Day 8 recap (Wed Feb 16)

[Scott] We reached Rotorua late Tuesday night after the hike. Another winding drive in the dark. Right after the hike yesterday, we stopped in Taupo and ate dinner at Soprano's Bar and Grill - yep, it's named after the HBO Show with catchy mob phrases all over the menu. It's a nice little lake town, although of course a bit touristy, right there on Lake Taupo - the largest lake in New Zealand. We both had a good seafood pasta dish. I think we got into Rotorua around 10pm and I was so exhausted that we just grabbed the first place we saw. I was so tired it hurt, after the long day of hiking (we started at 8:30am and finished at 4:30pm). I passed out almost immediately when I hit the bed. We aren't in hiking shape per se like we are in Colorado in the middle of summer. We had a pretty good night's sleep and after a frustrating experience with the internet terminal at the hotel in the morning, we headed out to see some of the thermal geyser activity in the town. We needed to be to the airport at noon so we only had a little while. The woman at the counter at the hotel suggested a park right in the middle of town, and so we went and checked it out. There were hot bubbling mud pits and hot springs. The amazing thing about this town is that you walk down the street and see steam coming out of someone's front yard. That is the difference between this place and Yellowstone - all the thermal spots are right in the middle of town. Right in the middle of all the steamy pits in the park there was an area covered in white dust and all the trees were dead, and there was a temporary orange chicken wire fence around it. Then we saw a sign describing that this was the sight of a totally unexpected volcanic eruption a few years ago - and somebody lives maybe 200 feet from the site. Pretty incredible! An Englishman at the hotel told me another interesting story about this area. Apparently there was this site that was considered the 8th wonder of the world, and it was completely obliterated by a volcanic eruption that buried it in dozens of feet of lava. Unfortunately, I don't remember any of the names, but I thought it summed up pretty well how incredible the powers of nature are here. So we returned our rental car at the Rotorua airport - a really small airport with I think three gates - and made it on our flight without any problems. We thought we'd probably be on a small puddle jumper, but were surprised to find that we were flying on a jet like a 737. We got into Christchurch and took a shuttle to our hotel that I set up on the internet back in the states. We loved the location - right in the center (or should I say centre) of town in Cathedral Square with a beautiful old church right across the street. They have one of the largest parks I've ever seen and it takes up about half of the acreage in the city centre. Cricket fields, rugby, soccer, and a 12 hole golf course. Yes 12. You play the first six twice and then the final six for your eighteen. I didn't have time to play the course though. We decided this would be a good time to go out for our Valentine's Day dinner, so we went to a French restaurant called Bonne Bolli. The food and ambience were both really great. Stef said it was excellent - and that says something after the extensive time she has spent in France.