20.3.09

north island redux

a lot has happened since our time at abel tasman. we are now back on the north tip of the north island, having worked our way up over the last week. we went for a kayak in the bay of islands today, it is past our bedtime and i have eaten too much chocolate. i am too tired to put these pictures in order or do much in the way of narration.

these first 2 pictures are of kerosene creek, not just a hot springs... a hot waterfall!
we have these for supper a lot. egg and cheese and tomato and avacado sandwiches. sometimes i put on a bit of salsa as well. thanks julie for pointing out the inherent goodness of this combination.
our dinner in nelson one night. a hot stone grill so i could cut my meal up and grill it piece by piece exactly to my liking. i really like things to my liking.


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rotorua museum - former 1800s hotsprings wonderhealing spa. also a section on an all maori division in WWII. very interesting.


some of the best mountain biking i have ever done was in rotorua. when i asked for trail recommendations i told the rental lady that i enjoyed technical downhill but i was wrong. it turns out i actually enjoy buttery smooth superfast cross country through beautiful palm forests and mushrooms right out of the smurfs.

this is me liking stuff that is to my liking.
i was so excited about the trails that we stayed an extra day in rotorua and i took kylie biking the next morning. she enjoyed it, but she has learned that i dont remember climbs. the elevation gain of hiking or biking is always minimized in my memory. it is only when i brought kylie up with me that i realized the grade and length of hill i had dashed up the day before in my zeal to be on a bike again. regardless, kylie tackled with ups and downs with aplom.

in rotorua we dug a hole in the sand and hot water came into it and we had our own hottub. it was so hot that i had to mix in water from the lake to be able to sit in it. great for mountain biking recovery, although we also had 3 beautiful hot pools to choose from at the camp we stayed in. all of rotorua is riddled with obvious geothermal activity. there is bubbling mud and steamy waterholes all over town.


the hamilton gardens were amazing.
a chinese scholar garden

i would like to build myself an indian pleasure garden.

this morning kylie made pancakes which we ate by the beach on some unpronounceable bay.
the beach featured this giant mangrove tree with 3 separate trunks. all one tree. its a trinity.

kylie fulfilled her life goal of having fish and chips and L&P.

today we went kayaking through the bay and explored 2 islands.
tomorrow we take a boat trip to another island and hopefully see some dolphins. then its off to a forest and then back to tidesong to meet lowell and julie and my parents! it is gratifying to me to be excited about traveling with my mom and dad. it speaks to our relationship and how much i think they will enjoy new zealand.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Marc - you and my brother have the same condition. Aaron never remembers elevation or climbing or anything. I can't tell you the number of times I have walk out of places, crying and pushing my bike because he said I could do it, and obviously that wasn't true.....! Maybe I just needed to toughen up though, so I probably can't lay all the blame on him. And Kylie - I think you need to go through your blog and find all the pictures of the two of you in a kayak where you are taking the picture and Marc's in the background and you are in the front and make a little montage or something - there are so many! Looks like and awesome trip!

Lowell & Julie said...

It's 5am on a Saturday. I've been wide awake since 4am. My heart is beating wildly with excitement. We don't have to leave for the airport until 6:30am. The fact that I'm SO THRILLED to pick the 'rents up super early on a Saturday morning, then live with them in a campervan for 3 weeks is evidence of their awesomeness. I'm pumped that you're excited too, and we'll see you TOMORROW!!!!!

PS- I like the new style of 'kayak shot'!