Once again we were able to jump up early due to our time zone advantage and headed downstairs for our breakfast. The older couple that own this B&B had a great set up for breakfast, the wife evidently makes fresh muffins each morning, they were really good. She provided fresh fruit and yogurt that was outstanding and she also had fresh eggs from their chickens that were really good too. Their dog had just had pups and she brought out the 3 of them to show us, they had to only be a week or 
so old, they were really small and sweet. The daddy dog barked and jumped proudly as she displayed them to us. She also had a small cage in the living room with newly hatched chickens that were under a heat lamp. She was very proud of them too.
We finished up breakfast and were able to head out by 9AM, and by 9:30 we were on the 1st trail that we planned to hike today. The total walk was about 2 hours and it weaved through an "exotic" forest that was actually created by the Kiwis to test different trees from other countries to see which could grow best in this environment for industrial use. It was odd because most of the trees were Californian, there were coastal redwoods, douglas firs, sugar pines, and several others that were pretty familiar. Marlo and I joked that we didn’t have to come all the way out here to have this hike... but of course the under growth and the even some of the tree properties were totally different. Part of the walk brought us along the hillside with a spectacular view of the town with the lake in the background and thermal pools in the foreground. The geyser was shooting up at this time too, so that was cool to see from afar. There were several trails where we were, two were shorter hikes than the one we did and one was an 8 hour one, we weren’t quite up for blowing a whole day walking through the woods, so we stuck to our 2 hour hike. There were a lot of mtn biking trails too, and they even had built in ramps for jumping and some other obstacles built into the track.
Once we finished the first walk we drove about 2 miles up the road to Blue lake and did our 2nd hike which went completely around the lake. This was a completely different type of walk, there were no redwoods or pines, it was all indigenous plants which are much more tropical and almost prehistoric looking. The coolest "tree" here is a Pongas which is a fern tree. Very prehistoric feeling... and have been on just about every hike we've been on thus far. There were duck tours going on here too, which was funny to see, they
plunged into the lake and did a quick circle and were on their way off to their next stop. The only place I had ever seen duck tours was in Boston. This hike was easier than the 1st one, there was little climbing and was pretty much all along the waterfront of the lake. It took about an hour and a half total and once we were done it was around 1:30 and we were ready for some beer and headed back to our familiar bar to watch the Red Sox game which had started at 1:00.
The lunch crowd was just thinning out when we got to the Pig n’ Whistle, I don’t think they’d changed the channel since yesterday because the world series was already on even though no one was watching it. (The Pig and Whistle used to be the old police station, hence the name of the bar.) The bartenders saw us come in and gave me the thumbs up when they saw I noticed the game was already on. About 1/2 way through the game the bar was pretty much empty and a couple walked in, with the guy wearing a Colorodo Rockies cap on his head, I was pretty amazed. I had figured there could potentially be parts of Red Sox Nation out here, but not Rockies fans. Go figure. He said he’d never have imagined sitting in New Zealand watching the world series with a red sox fan. They were cool folks, from Denver, and evidently she worked for a tourism company and they were tagging along w/ one of the trips, which was mainly for Seniors, so they slipped away for some free time to watch the game. Four or five beers later the Sox won the game and we came back to the bed and breakfast to clean up before heading out to dinner.
The bartender at the Pig n’ whistle (she had a cool name, Kirianna) recommended a place for dinner so we went there to try it out. It was a bit pricey, but very good, way better than the Indian food from last night. They actually served meat fairly raw on a rock that the waiter told me was 400 deg Celcius, you cut up the meat and rolled it around on the rock for a few seconds to cook it before eating it. It was interesting, and definitely different.
After dinner we finished the day off by going to the Polynesian spa that is right downtown, only a few blocks from where we ate dinner. Evidently this is rated as one of the ten best spas in the world. We got a private spa, which was basically our own room with a hot tub in it that was enclosed on 3 sides and the open side faced out to the lake, so the view was really nice. The water was all from the natural hot springs that are underneath the whole area, so it smelled like sulfur and was sort of algae greenish in tint, but very warm and soothing.Turns out we timed the stay at the spa just right, because we were able to watch the moon rise - it was a full moon - and the city lights turn on as the sun set. We were serenaded by sea gulls as the sun set. haha. We soaked in there for 30 minutes before heading back to the B&B which is where I sit now getting ready to fall alsleep because I’m pretty relaxed after soaking in that water. They say that natural hot spring water is healthy for you, I am not sure about any magical healing powers but I definitely am relaxed and shouldn’t have any problems sleeping tonight.
so old, they were really small and sweet. The daddy dog barked and jumped proudly as she displayed them to us. She also had a small cage in the living room with newly hatched chickens that were under a heat lamp. She was very proud of them too.We finished up breakfast and were able to head out by 9AM, and by 9:30 we were on the 1st trail that we planned to hike today. The total walk was about 2 hours and it weaved through an "exotic" forest that was actually created by the Kiwis to test different trees from other countries to see which could grow best in this environment for industrial use. It was odd because most of the trees were Californian, there were coastal redwoods, douglas firs, sugar pines, and several others that were pretty familiar. Marlo and I joked that we didn’t have to come all the way out here to have this hike... but of course the under growth and the even some of the tree properties were totally different. Part of the walk brought us along the hillside with a spectacular view of the town with the lake in the background and thermal pools in the foreground. The geyser was shooting up at this time too, so that was cool to see from afar. There were several trails where we were, two were shorter hikes than the one we did and one was an 8 hour one, we weren’t quite up for blowing a whole day walking through the woods, so we stuck to our 2 hour hike. There were a lot of mtn biking trails too, and they even had built in ramps for jumping and some other obstacles built into the track.
Once we finished the first walk we drove about 2 miles up the road to Blue lake and did our 2nd hike which went completely around the lake. This was a completely different type of walk, there were no redwoods or pines, it was all indigenous plants which are much more tropical and almost prehistoric looking. The coolest "tree" here is a Pongas which is a fern tree. Very prehistoric feeling... and have been on just about every hike we've been on thus far. There were duck tours going on here too, which was funny to see, they
plunged into the lake and did a quick circle and were on their way off to their next stop. The only place I had ever seen duck tours was in Boston. This hike was easier than the 1st one, there was little climbing and was pretty much all along the waterfront of the lake. It took about an hour and a half total and once we were done it was around 1:30 and we were ready for some beer and headed back to our familiar bar to watch the Red Sox game which had started at 1:00.The lunch crowd was just thinning out when we got to the Pig n’ Whistle, I don’t think they’d changed the channel since yesterday because the world series was already on even though no one was watching it. (The Pig and Whistle used to be the old police station, hence the name of the bar.) The bartenders saw us come in and gave me the thumbs up when they saw I noticed the game was already on. About 1/2 way through the game the bar was pretty much empty and a couple walked in, with the guy wearing a Colorodo Rockies cap on his head, I was pretty amazed. I had figured there could potentially be parts of Red Sox Nation out here, but not Rockies fans. Go figure. He said he’d never have imagined sitting in New Zealand watching the world series with a red sox fan. They were cool folks, from Denver, and evidently she worked for a tourism company and they were tagging along w/ one of the trips, which was mainly for Seniors, so they slipped away for some free time to watch the game. Four or five beers later the Sox won the game and we came back to the bed and breakfast to clean up before heading out to dinner.
The bartender at the Pig n’ whistle (she had a cool name, Kirianna) recommended a place for dinner so we went there to try it out. It was a bit pricey, but very good, way better than the Indian food from last night. They actually served meat fairly raw on a rock that the waiter told me was 400 deg Celcius, you cut up the meat and rolled it around on the rock for a few seconds to cook it before eating it. It was interesting, and definitely different.
After dinner we finished the day off by going to the Polynesian spa that is right downtown, only a few blocks from where we ate dinner. Evidently this is rated as one of the ten best spas in the world. We got a private spa, which was basically our own room with a hot tub in it that was enclosed on 3 sides and the open side faced out to the lake, so the view was really nice. The water was all from the natural hot springs that are underneath the whole area, so it smelled like sulfur and was sort of algae greenish in tint, but very warm and soothing.Turns out we timed the stay at the spa just right, because we were able to watch the moon rise - it was a full moon - and the city lights turn on as the sun set. We were serenaded by sea gulls as the sun set. haha. We soaked in there for 30 minutes before heading back to the B&B which is where I sit now getting ready to fall alsleep because I’m pretty relaxed after soaking in that water. They say that natural hot spring water is healthy for you, I am not sure about any magical healing powers but I definitely am relaxed and shouldn’t have any problems sleeping tonight.
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