Still Moving North
Rotorua, New Zealand

We've been kind of distracted the last few days, but here's the nutshell update.

After leaving the seals near Westport, hung out there a bit, did some errands. Moved west to Nelson, where we camped for the night. In the morning, headed over to the Nelson Bonecarver, where we took a one day workshop to learn how to carve bone... it was a ton of fun and for a very reasonable price, we came away with our very own handmade pieces.

Then we hopped on the (rather expensive) ferry to Wellington, after bidding adieu to the South Island. There, we stayed two nights, taking in the town and spending a good chunk of time in Internet cafes catching up and uploading South Island pictures. New Zealand's national museum, Te Papa, is in Wellington, and takes a whole day to see, it's pretty impressive. From there, we drove north (will catch you next time, Sarah!) up to the Craters of the Moon, where we parked/camped in the parking lot.

The whole region from there to the north coast is a very active geothermal area, so we were treated to all kinds of steaming, belching mud pools, thermal vents, and natural geysers. We ended up in Rotorua where we are now, and will be heading west towards Auckland, where we will be staying with our friend Gary and Steff for a few days.

Until next time!

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