On Holiday

Hi Summit Stars!

Since I last wrote you, our school has gone on holiday (spring break) for two weeks. My husband arrived in New Zealand to join me in traveling around the country during this break. We left Hastings, New Zealand and headed north to Lake Taupo, which was absolutely beautiful. We found a nice campsite by the bluest river that I have ever seen. While exploring the lake shore of Lake Taupo, we found white pumice rocks (which are formed by the ash of volcanoes). These pumice rocks float when placed in water. This area of New Zealand is known for having active volcanoes. We took a day trip into Rotorua and explored a park called Wai-O-Tapu. This park was filled with geothermic activity. Feel free to explore the website below to learn more about this amazing natural park. The park was beautiful, even though it smelled like rotten eggs. The smell was caused by sulfur coming up from the beneath the earth. There were bubbling mudpools and steaming cracks in the earth as well as a lime green pond. At times we also got very hot because of the heat coming up from the earth. It was a fascinating look at a unique landform in New Zealand.

Wai-O-Tapu Park Website: www.waiotapu.co.nz/

From there, we journeyed south to Wellington, which is the New Zealand's capital. Here, we visited Te Papa Museum and learned more about the Maori culture. From there, we quickly visited the silver fern sculpture, which hung high in the air between several building right downtown. It was very cool.

The next day we boarded our ferry for the South Island of New Zealand. The ferry trip was incredibly windy, but a lot of fun. It took about three and a half hours to get to the South Island. Once we arrived in Picton, on the South Island, we drove to Kaikoura, where we saw hundreds of seals out on the rocks by the ocean. We spent two days here and on our second day we decided to hike to the Ohau waterfall which flows into the ocean. On our hike up to the falls, we saw over twenty seal pups playing in the steam of the falls. I fell in love with these seal pups, they were incredibly cute and playful. One pup tried to nip at my ankle while I was sitting on a rock. Seals are very curious creatures and want to play with anyone that comes around. These seals were fur seals and were very fluffly when they were dry. I love seals!

From Kaikoura, we headed south to Christchurch, where we spent some time soaking in the beautiful English style city. So far it has been an amazing trip! I hope to write again soon. : )