Meeting the Family

alex enjoying a sausage stuffed with mashed potato, an ingenious snack idea
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We flew into Auckland from Fiji, and then got straight onto the next flight down to Wellington to meet up with mum, dad, Pete and Natalie.  And the big campervan.

It was brilliant to see them, even though they were late meeting us at the airport... and we had a nice week going back up to Auckland and catching a few sites on the way.  Main stop was Rotorua, where we had a very nice touristy time.  Went to a cultural show and hangi dinner, which was actually pretty good, especially the food.  You can't go wrong with unlimited roast lamb really.  The low light of the trip was having to sing 'She's coming round the mountain' on the bus on the way home as the driver went round and round a roundabout.  With all the lamb in my belly I felt pretty sick.

Very burpy

some pretty tasty plonk
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We also watched Pete and Natalie zorbing in Rotorua, didn't do it ourselves as they no longer rent out spare clothes to play in.  But we will be doing it when we get back, it looked like good wet fun.  We also went on lugeing down the hill just outside town.  A very good set-up with a chairlift to drag you and your wheeled tea-tray up to the top of the hill and you then get to race down.  Although sad to say the Pete was best at it.

And we went to the Wai-o-Tapu geothermal area.  It was pretty good here, inspite of the steady drizzle.  Lots of sulphorous holes in the ground and weird coloured lakes.  We missed the Geyser as that only goes once a day, but we saw some nice mudpools instead.  Very burpy.

the napier vocano
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From Rotorua we headed up to Hot Water Beach on the Cormandel Peninsula.  A bit weird there as there is a hot spring under the sand.  And it gets VERY hot.  The idea is that you rent a spade and then dig a little hole to sit in.  However, the sea was very rough when we were there, so we didn't manage to get in very deep before a big wave washed over us and filled in the wholes we had made.  But we'll be going back on our way up the North Island in February.

Finally, before saying goodbye, we drove up to Auckland, swapped their campervan for our new ride (a seemingly lowered Japanese import Toyota Corolla estate.  A rental car this time after the troubles in Chile and Argentina).  And we had a nice day out on the water going on a little harbour cruise, and then over to Devonport where we bumped into 3rd cousin Noel and her husband John.  We had met them on purpose in Rotorua as they were on holiday from Australia for a few weeks.  But it was nice to see them again, and our paths may cross once more when we go to Melbourne in a few months.