Rotorua

We've moved south a bit to a town called Rotorua. It's in an old caldera from a volcano that blew over 100 years ago. The air smells vaguely of sulfur and ammonia from steaming vents all around. Lakes trail across the valley, some clear and cool, some acidic and steaming. Here at the camp ground, we've rented small log cabins and are enjoying the geothermally heated pools and hot tubs. On Monday, we visited the local museum, which is housed in the old alternative medicine hospital. Hot water and mud baths were offered to patients, a lot of whom were WWI soldiers, as the waters were believed to have great healing powers. The history of the area came across well in a 20 minute film about the eruption, shown in a theater with moving seats to give an authentic earthquake experience. The gardens, including a rose display, are beautiful and now being used for croquet matches. Today we plan to go to see the actual bubbling mud, geysers and hot springs just south of here.

Monday afternoon, after lunch, we visited a working ranch to see a demonstration about sheep dogs, sheep shearing, dairy and beef cows. Being a rainy Monday, very few people were there, so we got more than our share of opportunities to participate with the animals. They staged an auction to buy sheep, which Ellie won. She got called up front (accompanied by Grandma for morale support) and was asked for $900. She played a good sport and handed the guy pretend money. He played up the fact that she had no money and nothing of value to trade, so they gave her a tiny toy sheep instead of the real ones. Later, I got called up to meet an enormous Herford bull. He stood about " as high as my shoulders and several feet wide. Another tourist was asked to hold his lead rope and "no matter what happened in the next five minutes, don't let go." She led me to the mid section of the animal and the next thing I knew, I was listening to instructions on how to sit on that bull. I figured after facing the ocean waves, how bad could a bull be. So there I was, sitting on top of an animal whose feet were as big as cantaloupes. Willi said, "It's been nice knowing you," as the presenter suggested that the guy holding the lead rope take me out through the gate and give the bull a smack on the backside. I was supposed to jump the fence, do a lap around the paddock and return. We all had a good laugh and she helped me down, none the worse for wear. I have the pictures to prove it!! As the finale, the kids got to bottle feed lambs. Of course, that made it a highlight for Ellie.

Our little log cabin is cute and cozy. We have our own bathroom and a kitchenette with fridge, hotpot and toaster. The kitchen complex is a few steps away with a dining area, laundry and fully equipped kitchens. We're doing some cooking and a bit of eating out, so we're keeping expenses reasonable. Tomorrow we plan to return to Auckland for one day and then back up north towards the boat. Willi really wants to go for a nice sail, since the last time he sailed the boat was up the coast of Baja in less than ideal conditions, before all the repairs were made. It seems strange that Thanksgiving is this week. We've decided to make a turkey dinner sometime over the weekend on the boat. If we do it on Friday, we'll be sharing the day with you all on the other side of the dateline.

Wishing you a nice fall week, Kellie