Diary: New Zealand
November-December 1999
Rotorua is not an official twin city of Bath. But it has many things in common with Bath, such as being a well-touristed hot springs resort, with friendly people, on a scenic lake, amid beautiful volcanic scenery. And smelling of bad eggs. (Delete those which do not apply.) The council guys behind Bath's new thermal spa complex, which will open in 2001, have been over to Rotorua on 'factfinding' missions, which gives it some sort of official link.
Anyway, Rebecca and I have managed to catch up with each other again, and we're enjoying all the touristy things (or 'factfinding' as the council would call it). Yesterday we found a secret waterfall (above) known only to a few locals, and teh 25 million readers of the Lonely Planet Guide, where you can sit in a natural, deliciously hot, whirlpool. We had it all to ourselves - bliss. I know you can skinny-dip in Farleigh Weir outside Bath too, but it isn't quite the same I promise you. The campsite at Rotorua also has thermal tubs you can fill up from the natural subterranean springs and soak away your aches and pains after cycling a hundred and fifty, even two hundred, metres that day.
There are EVEN free steam ovens powered by the waters. You put your veg on a tray, open the valve, and the steam hisses up from the depths. Dinner is ready in 20 minutes.
We also visited Kiwi Fruit World, and I now know everything about them. Did you know, for example, that they are hairy and green? (Sorry. Jet lag affects the ability to write cogently and at all amusingly.)
Before this we were in Napier, on the east coast - a sort of Bath-equivalent. Napier is to Art Deco what Bath is to Georgian architecture. The cohesiveness of the architecture is due not to farsightedness on behalf of the council, but an earthquake, measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, which flattened the town in 1931. Furious rebuilding - by furious residents who were told their insurance didn't cover Acts of God - ensured the whole place was uniformly, and splendidly, in the same Art Deco style. Even the drain covers have sunbursts and zigzags.
Also like Bath, the council started to knock down its heritage in recent times (the 1980s, as opposed to Bath Council's 1960s and 1970s finsihing off of the Luftwaffe's efforts). Thankfully the Art Deco Trust here have ensured that the remaining buildings were saved and that new buildings are sympathetic. They even have an Art Deco McDonald's, out at Taradale, but the burgers taste just as good as they do anywhere else. Rubbish, in other words.
You'll be pleased to know that the Maori for 'Internet' is 'Ipurangi' and for 'Car Manuals' is the slightly more puzzling 'Nga Pukapuka Ako O Nga Motoka'.
At the end of November I took part in the Round the Lake Challenge, a 160k race-cum-participation cycle event round NZ's biggest pond. I got corraled into doing it by Jean and Jenny (see pic), two cyclists I ran into on the way. A riotous weekend with them and their team - excellent fun, food and filth, which cannot be repeated here or else we'll never get downloaded in American public libraries.
I opted to do one 40k leg (you can do it all or as part of a team doing 40k legs). Awesome stuff, but wish I'd done the whole thing. The fastest 160k time was 3hr 54min, but some people do two and even three laps - yes, 540k - in 17 hours. I haven't managed 540k in all of New Zealand yet. But then has he come up with 200 appalling jokes?
Coolest thing so far has been at Hot Water Beach, in mid-November. You dig a hole in the sand, it fills up with hot water from underground springs, and you sit steaming in it while the cool tide laps round you. I got there early last Sunday morning and, in the best tradition of digging myself into deep holes, had my hot bath completed in time to be videoed by the later arriving throngs of tourists. I used a cereal bowl to dig it out. A German bloke sneered, then realised the sand was too hot to dig with his hands, and had to borrow it. He created an impressive pit, with a big solid wall right round it, so must have been East German.
Also walked up to the Pinnacles in Coromandel Forest Park, an excellent tramp with astounding views of the whole world from the top. And, of course, the Tongariro Crossing - one of the world's great tramps with astounding views of volcanoes and volcanic lakes (as in the pic)
Meanwhile huge and continuing thanks to Stuart and Lynley (and Zoe) in Auckland for feeding us wonderfully, lending us bikes, panniers, clothes, bags, rucksacks, tents, books.....
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