As I relaxed on my flat bed with Air New Zealand between Rarotonga and Rotorua (via Auckland), enjoying good food, good wine and a smooth flight, suddenly 27 hours had gone by – given it was a 4 hour flight and NZ is only 1 hour different from the Cook Islands, what had happened? Had I been abducted by aliens? No, I was only paying a debt, paying back that extra Xmas day I had had by crossing my old friend, the International dateline yet again. It’s interesting what a different perspective you can have on a city depending on how you travel. Last time I came via Auckland, I was out of the airport in a limo, and quickly checked in to the Hilton on the harbour (one of the flashier ones) and I saw Auckland as a small but sophisticated city. This time, getting onto the mini bus shuttle and checking into the Kiwi International Hotel and Hostel (I was checking into the hotel part, god knows what the hostel was like….) suddenly Auckland appeared to me more like Birmingham on a bad day. The room was clean (always the first thing I check), but the décor of peeling yellow wallpaper and nasty dark brown lino on the bathroom floor wasn’t quite my décor of choice… But as ever, I survived, and had a good night’s sleep. This morning after a decent coffee (well, I know not everyone would agree, but a skinny latte at Starbucks has to be decent after weeks of Nescafe), I sorted the hire car to drive the 234 kms along the Thermal Explorer Highway to Rotorua. A nice drive, a mix of motorway, dual carriageway and single lane roads, and NZ drivers on the whole do seem to be much better than those at home. The car, not the blingmobile I am used to, but a rather old Toyota Corolla reminiscent of the one in the tv series Starsky & Hutch (you pay a lot for vintage these days) but the driver’s door did open - I didn’t have to climb in through the window. I have booked into the Quality Inn, Geyserland, the only one with a view of a geyser, and it seems I have been upgraded to a corner suite (they must have known I am a lady of quality) and the room is much nicer than promised on Tripadvisor. It’s a feast for the senses, vision – a view of a huge geyser spouting white water many metres into the air against a green backdrop of wooded hills; sound – the mud pool plopping away like a pan of mushy peas, touch I haven’t sorted yet as I think it may just boil your finger off, and of course smell. I thought initially that there was a bit of a drain problem in the hotel, but no, forward planning again, book geyser and mud pool facing and you should really expect to be assailed by the smell of sulphur. Another opportunity for P&G; Febreze sales here must be huge! How people can live with it I don’t know, I’m sure there are benefits like free hot water and all that, but frankly, I’d rather pay British Gas and do without the smell. Am sure I can manage for a couple of days. The hotel is right on Te Puia, New Zealand’s Maori Cultural Centre and nowhere else on earth is the earth’s crust thinner. It’s a bit like a pizza I suppose. I always thought I was a thin crust girl, but feeling the heat of the inside of the earth through your feet at times feels a bit too close for comfort. Every so often I can feel a vibration in the earth, but I’m sure that’s just big lorries going by on the main road behind the hotel….
The welcome here is Kia Ora, meaning Hello– funny really, all those years ago when Mum used to buy Kia Ora orange squash it sounded so exotic – hello orange squash doesn’t sound quite the same!
The welcome here is Kia Ora, meaning Hello– funny really, all those years ago when Mum used to buy Kia Ora orange squash it sounded so exotic – hello orange squash doesn’t sound quite the same!
