Cathedral Cove with Mom

Well, this gap between posts is ever-so-slightly shorter than the last one, so I'm calling that a success. Still, sorry for the gap, but we've been quite busy.

Mom and I went on a trip that circled quite a chunk of the north island: north-east to the Glass Blowing Studio near Lake Taupo, north from there to Rotorua for some geothermal sights, north-west from there to the Coromandel Peninsula for some beautiful beaches, then south-west to Hamilton and the gardens, where I left Mom to collaborate for a few days with Kiwi colleagues, then south-west back to New Plymouth. It was a fantastic trip, full of beautiful sights and wonderful company. I got home fairly late on Sunday and then went back to work on Monday, and I can't believe how fast the week has gone by! Mom got back on Tuesday night, just in case you're wondering.

I am not going in chronological order for these pictures, so I'm starting with Cathedral Cove, which is on the Coromandel and is pretty amazing! We were lucky to get a gorgeous, warm, sunny day, which one cannot count on in the dead of winter. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Ocean view as we started our half-hour walk to Cathedral Cove.

This amazing archway is where the cove gets its name. Picture perfect, isn't it?

This is looking back from the other side after we walked through.

You can only walk through when the tide is most of the way out, because otherwise there is water all the way through it.

This rock is very important because as we saw other pretty sights along the Coromandel, Mom kept saying, "But I think there should be tall rocks without many plants on them. I think that's what I saw that was so beautiful and made me want to come to the Coromandel." Never having been there myself, I wasn't sure how exactly to satisfy this wish, but then... tah dah! Mission accomplished! And it was even more beautiful than expected!

Seriously, this rock is amazing. Turns out, it's made of pumice, which is abundant in NZ. It is slowly being carved away by the water, especially at the bottom. You'll notice that it's resting on an ever-shrinking base. Pumice is fairly easily eroded, but it also weighs next to nothing, and so is not motivated to topple over. I wonder how long it will last? I hope a long time, because I kind of love it.

The whole beach was beautiful and pristine. Mom kept noticing (all over NZ) how there was little to no litter. I guess I've just gotten used to it, but it is definitely nice!

Also, a nice thing about going in winter is that there weren't too many people. Winter crowds with warm, sunny weather is pretty perfect.

This is another interestingly-shaped chunk of pumice, on the other side of the archway.

On the way back, we took a different route, which lead us by these huge rocks all covered in beautiful moss. It's a bit hard to tell, but it really was cool, because they seemed so alive. It looked like the rocks were just about to jump up and form into some big, friendly rock giant.

We also went to this lookout over what I believe is Stingray Bay. We were blown away by those colours!

I can't get enough of views of the ocean. Never.

That is convenient, because it turns out that about two minutes from that ocean view is exactly my spot in the world. Emma Place.

I am learning to take panoramas on my phone. This one is from the viewing platform before you start the hike down to the cove. (If you click on it, you can see it bigger.)

Fun Times with Mom

Well, hopefully all my readers are optimistic enough to think that this record 11 days of bloglessness has been due to being very busy having fun with mom, and not due to my having fallen off the earth. Otherwise you might have been worried, and we wouldn't want that. 

Mom and I have been having a lovely time together, with J joining in when he's not at work. I am on school holidays for two weeks, so I've been able to do loads of fun things with Mom without worrying about work, or any schedule at all, really. It's been great. Unfortunately, I am still struggling with nasty sinusitis, which has now decided to be unaffected by antibiotics, so I'm trying all kinds of creative ways to manage it. They're actually working fairly well, but all other remedies must be accompanied by many extra hours of sleep, which is part of the bloglessness issue as well. No time for writing when one is always either going on adventures or dead asleep.

We've spent a lot of our time in Whanganui with my friends there (Kirsten, Harry, Belinda, Jan, Paula) and with Rachel and Jonny (who came up for the weekend) in New Plymouth. These were wonderful (and often hilarious) times, but didn't yield any pictures. It is so nice for Mom to get to meet all the people I tell her about when we Skype, and of course I love spending time with all of them whenever I can.

Anyway, I will share some pictures of our adventures so far. Some are Mom's and some are mine. 

On Mom's second day in NZ (the first having been spent resting while I finished my last day of work), we went to the Palmer's Cafe, which is in their garden centre, and is lovely. Mom was particularly impressed by this unique plant, which turned out to be ornamental kale.

See? A happy mother and beautiful kale. All is well in the world.

The next day (I think) we went to Waitara (a small town 20 minutes from New Plymouth) to go to the Bin Inn to get ground anise for our peppernut recipe. Turns out that it is the only place you can buy it in New Zealand.

While we were there, we took a lovely walk on Waitara Beach.

It's hard to tell in the picture, but under the wave are tons of the smooth rocks you can see in the sand. These are pretty, but more importantly, when a particularly large wave comes in, it pushes them up a bit, and then when it goes back out, there is this surprisingly loud but quite beautiful sound of all the rocks shifting as the water pulls them towards the sea. Neither Mom nor I can think how exactly to describe it, but it was so very cool. The harsh clunking of rocks against each other, only not harsh at all because it's swept around and padded by the rushing of the water. Very impressive.

In Whanganui, I took Mom to the winter gardens, and her favourite part was this little pond with goldfish in it. It is a magical little spot.

My favourite part of the winter gardens was this new addition: Dory! Did you know they're making a Finding Dory movie? I'm very excited. This particular Dory is special because the blue fuzzy-looking bits are actually tiny flowers all put together. Very appropriate for the winter garden.

After the winter gardens, (and in the one extended period of sunshine during our entire time in Whanganui) we walked around Victoria Lake. I've posted a zillion pictures of Virginia Lake already, but bear with me while I post just one more.

This pūkeko was walking around with its wings partially spread, which I've never seen before, and is quite beautiful. Also, I love its humpback shadow behind it. Did I mention I love pūkeko?

Back in New Plymouth for the weekend, we decided to have a Pita Pit picnic on Paritutu. (Notice the fabulous, unintentional alliteration). 

Mom was particularly eager to eat at Pita Pit since that's where John (my brother) works, and J and I are always up for Pita Pit!

I have posted many pictures of the views from Paritutu as well, but Mom took this one and it is quite lovely, so here you go.

Remember Paritutu is the huge, steep rock just on the edge of the ocean, with amazing views. Perfect place for a picnic! 

We also love this one of J looking out over the ocean.

Here we are, having finished our delicious pitas, and enjoying the view. The mountain is just on the other side of Mom, but it's hidden in its shroud of clouds. In real life, you could actually see it pretty well through them, but the picture didn't manage that.

As you can imagine, I have backlogged more pictures to be posted already, but I'll get to them eventually. Tomorrow, Mom and I are heading out for a road trip through Taupo, Rotorua, the Coromandel, and Hamilton, which will be fabulous. I will do my best not to wait 11 days until the next post, but no promises.

Glow Worm Kayak Trip

A few weeks ago, J and I went on a glow worm kayak trip on Lake Karapiro, new Cambridge. It was a guided tour done by The Boatshed Kayaks, and it was lovely.

Naturally, you see glow worms at night, so we started our kayak adventure a little before dusk. Lake Karapiro is stunning, and J and I enjoyed looking out at it and then doing some paddling around while waiting for the whole group to get settled into their kayaks.

J looks too big for the kayak in this picture, but I promise that he did end up with plenty of legroom.

We kayaked around the lake for a bit, then went into Pokaiwhenua Stream, which runs into it. There was a bit of current, but not enough to make it hard to go upstream.

After a while, we got to the canyon, where there were tall walls on either side of the river. It's hard to tell in the picture, but the walls are rock, with varying levels of greenery covering them.

This is the section of the river where we will see the glow worms on our way back. They hang to the rock walls.

Just as it was getting to be quite dark, we got out of the kayaks and the guides built a fire. We got to roast marshmallows, drink wine and/or hot chocolate, and eat cheese and crackers as the last of the light faded away.

J and I hadn't realized that there would be food, so we were quite delighted.

Unfortunately, from this point on, it was too dark to take pictures, and even if I thought they might turn out, I would not have wanted to ruin the experience for everyone with annoying camera lights and flashes. So you will have to rely on my descriptions, which will be terribly insufficient, so really you should just come to NZ and see them for yourself. That's really best. 

We got back into the kayaks, but instead of paddling, we made rafts of four to six kayaks, and then we drifted downstream. We had no lights on at all, so that we could see the glow worms as well as possible. If you'd like to read about what exactly glow worms are before you hear about us seeing them, go to these links.

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/1966/glow-worm

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/glow-worms/page-2

It was a magical experience. Everyone was quiet, and we drifted down the canyon with tiny pinpricks of blue light twinkling on both canyon walls as we went by, and with the stars shining down in the aisle of sky we could see between the canyon walls. I was so happy that everyone in our group also wanted to be silent and just appreciate the beauty. It was dark enough that I couldn't tell where the water ended and the canyon wall began, which gave me the sense that I was suspended in the air, surrounded by those tiny lights. I feel awe-struck and relaxed just thinking about it.

My suspicions that photography was a lost cause were confirmed by the guide, who said that a reporter tried for hours the week before to get a good picture and left almost in tears that he couldn't capture the effect. Good thing I didn't try. 

This is a picture I found online that gives you something of an idea of what the glowworms look like.

The Waitomo Caves are the most renowned place to see glow worms, and I am excited to go there as well. I have heard that it is quite a different experience from this one, and I'm sure it will also be beautiful and inspiring.

In more current news: My mom is arriving today!!! She has been on a plane for ages already, but will be in Auckland soon and then fly down to New Plymouth!!! J and I are so excited to see her!