World Cruise 2018 #6 Wed, Jul 11, 2018
Hello from our second stop in New Zealand, Tauranga (Rotorua).
A beautiful spot, of course. Everywhere here is beautiful. The little town looked
interesting but we had signed up for a long tour so only saw what we could see from the
tour bus as it drove us south. We had several destinations on our tour and drove quite a
distance to arrive at the first, Hell’s Gate.
We’re in the Pacific Ring of Fire so there are
many places where geothermal activity is doing it’s thing. The mud pools and bubbling pots
were not all that exciting but it was weird to know that you’re standing on top of molten
lava not too far down. The really gorgeous Kakahi Falls is the largest hot waterfall in the
Southern Hemisphere. There were more boiling pots and streams further up and that is
where I met Katherina.
I was walking towards the back of the group, my usual lagging behind while I take photos.
I came up behind a tall older lady with a cane who had stopped walking and looked
distressed. I asked her if she was ok and she said no. Yikes, now what do I do. Everyone
else is way up the trail. I realize that they will be circling around and we will be returning
the way we came so I got Katherina going down the hill to where I remembered a bench.
She had diabetes and heart issues, was from Holland and traveling alone at 85.
I engaged
her in as much conversation as I could so she would keep her mind off fainting. We sat
and waited for the group and they were able to call for a truck to pick her up. I
mentioned she was tall and she was also thin and very pretty. I’ll bet she was gorgeous in
her younger years. She had had a heart attack the last world cruise she went on and was
“allowed” by relatives to come on this one, however, if she had any problems, no more
cruising. She’d been everywhere and this was her third world cruise.
I would see her
around for the next month or two, often alone eating at the Pinnacle Grill. Later she did
have another heart attack on board and had to be taken off the ship. I hope she made it.
At least she was doing what she loved to do.
Next we went to Mitai Village where we first had lunch before the other planned
activities. This is a Maori cultural site and our host had asked the group who would like to
volunteer to be “Chief”. No one did. So this guy looks at me and says, you pick the chief!
There really was no one that I knew on this tour that I could pick (on) so I just looked
around and saw a guy in a blue jacket and picked him. He’s like, NO WAY....but he did it.
After lunch, we walked through the forest and there was the most beautiful pool of water
called Fairy Spring. Perfect name for this lovely place. It was a spring of the clearest
water I’ve ever seen.....and so blue. We heard drums in the distance and a canoe with
Maori Warriors comes down the stream and lead us to the village stage. Our “Chief”
Milton is part of the show and is a good sport. The show was fun and you could tell that
these people enjoyed their work. It wasn’t super crowded and they were very fun and
friendly.
Milton came to me and thanked me for picking him after the show. He said he didn’t want
to do it at first but that it was really cool after all. Said his wife wanted to know why I
picked him...lol. I told him to tell her that he looked like one of the only men in our group
who wasn’t infirm!
He learned this forehead bumping thing from being “Chief” and every
time we met for the rest of the trip, we head bumped. The name “Chief” stuck and many
people remembered and called out to him when he’d go by.....fun stuff.
We next went to Rainbow Springs Nature Park where they had humungous trout (they’re
protected in NZ), lizards and birds, including the illusive Kiwi. They only come out at night
so not easy to view. They had a stuffed one I took the photo of but there was also a
nighttime display where I actually saw a live one. Too dark for photos but that’s ok.
It was a long day and an interesting departure. I didn’t see that when we came in as we
paralled the ocean surf and made our way through a narrow channel behind a headland into
the bay. It was pretty narrow and close to the surf on our port side as we departed. We
were on starboard so had the views of the headland as we sailed off into the sunset. Not
really, it’s on the other side.
Checked my journal and it said I loved my dinner, but not what it was, and that I was
knackered and went to bed. Napier tomorrow. Joyce really like it there the last time so
should be a fun place.
See ya,
Gayle
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