
  • Get to Wai-o-tapu, a major thermal springs area. Blue skies ensue. Wife gets 2 + hours of great picture taking.
  • On to Lake Taupo. Get there early enough to check in and walk to lake for 'golden hour' pictures of lake area and the mountains of Tongariro National Park.
  • Go to dinner at a local place - pretty darn good - NZ mussels - excellent, seafood chowder - really good (and I'm not that big a fan of chowder), flounder - not so hot, twice cooked pork belly (think crispy thick meaty bacon) - out of this world, creme brulee - excellent, wine - a shirz/grenache from Australia - yummy.

6 comments:

Lakeview Coffee Joe said...

That SH-30/33 split is a bitch! Sounds like some nice pics at Okere Falls though and later on at Wai-o-tapu.

What a funeral!!! Good Lord. I want one like that.

What an awesome sounding meal. I love chowder and flounder.....mmmmmm.

stef said...

mmmmm. pork belly

alexis said...

by the sounds of it even with the bad weather it will be years before mom culls through all the pictures she's taking

terri said...

So much rain. How frustrating. Glad to hear you had a few episodes of sun... or maybe more accurately... lack of rain.

The food sounds delicious!

Anonymous said...

Glad there were some sunny hours and that it didn't rain the ENTIRE time..
Doesn't hotel internet suck sometimes? Ours gets slow sometimes too..it's very annoying

Mike said...

All that rain blows. I know there's much more to go in the series... I'm hoping to hear about some blue skies.