• Lys Kate
  • Lys Kate

Erin and Lysa go Adventuring

15-dniowa przygoda według Lys Czytaj więcej
  • Bedtime Wrap

    8 marca 2017, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    Today Lysa and I both slept in, when we woke up it was raining. But we decided to walk up Mauao anyway. Mauao is a dormant volcano located on the bay. It was very windy and wet.

    Then we went to the hot pool. The water was nice and warm. The water at the pool is sourced from a hot spring and is the only salt water spring in New Zealand.

    Then we went into town where we saw a sculpture and an outdoor photo exhibit. The sculpture was of Hairy Maclary and friends. I thought Bitzer Maloney looked like a whippet.

    Erin XO
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  • Waihou Stream and Blue Spring

    9 marca 2017, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    These photos don't do the colour of this water justice, it is crystal clear and the prettiest blue. The water is entirely spring fed and has spent anywhere from 50-100 years underground. The blue colour and the ultra clarity of the water is due to the water not being able to absorb blue and some green light particules after spending so much time underground. Czytaj więcej

  • Blowing Off Steam

    9 marca 2017, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    After a frustrating day, a quick run with stunning views did wonders for my mood.

  • Bedtime Wrap

    9 marca 2017, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Today was ultimately a mix bag; there was some beautiful scenery and great food but was marred by a few moments of 'urgh!'

    The day started off with a visit to a historic village that boasted a collection of unique craft stores. It delivered a ghost town that was going though major repairs. However we did locate the TARDIS sans The Doctor through.

    The day continued with a look at some local falls; McLaren Falls and a visit to the grounds of a former mission. It was interesting to notice the stark contrast in historic events when told by a society managing the grounds of a former Christian Mission and the Maori people running the tours at Waitangi Treaty Grounds.

    The day took a turn for the worse as we headed out for Naiper, Hawkes Bay. The combination of slow vehicles, winding roads and roadworks pushed our travel time for a 211km trip out to roughly four hours.

    We also had an unplanned pit stop at Putaruru, after a truck threw a rock into our windscreen which started cracking at an alarming rate. A particularly unhelpful call to Thrifty and we forked out money to get the windscreen fixed and hour of our time.

    A phone call to the surf company in Whangamata who had thoughtfully hung onto my drivers license was enlightening. It turns out as we left in the nick of time, the entire peninsula flooded the afternoon we left. The flooding does mean that my licence has now been misplaced, most likely indefinitely. On the plus side we didn't get marooned in Whangamata and I now had a legitimate reason to visit my New Zealand colleagues.

    We finished the day with wine and good food at local eatery in Naiper. Easily the best food we have had on our trip, which left us both feeling reinvigorate for tomorrow.

    Lysa XO

    P.S. Check out the oversized furniture in our room. We are still wondering how anyone managed to get it in here.
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  • Ahuriri

    10 marca 2017, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

    Once a little fishing village now a trendy part of Naiper full of funky cafes, bars and art galleries. We loved Crazy Good for their coffee and Picnic for the pastries and chocolate.

    We also checked in with the weather person; it's raining everywhere.

    We haven't taken any photos of it but Naiper is littered with Art Deco styled buildings, plenty of examples canbe found in Ahuriri too.
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  • Bedtime Wrap

    10 marca 2017, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    Today we were in Napier, Hawkes Bay. We had a bit of a sleep in and then jumped into the car and drove into Ahuriri. We had a look around inside some of the shops and art galleries. While we were shopping my colourful feather purse strap broke, I think I might beable to repair it but regardless I can still use it as a clutch.

    We jumped back into the car and did our own wine tasting tour around Napier and Hastings. We visited Stonecroft, Unison Vineyard and Te Awa wineries. We tasted a number of different wines. Including all sorts of whites, reds and even a dessert wine. My favourite was the dessert wine but I also liked the Pinot Gris we tried.

    We decided to stop in between our wine tasting and drive up to Te Mata peak. Te Mata has views out to the ocean and a long way inland. Today it was very foggy; we couldn't see anything.

    We had an early dinner and played with our host for a bit, he is such a cutie!

    Erin XO
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  • New Zealand National Library

    11 marca 2017, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    As we arrived in Wellington it was pouring with rain. We stopped at the National Library that had a number of exhibits including a cartography exhibit. The maps picture are a 1773 publication of the charts drawn by Lieutenant James Cook in 1769-70 and the Acheron Survey which was first published in 1857 and remained in use until the 1930s.

    The green statue of Kate Shepherd, the most prominent member of tthe New Zealand women's suffrage movement. The statue is made up of green discs each engraved with words advocating of women's rights and denouncing family violence.
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  • Space Place

    11 marca 2017, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    The Space Museum is set in the Wellington Botanical Gardens overlooking the bay. Given the overcast weather the telescope was not in use tonight. However we had a look around the space museum and visited the planetarium. Space Place show cases not only the science behind astronomy but also the importance of astronomy throughout history. It also provide a brief history of astronomy in Maori cculture.

    Interesting fact: in 1868 New Zealand became the first country to standardised time. The national time was set to 11.5 hours ahead of Greenwich Standard Time and was measured from this site. It was later changed to 12 hours.

    We were treated to a beautiful view of the bay in lights as we left the gardens.
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  • Bedtime Wrap

    11 marca 2017, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ 🌧 13 °C

    We woke up to low heavy clouds and more rain. I had plans of watching the sunrise over the ocean but the cloud cover made that impossible.

    Erin was determined to see some local markets and despite the rain we set off into town. The markets consisted entirely of food stalls and Erin was hoping for some craft stalls. We took advantage of the fresh produce and grabbed breakfast.

    We hit the road and headed south for Wellingtonbattling heavy rain, road works and slow traffic. It was not a fast trip so we reverted to a Barnsley favourite past time.... Les Mis!

    In Wellington, it was unsurprisingly still raining so we hit the National Library. Erin found a puzzle to keep herbusy in the gift shop while I listened to a ccollectionof interviews with soldiers of WWI. We the both checked out the cartography of New Zealand exhibit.

    The weather cleared so we headed for Cuba Street, which was reputed to be one of the more bohemian areas of Wellington; home to an eclectic collection of cafes, op-shops, boutique, small fashion stores, art galleries, and music shops. We enjoyed looking in a few shops but our timing was a little off and many of the shops started closing soon after our arrival. The Street art was on point, we even took shelter under the giant umbrella while waiting for the lights to change. We had dinner in a local Cafe and Erin enjoyed a glass of Pinot Gris (I think I have turned her into a wine drinker).

    We finished of with a trip to Space Place, the space museum and local observatory. The weather made actual star gazing impossible but the planetarium showed us a virtualisation of what could be seen on a clear night. Inside the planetarium we also watched a short documentary on the big bang and how planets are formed. The imagery was beautiful particularly the nebula.

    And that's another day in New Zealand.

    Lysa XO
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  • Bungy Time

    13 marca 2017, Nowa Zelandia ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Just fell 47m off a cliff. Couldn't touch the water because I was too light for the rope but WOW all the same.