May 31, 2024
Treetop walk and Slide Avondale, Co. Wicklow
Today was bright and sunny, best weather I have had in Ireland so far. We had such a fun day and it started with a giant slide! About 2 years ago, I sent Edel a photo of this and asked her if she had heard about? ( she lives in Cork - we've been friends for years). Today we got to experience together.
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First you do the treetop walk through the forest and this leads to the giant slide. You don't pay to go down the slide, until your are at top and fully committed! All ages join in the fun. We asked one of the attendants, who told us the oldest child he knew to go down was 91 and just last week an 82 year old, celebrated her birthday going down! We were game and he joked that the boxes at the bottom where for those who didn't make it! Fear not!
First went Edel, then me! Weeeeeeeeeee! It lasted all of 17 seconds. And Edel gave me a 10 out of 10, for my fashionable dismount!
We had a beautiful sunny day to explore Wellington ! Was a very nice change from the stormy, big swells weather we have had the last two days! Wellington is the Capital city of New Zealand and the CBD is nice and big with lots of shops and museums. We didn't make it to the LOTR studios due to the time crunch but we took the cable car up to the top, for a scenic overlook of the port and then leisurley walk down through the Botantical Gardens, parks and historical cemetary.
Rotorua became a bonus city for us. Our Port stay in Tauranga got cut down to one day, due to NZ biosecurity regulations and since we really wanted to do Hobbiton, we decided to get off the ship and stay in hotels and get back on the ship, in a few days. Due to a variety of factors, the Ship ended up doing a quick pick up of us in Tauranga, three days later. The Kiwi's we encountered along the way, who helped with all our last minute details, were amazingly kind, hospitable and generous. Below is our tired, chilly group huddled at the security shed, outside the Port in the wee hours (1:30 am) Monday morning, awaiting our final hurdle of getting back on our Home. Home sweet home! What an adventure!
Rotorua, New Zealand is known for it's geothermal activity ( geysers, mud pools, hot springs) and rich Maori culture . I saw lots of that last time I was here in 2016, so this time I wanted to see their Redwoods in Whakarewarewa Forest. John and Colleen joined me in exploring. Their redwoods are smaller than the ones in Muir Woods California, but still impressive. Both are planted forest dating back to around 1908.