Rotorua is the geothermal capital of NZ. It's a landscape of bubbling mud, many lakes and forests. It's situated on a steamy hot bed of thermal mud pools; the smell of sulfur permeates this tourist town. It has lots and lots of activities to enjoy. It is a mecca for mountain bikers. Here are just some of the activities to enjoy: heal your body in the thermal waters/mud (we're going to the Spa to do that sometime this week), soak in the mud baths, hike the redwood rainforest area, roll down a hill in a HUGE plastic ball called a Zorb (we watched that today and shook our heads with ?????---- why would anyone pay $40 to do it?), go to an Agro show and watch sheep shearing/sheep dogs (baa, baa--- great show!), visit all the beautiful lakes with the biggest one right in Rotorua, and spend time learning about the Maori culture. Bob and I were here before, so we'll skip a few of the cultural highlights and let Julie enjoy those.
Art has been most gracious. After making us a wonderful breakfast of papaya with lime, feijoa/orange juice and waffles with blueberries and raspberries and maple syrup, he drove us around to some of the local sights. Since it was raining on and off, we viewed the Rotorua Lake walkways to Sulfur Pt. and around the beautiful government gardens, rose garden and botanical gardens by car. Then, he dropped us off at the Agro Center for the sheep show.
Yesterday, after we got off the bus around noon and had lunch in town, he drove us to Lake Tarawera, with stops at Blue and Green Lakes. We did a short walk near the lakes, but the rain kept us mostly in the car.
To end the day today, we stopped at Whakarewarewa (and you thought Finnish words were long!) Forest and tramped in the grove for about an hour. While walking, we had rainshowers, but nothing put a damper on the beauty. The magnificent California redwood trees were planted there 100 years ago! The hiking was fun and the redwood forest and rainforest were dappled with raindrops that glistened in the moist air. Many runners were tramping through the soft wet pathways as we meandered on the trails. Our skin felt moist and happy.
(again, sorry, but uploading pics is taking forever and I"m paying to use this wifi and keep running out of time! I'll try again.)
So...you decided against the HUGE ball and saw the HUGE trees instead? Can't wait for the pics - I remember that area.
ReplyDeleteYou made us hungry with the yummy breakfast you enjoyed. The spa treatments sound relaxing to me!
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