anti-clockwise and press ups

July 21 and 22-

On the 21st, we woke up around 7 and I went for a run (I've promised to work out more in NZ, where it's not a million degrees) while Mari packed up our stuff and got some food ready. After eating a quick breakfast in our room, we started our drive to Rotorua. We went to Whakareware Thermal Village and a Maori guide gave us a tour of the village. We were so impressed with the kitchen part! It was a communal kitchen. The "microwave" was a box in the ground that used the steam from the thermal vents and anything that couldn't be cooked there was thrown in some sort of bag with a string attached and tossed into the thermal pools until it's cooked!

After the tour, we drove around a bit trying to find our hotel. We saw a shopping center and thought we'd stop in and see if we could find some sort of Target-ish store so we could get winter hats and gloves. What we found was even better! A $2 store!! We picked up New Zealand beanies and belts for our jeans there. We also found $2 gloves at a different store and grabbed some groceries. After settling in at the hotel and buying dinner, we went to the Polynesian Spa. It was a bunch of Geothermal pools at varying temperatures 38 - 42 degrees C. It was LOVELY and so relaxing!

This morning, we got up and started driving again. We drove to Napier via Taupo with a stop at Waiotapu Geothermal wonderland on our way out of town. :) We stood in the pouring rain to watch the Knox Geyser erupt and then hiked out to see the Champagne pool and other craters and pools. There was one that was the color of...how to describe it... it was...somewhere between a yellow and a green highlighter. Even seeing it in person, we couldn't believe that was a natural color, so I'm sure you won't believe the pictures either! We also stopped quickly at Huka Falls outside of Taupo. The water at the falls was a gorgeous blue-green color!

It was still gray and rainy when we got to Taupo, so we just continued our drive. The drive from Taupo to Napier was gorgeous! We got off the road at a "scenic lookout" (it had no other signage OR a mention in the guidebook) to find a HUGE beautiful waterfall. We were so happy we had pulled off to see it!

On our way into Napier, we stopped at Esk Valley Estates Winery. The woman there, Sue, was very friendly, and we chatted more about traveling than about wine, but we tasted 7 different wines and were shocked to find that our favorite was the Chardonnay. We bought a bottle and drove into town to get the winery map. Sadly, we learned that most of the tasting rooms closed at 5 and it was 4. We rushed to one more, Mission Estate Winery (the oldest winery in NZ). We tasted quite a few there (Mari more than me...I can't handle the sweet wines, called "stickies" here). We didn't buy a bottle there as the really good ones were a little pricey AND they sell the less expensive wines in grocery stores all over NZ for about $10, so we figured we'd stop and get one later on.

Even though we figured it would be closed, we drove out to one more, Craggy Range Winery, because the picture looked so pretty. The drive was longer than we thought, but it WAS gorgeous. The winery itself was very pretty, but the mountain range backlit by the setting sun was even more amazing! We drove back to Napier and ate at a Turkish place suggested by the person from Mission Estates winery. It was great food and not too expensive, so we were happy with it. We stopped here at this internet cafe to check in and now we're off to bed.

Tomorrow's plan is to drive to Wellington and catch up with Ruth and Keira's friend, Mel. We're excited to meet her!

OH! I realize I forgot to explain the title. When Mari and I played for ORSU, Jarred always made us do press ups and would have us run clockwise and anti-clockwise. Now that we're here, we're the odd ones who push ups and counterclockwise! :)