Weekend in Rotorua

So, back in July Mark and I went to Rotorua for a long weekend. Taking two days off work, and having two short weeks was exactly the holiday I needed!!!

We started well, stopping in Taihape for a really cheap lunch at a really old-school kiwi cafe - pie and sweet slice each plus a bottle of water to share for $10!!!

Then we continued on through to Taupo where it was raining. In fact, it had been kinda miserable all the way round the side of the mountain and the lake. This put a damper on our plans to get out of the car and go for a walk to break up our drive, so we went and found the AC Baths instead... We both agreed that these were far superior to the more touristy De Bretts, being more simple, partly enclosed and FAR cheaper!!!
Our advice?? If you only have an hour or so anyway, book yourselves in to a private spa. You get 45 minutes in the spa, and they are really hot so you wont need it all. They will tell you when you arrive that you dont have access to the main pools, but no-one polices this, so wander to your hearts content! :)

We both agreed that we should visit Hanmer in the winter next year, as it was so nice being in the hot pools with the cooler air around. In fact, both of us had the same idea - Hanmer in the winter would be a cool place to get married...

Soon we were on our way to Rotorua, arriving just on dark to our hotel. We got it cheap on wotif.com. Our hotel room was REALLY warm because it had thermal heating. We dropped our stuff in the room and took the car down the road to Breakers for dinner. Its a lot like cobb n co used to be, really. Nothing that flash, but the meals were HUGE. We both had burgers, and I didnt manage to eat my bun at all!

Saturday dawned cold and drizzly. We wandered down the road a block to the visitor information centre to check out what we could do for the weekend. Its a cool old building I have to say! We bought a pass that got us in to Te Pui, up the Gondola, discount Luge Rides and entry in to the Lake Spa at the Polynesian Spas.

We figured we would head to Te Puia first, since the pass we had was a come and go all day ticket, including a marae show and a tour. I was a bit stupid and didnt bother putting on warm clothes before we headed out, and so made do through until after lunch with just a t-shirt and my goretex coat... We got to see their Kiwi, and watch the geyser, and laugh at their signs which need some editing...



We wandered back in to town for lunch, heading to the mall to get take out. The curry was ok, but nothing fancy. The garlic naan was a plain naan with a bit of garlic butter.

After that, we headed back to the hotel to change into warmer clothes, and because the weather had cleared, we went for a wander through the gardens, past the Museum (Horrendously expensive to get in to! We skipped it this time around) and back to the car, before heading back to Te Puia for another wander to fill in the afternoon.



After that, we went for a soak in the hot pools at our hotel. These were nice, apart from the fact that we had to walk back through the dining room to get to our room... Not so cool!! Mark had decided he wanted to go somewhere "nice" for dinner this night, so we went through the restaurant guide we had picked up in the morning and selected a nice-looking place with a decent menu. It was SO quiet the whole time we were there - we were the only guests!! The food was DIVINE. I had lamb rack and it was definitely memorable.

At the end of dinner, Mark started looking a bit fidgety, which I wasnt surprised at, given he had told me to dress Nicely, and he was wearing one of his nicer outfits, and had shaved... I had a suspicion what was about to happen, and when he started reading me a poem, I knew for sure!! Eventually, through my laughter at his quite fun poem, out popped a box with a very pretty ring in it!!!

So, after that it was time to do the round of phone calls. First person we wound up telling was my brother, Jared, as Mum and Dad purposely handed him the phone to answer it... Then Mum and Dad, and a few other people. It took us until almost 10.30pm to get hold of Marks parents to tell them about it... Considering they knew it was coming!!!

So, by the end of the evening, I could totally understand why Mark had insisted that we do dinner out on Saturday rather than Sunday - He was probably a bit stressed about the looming proposal and wanted it out of the way!!! We ended up going to Lone Star for Champagne and Dessert since there was nothing on the menu at Rendezvous that we liked the look of...

Sunday morning dawned quite clear, so off we went to Skyline Gondola and Luge for the morning. We arrived nice and early to avoid the queues, which wound up being great, as we got a good carpark too, away from the flooding caused by Saturdays rain. We both did the easy track and the medium twice (once on each of the two options). Mark then went and did the advanced - by this stage the queue was long enough that it was a 35 minute wait for a 5 minute ride, so I decided not to bother.

After lunch back in the hotel room, we wandered through the gardens and eventually found our way to my appointment at The Polynesian Spa. We had used both of our multi-pass vouchers to get Mark in to the Lake Spa because my entry in to the spa was included in my massage. I had to arrive an hour before my massage, and Mark came with me then. It was a bit odd... "here is a towel, your robe and your disposable g-string"... What??!? So, the g was because I was getting a hydrotherapy massage and I guess I wouldnt want to get my own knickers wet in that. It was a bit odd going in to the massage room - it looked a bit like that room in Shawshank Redemption where they de-louse the guys, only it had a heater and a bed in it!! They use shower heads above you for the hydro therapy, and if you ever get the chance, I thoroughly recommend it!!!

So, after several hours at the spa, we wound up just getting fish n chips from the first place we could find, and grabbed an early night.

Monday it was time to head south again... Had some interesting driving experiences, like the guy who got angry at us when we came up close behind him and went to look at overtaking, so he slammed on his brakes at us... And the two oversized trucks we had to follow around Lake Taupo...

The intention was that if the weather was nice we would head up the mountain for Mark to do some skiing... It WAS nice, until we got halfway around the mountain on the Desert Road - you can see the cloud creeping in from the south in this shot!


We had checked in at the i-site in Turangi, and the snow report said there were high winds and nearly everything was closed, so we wound up skipping the mountain, and headed straight home. The only other thing that happened was we stopped at Bulls for lunch (yep, we got that far by 1.30pm!) and then in Otaki for shopping, where I discovered that the Bendon shop there doesnt do cubicle service, which sucks when you arent sure what size you are!!!

Home to Mum and Dads for dinner and a glass of nice bubbly to celebrate, and then it was back to work on Tuesday... (Mores the pity!)

So, on to wedding planning now - details to follow!

An Update

So, since it has been rather a long while since I last wrote here, I thought I should really do a summary of the year so far...

JANUARY
Mark and I returned from holiday in the South Island, back to work and moved into our little CBD apartment together. Cue me cooking 6 nights a week, a significant decrease in dinners out and date nights, but no driving each other nuts. Yet, at least!

FEBRUARY
Waitangi Weekend was spent in Auckland visiting my very cute niece. We picked up a northbound return vehicle and drove up, staying in Ohakune for Thursday night and visiting the Waitomo Caves on Friday before going to MOTAT on Saturday and up the Sky Tower on Sunday (where we watched a few people jump off). We also visited Sylvia Park (not really that cool at all) and drove to the top of One Tree Hill (which still has NO TREE!!)


MARCH
Mark and I went to the beach for the weekend to celebrate his birthday with a spot of relaxation, which was lovely (and relaxing!). Later in the month I finally crossed another hut off my must-visit list and went to Sunrise Hut in the Ruahines


APRIL
We spent Easter at the beach house with my parents. On the Friday we went for a walk at the Karori Sanctuary and had a great day in the sunshine!

On Saturday we drove out to the beach, to be greeted with a surprise - my brother and his family had driven down from Auckland for the weekend!! Baby and all!! It was very very cool! :)

MAY
May was a very very quiet month. We went tramping at the start of the month to Paua Hut, the club hut in the Orongorongo River valley, which was a rediculously easy trip, and a lot of fun to go with it!!



JUNE
In June, we went to the club lodge for Winter Solstice. The weather was pretty good really, although a bit windy further up the mountain where the lodge is. We went tramping on Saturday to Taranaki Falls, and then to Lake Rotoponamu before heading for a swim in the hot pools at Tokaanu.

We got some stunning views of Ruapehu at dusk on the way back, although they were nowhere near as cool as the sunset shots the others already back at the lodge got! We only just managed to get back to the lodge before it was completely dark, which was lucky, as no-one in our group had a head torch!

On Saturday night there was an 80's themed party, which was tough for me, as I was only in primary school still at the end of the 80's, so my icons of the time are cartoon characters, and I couldnt afford the costumes!! As a plus though, there was a disco ball!

On the Sunday, a group of us went down into Happy Valley to play with some toboggans. I managed to come off mine wrong and gave myself whiplash and concussion... Then, when I had decided to head back up to the cafe, I slipped on a patch of ice and compressed my spine... Needless to say, that was the end of my winter season this year, tramping AND snowboarding!!

JULY
The major event of July was a long weekend in Rotorua. Mark proposed while we were out for dinner on Saturday night. It was really sweet and lovely. We had a great weekend, and it would have been memorable for all its fun even without that piece of excitement... Its been a month now, and I have been so busy with work and stuff, that I havent even edited any of the photos from that weekend... yikes. Perhaps I should do that tomorrow night, since Mark is still away having a week up the mountain...

Anyway, thats most of this year covered off... I promise to start keeping this better from now. Honest.

A thought on Men and Women

So, Bridget Saunders and Greer on Stuff ages ago were both talking about dating in different ways... (I actually started this blog post way back when, but never got around to posting it!!)

Bridgets blog was about a gentleman named Barry who was complaining because at 40 he is still single, despite being a nice guy and earning reasonable money in an interesting job.

What I found more interesting / enlightening was this comment:

Brent #22 1:19pm
Actually I think a lot of males have problems because of what society tells them that women want. And it's complete bull. And being a d#%khead isn't the answer - the answer is to be a man. Distant, rational, non emotional and a bit aggressive. Women are programmed to like this because, well that's what a few million years of evolution does, just as it has taught men to be like this. So Barry - embrace ya manhood and don't let society push you into being something you naturally aren't.
Women like a man to be like this because it balances them. They need to be told that they are being emotional and need someone to think rationally for them when they aren't. They need someone to be aggressive and stand up for them or TO them because they don't naturally do it themselves. They need someone who is distant because figuring out what the distant person wants and needs, forces them to use their well advanced social and emotional skills for figuring the person out. The balance works in almost all aspects - they need someone with a deep booming voice so they can use their voice as a counterpoint for soothing and caring. It's all about balance.
So Barry, don't "harden the f%$k up", just be the man you know you are. Which is being yourself, after all. And this whole "nice guy" vs. "a-hole" thing is just a way of women categorizing men into 2 types for simplicity sake. It's also complete bs because humans, by their very nature, are incredibly complex.

Greer on the other hand was talking about the lack of a dating "culture" in NZ... You know, how its wrong to casually "date" someone - dating is something that happens once you are together and all that (apparently), and Richard had some great insights to share:

richard #14 12:55 pm Apr 29 2009
Greer, you are definitely right that kiwis don't do the dating thing so much.
It does create some real uncertainties. I'm a big fan of the idea of dating. I think it increases your options greatly. But I'm positive that I've been turned down for dates on the basis that the girl in question can't decide if I'm relationship material or not. And when I thought about this it occurred to me that in the past I have not asked out girls because I wasn't sure if they were relationship material. So how is it that the normal kiwi response to this uncertainty is to withdraw, rather than to try and find out more? Wouldn't that be the mature, adult thing to do? Are we still in fourth form?
Who the hell was I to decide they're not relationship material after meeting them once. They might have been great. At the very least I must've liked them a little or I wouldn't have been interested at all. How would I have any chance of knowing after meeting them just once? Sure I can identify potential, and some really aren't my type, but there are so many in the middle. Most in fact. But my experience of the typical kiwi approach, from guys and girls, is to weigh the probabilities and anyone without a very high level of potential gets a polite no.
That's when I became a big fan of dating. It's not about accepting someone as a partner. It's about exploring what might be there. Single guys should ask as often as possible. Single girls should say yes as often as possible. Girls should ask as often as possible. Guys should be open to that.
It's a little sad that we as a nation seem to need large amounts of alcohol to get over ourselves and create them. I'm also positive that's a big part of the so-called man-drought. Yes there's fewer men than women in the late 20s-30s age groups, so there's some truth to it, but by the late 20s we've mostly stopped going large every weekend in town and we, as a nation, don't seem to know how to initiate or receive sober advances. This magnifies the effect I think. I also think this is the reason why kiwi girls overseas have a reputation of being a bit frigid.

Anyway, dating is the solution to all of this. Yes it's a little disappointing if I get the call to say she's not interested in taking it further and I was keen to. I also really hate making that call myself. Maybe I'm a bit down for a day or two afterwards. Big deal. I've learned it's not a social failure either way and I find it's not so hard as it once was.
I took a girl to dinner last week. It turns out she's bi, and more into girls at the moment. While this was a bit of a new one for me, we really did have a great time and I think we'll hang out together from time to time as we have some mutual friends and interests. I consider my life richer for it. I found that if you can get past the stress of trying to impress said girl, it's a really fun way to spend an evening.

hmmm... Interesting. Both are entirely rational though... I especially like the fact that both these blokes (and Brent especially) have pointed out such major differences between men and women in a polite, direct and non-confrontational way.
We are simply different beings, we work best when we try to be what we are - Male or Female. A Woman trying to be like a Man is unsexy. A Man trying to be like a woman is emasculating himself, which makes him deeply unsexy.

Inspirational and spine tingling

So, everyone is talking about Susan Boyle, who wowed the world on Britains Got Talent last week...
And I was one of the wowed...
I watched her on YouTube this avo (finally watching the whole thing) and YES, she gave me goosebumps too.
Sure, she isnt "traditionally attractive" (and some people, notably Bridget Saunders Blog on Stuff seem to think that this is all that matters - follow the link to see her get slaughtered by her readers about her cynicism and negativity!)
Personally, I think she seems lovely and so grounded, singing because it makes her happy. And in reality, I like that fact that so many people had their prejudices challenged by here - going from laughing at her to giving her a standing ovation within 5 minutes?? That is powerful.
She is the next Paul Potts, and sings with such soul that I could imagine buying an album she sang, just as I would contemplate buying Potts - and I must go check out whats on his latest release to see if there is anything I like...
Good luck to Ms Boyle. Dont let the critics get you down, and dont let the plaudits make you lose your groundedness. We all need to see it. Thank you.

I cheated

Yes. I admit it. Mark wasnt home till late last night, so while I could do it unobserved, I went online and checked what was happening on Facebook. I didnt browse friends pages for updates, nor did I even open my own page. I simply checked to see how many invites / notifications / emails I had...
8 Friend requests, 2 events, 26 other notifications and 6 emails is the current tally. Not bad for having been off there for about 4 (?) weeks (I cant really recall in detail)...
I admit that I am looking forward to going back on there and updating my profile and checking out what friends are up to, but I definitely think I wont be on there anywhere near as often as I was before this...

Perhaps next year I should give up chocolate or fizzy drink or something similar for lent...

I want to do an Elaine

I have had one of "those" weeks this week at work... Monday and Tuesday were actually really good - I was SO busy it wasnt funny, but at least I was occupied, and I actually enjoyed coming in to work in the mornings and still having something to catch up on from the day before.
Wednesday I got news that the PA at our Auckland office had handed in her notice. When she rang me to confirm this and thank me for my work, I found out she was leaving without another position to go to - she had simply had enough.
Yesterday afternoon I had a couple of moments of the same thought...

On the bright side however, it is now Friday, the board are meeting in Auckland (which saves me a lot of stress and dishes), the office is quiet and we are all off for drinks after work. Tomorrow is a mates birthday party, which could be interesting given he is also having one tonight. AND Mark and I have a whole pile of stuff planned to do around the apartment this weekend - including possibly completely re-arranging the lounge - as well as going shopping (I need new work shoes. The bottoms are literally falling out of both my heels and my flats!). Should be fantastic!!

Which all puts me in a much better mood than I was in 24 hours ago!

New Trip reports!!

So, I have been doing a bit of tramping recently, and thought I should start going back and writing some reports on some of the trips I have been on, so check out my other blog, hut bagging!
Two new reports today - Sunrise Hut and Powell Hut - and I promise about 8 more in the next 6 weeks or so, to catch up to when I started that blog! Photos and Maps will be added gradually as well, I just have to sort relevant ones out!