Cartiki anyone?
As you all know, I went on a Contiki Tour around Europe with Cameron 2 years ago. We became quite close with a number of people on the bus. Last year I got a chance to go to Sydney, Australia to catch up with a few of them, including the couple from England, Steve & Emma. It was a great week.
This year, we had the great joy of hosting 3 of our Contiki friends in NZ! On the 19th May, Kaitie from Canada and Wilfred from South Africa arrived from Australia (we're in the middle of their tour). A quiet dinner and catch up chat was the call for the evening.
On the Tuesday (20th), us 3 drove over to the Bay of Plenty (Cameron only had Thur and Fri off work). Firstly we headed to Kiwi 360. They weren't too keen for the tour around the orchard, so we just went into the shop and did wine tasting! There were 2 types of Kiwifruit wine plus a number of different liqueurs. A great way to start the day!! We hugged a big kiwifruit before heading down to the beach.
Mt Maunganui is one of the best beaches in NZ, if I do say so myself! We had a wander around there for a while, as much as the lovely winter weather would allow!
The next morning we got up early to meet Cameron coming back with Megan, who flew straight from her graduation in the USA. The smarty pants now has a Masters in.....Psychology? Can't remember exactly, but she does social work. Cameron was in such a hurry to get her here, he managed to even get a speeding ticket....in my car!!
We weren't too sure how tired Megan would be so only had a casual day planned. As she missed out on the Bay of Plenty beach, we decided to take a drive to Raglan on the West Coast. It's quite different as it has black sand. Of course the photo doesn't show this too clearly, but we had fun.
After a quick supermarket shop (always interesting when you're in a foreign country), we headed back to our place to start preparing for dinner. 21 May is my darling sister's birthday. As a typical kiwi meal also happens to be her favourite, I put the two together to make a feast for us all to celebrate our visitors and Jo's birthday. Roast Lamb with lots of vege (including 2 types of kumara and NZ yams - very different to American ones), and a pavlova for dessert.
Thursday was the start of our Cartiki! Like a Contiki, but in a car! Well, we had 2 cars. Rachel and Cameron had 2 days off work, so we piled into 2 cars and headed south to the Otorohonga Kiwi House. They have a great system to make sure there are kiwis to see. Kiwis are only awake for 4 hours a day, so they have 2 sets - one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. We happen to be there in the middle when the did the feeding and switch. After seeing a number of Kiwi displays, this is definately the best, as you can actually see the kiwis being active. They also have a park area with birds and native bush. This is where we learnt of Kaitie's MAJOR bird phobia. Not the most ideal place to take her! But she put her brave face on and made it through!
Next we headed to Waitomo Caves. They chose a 2 cave option, which was about 1.5 hours. They seemed to really enjoy it. I'm not sure if they've seen anything like it before, but Waitomo is the best place for it!
From there, we drove across country to Rotorua, where we planned to stay 2 nights. Thought it would be easier to start the day already in the town! When we got there, we checked into our fabulous camp ground cabin then headed into town to find somewhere to eat. We found a little Mediterranean place amongst all the fancy restaurants! The food was pretty good, but the service was terrible! Instead of telling Rach they didn't stock the drink she wanted, they just smiled and didn't bring it over! Then when our meals came out, they only brought out 5. We waited ages without so much as a word. Megan unfortunately, was the lucky 6th meal. Eventually it came out, and we all enjoyed our meals.
Friday brought the start of our Rotorua day. We headed to the Agrodome first where we headed to the Sheep Show first. They showed a number of things, including what it's like at a stock auction. After I scratched my nose and apparently made a $50 bid, Wilf throws his hand in the air and the auctioneer sold him 4 live sheep. Of course he had to go up on stage. For those who don't know him, he started off as a very shy boy - and then he went on a European Contiki 2 years ago. Things haven't been the same since!! They don't actually sell you the sheep, of course, but he did score a little stuffed sheep to take home.
Next we headed to the Zorb, which is near the Agrodome. In Megan's words, "who wouldn't want to be a hamster for a day?!". Ahh too true! Unfortunately, the dry option was unavailable as there was too much wind and we weren't prepared for the wet one. We decided to head off and get some lunch. One key NZ thing we hadn't done was fish and chips on the beach. As we were in the middle of the North Island, the beach wasn't an option, so we did option 2 - the lakeside. I ordered the fish and chips with pineapple fritters for dessert. I also ordered kumara fries and a Paua fritter. It turns out that Rach and Cam had never tried Paua either! To me it tastes like general seafood taste, but the fact that it's black is very off-puting to eat, but entertaining to watch people try!
After lunch we drove around Rotorua, looking for gysers, as the one we wanted to take them to is 20 mins south of Rotorua, and we were going to miss the last gyser going off. We picked up bathing suits and towels from the cabin, then headed back to the Zorb for a wet ride. I decided against it, which on the cold winter's day that it was, turned out to be a pretty good idea. The water was straight out of the tap - so nice and cold! They all had fun, despite the cold.
We headed to the camp ground for some warm showers and a few drinks before we were picked up at 6.30pm. We had to say goodbye to Rachel, as she was working at 7am the next morning. At 6.30pm we were standing out the front of the camp ground, ready to be picked up. A bus full of people turned up (we were nearly the last stop!). We were then off on the Tamaki Tour! It's a cultural experience with a hangi meal. I've been to another one that was just a show and dinner. Both are good, but different. The Tamaki Tour needed to give us longer time in their village to experience it all, as we ran out of time.
Anyway, back to our tour. Each bus (there were 4) was a canoe, like the Maori tribes that came to NZ. Each tribe needs to have a chief. Of course us loud ones in the back seat nominated Wilfred. No one else said anything on the bus, so he got the job! Poor guy was so nervous! Each chief had to stand at the front, once we'd arrive, to receive the welcome and challenge from the Maori chiefs. Wilf nearly cut the circulation off in his hand, he was holding them so tightly with nerves! He did a fantastic job leading us into their village.
They have a mini village setup with actors everywhere to show the different aspects of the old culture. I think we only got around half of it before we were told to go into the hall. They did a demo of all their different types of dance, poi and stick movements. It wasn't a complete show, like the other I'd been to, but it showed everyone a little bit of everything. By this stage, it's about 9.30pm!! We were starving! They finally took us into the Wharekai - the dining hall!! They put on a huge feed! Lots of things to choose from, and it was all typical kiwi food.
On the bus ride home, we all had to sing something from our countries. Megan and Kaitie did a combined North America effort and sung our day song from our Contiki - Mr Brightside (by The Killers). Awesome sing-along! It was a fantastic night! Great to just hang out with my friends again!
Saturday we started off early as I had a Camp Quality meeting in Cambridge at 10.30am. I left Cam to look after our guests for the afternoon as I had a workmate's wedding to go to. He's Fijian Indian, so it was a typical Indian wedding. I'd never been to any other cultural wedding before! It was so full of colour and traditions - it was amazing. It started at 1.15pm with the official introduction of the two sets of parents and ended with the presentation of gifts and sprinkling of rice over their heads. This was all done in the temple, and then we headed downstairs for a traditional meal. We finished eating at 4pm, and the wedding was over! That's all there is to it. Not like European weddings where they party late into the night! Anyway, here is a photo of the stunning couple and where the ceremony was held.
The plan for Saturday night was to have a typical kiwi BBQ. We got out the brazier that Cam had for his birthday and got a fire going. Even though it's quite cold, it works a treat to keep us outdoors! After eating far too much BBQ food, as you always do, we toasted marshmallows over the fire and made s'mores with Chocolate Wheaten biscuits. Very tasty! Cam and I had also made up a little Kiwi bag of goodies for our 3 guests to take home. It was a NZ bag with a mixed bag of kiwi lollies, a kiwifruit spoon and a CD of NZ music. They loved it, even though they'd never heard of the bands before. It was a great way to spend our last night together.
On Sunday we all piled into the car and drove them up to Auckland Airport to catch their plane to Christchurch. They are doing a mini Contiki of the South Island, as I said they couldn't see NZ without seeing the South Island. Then it was a quiet ride back home as we relived the week that was....
This year, we had the great joy of hosting 3 of our Contiki friends in NZ! On the 19th May, Kaitie from Canada and Wilfred from South Africa arrived from Australia (we're in the middle of their tour). A quiet dinner and catch up chat was the call for the evening.
On the Tuesday (20th), us 3 drove over to the Bay of Plenty (Cameron only had Thur and Fri off work). Firstly we headed to Kiwi 360. They weren't too keen for the tour around the orchard, so we just went into the shop and did wine tasting! There were 2 types of Kiwifruit wine plus a number of different liqueurs. A great way to start the day!! We hugged a big kiwifruit before heading down to the beach.
Mt Maunganui is one of the best beaches in NZ, if I do say so myself! We had a wander around there for a while, as much as the lovely winter weather would allow!
The next morning we got up early to meet Cameron coming back with Megan, who flew straight from her graduation in the USA. The smarty pants now has a Masters in.....Psychology? Can't remember exactly, but she does social work. Cameron was in such a hurry to get her here, he managed to even get a speeding ticket....in my car!!
We weren't too sure how tired Megan would be so only had a casual day planned. As she missed out on the Bay of Plenty beach, we decided to take a drive to Raglan on the West Coast. It's quite different as it has black sand. Of course the photo doesn't show this too clearly, but we had fun.
After a quick supermarket shop (always interesting when you're in a foreign country), we headed back to our place to start preparing for dinner. 21 May is my darling sister's birthday. As a typical kiwi meal also happens to be her favourite, I put the two together to make a feast for us all to celebrate our visitors and Jo's birthday. Roast Lamb with lots of vege (including 2 types of kumara and NZ yams - very different to American ones), and a pavlova for dessert.
Thursday was the start of our Cartiki! Like a Contiki, but in a car! Well, we had 2 cars. Rachel and Cameron had 2 days off work, so we piled into 2 cars and headed south to the Otorohonga Kiwi House. They have a great system to make sure there are kiwis to see. Kiwis are only awake for 4 hours a day, so they have 2 sets - one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. We happen to be there in the middle when the did the feeding and switch. After seeing a number of Kiwi displays, this is definately the best, as you can actually see the kiwis being active. They also have a park area with birds and native bush. This is where we learnt of Kaitie's MAJOR bird phobia. Not the most ideal place to take her! But she put her brave face on and made it through!
Next we headed to Waitomo Caves. They chose a 2 cave option, which was about 1.5 hours. They seemed to really enjoy it. I'm not sure if they've seen anything like it before, but Waitomo is the best place for it!
From there, we drove across country to Rotorua, where we planned to stay 2 nights. Thought it would be easier to start the day already in the town! When we got there, we checked into our fabulous camp ground cabin then headed into town to find somewhere to eat. We found a little Mediterranean place amongst all the fancy restaurants! The food was pretty good, but the service was terrible! Instead of telling Rach they didn't stock the drink she wanted, they just smiled and didn't bring it over! Then when our meals came out, they only brought out 5. We waited ages without so much as a word. Megan unfortunately, was the lucky 6th meal. Eventually it came out, and we all enjoyed our meals.
Friday brought the start of our Rotorua day. We headed to the Agrodome first where we headed to the Sheep Show first. They showed a number of things, including what it's like at a stock auction. After I scratched my nose and apparently made a $50 bid, Wilf throws his hand in the air and the auctioneer sold him 4 live sheep. Of course he had to go up on stage. For those who don't know him, he started off as a very shy boy - and then he went on a European Contiki 2 years ago. Things haven't been the same since!! They don't actually sell you the sheep, of course, but he did score a little stuffed sheep to take home.
Next we headed to the Zorb, which is near the Agrodome. In Megan's words, "who wouldn't want to be a hamster for a day?!". Ahh too true! Unfortunately, the dry option was unavailable as there was too much wind and we weren't prepared for the wet one. We decided to head off and get some lunch. One key NZ thing we hadn't done was fish and chips on the beach. As we were in the middle of the North Island, the beach wasn't an option, so we did option 2 - the lakeside. I ordered the fish and chips with pineapple fritters for dessert. I also ordered kumara fries and a Paua fritter. It turns out that Rach and Cam had never tried Paua either! To me it tastes like general seafood taste, but the fact that it's black is very off-puting to eat, but entertaining to watch people try!
After lunch we drove around Rotorua, looking for gysers, as the one we wanted to take them to is 20 mins south of Rotorua, and we were going to miss the last gyser going off. We picked up bathing suits and towels from the cabin, then headed back to the Zorb for a wet ride. I decided against it, which on the cold winter's day that it was, turned out to be a pretty good idea. The water was straight out of the tap - so nice and cold! They all had fun, despite the cold.
We headed to the camp ground for some warm showers and a few drinks before we were picked up at 6.30pm. We had to say goodbye to Rachel, as she was working at 7am the next morning. At 6.30pm we were standing out the front of the camp ground, ready to be picked up. A bus full of people turned up (we were nearly the last stop!). We were then off on the Tamaki Tour! It's a cultural experience with a hangi meal. I've been to another one that was just a show and dinner. Both are good, but different. The Tamaki Tour needed to give us longer time in their village to experience it all, as we ran out of time.
Anyway, back to our tour. Each bus (there were 4) was a canoe, like the Maori tribes that came to NZ. Each tribe needs to have a chief. Of course us loud ones in the back seat nominated Wilfred. No one else said anything on the bus, so he got the job! Poor guy was so nervous! Each chief had to stand at the front, once we'd arrive, to receive the welcome and challenge from the Maori chiefs. Wilf nearly cut the circulation off in his hand, he was holding them so tightly with nerves! He did a fantastic job leading us into their village.
They have a mini village setup with actors everywhere to show the different aspects of the old culture. I think we only got around half of it before we were told to go into the hall. They did a demo of all their different types of dance, poi and stick movements. It wasn't a complete show, like the other I'd been to, but it showed everyone a little bit of everything. By this stage, it's about 9.30pm!! We were starving! They finally took us into the Wharekai - the dining hall!! They put on a huge feed! Lots of things to choose from, and it was all typical kiwi food.
On the bus ride home, we all had to sing something from our countries. Megan and Kaitie did a combined North America effort and sung our day song from our Contiki - Mr Brightside (by The Killers). Awesome sing-along! It was a fantastic night! Great to just hang out with my friends again!
Saturday we started off early as I had a Camp Quality meeting in Cambridge at 10.30am. I left Cam to look after our guests for the afternoon as I had a workmate's wedding to go to. He's Fijian Indian, so it was a typical Indian wedding. I'd never been to any other cultural wedding before! It was so full of colour and traditions - it was amazing. It started at 1.15pm with the official introduction of the two sets of parents and ended with the presentation of gifts and sprinkling of rice over their heads. This was all done in the temple, and then we headed downstairs for a traditional meal. We finished eating at 4pm, and the wedding was over! That's all there is to it. Not like European weddings where they party late into the night! Anyway, here is a photo of the stunning couple and where the ceremony was held.
The plan for Saturday night was to have a typical kiwi BBQ. We got out the brazier that Cam had for his birthday and got a fire going. Even though it's quite cold, it works a treat to keep us outdoors! After eating far too much BBQ food, as you always do, we toasted marshmallows over the fire and made s'mores with Chocolate Wheaten biscuits. Very tasty! Cam and I had also made up a little Kiwi bag of goodies for our 3 guests to take home. It was a NZ bag with a mixed bag of kiwi lollies, a kiwifruit spoon and a CD of NZ music. They loved it, even though they'd never heard of the bands before. It was a great way to spend our last night together.
On Sunday we all piled into the car and drove them up to Auckland Airport to catch their plane to Christchurch. They are doing a mini Contiki of the South Island, as I said they couldn't see NZ without seeing the South Island. Then it was a quiet ride back home as we relived the week that was....
posted by Jacki @ 3:29 pm
