We've been everywhere

If you haven’t already checked out our “I’ve Been Everywhere” slideshow, have a go. We just bid adieu to Edmonton friend, Jan, who spent two weeks visiting us in Rangiwahia, true rural New Zealand. Allow us to share some highlights.

ROTORUA – Wai-O-Tapu “Sacred Waters” Geothermal Wonderland
Where have you been all my life?
Your colours are radiant
A sight to behold!
Your champagne pool’s a masterpiece,
Worth all its weight in gold
Look at all the colours
Fluorescent orange and green
Your mist rises to meet me;
A rush of warmth and steam

Your Bubbling Mud Pool is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. “Pop, sputter, blurble, splurt…gurgle, belch, splat and blurt.” Where are your manners? And how do you excuse yourself for such uncivilized smells? I had the faint sense that I had landed near the Bog of Eternal Stench; any fans of the movie Labyrinth?
Devil’s Bath and Ink Pots
Artist’s Palette too
Opal Pool, you’re lovely
It’s a panoramic view
Geysers erupt on schedule
Lady Knox @ 10:15
Fumaroles and rotten eggs
It’s a one in a million scene!


FEILDING – Saleyards Tour
What would a trip to Manawatu’s central farm region be without a trip to Feilding Saleyards?! It’s one of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere! Jan and I took a leisurely stroll and surely stood out as sore thumbs rather than potential buyers. However, it’s never a bad thing to flaunt the farm-girl pride!

HAVELOCK NORTH – Te Mata Peak
Here is a legend that’s based around food and love; two things I most enjoy. Are you intrigued? It was this very combination that formed Te Mata Peak in Hawke’s Bay, so says Maori legend. The legend tells of a Maori chief who preyed upon Heretaunga. The Heretaunga chief’s daughter was very beautiful, and after seeing her, Te Mata O Rongokako decided to woo her rather than make war. She set him many seemingly impossible tasks, which he accomplished until she told him to eat his way through a nearby hill. The giant began to plough his way through the hill, but choked on a large rock and dropped to the ground. According to Maori legend, he still lies there today, in the Te Mata hillscape and it is the lumbering form that van be seen high above the hills of Havelock North, a quaint village just outside Hastings.
We hiked to the top of this peak for an especially picturesque view, finding the most perfect hill for a picnic. If only life allowed for daily hikes and picnics; we’d be fit as fiddles and content! I wonder if Chief Te Mata imagined that the hill was a solid block of chocolate…which brings me to my next topic; Whittakers.

WHITTAKERS, HOKEY-POKEY, CHICKEN & NIGERIAN FEAST
Everyone should sample a Nigerian feast at least once in their life, and while I can’t comment on how authentic Jan’s version was, we were pleased that she was willing to share the recipe. Curried beef meets rice and fruit salad whereby romance is exchanged. Delicious!
Then there’s Hokey-Pokey ice-cream; a kiwi favourite. It’s a marriage of honeycomb and caramel that no one should be denied. True love…now, one mustn’t make Whittakers chocolate jealous. A considerate person would divide their cravings between the two. From a myriad of choices, I’ve narrowed down my favourites to be dark almond (there are health benefits!) and mint dark (refreshing and promotes good breath!)
Beware of Chicken, the dice game that encourages risk taking and gambling. It provided endless entertainment for us three on quiet evenings in the country. We may have gotten Jan hooked on Whittakers but she got us hooked on Chicken; seems like a fair trade.

TAUMATAWHAKATANGIHANGAKOAUAUOTAMATEUATURIPUKAKAPIKIMAUNGAHORONUKUPOKAIWHENUAKITANATAHU – The Longest Place Name in the World
Hold your breath and say it as fast as you can. The name is a shortened form of ‘The Brow of a Hill Where Tamatea (remember him?!), the Man with the Big Knees, Who Slid, Climbed, and Swallowed Mountains, Known as Land Eater, Played his Flute to his Lover’.
A very talkative man (keen on sharing stories of a past trip to Strathmore, Alberta), at a nearby museum (mistaken for Information-site), nearly talked us out of the extra mileage to what he suggested as little more than a sign. We snuck out of the museum when he wasn’t looking and made a break towards Porangahau on the coast. It was worth it, just to say that we’d been.