New Zealand

After leaving Australia my family and I flew into Christchurch, which is on the South Island of New Zealand. From there we took the train into the New Zealand Alps. It was really cold, but so beautiful! It was fun to pass by places that had been filmed for movies. I almost expected the White Witch to jump out from behind a rock when he saw the valley that was used for the battle scene in "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe."

After a few days on the South Island, we flew to Auckland on the North Island. It was beautiful too, but it was green with hills and forests instead of mountains. We drove from Auckland down to Rotorua, passing the "Shire" along the way. (Unfortunately, there were no hobbit sightings.) Rotorua is cool because of its thermal activity. It's right on the ring of fire and the town is built on top of geysers, mud pots, and hot springs. In fact, the Maori people in this village cook their food over steam pockets!
This was the view from our hotel window. Cool, huh? Well, at least it would have been if not for the horrible sulfur smell!

Here we are taking advantage of the hot springs!

Dad and the twins elected to do the "Zorb." The rest of us decided to watch since it was about 3 degrees Celsius! (That translates to 'really cold' in Fahrenheit.) Basically, they stripped down to their bathing suits and got into a big bubble filled with water and were rolled down a hill. They had a blast!

New Zealand was great fun, but after a week of freezing our tails off we were ready to head to Fiji! Look for those pictures soon!