Elusive dolphins, friendly donkeys and busy bees
Hippy New Year (as I believe they say over here)
Hope everyone is well and that you all had a great Christmas and new year. Also I hope the foggy weather in the UK cleared up and that the sun is shining as much as it is in Tauranga. It's actually very hot here at the moment which is making my head a bit fuzzy so you'll have to forgive any spelling mistakes and typing errors!
Anyway, just a quick [read: novel-length] update on what we've been up to over the festive period. First of all there were the worlds shyest dolphins - we attempted a trip to swim with the local "common dolphins", of which there are some 50,000 in the area. That's FIFTY THOUSAND... do you think we could find any? After about 3 hours of searching we finally got a call from another boat to let us know that they'd seen some, and we promptly headed back at breakneck speed in the direction we'd just come from. When we finally located the pod they were too busy eating to play with us, so we didn't get much interaction going. Still, it was a good boat trip and it was nice to actually see so many. We'll try again another time, just because we were disappointed not to have the hilarious experience of struggling into wetsuits.
We have been trying to get to Rotorua since we first arrived here, but various factors have interfered with our plans and we only just got there in the last week, but it was worth waiting for. Rotorua is the place to go if you're interested in geysers, bubbling mudpools and Maori culture. Absolutely loved it despite the fact that it's probably the eggiest smelling place we've ever been, but will definitely go back here as we really only saw one part of it (we haven't even zorbed yet!). If you read no further than this, please visit our flickr site just to see the picture of Dave with the Maori guy from a concert we watched.
Continuing on our run of bad luck with the local wildlife during our visit to Rotorua we were shown into the 'kiwi house' by our guide, and were informed that they simulate a reversed day and night-time in there so that tourists visiting during the day could see these nocturnal creatures up and about. Of course, they were asleep, all we saw were some feathery bundles curled up by the glass.
Our latest animal interaction experiences have been far more successful though. On wednesday we went to see some waterfalls and noticed signs for an animal park nearby, we popped in, grabbed a bag of feed and set off on the path as directed by the lady in the shop. Here we encountered all sorts of exotic creatures... Deer (direct descendants of deer imported from Richmond park), Shire horses (one of them a direct descendant from one of the best studs in the UK), and a donkey (probably a direct descendant of Blackpool's finest). Still, we had fun, and I even had a lengthy conversation with a cockatoo. Not as funny as the parrot experience in Bunbury wildlife park (those who witnessed that one will understand) but still amusing nevertheless.
We also encountered pigs, goats, sheep, emu, and a very agressive Ostrich, who didn't like Dave being near his women.
Following our successful creature experience on wednesday, we decided to go and test our luck out on the local bees, and the best place for that is obviously a honey factory. Near the hilariously named town of Te Puke (where one of the local leaflets invites you to "Taste Te Puke!") is Comvita - a visitor centre for the local bees. Well, not actually for bees, but for to see the bees.. you know what I mean. Anyway, it's not the place to go for a whole day out, but interesting for a short visit. We were disappointed not to find people dressed in comedy bee suits, but this was a serious honey place for serious honey-lovers and people interested in all sorts of other bee-output. I could have stayed longer and even left a note in their visitor book asking if they had any jobs, perhaps I'll go back another time and see what they can offer me (preferably chief honey-taster). We ate our bodyweight in honey samples, bought a jar of manuka honey in the shop and went away happy.