Lugeing

After a few days in Auckland, Chris took me to Rotorua. Rotorua is a cool place. It was built around this huge volcanic crater that has filled in with rain water. Also, the whole town smells like sulfuric. That is how you know you are in for an authentic town-built-around-a-volcanic-crater experience. 

I did lots of other stuff in Rotorua, but I'm too lazy to post about those, so you will just have to go to my Picasa and make up silly captions for the pictures on your own. As for what I am posting about, why that would be the day I went lugeing. The name is totally awkward, but the fun is totally real. Basically, you get this little seat on wheels thingy and then they set you on this downhill course. Then you go "weeeeee" all the way down. When you get to the bottom, you get on the lift and get back in line and then do it again. So much fun. So much more fun then all the hiking and sight seeing everyone kept nagging me to do.

We ate at the restaurant with the great view, but we did not buy our own food. Haha! We are too smart for that nonsense.

Then you do something like this. There were many courses to choose from. I skipped the beginner ones and went for the advance ones, because I live life on the edge.

Then you take one of these lift things back up to the top.

And then you go back down!

Some more slowly that others. (HaHa!, Chris got left behind)

Look at these people who think that they are too cool for us!

But we did not care, because we knew that we were the coolest. I mean, just look at the picture. Is that not the epitome of cool?

Yeah, the view was really nice, like most everywhere in New Zealand.

Fort Victoria

So right after I got off of Waiheke island, Chris took me to Fort Victoria.

Like all the mountain/hills in Auckland, the view was very nice.

Fake mushrooms were everywhere! Nobody will think to bomb a place filled with cute mushrooms.

Which was good, because here is the not so cute gun

Here is the not so cute gun from another angle. Look at how cool Chris looks standing atop that gun.

There was a map of things for the gun to shoot.

And there you have it, Fort Victoria, protecting the proud city of Auckland.

Waiheke Island

On Christmas day, Chris lent me his bicycle and took me to the city port. There I bought I ticket to Waiheke island because the in flight magazine said that I should totally go there. They also said that I should bring a bicycle if I could, which I was able to thanks to the generosity of my friend. 

The island is about 20 minutes by ferry from the city of Auckland.

The ferry looks like this at the bottom deck, where I spent most of my time because that was were you get to put you bike and I did not have a lock and the bike was not mine.

But then I realized that if someone were to steal the bike, they would have nowhere to run with it. That is when I became more daring and went to the top deck.

There were lots of other islands to look at on the way there.

This boat engine make noise. . . 

And then we approached the island

I saw this bizarre sculpture.

I also saw this vineyard. This was but one of many

This was the first beach I stopped at. 

It looked very nice and I was enjoying taking a break from biking there.

But then the seagulls started eyeing my limited food supplies with greed and me with hostility. That is when I decided I should move on.

There was a ram that looked on with envy at some dolphins and their ability to, oh, I don't know, jump through hoops or something.

Then I saw this other beach

And a quaint little pathway lined with flowers.

Ha ha, that boat is stranded.

Oooo, this angle makes it look all "secret garden" like.

There was a church. It was a very nice place for a church.

Everything was closed on the island (it was Christmas day) except for this. It was a museum run by a volunteer who did it because he liked being able to play with all the antique instruments. He taught me all sorts of things about instruments.

This is the bike I rode around the island. It might just be the best bike I have ever rode. Check that disk brake system.

Then I went back to the port to wait for the ferry. I got there waaayyy before the ferry arrived because at that point I was sick of biking on the very very hilly island.

Then I got on the ferry after a long day of biking and headed back to Auckland were Chris took me back to his house for Christmas with his family. They gave me a rugby. Just holding it made me want to slam into someone. Then we played Just Dance 2 for the Kinect. Chris's wife destroyed me at "Born this Way" by Lady Gaga. That was just shameful.

Waaaayyyy more pictures on my Picasa

Eden Hill

This is Eden Hill, one of the many big hills/mountains that are all over Auckland. I got to go up this hill and enjoy the view. It was quite nice.

There was this big crater that you can't go into because it is important to the Maori people

So I took a picture with it instead. Plus, Chris kept saying "if you don't take a picture with it, it is just a postcard." Peer pressure won out.

There is the city of Auckland

This thing told me how far I was away from EVERYTHING in the world. Man, freakin' New Zealand being out in the middle of nowhere.

I have no idea what that was, but it looked photo worthy.

And that is Eden Park, the place where they held the Rugby World Cup, which conveniently ended right before I arrived. :(

This was the view from the other side of the hill.

I stood under that bridge on the day of the blog post "look at this bird"

Clouds.

And there you have it, Eden Hill.

Motat

Then I went to MOTAT, which is a pretty awesome place. It stands for Museum of transport and technology, and there are all sorts of things that have to do with transport and technology and museums inside. Maybe there was something to do with of-s and and-s too. I can't remember. It was a while back.

Here was the sign that let us know we had gone to the right place.

Oooo, look at that cool entrance. So cog-y.

Then there was another sign that said MOTAT on it. This one was much more cog-y. I bet it was to match the cool entrance.

Here is the cool New Zealand bus stop that tells you when the next bus will come. . . we did not actually take a bus there.

It was some kind of bizarre UFO looking thing that keep shaking about.  

Here was some steam punk looking thing

Then there was this place that was decorated to look like an arctic camp. I totally felt like was taken back to my days at the south pole. . . well, I would have if I had ever gone to the south pole. . .I think.

Some kind of tank tractor.

These thing were so fun, until you became self conscious of the fact that you were too old for them.

A Marmite truck. Their answer to our ice cream trucks. . . ugh, that's just disgusting. Damn New Zealanders.

And now for the best part of the museum!

Playing with light!

This one had a laser that could sense changes in elevation and would change direction when it encountered a surface at a higher elevation. The goal was to trap the quick little bugger with one of those circle thingys.

That me trying to get my fat butt around some laser beams. I was not successful.

Then there was this bendy mirror thing.

This was neat. You got to move the prism around so that you only saw the color you wanted.

This was, ummm, something. I forget.

Then I got to use infrared technology to write things on a screen.

Sooooo original.

Holograms never cease to be cool. Except after you have been looking at one for about 10 minutes, then the coolness kinda wears off.

Then I stood in front of the screen that pixelated you. It also gave you a particle effect when you moved.

Then I touched a car.

And it transported me to some kind of cartoon world.

Then the staff found out that I was American, and put me in the stalks. Note to America. No one likes Americans.

But then I daringly escaped and called the embassy on my cell phone, from within a phone booth. Oh yeah, it was sooooo ironic. 

Then I got on this tram thingy and it took me to the other part of the museum. It actually had a conductor who would punch holes in your ticket. So authentic.

There were lots of planes in the other half of the museum.

Like this really really big one.

Or this compact fighter jet thing. It once fired warning shots at a foreign fishing boat trying to fish in New Zealand waters.

Then I learned about Jean Batten. She is like an Amelia Earhart who did not get lost.

Way more pictures on my Picasa