Mining for Gold

On our way back from Rotorua, we stopped off in Waihi to look at the gold mine and then went for a hike in the gorge to see the old tunnels. We didn't manage to dig up enough gold to pay for lunch, but we still had a good time.

We had our first glow worm spotting in the tunnels. It's a bit hard to see them, and they look a bit fake, but I can assure you they are real. You'll see the glowing green dots in the photo below of the tunnel ceiling.

And, on our way back to the car, we even got a fantail to pose for almost long enough to get a photo. They're very active little birds and hard to catch on film, but it's a fun challenge.

St Faith's

Being back in Rotorua meant we could attend St Faith's Church again on Sunday morning. It was as lovely as I remembered, with a warm, welcoming congregation. This week was the centennial celebration, so it was a full house. Even the bishop came and some other visitors from the nearby catholic church. 

The sermon was quite informative- he spoke about the history of the church, how it started out smaller and was expanded. The original carvings were all of one eyed creatures only. The missionaries didn't originally want any Maori carvings in the church; they thought the congregation would worship the Maori gods and carvings. They only agreed to it after some negotiations and only if the gods depicted only had one eye. If the god carvings weren't looking at the congregation, then the congregation wouldn't be able to worship them. 

When the church was expanded, they were able to make new carvings with the gods and figurines looking directly at the congregation because the missionaries were no longer in control. That's why the outer sides of the church have two eyed carvings but the center doesn't. 

Old Geyser

We were very excited to have P's family come to visit for a couple of weeks- a great opportunity to show them around and to catch up with them. Even better, we were lucky enough to both be able to take a week off of work to explore the country with them a bit. We started their visit with a weekend trip down to Rotorua, to see some good ole' fashioned volcanic activity.

We of course had to make a stop at the mud pools to see some boiling mud. The water level seemed a bit lower than I remember it, but the mud did not disappoint. 

However, our main attraction was the daily 10am blowing of the Lady Knox Geyser. None of us had ever seen a geyser in action before, so we didn't know quite what to expect. 

All we knew was that this one is encouraged each day with a catalyst similar to soap, allowing tourists like us to queue up and see it erupt. 

To be honest, the initial eruption was a bit disappointing, and half the people left right after. After another minute or two though, the geyser erupted again and lasted for ages! We didn't even manage to stay for the whole thing. It must've gone on for over 40 minutes. It's remarkable to think that there's so much water trapped beneath the surface that just suddenly decides to come out. How does all that pressure build up to maintain such a strong stream of water for such a long time?

 Once we had our fill of geyser photos, we went back to the main park of Wai O Tapu to explore the colorful geothermal wonders.

 One of the things that stuck out in my mind were the tornadoes of smoke blowing across the colorful crater lake. We didn't manage to quite capture it on film, but it was entrancing to watch.




 Another impressive thing was the lake at the edge of the park. It was quite sizeable and clear and calm. It was filled by a small waterfall and you could see the waters mixing together. The water from the stream was white with rock minerals and mixed with the rest of the lake.

 The last lake was the most exotic of them all though. It was much smaller than the one I just described above, but it was a beautiful strange green that I've never seen water before. Apparently it can be yellow on sunnier days, so I guess we got lucky to see it in it's full green glory.

2014 World's Friendliest City

As I was driving to work this morning, my regular AM talkshow hosts (JJ, Mike and Dom from The Edge) were discussing a recent poll by Conde Nast Traveler which left Auckland as the world's 'friendliest city'. To help keep Auckland at the top of the polls, they sent one of their producers out into the city to hand out random compliments. She noted how great she felt after having made people's days with compliments.

Coincidentally, during our quarterly CEO presentation today they mentioned again how Auckland had been named the world's friendliest city. I guess it is a pretty big deal after all.


I think I'm going to take a cue from the JJ, Mike and Dom and pay more compliments this week and see what happens. Mind you, they have to be genuine! If you all give we all give it a go, maybe Auckland will have some competition for friendliest city next year.

Thanks for reading my blog.