Sunshine and Good Times

It's amazing the difference a little sunshine can make! After several days of grey skies, we have finally seen the light. And there couldn't have been a better day for it...
When I last left you it was a rainy day in Auckland. The rain stayed with us on and off yesterday as we headed south towards Hamilton.
Hamilton was a cute little town full of pubs with names like The Bank, Sahara and even a Lone Star Cafe (of course we had to take pictures). A river runs through Hamilton and the people were so nice. After a walk through a free museum - complete with Moari artifacts and interactive childrens room that Lisa and I enjoyed tremedously - we headed back down the road. Destination - Rotorua. Home of hot springs, lakes, and geysers.
Rotorua was pretty even if it did smell of rotting eggs. Our activity for the night was a "Kiwi experience" at a place called Rainbow Springs. It's a park were they have live Kiwi birds. A kiwi is one of the funnest creatures you've ever seen. It's about the size of chicken, maybe a bit bigger, but with a body like an emu - large and bulky. They have no wings, a small head (no long neck like a emu though), and a very long skinny beak. We watched them feed - they are secretive animals and noctornal. Lisa scared one of them and it hauled butt across the pen - hilarious!! Quick fact for my animal lovers - a kiwi's egg is 1/3 it's body size and weighs half as much as it does! OUCH.
After a good nights rest, we got up and headed towards Taupo (there is a large lake there). We stopped at Wai-O-Taipo Thermal Park. It's an area covered in more geysers and these very awesome pools. The pools have cool names like "Artist's Pallet" because of the brillant colors that they display. The colors come from the sulfur and othere minerals rising from the earth's crust. The most amazing greens and blues. We took tons of pictures but that kind of place is hard to capture in photos.
We also stopped at a place called Haku Falls. Sweet place! The water in the river was this light sky blue color. I really thought it looked fake! It roars through this gorge and then shoots out into a beautiful blue lake. I have no idea how deep it is but the color of the sapphire water leads one to believe it is cold and deep!
Now we are in a place in Taupo. I love it here. The town has tons of indoor/outdoor cafe's and neat shops. Everyone is smiling due to the lovely weather but the best part is the lake. It's the most amazing shade of blue and it's enormous, the largest lake in New Zealand or Australia! I want so badly to take a boat out but it's way too expensive.

There is so much to tell. I know I've missed a lot. I've been keeping a detailed journal as well so someday I'll have this all written out and you can all buy it in my book! Hehe...

I miss all of you so much but this place is a great place to be. I hope all of you are doing well. Keep in touch.

Love from the road