We left the Coromandel Coast and set off for Rotorua, our next stop. To begin with we drive through pleasant farmland on nearly empty roads then we reach the foot of the range of hills that have flanked us to our left and see a waterfall sign. We decide to deviate from our route and explore. We are so glad we did as the Wairere Falls (photo) are spectacular to say the least. We parked the car & set off up the side of the mountain. The signs said that it would take 45 mins to reach the base of the Falls & a further 40 mins to get to the top. Well, Sallie made it a third of the way up before turning back and I made it nearly to the top but gave up when faced with what looked like the beginning of the the stairway to heaven! Peter made it to the bottom of the Falls & said that the stairway where I gave up was the first of two more plus more rock scrambling and then other four, so I'm glad I gave up when I did. Peter forgot to take his camera so we don't have pictures from that vantage. However with my zoom lens I managed to get some good shots from the road. Exhausted we fall back into the car & continue on our way.
We arrive in Rotorua and book into the Prince's Gate Hotel a lovely old fashioned colonial hotel with the decor and service straight out of a Victorian novel - Agatha Christie would have felt at home here - we had a luxurious 'afternoon tea' but thankfully no poison in the cream cakes. There is an underlying odour of bad eggs everywhere that we finally track down to be from the sulphur springs close by in the Park. There are three small dunking hot spring warmed pools in the courtyard of the hotel that we may try later.