Top Trio of Food Discoveries.

Oh we just can't get enough, we just can't get enough!

Tim & Clare's fave dinner. Chicken Tikka Masala. Eaten three nights in a row, and totally could have been more. Looks like cat puke, tastes like Indian awesome.
Clare's fave fruit. Fresh fig. The healthier fig newton!
Tim's fave candy. Jaffas. Orange coated chocolate balls, crunchy choco-citrus!
Clare's fave dessert. Tim Tams. Seriously chocotastic.

Sunday, Cave Day! (25th)

Sunday, April 25, 2010
Tim finally woke up, Madagascar was on tv, we ate our cereal, drank our coffee, and were on the road towards Waitomo by 8:10. Chilly morning, pretty gloomy and cloudy and misty so far. Neither one of us care! Although, despite the airing out of the van for the afternoon yesterday, it still reaks of nasty. More airing out today will have to occur. We had a great day yesterday and today should be equally awesome. Today is Anzac Day, so we might be out of luck on that one. Seems like everything is closed for the morning, and then opens mid afternoon or so. We got to Waitomo and there were several different tour companies with different booths, and we really couldn’t tell which one was ours, so we ended up going into the i-site to ask.
Drove to the Aranui Cave, it was a bit of a hike up hill to the teeny tiny entrance to the cave. But once inside, it was huge. The guide pointed out the cricket like Wetas right away, giving me the creeps of being jumped on the whole time. Great. We then proceeded into numerous rooms and passageways seeing the different formations of rock and limestone within the cave. It was really quite awesome. There were massive rooms with tons of tiny icicle like rocks, and other small hallways with HUGE boulder formations. She said that in the cave underground was one of the safest places to be during an earthquake, which I found interesting. That in the cave, you could come out ad have no idea that an earthquake had even happened. Apparently most of the guides are direct ancestors of the Chief that showed white people the caves. She also said that people had weddings in the Aranui cave, which I found super interesting. Kinda weird, but it really is that romantic beautiful in the cold rock sort of way. So much of it looked like melting ice. The tour lasted only half an hour, then back through the tiny hole and down the path. This meant though, that we would for sure be able to make the 11am Glowworm tour.
Waited at the top for a little bit, and right as our guide got there, this large Asian group came bounding up, and the leader pushed through the 14 people in our tour, like violently, and started rudely demanding exclamations and things, as we were trying to follow our guide. Just insanely rude. They followed our group into the cave and in the very first room we listened to her talk about it, and as we turned to leave the first room, the leader BOUND through the area that was barred off and tried to get the guide to give him her flashlight. The gall of that guy was just beyond me. And then for the rest of the tour he was rude, the whole group was, lagging behind by a lot. The tour guide eventually just stopped waiting for them to being her talk, and they were loud.
We went to a small room and saw a few glow worm glows, and then bent down and saw a lot more, but then she turned on the lights, and we could see the really gross creepy strings hanging from the ceiling. It was really gross. Next was the boat. We had to wait as we boarded one at a time, and by the time it got to Tim and I, she asked if we could split and sit one in front of the other, we didn’t want to, but said ok. I went and sat in the back row, the corner nonetheless, and Tim went to sit in front of me, and then she told him to sit on the complete other side of the boat another row ahead. I couldn’t even see him anymore.
I was not happy. I was in a boat, in the complete dark, with long spidery glowworm webs overhead, and expecting something to come eat me at any moment. It was 100% straight from Voldemort’s cave that Harry and Dumbledore have to cross. Exactly. So the whole ride was spent in silence, which made it that much creepier, and I couldn’t figure out how the boat was even moving. I later saw that the guide was standing on te front of the boat, pulling us along with a rope on the ceiling. We exited, and in the gift shop it was FLOODED with Asians spending $30 to buy the picture of us in the boat. No pretty cave behind us, or glow worms, just us in the boat. Weird. And yet, still rude.
On the third trip on the same city block in the hunt for lunch, I saw that one of the cafes had desserts in a case, so I figured we could do Subway and a nice dessert, so we went in Scotts Epicurean, and they looked FANTABULOUS. We decided to get one for dinner dessert too and share both. I picked this caramel coconut bar, that ended up being like a thick caramel filling on a crust with a crunchy coconut top layer, served with yogurt and berries in a cup. Tim picked Sticky Date bread, a big slice, that came with a yogurt/toffee sauce cup.
This was the first Subway bread that was back to US standards. The sheer amount of Subways in this country is insane. It’s the Starbucks of New Zealand. I seriously don’t think we have hit a single town bigger than the size of Hudson that hasn’t had at least one Subway. Most have numerous. They LOVE Subway, otherwise there really isn’t much fast food. Dominoes. A few Burger Kings, handful of McDs. That’s it. Just a crap load of Subways.
Spent the afternoon at the hotel, Tim making a Kmart run, and went to the Countdown for waters. Walked back, I had intended to do yoga, but Tim kept laughing at me, and the video wasn’t very good. Plus, I had found a bikram yoga place in Auckland that I really want to try to get to tomorrow. So I scratched the yoga plan and looked through the Sydney book instead while Tim journaled. After that, I started our electric skillet dinner of red pepper, tomato, taco seasoning, and chicken. Tim had the last pita, we shared the quinoa salad from the store.
We sat down and plugged through the Sydney book, looking at the different places online, making our Must list and our maybe list, compared it to Moms, and mapping the different places on the map. I emailed mom with our own itinerary and questions about hers (since we had looked at her most recent plan, and from what we see, it looks fine by us). I feel better about Australia. She has some awesome things on her plan, and from what we have read on Sydney, I feel like I am getting to see literally everything that I would want to, and not missing much, which was a huge worry of mine on this trip. Tim was asleep by 11:45. I posted pictures, blog entries, and was ready for bed by 12:20. But somehow, I ended up on Tumblr til 12:45. Then FORCED myself to bed.

Saturday, April 24th: Happy Day!!

Saturday, April 24, 2010
There were so many people at the the Rotorua Farmers Market that we had trouble finding a spot to park, but really, that just makes total sense. The regular stores sell nothing healthy, everything is full badness levels, and the produce, while decent quality, is really expensive, but at the market, produce is much cheaper, just as good of quality if not better, AND the selection is much much greater. This one was a little different than last weeks, there weren’t as much other goods being sold, but there was a flea market aspect to it. There was still grand stalls of fruits and vegetables, one stand of breads, one of coffee, one jams, one dessert. It was fun to walk around and see all the different things. There was quite a bit that I didn’t know what it was, but there was also one stall that was selling Durian.
The takeaway food (which we planned our dinner on) wasn’t as easily portable as the first one. There was lots of local foods, mango chicken rice, fried breads, hot sandwiches. The two that we did take advantage of was the waffle/crepe stand. We shared a maple syrup waffle. It was perfect size to share, hot and crispy, and since it was meant to be carried, no plates, which had me worried about the syrup, but he carefully squirted a tiny bit into each square. And then Tim bought 5 kabobs (3chicken/2lamb) for part of the dinner later. We got spinach, mango, and red pepper to add to our lunch/dinner.
One of the towns between Rotorua and Hamilton was called Cambridge, and we drove right by their Saturday market, so of course we had to stop and look for the ever evading fresh figs. No figs, but a really good cheese sample, and we bought date/walnut bread (very hearty), Tim got a steak Cornish pie for dinner, and I got a strawberry brioche for dessert to my fruit/veg dinner. Two farmers markets by noon? Well done!
We arrived at Hamilton around 11, and wish we had known about it right away. This was the place for us to live. Both of us said it right away. Neither one of us had read a single thing about it, but that’s shocking because a town of this much culture, and of this size, with this nice of a downtown district, but still looked totally livable and workable, should be ranted and raved about totally. Add in perfect sunny day with a light breeze, so that was we drove around with the windows down, we were in total bliss. Having spent so much time in the car, that’s really saying something, but the weather was perfect, there was tons of stuff to look at.
We got out and walked down to Barton Street so I could take a picture of the graffiti I had seen earlier, of a robot lazer beaming a cat. It was actually kind of cute in an odd way. Walked around a bit more, but got to the car around 1, decided to go at least attempt to check in to the hotel early. And were greeted into our awesome Bella Vista ground floor haven of awesome. We pulled everything inside, and I mean EVERYTHING. The windows of the van all got rolled down all the way, sun and moon roof open, and it had the next 4 hours to air out as best as it could. There was a great breeze, and the air was really warm from the bright ever shining sun today. As we worked in the hotel room even, we had the door slid all the way open and the window in the bathroom open.
We kept the laundry going all afternoon, the dryer didn’t work very well, so we snagged a drying rack and put it in our room. There were clothes everywhere. We were busy simultaneously doing laundry, updating the internet, unpacking and sorting all of our gear. Snacking on occasional pieces of the date bread. Next thing I knew it was 5pm. I did 15 minutes of abs on the floor while Tim continued to work, and then we headed out for a walk right at sunset. The weather was still nice though. We walked rather aimlessly, just in the general direction of “stuff” just a stroll.
So we saw a Countdown and picked up some raw chicken, peppers, and tomatoes to use with our leftover taco seasoning. I have also decided that these people have a liquor and gambling problem. The sheer vastness and hugeness of all the Liquor Saves everywhere. And there seem to be Lotto stations in every possible nook and cranny. Not machines, but actual kiosks with people that you buy Lotto Tickets from. And there are usually at least one or two people at them, no matter the size of the town.
I had brilliantly found illegal versions of ‘Til Death, and Modern Family for while we packed. Once we were close, I called a break for our ice cream and to watch Survivor (illegally of course). I showered, and with the water pressure of a raging river rapids, came out very clean, but feeling like a drown dog. But I would take that hard of water pressure any day, put away the last of our stuff and Tim was in bed by 11:30.

Russell with a side of syrup please.

It's impossible to come to Australia and not see a Russell Crowe movie. No matter how much you think he's a pompous butthead who can't act, right?

So there. I saw Robin Hood in Aussie Land. I took one for the team.

That being said, it wasn't as bad as I expected. His crew of merrymen made it worth it. Mainly, the Canadian. :)

And now I go to consume pancakes where British convicts were once sent to do manual labor....tasty social retribution!

Ode to Cairns/GBR

Good Bye Cairns....I shall miss you. More than you know.

Towns run by hippies with the best fruit salad on earth.

Oceans that disappear during the tide.

Street performers with odd style.

Night Markets with endless tourist traps.

Italian eateries with calzones the size of my torso.

Not including the Great Barrier Reef...
Endless Coral
Endless Blue
Endless Green
Warm Sand
Intense sun
Sea Cucumbers
Strong Currents
Finding Nemo Fish
Coral at the top of the water

And a fish that tried to eat my leg off!

Double Dose of Post. Saturday Style.

Two posts in one day! I know I know! Exciting! I have to get you all caught up though! Its only getting better.

Friday, April 23, 2010
It was warmer than the entire trip so far when we woke up to the alarm at 8:00. I can’t believe we slept that long, but I guess with the night before, its not surprising.
First stop was the National Aquarium. It was the kind that I like, theres really only one direction to go through the whole museum, so you know you aren’t missing anything. And it was kind of small, but really well done. You could see all the animals up close (too close if you ask me, but NZ seems to not care about being sued for kids that stick their hands in shark tanks). Lots of animals, big and small turtles, a crocodile, sharks, manta rays, cray fish, seahorses, eels, and lots of different fish. Then the last thing was a huge thank with different sections, but you could go into basically there was a tunnel that ran under/through the tank, so you could stand on the moving walk way, and go through and see all the fish to the sides and up above you. The sharks and rays were the coolest in that area.
A scuba diver came down and started feeding all the fish other pieces of fish that he was breaking up right in front of the glass. He picked up a crayfish, fed it, and then was aacting like it was his pet cat, he was a funny guy. He did a cell phone underwater bit, napping and blowing perfect o-bubbles, blew up a balloon to go to the top.
Now we are slowly meandering our way to Rotorua. Its sad, but I find that I see the beautiful landscape and don’t want to take pictures anymore. Its like, I feel like I have photographed it a million times. And the problem is, that it looks different and different areas, but I feel like I have photographed it all already, and therefore don’t bother. But I SHOULD, but its hard when you see it 10 hours a day, and feel like you already have that picture, even though you might not.
We arrived in Rotorua, and went straight to the Zorb site to check it out, in hopes that we could get it done still that day. There was almost no one there. It looked small from the bottom of the hill. They pick you up at the bottom in a jeep and haul you up, and they say its bumpy. But this was another ride all in itself. I am convinced that the waiver you sign is actually for the ride up the hill, not the ride down.
At the top of the hill it looks a lot steeper, and I got a titch bit nervous. Especially when the way into the zorb, is to run and dive through the whole. Only they lay a rubber mat over the seam, so I totally got stuck. I felt like an idiot. But one shove and I was in. The water was already in, and I got the tap on the ball, and crawled toward the front. It was awesome, your body is flailing everywhere. When you are backwards you feel like you shouldn’t be going backwards so you try to twist around and you flail uncontrollably even more. I loved it. Backwards and forwards and you feel like you should be at the bottom, but you aren’t, you just keep going. And then you are stopped basically by running straight into a hill, and they open it up and take your picture right away. Tim came out of his ball and it looked like he had the same blast that I did.
With 2+ hours left to kill before the show at Te Puia, we figured we could kill a few birds with one stone. We each got half an hour at an internet cafe. Tim booked the Bella Vista in Hamilton for tomorrow night, and because we booked it online we got a better rate, so that was positive. And we knew that it had laundry and free internet. How can you not love the Bella Vista?
Checked in at the camp, and that was when we first realized that the entire town smells awful. With all of the thermals and vents and things, the entire town smells like sulfur, no matter where you go. Its pretty gross. But we totally dug this camp (despite the smell) because the lady was super nice and told us about the farmers market tomorrow, the bathrooms had paper towels, and we could park literally right in front of the strip of bathrooms and kitchen and things. Yay.
When we got to Te Po for the night’s events, Guy came out and introduced to the Maori and the Jade Stone in the middle of the columns. We entered the Maori grounds, and our chief was picked. He was told what to do when the warrior came out of the Maori building and challenged whether or not we came in peace. It involved picking up a leaf and backing up, and theres nose touching involved. I was worried we would all have to do it. But all the warriors came out, and women too, and there was some singing while we stood outside and waited to enter the building. We were welcomed in, and had to all take our shoes off, as well as women weren’t allowed in the front row. There was the speech and then a few long songs, interspersed with a poi dance (and then women brought on to be shown how to dance), more long songs and warrior dancing. The warbling really got to me every once in awhile, I just wanted to eat! They did the Haka which was really cool to watch, and quite amusing to watch them try to teach it to a bunch of German men.
At the dinner, on the table was some sauces, bread, water, and a shot glass of some honey/plant liquid. It tasted like very flat and watery 7up. A blessing was said, and the starters came out, and we could go to the buffet. Tim and I went to the buffet first. Pasta salad, shrimp salad, crab leg meat, seafood chowder, a sweet potato soup, oyster, corn salad, it was all delicious. I didn’t really have any of the starters, more weird seafood, including eel. Then the main foods came out, chicken with stuffing, lamb (which was way overcooked), and pork (which I didn’t have). And then three types of potatos. One was soooo good. I wonder what kind it was. And then there was the dessert. I skipped the ice cream, strawberry topping, and fruit. But took sweet bread with sauce, cream puffs, chocolate mousse, some fruit pudding thing, and PAVLOVA. I understand why everyone loves it so much. Its very much like angel food cake, but somehow without the cake. It was strange.
After we ate, we were directed to head to the geysers, a bit early, because they were erupting early. We headed down the pitch black path, which was a little unnerving, you couldn’t see a single thing. And then I somehow saw a solid black kitty with white paws on the track. We got to the geysers, which were actually really pretty cool.
We could get quite close, and at night, with the lights, it was quite pretty. But then I saw the kitty again and went to play with it. It went to drink out of the geyser! I wanted to snatch it to save it, but it clearly it was fine and came back to play. When Guy got there, we got to sit on the hot rocks and watch the geysers while we drank hot chocolate. The sitting rocks were really hot, we had to move to a cooler section at one point because my butt was burning. Guy ended the evening with a song that he sung (he clearly likes to sing) and then we made our way back down the path. I was so full!
Back at the camp I went to explore the facilities that we didn’t use, and of course, on the one night we aren’t really at camp, it has an immaculate and detailed kitchen, and the tv room is warm and has leather couches and a tv with a dvd player. It was 8:45, and not time for bed with that much food in my tummy. Once the van was ready for bed, we came to the tv room to watch the first episode of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. Once actually ready for bed, we figured it was too much work to try to figure out the dvd player, but we might as well finish Astroboy, did, and went to sleep. No idea what time. Little after 11 is my best guess.

Best of Van Cuisine.

Thursday, April 22, 2010
I was awoken with a text message from mom saying they had gotten a call from US Bank saying my card had been suspended and that some of the charges had been declined due to the suspicious activity. Now, I had looked at my account last night, and my supposed pending items (that were first in line to be considered “declined” were things like the Maori tix, the Cave tix, our hotel in Sydney)….bad news.
I was less than a happy camper when I called, the bank said that it was the Emirates flights that had flagged it. Which is ridiculous, it’s an airline. Of all the options, that’s what gets it? Stupid.
Made it to the ferry with plenty time, and were told to get into the line with the van. Got in the line, and it looks like you sit in the car until its time to load. You can get out, but I have nothing to do outside the car!
Aboard the ferry, found a nice comfy spot, had some toast and banana for breakfast and Tim is heading outside, how, I don’t know, its FREEZING. I’m sure if I was properly dressed I might be ok, but I only have my light green jacket. However, I was slightly more prepared than last time and at least have on long sleeves and a hooded sweatshirt. Brr. And these rude people go outside or come back from inside, and leave the door open. Its like people, I know you aren’t sitting up here, so you don’t care. But its cold, shut the frickin door!
While planning our Sydney excursion, a german girl came in and exclaimed something to her friends and they all ran outside, so naturally, we all did too. There were dolphins swimming along the boat!
We hit Hastings at about 4, found the Rush Munroe ice cream gardens. Pretty much just an ice cream shop, that part was a let down, and then further a let down when I got passion fruit, and Tim got hokey pokey.
On the way to Napier we saw the sign for the pet barn that had kittens and puppies. A stop was a must! Napier Town center was too far away to walk to, from the camp that we picked so we drove into town and parked outside the Countdown grocery store. I saw the Mad Butcher shop next door and after our awful meat experience the night before, we decided to check that out. It was actually really cool. Small, but TONS of meat. Coolers and coolers of every type of meat in every different cut and various marinades. Including tripe and oxtail. Other organs too. But it was awesome. I wish we had one like that. We decided that we were going to stick with our plan on taco seasoned chicken with red peppers. When we left the internet cafe, we saw downtown Napier just totally shut down for the night. At like 6:30pm. It’s a whole country thing! Nothing is open. Still outrageous. It was a beautiful night and we would have loved to just walk around looking at things.

After dinner, I made dessert using a can of strawberries with juice, simmered it with some more of my strawberry jelly that I had, a packet of citrus jelly, and then added a cut up banana into it. The banana was in too long (I didn’t realize how long it would take to reduce) and it broke down quite a bit, but in the end it was like soupy jam, but tasted awesome.
By 8:30 we were super bored. We were half an hour in to Astro Boy, but watching it in the kitchen on the laptop, unable to do anything else was just rather obnoxious. It was too early for bed, internet was expensive, nothing to do! We ended up getting ready for bed, setting up the van, and planning to finish the movie in the van, and not more than half an hour later, out like a light by 10:30!