We Take Ourselves With Us

The day after Christmas or Boxing Day in England and English countries, Ned and I were up to see the sun rise over Lake Tarawera.   Each morning, we woke up to the sounds of NZ's only native animals: birds.  Their musical calls filled the lakeshore. Our agenda that day was filled with activities that highlighted NZ's adventurous culture.  First up: Zorbing.  What is Zorbing?  You climb in a gigantic inflated ball that is filled with water; then as the ball rolls down a hill, you slosh around inside.  The Zorb was created in NZ, and we've not seen it anywhere else.  The kids got Zorb tickets from their cousins and were beyond-eager to give it a go. They zigged, zagged and sloshed their ways down the hill, eventually giggling and wiggling out of the Zorbs and jumping into the nearby hot tub.  All the kids Zorb'd as did four of the adults--Ash, Ned, and I opted to capture the moment from the shade.  Great...

Aside from hanging with family, we had a couple things we really wanted to squeeze in to our time in Rotorua: Hobbiton and the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves .  Ned booked a package tour with a driver who would zip us (well, zipping is a relative term in NZ) from the house to Waikato for Hobbiton and then to Waitomo for the caves.  All told, we'd be on the road and touring from about 8:30 am to 6 pm. Our driver to Hobbiton was Fran--who had some very definite ideas about migration into NZ that were balanced with a wide-ranging sense of NZ history and geography and solid recommendations on ice cream.  So, six of one, half a dozen of the other.  On the drive, we were struck by the beauty and variety of the countryside.  For a few kilometers, we'd be surrounded by mounds in the earth that served as pressure release valves for the region's volcanic activity; then, rolling farmlands with hundreds of sheep or cattle; then, acres of corn; then, small suburbs; then, ...