Wellington

 This is a saddle for an elephant. The elephant used to give children rides around the zoo. It was never replaced as they only had room for one elephant and it got lonely. It was given as a gift by immigrants to the city from India.

View from the top of the cable car

 The Botanic garden was great and had a tropical house, there was also a massive hydrangia bed.

Love the epiphyte display

 There was a tropical room and obviously the Huhu beetle came in there to be nice and warm. The orchid display was lovely and there were a few in bloom

Orchid

 This sculpture was cast 2 years after the artist had died which is a little odd.

The Beehive designed by a British architect  and then built by Kiwi engineers it wasn't popular at first.

Rugby sculpture

Old part of parliment buildings

Ralph is happy we're staying on Bunny Street

Occasionally you wonder whether you've wondered into a parallel universe I walked into a park yesterday to be greeted by pirates singing on a stage and lots of children with Teddys I had wondered into a teddy bears picnic.

Rotarua

 This is a spring that feeds quite a large stream at night the glow worms are reflected in the water. You can see why it was thought it was sacred.

The ladies of the Mitai tribe

 The poi dances were brilliant and for some of the songs at least the language barrier was not really a problem sometimes actions speak louder than words.

This lady was an amzing singer and her voice filled the area.

 

Steamy mud mmmm lovely smells of rotten eggs

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 All the hot pools kind of smelled of rotten eggs which you got used to after a while people used to bathe in these because the water was warm and meant to have healing properties. However the gases made people pass out and drown occasionally so not so healthy.

 This carving was donated in 1908 to commemorate the gift of the park by the Maori tribe that owned it.

Yes a bowling green in New Zealand

 This is one of the oldest buildings in New Zealand and it is listed it was the first Building purely built to cater for tourists coming to the healing pools, some of which turned you brown.

The layers of sulphur on sulphur lakes

The birds on sulphur lake are protected in this area as they are in a reserve. However the water is so acidic they have to grow extra webbing between their toes to protect their feet from the sulphuric acid produced when the sulphur mixes with the lake water. No fish can live in this area of Lake Rotorua so they can't feed there. Not entirely sure why they live there.

The charred wood comes from the sulphuric acid burning the wood.

Aaaaaaaahhhhh

Big splash I was at the front we got very wet

Me with the all black Kiwi

The last few days I have been in Rotarua and it is a lovely place the hostel especially was fantastic. I've seen sulphur pools, bubbling springs, glowworms, been in an advert, seen gorgeous Kiwis, dipped my toes in hot pools and seen a traditional Maori Hacka all in all a busy two days and I don't feel I've seen everything this is definately a place to come back to.

So I finally got here and I am enjoying the lovely new Zealand weather. So I started my time in Auckland and a few places I have visited include the Botanic garden, Harbour and Mt Eden Domain.

The botanic garden
The botanic garden in Auckland was a brilliant example of how to design a botanic garden. There were sculptures all around including my two favourites a polar bear in a hoodie (no I'm not joking, I thought the lady was taking the mickey when she described it) and a giant thistle made out of shovels.

$900 for one of these floating flowers

Shovel Thistle

Polar bear in a hoodie

There were loads of useful bits of information on how to garden in Auckland as well as formal gardens. There was of course the obligatory Hydrangia bed and rose garden always nice to see.







The Harbour

Lovely fish market on the harbour and Ralph did enjoy watching the bridge lift and the sailboat sail through into the harbour. I didn't get too many weird looks luckily as there wern't many people around in the rain.

 This is the Mt Eden crater at the top of the Domain I particularly
liked the sign at this point of the crater.

The view from Mt Eden domain was amazing and you could see the other extinct volcanoes in the chain.




Ralph again

It brings it home how far away you are when you see signs like this

First post

Hello

Ralph the travel bunny

This blog is about my journey to New Zealand and exploring the country. It will also chart the journeys of Ralph the travel bunny who will be joining me and keeping me company (No I didn't buy him, yes he was a gift from a friend).