Hamurana

No, that is not a typo. Looking out from our AirB&B near Rotorua, there really does seem to be 50 shades of green. Although I must admit that I stopped counting before reaching that number. In one tall bush, there are at least 4 shades alone. That has been the overall impression of New Zealand so far… so much green and so much grandeur.
Yesterday we were at Whitianga (pronounced Fitianga in Maori) and went on a sea cave cruise, operated by the owner of the Oceanside Motel where were staying. Les (pronounced Lez) did a great cruise where we saw Cathedral Cove plus many other caves on the coast. We took over 100 pictures, which kind of tells how spectacular it was. The rock formations are so varied and around every point is another photo op.
At low tide we went to Hot Water Beach. There, you can dig a hole in the sand and have an instant spa experience. It was a little off-putting when we got there to see maybe 200 or so people already digging holes in an area about 3 times the size of our house. We went for a walk down the beach which was lovely and discovered when we came back about an hour later that the two busloads of people had left. The end result… we never dug a hole but we tried out several that had been abandoned. We weren’t that keen on lying down in a foot-deep hole, but we treated our feet to the spas. Some were too hot to stand in. Some were just comfortably warm. An interesting phenomena… especially when you can experience it on the back of others’ digging.
Today we moved on to the Rotorua area. There is lots of geo-thermic activity here and a big Maori presence. We have super accommodation with very friendly AirB&B owners. Looking forward to the days ahead.
Pics are from the sea cave tour - Cathedral Cove, Kissing Rocks and one unnamed, one from the hot water beach and one a view from our new digs.Read more