Tag Archives: Hot pools

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Palmerston North to Taupo via Desert road

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Inevitably I didn’t work that weekend. Being as sick as I was, I spent the weekend in bed, Netflix and chill. I managed to haul myself out of bed to halfheartedly perform our magic show then snuggled back down. Saturday night sick or not I would go bowling and that’s exactly what I did. Sore throat n’all I bowled through two rounds with my awesome team; Yani. Terene, Kio, Jason and Cody. That night I consumed a lot of ginger beer to sooth my throat and keep me going, but I did it! I went bowling with the Gypsy’s.

Monday Dad took all the Gypsy kids to the Te Manawa museum. It’s one of my favorite museum’s in New Zealand, mainly because of the awesome kids area and all of the interactive games and exhibit’s. We spent a couple of hours there, then Simone took Lettie and I to the massive op shop across the road. Heaven on earth!

We parted ways with the Gypsy’s and made for Rangipo dam off the Desert road, literally in the middle of nowhere. Tuesday we schooled, trained our show and explored the dam. The sound of a colossal jet of water piped down from another dam miles away accompanied our stay there.

Training at Rangipo dam. See the water blaster behind us!

In the afternoon we sped to the hot pools at Tokaanu, only to find them closed due to a pump being fixed. Luckily our savior came in the form of the Oasis camp ground just down the road where they have hot pools and a ping pong table.

The next day we soaked as long as we could then moved along to the lake Taupo waterfront park up spot. After schooling I spent the afternoon baking apple pies and meringues for desert that night. We spent the rest of the night happily watching Harry potter one.

Thursday more schooling then we biked into the wind the whole way to a really cute waterside cafe/restaurant for some lunch in the form of Pizza!

We biked home (tail wind), then hopped excitedly into the car and headed for De Brett’s the biggest and fanciest pool complex in Taupo. We spent five joyful hours soaking in the hot pools and racing down the awesome hydro slides. Stumbling out of the pools late at night we drove home to bed and a good nights sleep.

Image result for debretts taupo

I love hot pool weeks. This one was especially lovely! Tomorrow setup, this weekend Taupo. Bye!

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Ohope and Rotorua

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Late Sunday night we high tailed to Plumbers point just out of Tauranga. Its a favorite spot for me as it’s just down the road from Tiwai and Lettie’s Grandmas house. Plumbers point park is laden with Avacardo and fruit trees which we gleefully harvested, stored and juiced. Mmmmm. Tangelo juice is the best!

I had a glorious three days playing, having sleep-overs with Tiwai and Lettie and doing school work. Sadly Wednesday came and it was time to go to Pikowai camp ground and have some family time.

We happily spent the next two days rafting the small river and doing school work.

Thursday night we arrived late on the grounds in Ohope. The Ohope fair was sooo weird and small because over half of the Gypsy’s had gone to Splore (a big festival). They took with them the stage, the cafe (my job) and many other stalls. All the woofers had gone as well leaving Dickinson’s emporium staffless, so I happily offered my services and helped them out over the weekend.

Time to meet our cousins from Peru in Rotorua. Off we went to the Rotorua thermal holiday park for the week. Auntie Daniella, uncle Brent and my cousins Dominic and Samantha are awesome. They live in Lima and come every year to Rotorua to meet up with us. Dominic is 7 and plays crazily with Dallas and Jaz. Whilst Samantha is the cutest 4 year old you’ll ever see!

We had a wonderful week visiting thermal craters with boiling mud, and relaxing in natural hot rivers to soothe our pains away.

What I wouldn’t give to be there right now!

                         Kerosene creek. Yes the water is hot!

Thursday Mum left for Queenstown to M.C Miss pole dance New Zealand, while we topped our week off with a visit to wingspan. Wingspan is a must see in Rotorua. It is New Zealand’s only Raptor rescue center.

Orphaned birds are taught hunt using traditional falconry training before being released back to the wild.

They rescue injured and orphaned birds of prey. We learnt all about these amazing birds and even got to hold one.

Shadow, a beautiful young NZ bush falcon/Karearea. 465 grams.
The actual falcon/Karearea used on the NZ $20 note came from wingspan.

That afternoon we all sped back to plumbers point, where we said our sad goodbyes to our cousins. After some important Gypsy baker cake baking, Dad played the single Dad card and Yani let us onto the grounds in Tauranga that night. We put our awning up as it got dark, we needed an early start for setup with no Mum to help us.

That was a lovely couple of weeks at Plumbers point and with our cousins. Tomorrow setup, this weekend Tauranga. Bye!

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Mt Managnui

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Beloved Opal springs no more! We called Opal springs to confirm we could stay there but were told that they couldn’t lift the low power lines with a broom like they usually do to let us pass. Health and safety was the reason. Sadly we had to look for somewhere else to stay. We found salvation in Sapphire springs Holiday park, Katikati, which also has hot springs. I traveled in Simone, Tiwai and Letties bus to get there, then we all went swimming in the awesome hot pools.

The next Three days we spent schooling, swimming, swimming and swimming! There was a national heat wave, even the tar was melting on the road, so it was great to have a freezing cold stream right next to our truck.  The second morning Dad made me get up really early and go running with him!  I was sooooo grumpy (I love my morning sleep-in’s) I had a tantrum half way along the bush running track. Afterwards we jumped into the freezing river. Secretly, I felt amazing but I would never admit that to Dad!

Lettie and I laid out yoga mats and pillows and made our own honey and oatmeal face masks, creating the “Gypsy spa”.

         Mum and Dad with yummy cucumbers on their eyes!
                                     Simone indulges in luxury.

One evening we were down at the river feeding the Eels when one miss-took my finger for a sausage and had a chomp. Once we had cleaned it up I realized the Eel had actually lacerated my finger!

On Thursday night we reluctantly left lovely Sapphire springs for Mt Manganui. Once again I traveled with Simones family, watching Pirates of the Caribbean the whole way. Friday morning we left the free parking spot by the port (really just a car-park by the sea)and drove onto the grounds near by. We set up and trained our show then Lettie and I baked Afgans for Gypsy bakers.

As for the weekend, it went perfectly; hot, successful and busy. We even had shade over our shows so we didn’t die of heat like usual. The only down side was dirty feet as the hilly ground was covered in short dry grass. Sunday we had dinner at the Pub/brewery next door to celebrate our lovely week.

Next weekend Ohope beach. Bye!

 

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Wanaka the West coast and the Copeland track.

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“3, 2, 1, Go!” I race frantically up the wall like a spider(I hate spiders!) gripping the handholds with white knuckles. I smash the top button only moments before Lettie hits her button on the other side of me. Leaping off the wall and abseiling down is my favorite part!

My amazing Godmother Sunny Sky and her daughter Indigo took my brothers, Tiwai, Lettie and I to the Wanaka clip and climb on Friday. It was so much fun! After that we retired to the hot pools at the hotel Sunny was staying at. The rest of the day was spent eating chocolate cake and watching a movie. My ideal day!

An average weekend, very social and busy, with my good friend Mia and her Mum staying in a tent behind our truck. Fish n chips on the beach. By Sunday afternoon I was peopled out and couldn’t bear talking to anyone any more! The rest of the afternoon was spent in hibernation.

Sea spray, rugged rocky coastline, deep green forest, winding twisty roads. The stunning scenic west coast. At one part we sped over some bumps and almost left the ground. We stopped to check for damage, luckily only one cup smashed.

We drove on to the Copeland valley.  One of the Gypsies friends brothers has a farm which he kindly let us park on in order to be in close proximity to the Copeland track entrance. There would be too many house trucks to fit in the car park.

The Copeland track is a 7 hour walk up the Copeland valley to some amazing natural hot pools. We packed our backpacks (and yes I did carry one) and went to bed early, ready for the long walk tomorrow.

All the Gypsies that are going on the walk arrived last night. There was 13 of us in total. As usual we dressed up extravagantly! Tutus, headdresses, elf ears, parasols and more tutus. Did I mention tutus? We started walking around 10am Tutus and all!

Dressed for tramping!
My happy place!

At the pace we were walking we got there in less than 6 hours, giving us more than enough time to soak in the amazing natural hot pools, have dinner and soak some more(under the stars and moon until 11 pm)!

Gypsy bath time!

Ok, I’m going to press pause for a minute and explain the scenery. It was the most beautiful walk I have ever been on and that’s saying something! Imagine every shade of green you know in one immense rolling rain forest. Did you know that green is the most peaceful colour on the human eyes, and it’s my favorite. As you look higher up, forest gives way to sheer cliff faces and the rugged beauty of the mountain tops iced with snow. What a stunning cake it would be!

There’s some cool swing bridges, this one crosses Shiels creek.

O.K back to the hot pools. After a fulfilling sleep we jumped back into the hot pools. The only problem in this beautiful place is the sand fly’s, the one handicap that’s stopped fancy apartments, hotels and houses being built all along the west coast.

We managed to walk out in 5 hours. Bye bye hot pools. We got back to the truck and drove to Franz Josef to park at our friends house and have dinner with them and their kids, Scarlet and Tom. It’s great to catch up and play with them every year.

The next morning we played some more then sped off to Greymouth, stopping in Hokitika for some much needed school work, but ended up staying until dinner time and past because Mum and Dad had a massive blow out. We finally left at 8 pm and arrived in Greymouth at 9 o’clock at night! They said sorry and that was it. Everything was back to normal again.

“Whew!’ what an exhausting, fun and exciting week! Tomorrow  setup, this weekend Greymouth. Bye!

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Timaru

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Have you ever tried to get dry grass out of your clothes, while in the middle of a fully fledged grass fight? its hard! When we arrived at the grounds Thursday we found a field full of dry cut grass. perfect for grass fights, but a night mare in your clothes and house!! Then it rained and the grass became even more sticky! no more grass fights for us.

OK time for the weather report. You are here with Dylan Daisy Ashton, for Saturday we have sunshine, sunshine and more sunshine not to mention an extra helping of busy. As for Sunday we have sunny weather yet not quite so busy. As you can see the weekend was a blast, apart from the fact that Tiwai and Lettie aren’t coming until Oamaru!!!!!!!!!!! I know that’s only next weekend, buts it’s too long to wait!

After having a wizz on the scooters around the car-park we wizzed to the Timaru public pool. CODE BROWN! CODE BROWN! Someone had POOPED in kids pools. How embarrassing for them! Luckily there was another shallow pool so our time wasn’t wasted. “Time flies when your having fun”, unfortunately for me it went too fast, the pool was a ball!

We left Timaru going in the opposite direction of Oamaru our next fair. Back tracking to Gerildine and Peskies park-over property, a beautiful peaceful backyard garden. One of our favorites. That night we watched a documentary on a tribe in the Amazon. Very interesting.

The next day was a peaceful one full of school work, Lego, training our circus show and having a nap time. Perfect before a late night at Peter Aldous’s Observatory. It was incredible! The ratio of how big we are, how big our planet is, how big our solar system is, and how big our Universe is, is mind blowing!

 

Wednesday we finished some school work and sped (with the slight hiccup of Dallas puking) to Fairlie for the best pies in New Zealand. Those are the only pies I will eat anywhere.

Pork belly and apple sauce

Finally! Back to the blissfulness of hot pools. We had been away from hot pools for too long! Tekapo hot pools were the perfect place to start. It was luxurious on our sore bodies! We arrived back late and fell asleep.

Three hours of skin wrinkling bliss

My brothers have been acting terrible lately. They take turns at tantrums over everything, especially school work. Feeling deflated we drove to Omarau but the thought of Tiwai and Lettie arriving kept me going.

Tiwai and Lettie arrived! Finally!!! And in time for dinner with us! I am one happy girl!!!

On that high note, bye!

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Taupo / Tongariro crossing / End of season!

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On our way to Taupo we met up with Lette and Tewai at a secret hot pool known only to people with google maps. It is marked as “Hot and Cold”. A hot stream joins a cold stream, hot, cold and everything in-between. We had a yummy soak. Yani came along too.

After that we drove onto Whakaipo Doc reserve and stayed there a couple of nights, exploring, schooling and carving pumice which you find on the beach.  On Wednesday we got a good view of Mt Tongariro, on Thursday it was time to do the crossing!

There were plenty of gypsies keen on the walk so we got up early, crammed into vehicles and drove to the Mangatapopo car park. The track was fantastic. Steep and barren like the moon. It was fun walking with the Gypsies. The Red crater and Emerald lakes were amazing.

We all charged across with no problems. Meanwhile Mum and the boys walked to Mangtapopo hut then drove to the end of the track to shuttle drivers back to the start. By the end of it everyone was foot sore and ready for a soak at Tokaanu hot pools. Then we had Indian in Turangi with Keanau and Julia.

After much debate followed by a vote it was decided to go ahead with the Taupo fair in-spite of a terrible weather forecast. The weather turned out to be terrible and the fair was a flop. However we did have a uproarious end of season party.  Mum and Dad presented us with trophies for all our hard work in our shows.

There were prizes for all the gypsies. The usual dancing and shenanigans took place.

Sunday was a wash out so we high tailed south, heading for Motueka and Steiner school.

That was the end of our third season on the Extravaganza. So many adventures and so much fun! I am so tired I could do with a little rest! Bye!

 

 

 

 

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Havelock North

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“Splish, splosh.” The water swirls down the channel. “Quick shut the gate!” I yell. Lette shuts the gate and the water comes to a standstill. We let the water build up until we think it’s high enough, then open the gate. “woosh.” It zooms down the channel and into the pool at the bottom. I love the new water park and playground on the grounds in Havelock North!

The two day weekend was hot, sunny, busy and all together enjoyable apart from the fact that we all felt exhausted from our terrible week of sickness.

Out for dinner after pack down on Sunday night.

 

After that weekend we slowly wound our way to Mahia peninsula and parked up at Stewart and Carol Bells park over property to plug into power and freeze the venison in the freezer. A storm was coming and our solar panels won’t work well in cloudy weather.

Oh. I almost forgot a very sad thing happened on our way to Mahia. We passed a goat on the side of the road that had been hit by a car. Its legs were broken. We stopped up the road and Dad put it out of its misery. R.I.P poor goat.

Mahia peninsula has one of the two Rocket Lab launch pads in the world. Awesome right?!

That night the storm kicked in and it was still going full bore when we high tailed it to Moerere hot pools the next morning. “Ahh… lovely!” After the too good to be true soak we sped to Gisborne and another park over property for the same reason.

Disaster struck Thursday afternoon on our way to the grounds. The truck clutch was slipping! Eventually we came to a standstill right when we were turning into the grounds, blocking two lanes of traffic! A random kind motorist towed us clear. How unfortunate, now we need a new clutch. This weekend Gisborne. Bye!

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Papamoa

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The week started out like any other, shows , fun , hot, Busy etc… We had no idea of the disaster about to strike.

This year Riley’s (RJ) birthday theme was superheroes! Everyone dressed up (except Riley, he doesn’t like dressing up) and watched the new Wonder woman movie. It was super! (ha,ha!)

On Monday we checked into Opal hot springs. That day we all walked up to the top of Wairere falls. See last years blog for info and views of this waterfall, North islands highest. I was very proud of my brothers because last time they only walked half way to the top. Well done boys! Dad and I stayed the night up there under the stars.

I love tramping, it always makes me feel peaceful. We walked back down to the car park the next morning. Mum and the boys picked us up and took us to the hot pools.

Here’s just a couple of the insects I found in the pool.

I had been looking forwards to soaking in the hot pools and was enraged when I found out that the pools had not been cleaned and was filled from side to side with all manner of insects. From Wasps to Crickets to Beetles. I stormed up to the office and asked the lady at the desk for someone to clean the pool. She said “Sorry honey but there’s no one available.”  “Well do you at least have a net so I can clean it myself?” I fumed “No sweet-pea we have nothing.” Sweet-pea yourself I thought as I stormed back to the pools, and there sitting in the corner was a net on a long pole! I picked it up and started cleaning the pool. Soon my arms got tired and there was still millions of insects in the pool. I ran back home crying, to lie in bed and read my book.

The next morning we got up excitedly to go have a hot soak before breakfast. When we got there the pools were empty, and being cleaned! More fuming and cursing the lady at the desk.

We headed for New Plymouth and just as we were nearing Otrahonga a hideous hissing sound and lots of steam erupted in the cab of the truck! I tiny air hose had burst! Dad fixed it and an hour later we were on our way again.

It was pouring with rain and we were just about to hit the west coast when Mum got a phone call from her sister Ellie saying that her Dad Rod had died of a heart attack on his farm. She was very sad and cried a lot, we all did. It was such a shock! We turned around and set out for Taupo arriving at dinner time. We spent a stormy night in Taupo only to wake up and find the road to Napier was closed with flooding. It opened at 3pm. We then sped to Roz’s (Rods partner) house in Hastings.

Mum, Dad the Boys and I went to see Granddad in his room, he looked so peaceful and comfortable in his silken coffin. I miss him.

On Friday all the cousins played while the adults prepared for the funeral.

A very eventful and sad week. Bye.

 

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Hastings

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“Ah lovely” submerging yourself in hot water is pure heaven! Morere hot pools were just that.

After our hot soak we drove to lake Tutira and stayed the night. The scenery was amazing but the fact that it was still raining wasn’t the best.

The next morning in the pouring rain we drove to Granddad and Roz’s and proceeded to immediately  get stuck in their paddock. Roz saved the day by pulling our truck out of the mud with her tiny car.

Oh look! I am already up to more hot pools. I highly recommend Ocean Spa hot pools on the waterfront in Napier, five stars!

After another heavenly  soak I went to my first ever cheer-leading class with bay-city cheerleaders. I loved it!

On Friday morning we setup at Windsor park, right next to Splash Planet, but sadly it was closed and isn’t opening until November.

That weekend it was Danielle’s (14 year old Gypsy-girl) first time on fire poi. She was stunning!

On Saturday night we went down the road to see a colourful Chinese light show. It was beautiful.

Well that was Hastings. See ya.

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Taupo

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“Who farted” I asked as we drove through Rotorua on our way to Taupo for a two day Extravaganza without Mum.

Set up and pack down was hard without Mum but Dad, the boys and I battled through it together. I ran the shop for dad while he made lunch and did jobs.

Unfortunately we could not do any circus shows because Mum was not there. So the boys got to relax and play all weekend while I did two magic shows each day. In one of my magic shows I stuffed up and forgot to pack the ribbon box, I’ll make sure not to do that again!

Adorable! Tiwai and Lette’s new kitten is soooo cute. Her name is Baba Kittylitter/Shadow. She is black allover and very small and sweet.

On Monday Mum came back from NZ summer pole camp, it was so exciting! She was all pumped and muscly! She brought chocolate mice, cats and frogs with her. They are so delicious!

After Taupo we met up with family at Whakamaru reserve alongside a dam on the Waikato river.

Uncle Brent, Auntie Daniela and my cousins Dominic (5 years old) and Samantha(2 years old) camped next to our truck. We dug paddling pools and made mountains.

We shifted a lot of sand! Dominic and the twins had a blast. Cute little Samantha adored me, She loved my love heart sun glasses.

DIGGING THE RAIN!

Later that week we went to the Waikete thermal valley hot pools and soaked while it bucketed cats and dogs on us. Very relaxing!

Also there we went for a short walk to the biggest up-welling of boiling hot water in the country.

Next comes Rotorua famous for its stinky stench!