New Zealand---COLD

I want to tell you a story. Once upon a time a cute girl went to New Zealand. She's really really cold. The end.

So, Ric and I flew from Australia to Auckland, New Zealand. All of Ric's flights are Business Class bc he flies so much for work, he is always upgraded. I ride cattle car. Since it was unreasonably expensive for me to upgrade, it was cheaper for him to downgrade, so I asked him to downgrade. "What? Me downgrade?" Uh, yeah Cowboy, if you fly Business Class drinking Champagne and eating caviar and fine cheeses and I am in the back w/ rubber gloves and rubber boots cleaning the shitter, we are gonna have a problem. We both rode cattle car.

Auckland--only there for 2 days, rainy. Had dinner at a place called Wildfire where they bring around different foods to each table and you eat what you want or how much you want. You get a standard 3-tiered plate of salad, rice and veggies. They bring different meats on a spit. Lamb, beef, chicken, seafood etc and they slice it off and serve you. It was delicious!!!!

We had drinks at a little pub and our bartender was a young kid from Scotland. In Australia we thought our bartender was Aussie, he was Irish. So then we thought this guy was Irish, but he was Scottish. Oh well. Very fun place and good drinks.

Ric left a few days ago and I have been really bummed. It is so much easier to travel w/ him. Traveling alone I have to be 2 steps ahead of myself about everything and I think that is why I get so tired. Where is my passport? How am I going to get from point A to point B? Where and when do I eat? How do I get more money? Where is my wallet? Ric takes care of ALOT of things and it is very comforting and easier to travel. Plus, dining sucks doing it alone. Anyway, after our teary goodbye, I had to get on the rode and drive south. I was afraid to drive in the city on the left hand side. I procrastinated my check out. Plus, cloudy, rainy weather affects my mood. Cold and sunny, fine. Rainy and sunny, fine. Overcast and cloudy and dark, not so fine. Mopey.

FAST drive!--I drove to the East side to the Coromandel Peninsula. Very narrow, windy roads. Some of the bridges are one lane. Not one lane each way, one lane total. They come up fast and I guess whoever gets to the bridge first has the right of way. The roads reminded of the tiny ski roads in Colorado except tropical. I was still a bit uncomfortable driving on the left on these roads so I was going at a speed that was comfortable. Cars began lining up behind me....The first time I held up traffic, I let them pass. The second time I held up traffic, I let them pass. New Zealanders ride your ass, but don't honk or flash their lights at you. The third time I held up traffic I was like "Are you kidding me?!" I never hold up traffic at home, I have a lead foot and am a speed demon. I have a bigger collection of speeding tickets than anyone I've ever met! So, I glance back and say out loud, "Alright Kiwi's, let's do this!" Put my foot into it and took off, looked back a bit later....no one was there. Ha! Now I am much more comfortable and solid behind the wheel, just had to get a feel for it I guess.

I stayed in nice hotel in Puka Park for 2 days. It rained and rained and rained and rained.
I went to Hot Water Beach. It is very thermal here w/ lots of hot water springs and such. Hot Water Beach you can dig holes in the sand, right next to the ocean the hot water comes up through the ground. Sometimes so hot you can't walk on the sand or sit in the water. According to my tour book the Hot Water Cafe "hires spades." (rents shovels) to dig the holes. When I got there, it was closed, but a few people were digging on the beach, I ran over and hoped there was a vacant hole, you also have to time this when the tide is out as well. So I found a vacant hole, actually more like a big puddle that I could lay in and roll around. I stayed for 2 hours! It rained on me but, cooled the water, the ocean was freezing!! Very neat and natural thing to do.

I really wanted to kayak in Cathedral Cove, but they were rained out :( it is supposed to be spectacular!!

I figured I needed to head south out of the rain to Rotorua.