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We woke up early and jumped in the car to get over to the Wai-o-tapu Thermal Wonderland (www.waiotapu.co.nz). One of its main attractions is a huge geyser they call Lady Knox which erupts water high into the air everyday at about 10:15AM. They put in some type of soap which causes a chemical reaction and forces the water to spout out, but if they didn’t interfere with it, it would still shoot water out every few days. We got there just as they started to add the soap. We thought we had to get there exactly at 10AM but after rushing around, arrived and were told it would shoot water for about an hour. We listened to the employee discuss the geyser and took some pictures before going over to the main park entrance.
Because this area is such an active geothermal region…the park was set up around natural areas of activity. As we walked through…we could see steam seeping out from various cracks in the ground. Small craters had mud literally boiling from the temperatures underground being approx 100 degrees celsius. The earth seemed hot and angry in this portion of the world. And the egg smell from the sulfur was inescapable. We had fun taking pictures and looking at this type of activity so closely. As we continued to walk through the path marked by the park, we came across the “champagne pool”. This large body of water was various colors of fiery orange and green mixed with a darker green mud. We could see little bubbles as it boiled from such high temperatures and there was a constant cloud of hot sulfur steam blowing over the top. The path had us walk right through the middle of the pond on a bridge, which was pretty cool.
We have climbed active volcanoes but this was the first time we actually stayed in a city sitting directly on the volcano, and the terrain was something we have never seen before. After walking through the champagne pool, we made our way through the trails in woods or what they call “the bush”. The paths lead us around other natural bodies of water, as well as mud and minerals of all sorts created from volcanic activity. We could also see an additional volcano in the distance. We took our time walking through the various areas and being sure to capture as much of it as we could on film. It’s not everyday that we find ourselves walking inside an active crater!
Once we finished, we were driving out of the park area and saw a sign for mud pool. We turned onto the road and parked on the side of the street. There was a fence around a huge boiling lake of mud. Not just small bubbles but big massive boiling bubbles…it looked like it was straight out of a movie. We had fun just staring at it and taking pictures as the mud burst in the air.
On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at a place called Te Puia. It was a local heritage site consisting of history on the indigenous people as well as tribal dances etc. After seeing the price was about $100 per person we decided to skip the dancing show. We browsed in their shop of local crafts and saw the various wood carvings, mineral lotions and other crafts.
Once back at our place, we relaxed for a bit and then walked down the street to the night market. The market was very small, about 15 local vendors set up selling mostly food. One guy even had a whole espresso machine sitting in the back of his car making hot cups of coffee. We decided to munch on some of the street food. We picked up homemade pumpkin soup and of course we couldn’t resist local chocolates. We also grabbed some stir-fry noodles and a couple of pieces of fruit. Our favorite was an all natural dip made from mint, ginger and garlic, it was so refreshing and extremely healthy. Once we saw all the vendors and had some food in our hands we stopped at one more Asian restaurant on the way home. We ordered one take-out dish made with black-bean curd and noodles.
Back in our hotel room, we watched a movie and munched on our smorgasbord of food.
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Published by Brandey Kabat
What I like: Dark chocolate, yoga, fresh squeezed juice, laughing, hiking, wine, travel, food, lush products, being warm, having long hair, the ritual of drinking something hot first thing in the morning…
What I don’t like: When people smell their fingers, pushing elevator buttons, confrontational situations, not being able to fall asleep quickly at bedtime…
Most random job ever: Plastic surgery consultant
As for my love life: I met my husband mid way through my junior year in college, as soon as I laid my eyes on him I was attracted to him. In fact, I made the first move which was a bit out of character but there was something about him…probably the fact that he was smokin’ hot!!
Where from and where to: I grew up in NY, went to college at The Ohio State University and then headed to CA after graduation. My boyfriend (Giff) and I had a map, a borrowed van and used stuff from his mom’s basement aka a vacuum, silverware, old Christmas ornaments etc., and about $1000 each. We thought it would be a good idea to head straight to CA since neither of us had been. Being we didn’t know anyone there nor did we have a job or job interviews set up or a place to live…I would say we did it the hard way! However with a bit of help from Giff’s mom who flew out to put us up in a hotel, bought me a suit for interviewing and co-signed a lease to get us a place to live we eventually found jobs and an apartment and have been in CA for 10 years.
Our story: After moving out to CA and living together for about 3 years we got engaged. He popped the question while down on one knee on the beach at sunset after we finished our picnic he had packed of bread, cheese, shrimp cocktail and wine. He even had the ring in a box that had a light shining down on it when opened so as it was getting dark, this amazing man was asking me to be his wife as he handed me a huge rock…Yes! Yes! Yes!
In 2005 we were married (I am biased but our wedding was absolutely amazing). By the end of 2005 we were new home owners. 2006-2009- we were both happily married, attached to our 3 cats and were focused on building our careers.
Giff and I got pregnant mid year 2009 with our first baby but what should have been one of the highlights of our life was soon distracted by the news I received at the doctor’s office.
The lump in my breast that had been dismissed the year before as nothing was now being diagnosed by a different doctor as breast cancer. Thankfully Giff is a persistent person and when we went in for our ultrasound (to hear our baby’s heartbeat) he brought up the request for testing to be done on the lump rather than dismissing it based on feeling it.
The going gets rough: Things began to move so quickly at that point, it was hard to breathe. I was 30, pregnant with my first child and going into surgery to remove breast cancer. I was about to go through what would be the worst year of my life. The plan had been discussed, we were going with the most aggressive regimen possible- double mastectomy, port surgically placed in my chest, chemotherapy, drug therapy and radiation. We also had to terminate the pregnancy. This cancer was estrogen positive and the hormones were actually feeding the cancer. That little angel whom was the cause of our going into the doctor saved my life.
Giff was my rock through every step…interviewing a team of the best doctors, memorizing which medicines I needed to take and when, driving me to chemotherapy and sitting next to me while I was so scared, telling me I was beautiful when I was bald, and so many other things…words cannot express. When you say your vows, in sickness and in health…you would never guess sickness of this magnitude at this age would be in the near future. In addition to this hardship, Giff’s dad died of a complicated prostate cancer the day we came home from my surgery. I could not hold my husband as he mourned for his dad because of the pain I was in from the mastectomy. How did Giff handle all of this pain at one time? How was he so strong for me? He is amazing. Giff’s dad was one of those people whom you naturally wanted to be around…his smile was contagious, his love for life was invigorating and he listened so intently when you talked in a conversation with him. He made you feel special. We think about him often and will miss him so much.
My family and friends were also by my side…my mom flying out from NY several times to help us with cooking and cleaning and holding my hand. It must be one of the most awful things in the world to watch your baby girl be diagnosed with breast cancer. My girlfriends also flew out to take care of me and help with anything they could. Other friends living closer would come by just to sit and talk or watch movies. There were so many cards, letters, flowers, cookies, and other gifts that came from all over the country. It’s amazing to have such great people in my life. In addition to my amazing circle of friends and family, there were the strangers with whom crossed our path. Whether it was a letter in the mail from a breast cancer survivor, the anesthesiologist who called Giff during my surgery crying happy tears that the cancer had not spread to my lymph nodes, or our fertility doctor who promised to watch over our frozen embryos as if they were her own. There were so many small gestures that made such a big impact on our lives.
Looking at the bright side: Thankfully this was caught in stage 1, had it been caught a year prior by the first doctor I had gone into about the lump, it may have been caught at stage 0. Please learn from my lesson…insist the lump be tested – a lump cannot be diagnosed by touch. They were able to cut all the cancer out and after I finish the entire regimen including a pill I take over the next 5 years, they said there is a 95% chance the cancer will never come back.
Our exciting future: We’ve decided to re-prioritize, we are taking 400 days starting February 7th of 2011 to travel the world! We will travel to new places, eat new foods, taste new wines and meet new people. We will focus on healing ourselves both physically and mentally. This will be one of the best years of our lives.
View all posts by Brandey Kabat
Spinning Around The World 
I love silly signs like the one of the stick figure falling into the 100 degree water! And that mud, so cool.