January Week 107 2017

This week ended up being busy but so fun! From our first month living in Auckland, Michael and I decided we wanted to visit Rangitoto, a volcanic island in the Hauraki Golf. On Wednesday, we finally made that happen along with a couple of friends. The view from the top was beautiful, and it wasn’t as steep as I thought it would be! On Friday we sadly had to say, “see you later” to those same friends who have left Auckland to travel before leaving NZ. It was the first of our goodbyes here and just made me think about how hard it will be to leave this place. Sunday morning I suggested a two-day road trip that would knock some things off my NZ bucket list and Michael gave in. We hit the road around 9:30 that morning and had lunch in Waitomo before taking a tour of the famous glowworm caves there. I’d heard that this place is touristy and kind of a rip off, which proved to be true, but the glowworms were actually really cool and totally worth it. From there we drove to Rotorua. After checking into our hostel, we walked around a geothermal park, then to a historical Maori village. At this point Michael and I were both starving, so we ended up at a delicious restaurant before walking through the Government Gardens to the Polynesian Spa, right at the edge of Lake Rotorua. We paid for the cheapest pool, but ended up in the fancy changing rooms that lead directly to the fancy lake side hot pools.