mommyvsarmyof5: Traveling in New Zealand: The Photo Edition!

Well, I'm back home with a secure and RELIABLE internet connection!

(Hold for Applause)

I thought I'd share a few pictures. It was a great trip, and I definitely recommend visiting Australia and New Zealand.

Even if it's just for the friendly people and their cool accents!

So, the photos:

This is steam rising from a hot spring in New Zealand, at Whakarewa.

The full name of the place is Te Whakarewarewatangaoteopetauaawahiao, meaning "The Place for the War Parties of Wahiao" in the Maori language.

And you thought Hawaiian was difficult! Move over humuhumunukunukuapua'a! (That's the Hawaiian state fish, by the way. You should have seen my first-grade daughter rattling off THAT name for her grandparents last year!)

Actually, the Maori language seems pretty similar to Hawaiian in pronunciation, and they look pretty much like Hawaiian people too. They are a Polynesian people who have been on the island of New Zealand about a thousand years, according to our guide here, Ho.

(This is in contrast to the aboriginal tribes of Australia, who have apparently been there over a hundred thousand years, and look more African than Poylnesian. But more about them later when we get to Uluru...)

They had a huge geyser there, which obliged us by going off during our tour. It's called The Prince of Wales' Feather, apparently because the eponymous prince visited it wearing a plumed hat nearly a hundred years ago. Here's a picture of it erupting:

After this we went to Walmangu and saw a boiling lake.

I'm totally serious. We saw a lake that was boiling. Bubbles were coming up, steam was pouring off, and when you leaned over the barrier it felt like you were cooking ramen noodles. Sulphurous-smelling ramen noodles, I guess...

You can see the steam and the bubbles a little bit in this picture, but it was a lot more impressive in person...

The scenery in New Zealand was really beautiful: natural, unspoiled, and open. Just driving through the small amount of the north island we had time to visit was amazing.

This is Lake Rotorua; we stayed at a resort beside it. (Okay, it was a motel. But they CALLED it a "Lakeside Resort!")

There was an interesting Maori legend about the island in the middle of the lake; they called it their own "Romeo and Juliet" story. Apparently a chief's daughter from the island fell in love with a young warrior from the shore, but their tribes were bitter enemies. One night she stole away and swam to meet her love, and they ran away together. They went on to found their own tribe in beautiful Whakarewa.

That's a much better ending than Shakespeare's, isn't it?

This is Tongariro National Park. (Say "Ton-ga-RI-ro" out loud; you'll sound like Scooby-Doo!)

It's an active volcano where they have a ski resort that has to be completely rebuilt every forty years or so, after it gets destroyed.

We hiked to the top and my husband fell off.

Obviously, I'm kidding here....

....We rode a ski lift to the top.

The view was really nice from up there.

There were patches around much higher than we were that looked like snow but the air didn't feel cold enough to actually be snow. I thought it was probably a mineral deposit or something. My husband thought it was snow.

My husband insisted on climbing up to touch the white stuff and settle the argument.

Here's a photo of him climbing. I put an arrow to show you where he is; his shirt only makes a single pixel of red on the brown rocks. He was pretty high up.