Slow, Steady, and Smelly
New Zealand – Wai-O-Tapu – Artists Palet and Champagne Pool
We had a pretty low key week compared to the fast pace we kept for the previous three weeks. Instead of moving every day, we moved every other day, giving us more time to settle in and get to know the area. From the South Island, we took the ferry to Wellington where we hung out with friends, drank good beers, and visited the Te Papa Museum. We continued north for some seriously stinky geothermal activity before making it to the Bay of Plenty for some windy beach time. Not bad for our last week in NZ.
1. Go
- Car – 845 km. Low milage this week since we only had three driving days.
- City Bus – 36 km. We took the bus into Wellington twice.
- Ferry – 98 km. From the South Island to the North Island.
- Foot – 78,000 steps in 7 days (approx. 39 miles)
2. See
We were excited to see Wellington after having driven through on our way south a few weeks ago. It did not disappoint. We enjoyed wondering town, but our favorite was the Te Papa Museum. It’s six floors and completely free. They have everything from earthquake science to marine life to New Zealand ecology to Maori history. The exhibits were a perfect mix of interactive and passive offering short videos, displays, hands on experiences, and more. In the earthquake exhibit we lifted rocks of similar size from different layers of the earth to feel the different weights. It also had an earthquake simulation room which was a bit scary.
New Zealand – Wellington – Te Papa Museum – Weta Workshop Model in Gallipoli exhibit
The most memorable of all the exhibits was the temporary “Gallipoli: The Scale of our War” exhibit. It displays the journey of New Zealand’s participation in WWI and specifically the battle of Gallipoli in Turkey. The Gallipoli battle was a tragic and defining moment for the ANZAC troops (including Australia and New Zealand). Huge numbers of ANZAC troops were killed in the battle and the number of NZ soldiers killed or wounded was 7,991. Each new section of the exhibit opened with a giant lifelike model of a war scene made by the Weta Workshop (same folks that worked on the LOTR and The Hobbit films). We kept expecting them to breath, they were disturbingly realistic (complete with arm hair). The exhibits were so well done and so complete that they really sucked us in – almost like we were watching a movie. For example, a corridor was made to look like a trench complete with rumbling floors from mortar shell hits and life size screens with video reenactments of trench warfare. By the end we were both exhausted and emotional. The experience was profound for both of us, the only thing we could compare it to was visiting the Holocaust Museum.
On to some less emotional sights! The center of the North Island is bubbling with geothermal activity (mind the stench). There are hot springs galore, boiling mud pools, steaming craters, and multi colored lakes. We had an enjoyable night in Taupo, were we walked to the free hot springs along the river (for those from Glenwood, these are much less shady than the hippie dips). We also spent a few hours walking around Wai-O-Tapu, one bizarre thing after another. We particularly liked the boiling mud pools, Devil’s Inkpot, and the Champagne Pool.
For our last two nights in the van, we made our way to Mount Maunganui on the Bay of Plenty. It’s a beautiful beach resort town that booms with tourists. Thankfully, we are in an off-season so it wasn’t too crowded, but very windy. The beach was 50 feet from our campsite and there were great running/walking trails that originated from the campground.
New Zealand – Mt Maunganui
3. Eat
We rarely ate dinner out due to our budget, but this week was a special occasion. We met up with Lindsey’s sister’s friends from college, Tom and Nadine. We all decided that yes, we had probably met before, but no, we couldn’t nail down exactly when or where. We had a great night out chatting about travel and living in NZ. We had stonegrill for dinner where they bring out a very hot stone and raw meat (or tofu or cheese) and you get to cook it. Fun and delicious!
4. Drink
On our night out with Tom and Nadine in Wellington we visiting the Tuatara brewery and sampled some of their tasty creations. At the end of the night, I asked the barman to take our photo. Afterwards, he insisted that we take another photo in front of the tanks with the head brewer. A bit awkward, but we ended up having a really interesting conversation with the head brewer who was forced into our shot.
New Zealand – Wellington – Tuatara Brewery with Tom, Nadine, and the brewer
5. Sleep
We finally caught a break on the driving and were able to stay two nights in three different places (actually, of the last nine nights, we’ve only stayed in four places). That meant we had three full days without driving this week. And it meant that we didn’t have to pack up the van for driving.
6. Move
We had a pretty active week including running, circuits, and lots of walking. Since we both bought new shoes last week, we are trying to carefully break them in before they become our only shoes. Pat’s switch is a little easier since he basically bought the same shoe but made for hot weather.
Check out Pat’s CADENCE Week 20 post for details about this week.
7. Etcetera
A special thanks to Tom and Nadine for showing us a good (week)night on the town! We love getting the chance to meet up with friends or friends of friends (or friends of family) while on the road. We appreciate having new people to talk to. You may not believe it, but between the two of us we do run out of things to talk about occasionally. That may be due to spending 24 hours a day (maybe 23 if we go on runs) together for 140 days straight!
Check out our Flickr album to see all our photos from this week.
Nomadic Cadence 
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