Vacation within a vacation :)

On Friday January 22 we added two travelers to our adventure. :) After whisking Bob (aka Angela's Dad) and Brenda (aka Angela's step-mom) away from the airport, we visited the beach, enjoyed a nice drive through the country, and then ventured to Rotorua. This area is known for the Maori culture (the native New Zealand people). We visited Hells Gate thermal park. This is the only thermal area in New Zealand still owned by the Maori people. This is the entrance.

The heat from the center of the earth bubbles up through these areas in the crust and creates steam. It sort of looked like Yellowstone National Park.

Here is a mud boil.

Lots of steam in the background. :)

This is Kakahi Falls in Hells Gate. It's the largest hot water falls in the Southern Hemisphere, with a normal temperature of 40 degrees Celsius. This was a sacred site for the local Maori tribes. They would bathe in the sulphur water to heal battle wounds.

Kids will be kids:)

We attended a traditional Maori dinner and entertainment at the Mitai village. We were greeted traditionally (Powhiri) by the Maori people in their waka (war canoe).

This is the stage where they performed traditional dances and we learned about their culture.

Then we participated in the hangi (traditional meal). They cooked all this food in the ground. It was very yummy!

Resemblance?

After our quick Rotorua tour we hopped on a small plane headed for Blenheim.

Highfield Estate Winery has a tall tower we climbed up for a great view of the valley.

We stopped at Wairau River Wines for lunch. Great little place.

This is the view from Seresin Estate. They are known for their organic wines and organic olive oil.

We took a beautiful drive along the Marlborough Sounds on Queen Charlotte Drive.

All aboard for Christchurch!

We took the Tranz Coastal train down the east coast of the south island from Blenheim to Christchurch.

This tram ran a loop through downtown Christchurch. We hopped on and off during our exploration of the city.

Watch out cyclists!

This is a lake in Hagley park in downtown Christchurch.

Christchurch has a beautiful botanical gardens. They have lovely flowers and huge trees.

We went for a little ride down the river on a Traditional English Punt. Very relaxing and beautiful!

The famous cathedral in downtown Christchurch. We climbed 134 steps to the top for a wonderful view of the city.

Almost there!

The plaza area from the top of the tower.

Then we hired (kiwi for rented) a car and headed west over Arthur's Pass. Beautiful mountains!

At the top of the pass, Aurthur's Pass National Park.

Danger! Don't cross the tracks!

Beautiful!

Yahoo!!! We Love New Zealand.

The Midsection of the North Island

We took a beautiful drive through the midsection of the north island to Tongariro National Park. This is New Zealand's oldest National Park established in 1887. There are three volcanoes here and two of them are the most active composite volcanoes in the world. This is Mt. Ruapehu. It last erupted in 2007.

In the winter these crazy kiwi's ski on this volcano! It's called Whakapapa Ski Field. The locals said they have enough snow to ski from about the end of June until the end of September.

We hiked up this rocky volcano. Then took two chairlifts back down.

This is a waterfall on the way up.

Beautiful view of the valley from the top.

Found a sign. Danger!

Cliff!

Watch out!

We ventured further north to the Lake Taupo area. About 5 minutes outside of Taupo is the 11 meter long Huka Falls. These are the largest falls on the Waikato River, one of New Zealand's largest rivers.

The Aratiatia Dam is the first of a series of hydroelectric stations on the Waikato River. Four times a day the dam is opened and 90,000 liters of water is released from the spillway per second. They do this to demonstrate how the river used to flow prior to the dam being built.

Before the water release.

After the water release. It was neat to watch the river valley fill up with water.

The Rest of the South Island and Beyond...

Lake Tekapo is a beautiful lake to the east of where we stayed in Mt. Cook National Park. On a super clear day you can see Mt. Cook from here.

This is The Church of the Good Shepherd on the shores of Lake Tekapo.

It's beautiful inside.

Fairlie, New Zealand. For those of you who know Farley (the doggie) back home:)

Have you been to Broomfield, New Zealand? 2km down the road.

Black Betty has! This is the gate to the school. Besides a few houses, this is the whole town.

The Bueller River on State Hwy 6 on the way to Nelson Lakes National Park.

A swan coming out of Lake Rotoroa to see what we are having for breakfast, in Nelson Lakes National Park.

From Nelson Lakes National Park we made our way back to Picton. We took a very early ferry from Picton across the Cook Strait. Black Betty is patiently waiting in line to board the ferry. Lucky John got to drive Betty onto the ferry at 6am, backwards!

Picton from the ferry.

Wellington is New Zealand's capital city. We got to go on a free tour of the Parliament House. This is "the bee hive" where all the politicians offices are located.

Then we took the Wellington Cable Car up the steep hill into the nearby suburbs. The first cable car opened here February 22, 1902 to create easy access into the city. In 1979 they updated the cable car for safety.

Great view of the city from the top.

This is the old cable car on display in the Cable Car Museum.

We had a nice walk through the beautiful Botanical Gardens back to the city streets.

Another pretty flower in the Botanical Gardens.

Wellington from across the harbor.