Day 3 in New Zealand: From SEA to Sulfur

The best sight in all of New Zealand is the Robert C. Seamans anchored at the Halsey Street Wharf in Auckland:

She'd arrived the previous day while my partner and I were sitting down to the Lord of the Rings Musical, but because the kid's cell phone was completely dead we didn't know it, and we spent a bit of the next morning wandering down Quay Street until we were both like, "Hey, does that look like a tall ship that serves as an oceanographic research station to YOU?"

It did, and it was!

Below is the photo I took when, after several minutes of looky-looing, taking photos, and indulging in the occasional enthusiastic waving, someone on deck apparently finally went around the ship to ask, "So... is it possible that someone's mom is here?" My kid seems to have come clean that indeed, it was possible that it was her mom giving off the big mom energy, she came up to verify, and I got my first sight of her in nearly two months!

Ignore everyone else on the ship laughing openly at me. I was excited!

Fortunately, my looky-looking and enthusiastic picture-taking also called attention to my proper camera, and I'm pretty sure my kid's response, when someone asked her if I'd want to come over and take a group photo of everyone on the ship, was something like, "Go ahead and ask her, but if you get her started she'll never stop," because someone DID come over and ask me, and I DID take a billion photos, both staged and spontaneous.

And then because I was already over there I indeed did NOT stop:

We didn't have big plans for the day, other than getting our girl back. We browsed a grocery store because local snacks are also the kid's favorite thing about traveling, and then hit up a bakery for flat whites and these little savory pies that were ubiquitous everywhere we went. They were delicious and filling, but OMG the crumbs! How are New Zealanders not constantly covered in crumbs?

Afterwards, it was a leisurely four-hour drive to Rotorua, with plenty of time to stop and look at Maori sights, eat ice cream, and gaze at sheep standing picturesquely on hill and pasture:

In the early afternoon, we checked into our hotel in Rotorua, then had to sort out getting all the kid's clothes washed (she'd been washing everything by hand for nearly two months...) and buying her a new duffel bag. I TOLD her that her IKEA Frakta, handy as it was for moving back and forth between dorm room and bedroom, was not sturdy enough to fly to Fiji as her checked bag, but Lord knows nobody ever listens to their mother! The thing had apparently been falling apart BEFORE she checked it in for her flight, so I gather she just wrapped a ton of tape that she somehow snookered away from an airport employee around it and, well, here it is begging for death and insisting very fervently that it will not hold together for ten more feet, much less across the entirety of New Zealand and then halfway across the world:

Anyway, did you know that K-Mart is still thriving in New Zealand? And their duffel bags were a terrific price, so the kid no longer has an excuse to look like she rides the rails on the way to the next Hoover Town. Also all their Christmas stuff was amazing. I am legitimately so mad at myself that I did not buy the pink sweater vest with Christmas buns on it, but all I can say for myself is that I was overstimulated and my unhelpful partner kept asking me unhelpful questions like, "Where will you wear that?" and "Where will we put that?" and "Do we need that?"

Yes, MATT. YES I DO NEED A RED SUIT JACKET AND MATCHING DRESS PANTS WITH SANTA HEADS ALL OVER THEM, AND SO DO YOU.

I swear, next time I am in another country when they have their Christmas stuff out and it's all amazing and the exchange rate is in my favor, nothing will stop me!

Thanks to the laundromat, we finally got an excuse to check out the cool New Zealand money:

That was our ice cream money for the rest of the trip!

The entire area is geothermically active, so fortunately, in between errands and chores, there was actually plenty to sightsee. This geothermal vent is literally in the backyard of our hotel!

When we were driving around town, we actually saw a ton of these in people's yards. A hole in the ground would be merrily steaming away in somebody's side yard, with a little fence around it!

Our hotel also had its own geothermal-heated hangi that we did not cook in, but my partner did almost burn his face off with it, so that's nearly as cool:

If I had a literal geothermal-powered oven in my backyard my gas bill would be nearly non-existent, because I would cook EVERYTHING in my magical earth steam.

Here's the area from a distance--we're inside a giant ancient caldera!

But here's what it looks like close up, just a short walk from our hotel:

I swear we are incapable of going anywhere without stopping and grubbing on the ground:

But to be fair, this beach in particular is good for grubbing, because it has hot spots. If you're walking and you see a wisp of steam coming up from the sand, you can stop and dig there, and the hole that you dig will fill itself with hot water. 

If you bring a proper shovel, you can did a hole big enough to sit in and have your own personal hot tub, but we didn't have shovels, so we just used our hands to dig little hot tubs for our fingies:

If I had it to do over again, I'd probably have chosen to spend the late afternoon and evening sightseeing around Rotorua, but when I was planning the trip I got Influenced by everyone's travel photos and booked us tickets at a geothermal day spa. To be fair, it was just as relaxing and comfy as the travel bloggers said it would be, but you know how I am, and there were so many things in Rotorua that I. Did. Not. SEE!

Ah, well. I have to go back, anyway, to get my Christmas bun sweater vest, so I'll see the rest of the geothermal wonders of Rotorua then. And this hot pool *is* the first time that one muscle in my back relaxed since I tweaked it on the flight in, so there's that:

I also now know what a foot reflexology walk is and I swear to god I am NEVER doing that bullshit again! The kid and I went on it together, and I'm pretty sure she thought she was going to have to go get her dad to carry me out, I was in so much pain. Seriously, though--WHAT THE FUCK. I even Googled later "Why does a foot reflexology walk hurt so much," and the answers were pretty much, "Probably because your entire body sucks," so I guess at least now I know!

Just in case it was my liver's fault, I bribed it with some more Scrumpy along with our takeaway:

Tomorrow, we're going to see glowworms! And KIWI!!!!

Here's the rest of our trip!

Day 1: Auckland

Day 2: Hobbiton

P.S. Want to follow along with my craft projects, books I'm reading, dog-walking mishaps, encounters with Chainsaw Helicopters, and other various adventures on the daily? Find me on my Craft Knife Facebook page!