Go North!
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Hello Everyone and greetings from a sunny San Fransisco!
Let's go back in time to Taupo where we last left you. In Taupo we began by driving out to Orakei Korako, which is an area known for heavy volcanic activity. Mud baths, hot springs and plenty of steam was the order of the day and it seems Micki gets the same kicks from volcanic activity as I do from diving. We spent most of the day enjoying the beautiful scenery until we headed back into Taupo for a trek along the Waitomo river to the Huka Falls. The falls aren't a very big drop but they compensate with shear amount of water going over. The rush of water was pretty awesome!
That was it for Taupo and we headed north again, this time to Hamilton: Home of the Chiefs! The Chiefs are a Super 14 Rugby team and they just happened to be playing the Hurricanes for a spot in the Super 14 Final. Tickets in hand and dressed in 4 layers of clothing we headed to the stadium for some serious rugby action. We felt very un-Finnish all decked up in all the clothes we own when most of the other people there were wearing about 3 layers less than us. Some were even in shorts! The Chiefs won the game and the atmosphere in the stadium was awesome!
After the game we headed to Rotorua, another hot spot of volcanic activity as well as a great place to get into Maori culture. We headed out to Mitai village for a Hangi, a traditional dinner that is cooked under ground by steam and hot rocks. They also put on a great show with Maori songs, Poi show and finally a Haka. Anyone who hasn't seen a Haka? Off to youtube now to see an example of this war dance … It's an awesome sight that really mesmerizes you. The next day we took a gondola up to a nearby hill to enjoy some more adrenaline packed activities. We began with luging which is basically zooming down a winding road in a plastic luge that rolls on skateboard wheels and is steered with a bicycle handlebar. Great fun! Afterwards it was time for the Sky Swing. The sky swing is basically a giant swing with one little catch. It's so big that you hit a top speed of 150 km/h! Very sweet indeed!
After a short trip into Auckland it was time to head further north and into the northern hemisphere. Destination? Hawaii of course! Jet lag in hand we explored Honolulu ending the day on Waikiki beach. On day 2 we spent the day at the Pearl Harbor Memorial which was a very pleasant surprise. The museum is superb, the surrounding attractions are very cool and the memorial is very moving. We thought we would only need a couple of hours but ended up spending most of the day there. On day 3 we had a look what was underneath the surface of the water. Micki went snorkeling to Hanauma Bay while I went diving. I dove the wreck of a WWII fighter plane, the corsair and then a reef dive. The corsair was superb but the reef dive, despite some cool Moray Eels and a huge turtle, was a bit of a disappointment. The reef was in pretty bad shape compared to Australia and SE Asia.
With our time in Hawaii coming to an end it was time to jump on a flight to the mainland to meet up with my step-dad, Tom! It was great to arrive in a new place and be greeted by a familiar face!
More on SF and the West Coast coming soon! Sorry we are a little behind on the blog but there has been so much going on it's hard to keep up!
See you soon!
Robbe & Micki
Posted byRobbe at 08:33
Superkiva juttur och fina foton! (Dock ett förslag till rättelse i Mickis Hawai-bilder: Arizona sänktes väl by the Japanese; inte by the Chinese...:). F.ö. finns det en mängd släktingar till Dan i San Francisco; hans mormor och syskon kom dit ren före den stora jordbävningen 1916. Men knappast stötte ni på dem... (Hello; I'm from Finland; do you know NN?" funkar kanske inte riktigt i storstan.). Hopppas ni orkar vrida ur också några sista "exotiska" dropparna av resan - fast det nästan är hemtrakter ren - och skriva och sätta in bilder vi inte visste att fanns!
Pi
Hejsan! Nå faktiskt länge sen sist...:o). Började redan undra vad ni håller på med, när man inte hört ett pip på en tid. Bra att allt är ok. Nu när ni närmar er hemfärden börjar jag ju riktigt på allvar längta efter att se er igen....:o)
Pappa Jankka
Jo, tycks ha tankt en sak och skrivit en annan, men nu ar bildtexten rattad!