Waitomo Caves and the Otorohanga Kiwi Conservatory in New Zealand

On yet another day trip from Lake Taupo during over December vacation in New Zealand, we drove north east to Waitomo. It was a very scenic drive with windy roads and sheep everywhere.

Well, if there were three common themes in our trip it was 

a. Fast moving clouds like you would not believe

b. Sheep that will put you to sleep when you try counting them during the drive

c. Scenic views that are unmatched

At Waitomo, they have a one of a kind cave system which is home to a glow worm that lives on the cave ceilings. It is pitch dark as we go through the caves in a small boat and if lucky the ceiling lights up with millions of light blue dots.  

We were lucky and got to see this. The staff were not friendly. We specifically asked them if a 1 1/2 old baby was okay on the boat and they said fine and sold us tickets. When it was time to board the boat, the guy stopped us saying the baby was too small and will make a noise that will scare the worms. We told him that the baby was a well behaved baby and went on the boat. For her part, the baby was well behaved.. and she would call out her mom's name in a shrill voice. We did not see that one coming. The worms were fine and did their display for us.

We came out from absolute darkness to bright sunlight and it took us all a few minutes to realize what was going on when the guy was trying to get us off the boat!

It was 90 minutes of waiting for a 5 minute boat ride to see a one of a kind experience. Fortunately, Mr. Disney had trained us well for such experiences over the last 15 years!

We finished a quick lunch at the outdoor cafeteria and headed on to see the Otorohanga Kiwi conservatory, which also is an avaiary that houses rare birds of New Zealand. There were three kiwi birds that are in the extremely endangered category and they seemed healthy and large, large gray fur balls that came up to our knees. They were in a glass enclosure which was dark. There was no photography allowed. We did see the birds and go "wow". They were very unique and we all felt sad for the bird that was most likely not going to make it.

Here are some pictures of the other creatures we saw while walking through the convervatory.

We saw the Kea which was once found everywhere and is now a rare bird.. guess that is what happens if you start eating sheep in New Zealand! 

We also spotted a lizard that looked like a dragon while wandering through the other displays and it had a peculiaar blue and green thing on its size. So I zoomed in and took a picture. When processing the image last week, saw that it was actually PLASTIC BEADS! Someone had done an Afro style beading job on the poor lizzard and let it out there! So much for us not messing with nature. 

It is a good 2 1/2 hour drive to Waitomo from Taupo. You are better off visiting from Auckland. Still we enjoyed the day and had a lot of fun. We drove through a city that claimed to be the "shearing capital of the world" and they even had a giant statue of a guy shearing sheep. This must have been at least 30 foot tall. 

New Zealand is a truly wonderful place and you get to see things that are far from run of the mill. Would strongly recommend a trip to Waitomo. If you have small kids who cannot keep quiet during a dark damp boat ride though, you may want to wait a while.. 

Whitianga and Cathedral Cove in New Zealand

It has been almost 5 months since we came back from our trip to New Zealand. The photos from the last four days of the two week Australia/New Zealand trip were lost in some Hard Drive rearrangement. Finally found them yesterday.

A good five hours went by editing the ~1500 photos found!

You have seen the photos from our day trips to Rotorua and Tongariro National park. After this we did a day trip to Whitianga in the North east tip of the North island. It was a scenic drive through mountains and rolling hills to reach the pier front. 

 

We had a lot of fun watching kids being taught how to fish in the pier. They have a grandpa society of sorts that teaches very young kids how to fish and prepare the fish etc. The kids did not like it, but it was a wonderful "intro to the reality of non vegetarian cooking" in a live setting!

Then it was our turn to board the "Ocean Leopard" tour speedboat. It was an amazing exprience. In 60-90 minutes depending on the weather, they take you to all the different rock formations and beaches in the area. You are not allowed to get off the boat and on to the beaches. If you do like any beach, you can always drive and visit them for a fee! 

The tourguide was amazing and patient with our group. He took our requests to steady the boat at places or turn it around for pictures etc. We passed a group of nesting cormorants on the shores. It was our first time seeing nesting cormorants!  

 

The beaches are beautiful, not to mention the women in those beaches! Everyone we met looked like a beauty queen pageant. Sorry.. no pictures! 

On the way back from the boat ride we stopped by to grab something to eat. Given all the restaurants in Whitianga are in one straight road, everyone went their separate ways. I wanted to grab a Chai at the local Indian place called Sangam and the rest of the family went to grab Pizza. Both the Chai and the pizza turned out to be excellent. 

The Sangam restaurant had something we have not seen anywhere else. A bunch of porcelain dolls of guys doing Bhangra! Was reminded of my nephews who have both taken to this style of dancing. A desi restaurant at the north east tip of New Zealand! Who knew!

Then we went to the Hot sands beach. A place where the ocean water is cold, but if you dig a hole in the sand a 100 feet from the waters edge, the water is hot because of volcanic activity underground. The problem with this beach is that if you dont get out in time, the high tide makes it impossible to cross back to the parking lot!

 

We have taken a lot of group pictures of the family at nature parks and beaches. An old granny took this shot with shaky fingers. She had actually pressed the shutter 30 times in the few seconds we gave her the camera without realizing it! This is by far the best background.. and I did not even edit the photo to adjust anything! Seriously, New Zealand has every other place beat by a wide margin when it comes to providing scenic backdrops. 

The entire group desperately clamoured back towards the parking lot and my sister-in-law cut her feet on the rocks and had to be carried to the parking lot by her hubby. The kids found this whole thing amusing. 

We were driving back and saw some amazing sunset views as we turned towards Auckland. 

More pictures from Waitomo, Auckland and Maori Rock face soon..

If you do visit the North island of New Zealand, do not miss the Ocean Leopard tours at Whitianga!

A trip to Lassen Volcanic National Park

The long weekend that comes after a long long time every year came and went. We HAD to go somewhere on a long drive to relieve all that pent up stress of the routine between January to the end of May. 

We decided to visit Lassen National park after a six year gap with the cousin family. We had a ton of fun over the two day trip. 

The weather was perfect. There was lots of snow in the ground at 7000-8000+ feet altitudes. There was plenty of water gushing down the cascades and waterfalls. It was just perfect!

Ice had started melting and it created caves that had a nice bluish glow with the light reflecting from the other side!

Last time we visited this park, it was mostly snowed out and we could not go on any trails as they were all closed. We drove through the loop and came back. This time though, things were different. 

There were snowball fights, adventurous trekking, the kids all grown up and at an age where watching them interact and play is a joy in itself. Even the driving to and from the park was pleasant compared to the usual because we decided to put the younger kids in one vehicle and the older kids in the other vehicle!

We could clearly see the hot sulfur springs for a change!

and watch the sulfur meet the water which makes for some amazing hues..

We made one mistake, or rather the park authorities did. While trying to get to the Kings Creek falls, there was a trail that was closed. Given all the snow, we were off the trail walking in snow. Two families we crossed in the opposite direction told us "just follow the footsteps on the snow".. turns out we wandered off on a closed trail that was very dangerous. We made it in one piece to the falls and back where a rock slide had recently crossed the trail. It was quite and adventure with the kids. 

What were we thinking!

For some strange reason, I did not haul my tripod on the trip. So fancy falls pictures to show. Did get a few shots by placing camera on a rock tripod I built at the base of the falls.. 

Here are the only decent shots of the different falls I managed to get.. Did get a lot of pictures of the kids in action.. but they go on other Social Media!

That last shot almost cost me the camera! 

On day two we visited all the "vista points" and let the kids play in the snow some more. We also went on a beautiful trail around Manzanita lake and around the Lily pond. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Here are some pictures from those two hikes.

That we learned is Lichens.. not moss! It gave the giant trees a flourescent hue that was fantastic.

Lake Helen, although frozen provided other entertainment .. like me doing Triangle pose on snow/ice in front of the family! 

The beautiful Manzanita lake..

There were a lot of ripples.. but given my tripodlessness, opted to take the shot at a very high shutter speed to avoid the ripples.. this was taken with a 1/4000 or 1/8000 speed with ISO at 400. While driving back I realized that to get the entire reflection, a better idea would have been to use the full ND filter instead of the graduated ND filter and go a good 1/2 a second or 1 second at f22 with ISO 100. That experiment will be for the next trip or next reflection shot that comes our way!

The famous standing boulder at Bumpass hell..

Now for some pictures with the kids in action to add more beauty to the scenery..

and last but not least, the ghost cat.. 

and one of our best outdoor family portaits in recent memory (thanks to BB for the click)!

Strongly recommend Lassen as a weekend trip from the bay area, if.. IF it is not snowed out and you can get accomodation last minute at Red Bluff, which is 45 minutes away from park entrance. This is a lot less crowded than Yosemite and a lot more fun in our opinion!