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I'm currently on the Interislander ferry from Wellington, crossing the Cook Strait to New Zealand's South Island. We've been in the North since Friday, though with respect to the people and the fantastic sites we've witnessed here, the feeling amongst the tour group and ourselves is that the true magic of this country is ahead of us.
Last Thursday we returned to Sydney from Alice Springs, flying out from there to Auckland later in the evening. The following day we saw just the briefest of glimpses of the former capital before boarding our TopDeck bus that took us south to the Maori heartland of Rotorua. Here, we spent the evening in a Maori Marae, learning their values, history and significantly for me, the Haka. I've a video of me doing this which I'll upload at a later date.
On that note, I'll probably upload our photos in full when I return home. It's impossible finding a PC with any decent internet speed to do so over here at the moment.
We spent our second day in Rotorua on the banks of the Great Lake that gives it is name - Rotor meaning 'lake' in Maori and rua meaning 'two'. Here, we enjoyed a walk in the enchanting Redwood forest, following a spa in one of the hotel's natural spring retreats. Due to the sulphur and geothermal activity in Rotorua, there is an overwhelming eggy smell to the place. As a traveller it doesn't leave you, though the locals say you become used to it.
Yesterday we had a free city day in the Capital city of Wellington, trying out a few of the local bars and stumbling on the 'Welsh Dragon Bar' where I spent $10 a can for the good old Brains SA! The previous two days had been spent on the Tongariro National Park, home to some of the most famous volcanoes in the world - notably Mount Doom from The Lord of the Rings trilogy. On that note, you get the sense that the country (north certainly) has been invigorated by the growth of Wellington's Weta Studios and specifically the magic of Peter Jackson's LOTR and Hobbit phenomenon.
That's all for now - on our way to the city of Nelson for two evenings. This blog is dedicated to the healthy arrival into the World of Noah Lewis Rosenthal.
MD
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