At the Huka Falls, the Waikato River which is normally 100m wide, is squeezed through a 20 metre wide gorge and over a 20m drop. Every second up to 220,000 litres of water gushes through the gorge and shoots out over 8 metres beyond to create a beautiful blue/green pool.

That's what some of the tour guides say about this beautiful and colorful falls. It's not nearly as impressive as Niagara Falls in terms of size, but the volume of water is astounding. The volume of water that passes through the channel every second would fill and Olympic size swimming pool.

Written on December 16, 2008

Rotorua is an interesting place in many respects. All the travel brochures say, you will smell Rotorua before you will ever see it. Rotorua is one of the largest active geothermal sites on the planet. As such, there is a very strong smell of sulfur in the air. In fact, when we checked into our hotel room, the room smelled musty and somewhat moldy. I was told that it comes from the sulfur, over time. The room looked to be spotless. So if Rotorua stinks so much, why is it a big place to visit for not only tourists, but New Zealanders as well? In a word, spas. They have some of the best spas in the world. This little smelly town has taken a negative and turned it into a big positive by boasting the spas and really taking advantage of the one thing that they have, all that heat that comes from being on an active geothermal area. In fact, there is a place that people go where they can dig down a few inches into the sand, and lay in the sand. The heat from the earth will basically give you a heated spa treatment right there. You have to be a bit careful where you dig and lay. If you pick the wrong spot you could end up with burns. The earth, after all, doesn't really have a thermostat to our liking.

We opted not to take a spa treatment, but rather spend our time taking the three mile hike around the most active thermal area, called Wai-O-Tapo, Thermal Wonderland. This was a land of sink holes, boiling mud, steaming pools of water emitting strong sulfur fumes, geysers, and pools of boiling crude oil with mud. Still, fascinating to see.

Here are are few of the photos from that area. The water really is the color presented. It comes from a variety of minerals from the earth. Just remember as you look at these photos, there were times where I could hardly breath due to the intense smell of sulfur in the air. It would really take your breath away. But as you can see, it had it's own kind of beauty about it. Everything has something to offer.

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The Champagne Pool

Devil's Bath

The Champagne Pool

Lake Ngakoro

Boiling mud

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And finally, the track of the three mile walk around the preserve. Not that if you are receiving this via email, the track will not work. You will have to view the entry on the website to see this work.

We are home, and finally situated. It's taken me so long to get back to blogging because there was so much piled up at work. Plus, it takes 25 hours to fly to New Zealand. So when I got back home, we were suffering with jet lag from hell. Actually, I seemed to be more effected by it than Kent. But I'm finally getting through some photos, so the next few entries are from notes I made along the way as we visited different sites. I wasn't always able to have Internet connectivity, so I just took notes off line with some blogging software.

First of all, our trip was a wonderful vacation. Actually, probably the best vacation that we've ever taken, and certainly the longest.

A few words about New Zealand. It's a beautiful country. It consists of two islands simply called the North Island, and the South Island. They are quite different in so many ways. The North Island is more developed but has so much to see. The South Island is less developed and has some truly spectacular sites to visit. So, as I finish my photos of the trip, I'll be posting some of them here, along with what I wrote on the day that we visited the site.

This is the entry of our visit of the Aranui Cave, right after we left Auckland.

Dec 11, 2008

After leaving Auckland, one of the places we stopped was the Aranui Cave. This was not an expected excursion. We spotted them on the map and decided that they sounded interesting. There were actually two sets of caves. One featured glow worms, which are actually insect larvae that stick to the ceiling of the cave. They emit a blue light created from a chemical reaction in their bodies. The purpose of this light is to attract insects for food. The tour consists of taking a boat ride through the caves to see the glowing larvae.

The other cave did not have glow worms, but rather stalactites and stalagmites. As you can imagine, with little light, photography in these caves is difficult. So some of the photos may seem a bit washed out or out of focus, but I think you get the general idea of the magnitude of this cave. We only had time for one tour before hitting the road, so we opted to take in this cave rather than the glow worm cave.

It's hard to capture images in limited light, but here are our attempts of some of the images from within Aranui Cave.

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The PLAN for our trip to New Zealand was to keep an on-going journal along the way. That obviously didn't happen.

When we started looking into what we wanted to see in New Zealand, it seemed easy. Kent was lecturing in Auckland for a few days. Auckland is on the north island, so we figured that we'd spend our time looking around the north island. But then we received several very nice books from a friend who lives in New Zealand. These are books that we didn't see in the United States. That changed everything.

When we started looking through them, we spotted many other things that we needed to see, and many were in the south island. So, before long, our trip encompassed both islands with a good flavor of New Zealand. We have been here from December 8 to December 25. Even with that much time, there is so much we didn't see. But we are so grateful for what we were able to visit.

Blogging went by the wayside fast. While Kent was in Auckland, I spent two days in the Bay of Islands while he was busy. When I got back to Auckland, I was able to make a posting. Then, we left Auckland and from there on out, we went from one site to another. Internet was spotty and unreliable, and when available, they charge for bandwidth usage and it gets expensive real fast (no photo uploading!). I downloaded blogging software that allowed me to keep a journal for later posting, which I will do as I process our photos.

But here's the clincher... we both have a passion for photography. We recorded our entire trip in photos. In all, we have 7,625 photos! Crazy, isn't it? They will get posted as I get time, but from those photos, I'm sure I'll create my yearly calendar, a photo book for my coffee table, and just have fun with them throughout the year.

This has been an incredible trip. We are heading home today, which is Christmas Day here, and Christmas Eve at home. We are hoping that fewer people will travel on Christmas, having already arrived at their locations. That will make the 24 hours of flying a bit easier.

Can't wait to leave this 70 degree weather (I'm wearing a short sleeve shirt) and arrive home to 20 degree weather with snow. At least, I'll be able to see my cats again. I've missed them and I've actually missed Connecticut.

While Kent was lecturing in Auckland, I decided to take two days and travel up to the Bay of Islands, a four hour drive north from Auckland. This is up in the small town of Paihia. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited. The weather was not optimal for photos, but the scenery was just unbelievable. And on my last day, the weather was clearing off.

The first day, I looked around the charming little town of Paihia. I also took a short boat ride over to the town of Russell. In the days of whaling, it was the city the fishermen liked to visit because it was the home of over 30 brothels and other places of "ill repute". But, it was a favorite for the sailors because it was the home of prostitutes, pimps and escaped convicts from Australia. It was dubbed "The Hell Hole of the South Pacific". Today, it is a quiet little town and quite respectable.

A few photos from those two days...

The painted face at the end of the Maori War Canoe

The very famous Hole in the Rock Island

One of the shore streets in Russell. The Gables (on the right), now a restaurant, is one of the last standing buildings that used to be a brothel.

Otehei Bay, where we stopped for lunch

And the complete track from the two days, starting out from Auckland, and the Bay of Islands Tour...

We've been going like crazy. We spend a day or two in each place, but during the day, we take hikes, or tours of different things. So when we finally get back to the room, there are two things on our mind: taking a shower and going to bed. NOT blogging!

But today, it's rainy out and I didn't feel like putting the rain gear on and forging through a wet forest. So I decided to take some time off (like a vacation) and sit in one of the three lobbies of this huge resort hotel, and write a bit.

So far, we've been to Auckland, Rotorua, Lake Taupo, and are now staying in the Tongariro National Park. Every location if very different. Auckland is a nice city, as far as cities go. I posted a few photos of the city here, but here are a few...

Auckland Harbor on our way to Waiheke Island

Waiheke Island

Auckland Sky Tower from our hotel room

Here's the track that we took on our way to Waiheke Island

The harbor cruise out to Waiheke Island was really nice. It was especially nice to be able to do it together. We went to bed early that night. The strangest thing of this vacation is that I can't honestly tell you what day is which. I'm all confused. I've opted not to worry about it. The harbor cruise was two days ago. Yesterday, I took a trip up to the Bay of Islands for a two-day tour. I'm actually there now, and have a couple of hours to kill before my ride gets here.

The entire tour was a real mixture of different things. Yesterday, we stopped for morning tea at this little place out in the country (it doesn't have a name). We passed through Whangarei, the Northland's only city and major port. After arrival at the Bay of Islands, we went to the Waitangi Treay House, the Maori Meeting House and visited the large Maori War Canoe.

I then went down to Paihia Wharf for a ferry over to Ruessell, a small town that used to have a horrible reputation for let's just say, sinful acts. Today, it's quite respectable, and quite touristy, with many million dollars homes on the small island. Once there, I took a tour of the island and spotted some remarkable views of the Bay of Islands. I hope to share many of them when I get home, but for now, I'm on vacation!

Today, I took a morning cruise of the Bay of Islands. It is amazing how beautilful this area is. I'm sure I could actually move here with little effort. The weather is a bit hazy for photos, but I did the best I could, and had a wonderful time. I wish Kent was here to enjoy it with me.

I head back to Auckland in two hours, so I'll see him tonight. He wraps up his meetings today, and tomorrow, we head off to Lake Taupo together.

I love it here!

What a long trip! My God! We left Connecticut yesterday (I think) at 11:30 (Saturday). We arrived in Auckland this morning at 4:30, which means that the total flying time was about 24 hours. We both managed to get a fair amount of sleep on the flight, thanks to German beer! It did the trick.

We are about to take a harbor cruise because after showering, we actually feel pretty good. I'll let you know how it turns out. We might up load photos, but the link we are on is a bit slow. Wish us luck!

First of all, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I would have said that earlier, but our lives have been incredibly hectic. Sometimes I think that getting ready for vacation is so stressful that you have to have a vacation just to recuperate. But back to Thanksgiving...

We had a nice dinner at the Hotel Viking, but I think the place in Mystic, CT is a bit more to our liking. It's more quaint, and the food is better. We ate too much and paid the price later with a relatively sleepless night. I hate that. But Thanksgiving seems so long ago to me now because I've been so busy at work clearing up all the loose ends. It seems unreal that just a few days from now I will be on a cruise in the Bay of Islands in New Zealand. I'm getting excited about it, but I'm trying to get my rest for the long trip there. I'll keep you posted

This is the longest trip we've ever taken, so it takes a lot of preparation. The cats will miss us, but we've made arrangements for someone to come in to feed and pet them, right up to making sure the house is warm for them. I suppose that sounds nuts, but they are part of our family.

Speaking of crazy, I was almost got killed last night. Yes, I'm serious. It's funny how life can turn on a dime. Here I am working hard, getting ready to leave, and looking forward to taking this incredible trip, and something unexpected happens.

I was driving home last night from seeing a friend. I was on a country road, and had stopped at a stop sign. All the sudden, I saw this car coming down the road at 100 miles per hour I would say. The road shifted slightly and turned. This person was going so fast that they didn't make the curve. They almost hit me. They left the road, and hit a power pole head on. The pole split in two. The car rolled and hit a large monument in the town green. I rolled down my passenger window to ask if the people in the car were ok. Someone got out of the car, and collapsed. They then stood up slowly, and ran away. Above me were the power lines, that were holding up the severed power pole.

I could then hear the lines starting to snap. I stepped on the gas and went across the street, and the power lines fell, creating sparks and loud bangs. I dialed 911. They answered immediately and I told them what happened. Then I heard the police coming. They were chasing the car that was racing so fast. Soon, the area was surrounded with police. I told them that I saw the accident, but they were more interested in the pursuit of this individual who, judging from the interest of pursuit from the police, must have been wanted for some heinous crime.

So, if i had been just a bit quicker, I would have been hit by that car, or hit with the power lines. It makes you think, doesn't it? Instead of going on this great vacation, I could be in the hospital, or worse off.

What a crazy world.

I've been thinking a bit this last week about today, Thanksgiving. I've lived a very interesting life. I've done much better in life than so many people. Above all, I'm here, I'm alive, and so many of my friends didn't make it. So I'm thankful for having the opportunity to see what life is all about.

I'm thankful that for awhile in my life, my blood family was in my life. I'm thankful for not just knowing them then, but for having the bond of family with them and for knowing what that felt like. There's something very annoying about having people in your business all the time. It's easy to tell yourself that it would be easier if you didn't have to cope with that. And part of that is true. But when it turns out that the relationship is severed, and years later you want some part of that back, it won't be there. It is something that is alive. You stop watering a plant, and it will die. Years later, you try to water it again, and it just doesn't come back to life. I'm thankful that at one time, so many years ago, I had that with my family. Now, we pretend to all be the way it was, but it isn't. I honestly doubt that they will give me a thought this Thanksgiving weekend, with the exception of one or two. I'm thankful that at one time, I had a family, as dysfunctional as they were, who loved me, before they knew what I was inside. At least, I knew what it was like to be part of that, and I'm thankful for that.

I'm thankful for my little family. They are everything to me. They are the reason I live my life with happiness and fulfillment. My world is small, yet, what I have right now is priceless. I have a job that works me to death, but because of the perks and pay, we are able to do so many things together that make it worth it.

I'm thankful for the opportunity to be going to New Zealand next week. We leave a week from this Saturday. We will be there from December 6th - December 25th. I'm thankful to be able to take a trip like that with the love of my life.

A few weeks ago, we went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. At the end of dinner, we had fortune cookies. Kent opened his and it said, "The love of your life is right in front of your eyes." It's true. How do I know what it said word for word? Because I still carry it in my wallet. We have been very fortunate to have that. So many of my friends have gone through life from one relationship to another, and they never end up finding that one person. I met Kent when I was 19 years old. We've been together ever since. We've had some very tough times, but when you have something worth keeping, you fight for it and get through it. Today, we are stronger for that. I'm thankful for what we have today with each other.

I'm thankful that a few people in my past life are still in our lives today. I'm thankful for a few members of my family who are today back in my life, such as my brother Mike, and my cousin, Kim, who I grew up with. I'm thankful for great friends like Mary, Ernie, Austin, and Paul, who are very much in my thoughts. I'm so glad we have stayed friends over the years.

So today on Thanksgiving, we are heading to the Hotel Viking, in Newport, R.I., for Thanksgiving. We will have dinner at the hotel restaurant where they are serving a gourmet Thanksgiving Day dinner. Music will be provided by the Rick Costa Jazz Quartet. It should be a lot of fun. I'm thankful for having the means to do this, and I'm really thankful for not working so hard to prepare a huge dinner, and hoping that the day goes by without someone in my family getting into a big fight with someone else in my family (memories from childhood).

We are talking about marriage. We don't know when it will happen, but it will happen, and being the sentimental drama queen that I am, I'll probably cry. I'm thankful that I have the hope for marriage. I don't know what that means to us yet because we never thought we would be able to have that special day, but it seems that we will. I want our friends and family to be there, but I don't know how that will feel. Our family has come around over the years, but it will be strange to have them there after so much has happened. We will see where this goes. But for now, I'm thankful to be able to look forward to that awesome day in the future.

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving, filled with the joy of friendship and being around those you love.