Bridal Veil Falls, New Zealand

Tarawera Falls

This waterfall was amazing! It travels underground for a bit and then comes out of the mountainside. During the hike you can acutally see when the water goes underground and you hike on top of it.

Mount Ruapehu

The first weekend in September we met up with some friends at Mount Ruapehu Whakapapa Ski Field. I have to admit it was a little freaky skiing on an active volcano that's most recent eruption was in 2007.

The skiing was definitely different (icy and slushy) than we were used to, but we had a lot of fun. It was a very family friendly mountain and the view from the top was amazing!

Katie was flying down the mountain and loving every minute. Joey became a pro at the magic carpet and even took a run down the face. And, John was just happy to be along for the ride!

Kerosene Creek, Huku Falls & Lake Taupo

*I haven't exactly been prompt in my New Zealand adventure blogging. This weekender was during the middle of August. Better late than never I suppose.

Kerosene Creek

On a suggestion from Todd's boss we decided to stop at this thermal creek on our way to Lake Taupo. The kids were really excited to swim in a "real river." Me a little leery, I mean who wants giardia. As we approached the creek I became more and more hesitant and told Todd I really didn't feel good about getting in with John. My excuses were there wasn't really a great place to change, the air was freezing and I didn't want him to get sick. I told him I would just take the pictures. Fair enough I thought. He badgered me a bit, but let it go. I still didn't feel totally great about letting the kids get in and I told them both I didn't want their heads under the water. I'm kind of a germaphob. They got in and loved it! I have to admit it did look nice as I sat on the edge with the steam wafting in my face. John could have cared less about getting in since he could just throw rocks in the river. I realized expecting Katie to keep her head above water once Todd put his under was futile. I tried to let go of my germ fears and just enjoy it, but I really couldn't. I was absolutely relieved when we were done and back in the car. Sad I know. However, turns out my fears were more than justified.

When we got back in the car I flipped to the page about Lake Taupo and local activities. On the top of the page in a big alert box it read: NEVER PUT YOUR HEAD UNDER IN A THERMAL POOL. Interesting that there was nothing more said than that. Todd and I both found it a little odd yet unsettling. We decided we would look it up once we got to the hotel. My brain went into overdrive for the next hour as I thought about all of the reasons why this could be. I never came up with anything as serious as the reason we later found out.

Two words. Ameobic Meningitis.

Courtesy of Wikipedia.

Naegleria fowleri propagates in warm, stagnant bodies of freshwater (typically during the summer months), and enters the central nervous system after insufflation of infected water by attaching itself to the olfactory nerve.^[3] It then migrates through the cribiform plate and into the olfactory bulbs of the forebrain,^[4] where it multiplies itself greatly by feeding on nerve tissue. During this stage, occurring approximately 3–7 days post-infection, the typical symptoms are parosmia, rapidly progressing toanosmia (with resultant ageusia) as the nerve cells of the olfactory bulbs are consumed and replaced with necrotic lesions.

After the organisms have multiplied and largely consumed the olfactory bulbs, the infection rapidly spreads through the mitral cell axons to the rest of the cerebrum, resulting in onset of frank encephalitic symptoms, including cephalgia (headache), nausea, and rigidity of the neck muscles, progressing to vomiting, delirium, seizures, and eventually irreversible coma. Death usually occurs within 14 days of exposure as a result of respiratory failure when the infection spreads to the brain stem, destroying the autonomic nerve cells of the medulla oblongata.

97% morbidity. Yep, in one afternoon of fun I could potentially lose more than half of my family. (Keep in mind, in August my feelings for New Zealand weren't exactly positive. Now it was going to try and wipe out my whole family.) Todd and I were sick. He looked it up on his legit medical site to confirm the Wikipedia reports. Same. It seems my uneasy feelings were totally valid. I was just so grateful I hadn't put John in that water. And, fortunately, Joey hadn't put his face under either. But, Todd and Katie had gone under and swam around. Totally forcing that awful water up their noses. I was a mess. The worst part, we had to wait at least three days and up to fourteen before any sign of symptoms. Todd tried to be funny and joke about checking his life insurance policy, but he realized I didn't find it at all funny and we decided to not talk about it for the rest of the weekend.

Obviously, no one ended up getting sick. Thank heavens. But let me tell you, it was a long two weeks as I checked temperatures twice a day and asked Katie all sorts of questions about her belly, eyes and nose. She never knew why because we didn't want to scare her. I made very fragrant meals that week just to test both of their noses. Crazy thing is is that in that time period two children died from amoebic meningitis in the US. Until that, I swear I had never even heard of it. I must have missed that day in pathophysiology or was too busy staring at some cute boy and not heard the lecture. Anyway, we are all fine and now we know why you don't put your head under the water in a thermal pool or river or whatever.

Huku Falls

Crazy amounts of water in this river. And, this is it's low time of the year. It's hard for a desert gal to wrap her head around that much water. And the aqua color...beautiful! Apparently, they open the damn certain days of the year and this thing just gets massive.

Lake Taupo

What a beautiful lake! It reminded my so much of Yellowstone Lake. In fact, this whole area was like being in Yellowstone. The New Zealand palm would always bring me back to reality though. We took a boat ride out into the lake to see the Maori carvings. We were so excited about this. We couldn't wait to hear the history behind how these carvings were made with only boat access. Apparently, the Maori rock carvings were commissioned by Queen Elizabeth in 1980. They were still very impressive, but we were really hoping they were 1000 years old or something. The story behind them is pretty impressive. The whole carving is basically a genealogical history of the Maoris arrival in New Zealand.

The kids loved the boat ride. They even got a chance to drive the boat with the skipper and do a little fishing off the back.

Thermal Valley

A nice walk through all the steaming holes. We thought it would be like Yellowstone with some bubbling and burbling. Nope, just holes in the ground with steam coming out and signs that said, "Unsettled terrain watch your step. Ground could give at anytime." Fortunately, the ground stood firm during our visit!

I think he's warm....and a little mad.

Tide and British accents

Today I pulled out a shirt I haven't worn since before we moved. It smelled like Tide. More importantly is smelled like my mom's Tide. You can't buy Tide here. It made me terribly homesick and I wanted to cry.

Then we went to a playgroup where another mom, who had just returned from a trip to the states, was talking about how she wished she lived in America because people were so nice there and they had stores like Costco and Target and it was so cheap. I wanted to cry again.

Then another mom with the most perfect and strong British accent (everything seems to be so much more funny when told with a British accent....at least to me) started telling the most hilarious story and we were all laughing hysterically and it felt so good. There are good and friendly people all over the world with or without Tide and Costco and I am thankful for that.

*If you need a good laugh too go here.

Fall and other thoughts

My inner clock is totally confused right now. Being on the underbelly of he earth means we are having spring while the rest of my "familiar" world is having fall. What is so bad about that? I mean we are having sunny 70 degree days playing at the beach why would I be having trouble? I'm really not until I talk to my family, read blogs or get on pinterest. Which by the way is the most fabulous invention of all time. It's like a treat to during nap times and after bed time. You can seriously find the coolest ideas on there. Anyway, back to fall. I love fall. I love the smells, crunchy leaves, the colors, pumpkin spice candles and pumpkin bread, the chill in the air and the holidays surrounding it. I could go on and on, it might by my favorite time of the year! I'm feeling so left out!

Halloween was such a let down for us this year. Especially since we came from such a cute little neighborhood with crunchy leaves that loved Halloween. First I told the kids they didn't have it here because that was the word on the street. Then while at the fabric store I see an aisle with very Halloweeny (I'm sure that isn't a word, but I'm making it one) looking things. So, I ask the check out lady who informs me that they do have it, but it is minimally celebrated because it's an American holiday. Meaning, look lady, you'll be lucky to find a neighborhood that trick or treats here. So, I decided we would make every attempt to do Halloween here. Because let's face it, what kid doesn't love to dress up. We decided on two pirates and Pocahontas. I really had to doing some swaying with Katie because she had all these outrageous ideas that definitely required a sewing machine which is presently residing across and ocean, so it was all going to be done by hand. And let me tell you, I have new respect for those days before the sewing machine. What a pain! And, I only sewed two pairs of pants, a vest and a pleat on an indian dress. Anyway, they don't dress up for school in fact Katie's teacher told her she hated Halloween. Ouch! So we told the kids we would try to trick or treat but there were no guarantees. We drove to a neighborhood recommended by one of Katie's friends and.....not a soul in sight. We finally spotted a sign on a mailbox that read "Halloween House." Hooray! We trick or treated and got our picture taken with some Japanese exchange students who thought we were the coolest thing next to sliced bread and we called it a night. Of course the kids were sad, so we took them to the store to pick out a treat...it sort of worked. All they have talked about since is how they can't wait to get back for Halloween next year. They just want to trick or treat and carve pumpkins. And you better believe it's going to be a huge Halloween bash at our house next year complete with pumpkin carving!