Hot Water Beach

Well, today was a big day in the Majoros family--we learned how to drive a car on the wrong side of the road!! VERY difficult, but we managed.  It was actually kinda fun when we got things figured out, but definitely made for a few interesting turns off the bat.

Today we rented our first car, and took the drive from Auckland to Hot Water Beach.  The idea with this Hot Water Beach is that there is volcanic activity beneath the ground, and for two hours before and after low tide, you can dig a hole (with a spade, not a shovel as we learned!!) on the beach and the hot water bubbles up to the surface, allowing you to make your own mini hot tub!  Now, the thing they don't tell you, is that the water only bubbles up where it wants to--unless you have a lot of energy and a lot of patience, it works best just to jump into one of the already begun holes and make it your little oasis.  We were actually sitting in a hole that was too hot--like scalding--Steve had to craft a little channel to let the ocean water flow in, to cool the place down.

It's about a two hour drive direct from Auckland to Hot Water Beach, and then on the way home we took the scenic route along the Pacific Coast Highway.  It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL, but a little dangerous at times.  One way bridges, falling rock and crazy local drivers who obviously know these turns well made for an interesting day!  But we got some great pics and were discussing that we think these beaches might be the best we've ever seen--they certainly give Hawaii a run for its money--white sand, blue-blue water, what more could you ask for!

Yesterday we took a tour of Eden Park, home of the All Blacks.  It was quite neat to see how a country of 4 million managed to host the Rugby World Cup--they made a ton of changes to the field, so the tour was quite interesting.  We also hiked up Mount Eden, one the volcanoes that Auckland is situated on.  Absolutely stunning views of the city and the harbour from here--definitely worth all the huffing and puffing it took for me to get to the top!

I do apologize--we are working on limited bandwidth in the current internet we are using, so we aren't able to upload pictures just yet.  But I do promise pictures soon, once we get to better internet service!!!

Funny moment of the day--they were having a "Canadian Club" moment on the radio.  They are doing heavy advertising for CC over here, so they were giving away packs of Canadian Club if you could call in and have the best Canadian accent.  VERY funny!!  Steve wanted to call in and thought he'd have the perfect accent, but his wife wouldn't pay the international fees to win the CC.

Tomorrow we are heading North, to the subtropical area of the Bay of Islands.  Promise to post soon and hope all is well at home.  Miss you all!!!