Day 9- 11th November

Today was quite a relaxing, unproductive day, with a surprise disaster at the end.
We didn't really have any plans as Emma and Lily had already booked to go white water rafting whilst we were back in England, so we decided to go for a walk to the famous redwood forest.
It took us around an hour to get there on foot. We traversed some kind of nature reserve, which was alive with thermal activity; steam eruptions, bubbling pools and a lingering scent of rotten eggs.
When we arrived at the forests, we followed a path until we came across an information centre and from there we followed a trail loop.

It had an almost prehistoric quality about it

It must have been something to do with being amongst the natural environment, but our conversation soon turned to serious topics. It's sad to think that in this modern age, people are losing touch with nature and moving toward technology. And whilst technological advances have propelled our race forward and made our lives so much easier, they are also alienating us from nature and from each other. Kids as young as 7 own their own iPods, and would rather play Xbox than football. More time spent outdoors is linked with higher happiness, which makes sense, as no animal likes being caged up.

Strollin' through the woods

We returned to the hostel for lunch, and then Emma and Lily headed off for their rafting. I was planning to head out into town to see the government botanical gardens. However, I was in the kitchen when a guy came in and started talking to me. He appeared to be some kind of eco-warrior-chef and so we had a lot to talk about. We talked for a solid 2 hours, putting the world to rights, and then by this time it was too late for me to go out, as the girls would be home soon, so I just worked on my blog, adding photos and uploading posts.

The redwood trees

They got in at about 6pm, Lily cupping her face with a swollen face and her hands full of bloody tissues. She had facebutted the back of Emma's head as they flew off the end of a waterfall, and she had come off a little worse for wear unfortunately. She was fairly sure she had broken it- to be confirmed the next day at the hospital- and was understandably pretty miserable.

Trentepohlia algae are vunerable to cold damage. No danger of that is a thermal park

There wasn't a lot we could do- Emma and I aren't very good at being comforting- but we did do all the laundry like good room mates and soon went to bed.