"There she blows" and it stinks here!!!

Just thought I'd update all of you on the weather...yep, it's sunny and warm!!!!!

Today we started with a morning hike in the geothermal area like our Yellowstone National Park followed by a lovely cruise in a small motorboat on a beautiful lake. There is not as much of a safety conscious nature here. Everything is pretty open...like I saw some water in a small pool area and just put my fingers in to find it was BOILING!!!! Not too smart on my part!!! But no damage done. Beautiful views and we even placed a thermometer into the ground to find it was 185 degrees underground. Here, too, there are are seismographic equipment that can alert the public when the next volcano action will occur.

The lake is a controlled environment and we were the only ones on the lake. Just lovely and grand to take in all the gorgeous greenery. Lots of fern trees dot the hills...they look a lot like palm trees. Thus the New Zealand symbol is also the fern as the original Maori inhabitants used the fern leaves to mark their paths so they would know the way back.

Next we moved on to watch a spectacular geyser much like our Old Faithful. We also went to the Maori Cultural center to watch carvers and weavers in action. The weavers show us how they take leaves that they call flax but are very much like palm leaves and shred them and that is what they use to weave.

I am on a small break now then head to a traditional Maori dinner and entertainment..this will probably be similar to our Hawaiian luau.

Well, my internet time is limited and I must get ready to eat another meal!!!! In fact, that seems all I really do well is eat meals!!!!

Take care and stay safe and healthy.

Love,

Gloria