Mom watching a handler feed a rare yellow eel at Kelly Tarlton's Underwater Adventure and Antarctic Experience. This is a very cool place, and a must see for the first time visitor to Aukland.
Mom watching a handler feed a rare yellow eel at Kelly Tarlton's Underwater Adventure and Antarctic Experience. This is a very cool place, and a must see for the first time visitor to Aukland.
i can hear you asking, "where were you the past several days?" and don't you think i won't tell you, either.
of course, i'm going to spell all the place names wrong, but you'll never know the difference.
where we've been is on a Real Family Holiday. this is something completely new to me, as momma pointed out to me. that's the hazard of being raised a poor child of a single mother, you miss out on all sorts of things.
apparently, on a Real Family Holiday, you all pile into a car (or cars, as was the case with us), drive for a long time, stay in a cool hotel, glance briefly at the local sights, then get back in the car and go home. neat.
the first night we stopped in witianga, where we checked into the seafari hotel. we had two rooms, though they were more than just rooms, each would sleep six, but there was 7 of us, so we needed both. each room had a kitchenette and various other comfy appointments. flash.
the second night we were in mount maunganui, which i thought was just the coolest place. this time the room had room for 8, and was more like an apartment.
The World Famous Warkworth Bakery, home of the best pies ever.
gnat's favorite bookstore.
Misc. street corner (ok, it's the ONLY street corner) in Warkworth.
the drought broken, the skies open, the rain falls. all the islands thank the gods, the sheep will live, the tomatoes with ripen.
last night was the first cloudless night we've had since i've been here and i took the opportunity to gaze at the new (to me) southern skies. half the sky looks familiar (but upsidedown) the other half is a marvel. for the first time i saw the southern cross and knew what i was looking at. alvin came out and pointed out some other features. i spent a good long time with the binoculars, then more time reading the star atlas.
what, you might ask, does this have to do with the rain? well you see, it wasn't just the people who were anxiously awaiting the rain, the mosquitos were, too. i have NEVER seen such a bloodthirsty horde, not in all my colorado nights. i put on pants and socks (weird! after so many days wearing next to nothing), so they went for my arms. before i managed to put on repellant, i was polka dotted, and the skeeters were sitting back somewhere picking their chops and rubbing their full bellies. my GOD. and when i put the repellant on my arms and hair and neck, one of them managed to get up under my t-shirt and nail me on the stomach.
before getting to witianga we spent some time driving around the coromandel peninsula. first we stopped in a town whose name i can't remember and picked up a simply massive fish and chips feed. this consisted of two paper-wrapped packages, one of fish, one of chips, which we spread out on the beach and all had a go at. as is typical from these sorts of dinners, there was way too much. we had enough food for at least one person leftover, but the gulls were happy to help us out with that.
the views from the coromandel are outstanding. lush, forest/jungle covered hills look out over stunning multi-colored bays. we stopped frequently so momma could snap pictures. at one time there was gold mining out there, but that's all done now. there are still few paved roads, and many of the ones that do exist barely make up a lane and a half. whee.
in the hills on the peninsula, barry's sister lives in an old house with her partner. kaye is a sculptor, and her partner, chris, builds gadgets that do fun things with water. together, they run the 'waiau waterworks,' a tourist trap well worth stopping for. the waterworks consist of lovely gardens dotted with kaye's pottery sculptures, and chris's magical water creations. it's really neat, and fun. there is even a little ride-like thing, called the flying fox, which is basically a seat attached to a rope attached to a pully which itself sits on a rope between two trees, one a far ways downhill from the other. you get the picture. wheeeeeeee!.....THUMP. the waterworks include some interactive displays you can play with, too, so if you don't watch out you might actually learn something while you're there.
Waterworks at the Waiau Water Gardens.
Sculpture Garden at Waiau
Waiau again
On the beach after a major fish feed.
Picking blackberries off the side of the road, over one of about a million stunning Coromandel vistas.
Go to the previous page of postcards.
Go to the next page of postcards.
Copyright: Almost everything in here is © Jenine Abarbanel(1997) unless attributed to someone else or inadvertantly stolen from someone else, in which case, it's their copyright. Don't be a jerk.