Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Day One: 18th December

• We were supposed to leave the house at 9am, but we overslept, and left at around 10am instead.
• A few hours later, we stopped for ice cream at a place got MacGregor's in Te Puna. It's actually a fruit stall, but they happened to sell ice cream as well. Their ice cream is quite unique, as they actually make their ice cream with their own fruit on the spot. What they do is they put vanilla ice cream and your choice of fruits into a machine. Then, they blend it into a fruit-flavored ice cream. It's very sweet, and you can still taste small chunks of fruit in it!

• Around lunch time, we stopped at Tauranga to have fish and chips. We didn't get to choose the fish, and the amount was quite measley, considering the fact that it was quite expensive! Then, we went to The Cargo Shed, an art and craft market. There were quite a lot of interesting things, such as wood carvings, yarn spinning, pottery, etc. However, the most interesting craft I saw was encaustic art, which is wax painting. The lady selling the wax painting asked my sis and I if we have seen it before, and we said 'no', so she gave us a demonstration.
  
  What you need is a low-heat iron, a sealed card, and coloured wax, which according to the lady, is beeswax. The lady melts a few of the coloured wax, and spread the molten wax onto the card. Using only the iron, the molten wax, and the tip of the iron, she created a beautiful picture within a minute. Amazing, really. My sis and I were offered a go at making a wax painting, but we declined. We knew that we needed skills and practice to even attempt a passable wax painting. Instead, we bought a 3"x5" wax painting each for NZD$3.

• Then, we head on to Mt. Maunganui, where we would stay for the night. We checked in at the apartment, took a rest, and went out again (minus my sis, who didn't want to come along). Our plan was to go to Blokart Heaven for blokart sailing - a land-based sail sport, but the weather was bad, so they closed early. Instead of going back to the apartment, my parents and I decided to climb the Mount, the conical dormant volcano in Mt. Maunganui. It was around 5pm, but since it was early summer, it was quite bright and sunny. We walked on a track up to the summit of the Mount, stopping occasionally to take pictures, rest, and drink water. It took us about an hour to reach the summit. Along the way, we saw sheep grazing on the grass, breathtaking views, and athletic joggers running up the hill!

the Mountthe apartment we stayed in - the one behind the caron the way up the mountsheep!view from the topthe summit! yay!

• When we returned to the apartment, we had instant noodle for dinner, as we were all too tired to go out. Then, my dad and I went to Hot Saltwater Pools at the bottom of the Mount, where we rented a private spa for NZD$12 for 30 minutes. The water was warmed to 39oC, but I felt that it was too hot. Since there wasn't any temperature control, we only stayed for around 20 minutes. It was very relaxing, though.

Day Two... to be continued.