Visiting the Water Garden

When Allie was growing up, Jeanne and I tried to do as much travelling with her as we could. I think our first family vacation was to the Milwaukee Zoo and the city museum. After that were a couple of trips to Florida, one to Canada, and lots of road trips around the U.P., Wisconsin and Minnesota mixed in between the major vacations. Then there were all the get-away weekends when we treated ourselves to visits to Green Bay and the 'famous' Downtowner Hotel, usually with one or two of Allie's girlfriends in tow to make it even more exciting. 

Allie is continuing the family tradition of holiday explorations now that she is the head of the household. Since the boys have two weeks off from school between each term, she has the opportunity to plan adventures for that time. Sometimes she takes just the boys off to see some new and amazing bit of Aotearoa, and sometimes all of us pack into the Honda, and head out. One thing is for sure. The boys are becoming very good travellers. They had the experience of having to take a lengthy detour on the way home because the highway was closed, and then had to endure a half-hour long traffic jam with it's bumper to bumper creeping just a short time later. They came through it like champs. Of course, we have all learned the cardinal rules of car travel. Always use the bathroom before you start on any section of a trip, always have plenty of gas, and aways have water and snacks on hand.

We have recently returned from a trip to Rotorua, aka Sulphur City.  It's about three hours from Auckland. This is the city that sits atop an active geo-thermal area. I'll never forget the time, about six years ago, when Allie and the boys skyped with us from their room in the Geyserland Hotel in Rotorua. After we established the skype connection, she said, "Mom and Dad, I have to show you the view we have." She then picked up her laptop and turned it to show us a view very like the picture just below.

She has always booked rooms on the top floor of the hotel to maximise the view. The Pohutu geyser is only about 200 yards away. And the geyser lives up to it's Maori name which means, 'constant splashing,' It is spurting almost all the time, sometimes higher, sometimes lower.  

But, before I show you the pictures and videos that I took on this trip of Pohutu, I want to show you some other places we also visited. Since Rotorua is only about three hours away, there was plenty of time to stop and see the Ngatea Water Gardens. (the -g- is silent) on our way. It's a very family friendly place. 

The sword in the stone didn't budge an inch.

Allie and the boys have been here before, so Amiri pulled me on ahead of the others to show me this castle. He positioned me in front of the door and said, "Go ahead Grandpa, push the door bells."  

I did push the door bells, and found out what happens. 

In this picture, he is also pushing the bells and you can guess what happened to me by looking at the condition of his pants and the boards he's standing on. One door bell triggers a water spray from above, the other spurts you from below. 

Fortunately, the weather was gorgeous that day and we dried out in just minutes. 

Arram and Allie are strolling through the grounds. 

 You can't have water gardens without plenty of water. 

Beautiful.

Hi Hon!

Can you tell that both boys have sacks of bird/fish food?  

As we passed by the ticket desk, Arram chose to pick up  a work sheet to complete. On it are questions that can be answered as he makes the loop around the pond. Once it's filled in, he and Amiri will be given lollies. (suckers) 

 This place is a perfect mix of sun and shade.

 The ducks you saw earlier got some of the food the boys were carrying, but were too pushy and greedy. The boys preferred to feed the fish. Later, as the feed diminished, Amiri fed one fish from his hand.

(This reminded me of being about Amiri's age and visiting a place called "Aqualand." There, one could buy three live frogs for 25 cents and throw them into the muskellunge pools where they would almost instantly disappear between the jaws of one of the yard-long muskies that waited for our handouts. I don't suppose that would be acceptable these days. If anyone tried it they'd find themselves in trouble with the 'Friends of Frogs,' or some other such group.)

In case you can't read it, the plaque says, "DO NOT STAND HERE." 

Amiri says, "Oh yeah?" 

"YEAH!," says the plaque.  (He was dry again long before we got back into the car.)

When we came to 'the fork in the road,' we knew we were at the end of our visit to the water gardens. The boys finished up by playing a while on the playground. They then turned in Arram's worksheet and collected their treats.    -djf