We headed to the mountain bike tracks with the kids first thing and hired bikes for everyone for a couple of hours. Decided to firstly take on the kids loop which was a pretty easy track. The track wound it's way through the redwood forest and it was beautiful and the trails well maintained. Jacob and Angie did start to get tired but I convinced them to climb one last hill and do Challenge - grade 3 trail while Joel and Caitlyn went off to tackle a few more tracks. The Challenge trail was pretty good for the kids but a bit of a steep descent in a few places which the kids walked down. Jacobs favourite trail was The Dipper - a very nice a flowy trail with nice big (easy) berms. We did The Dipper a few times and then head back to the car park on the kids loop. The only injuries was to shins thanks to feet coming off pedals and sore legs from climbing.

Headed back to the motel, grabbed a bite to eat and hit the road again.

Decided to head to a few of the local natural attractions for the afternoon. First stop was a round trip of Blue Lake (Lake Tikitapu), Green Lake (Lake Rotokakahi) and Lake Tarawera. From Lake Tarawera you can look out across
the water and see Mount Tarawera - a volcano that last erupted in 1886. Another reminder of just how new a country NZ is.

Headed back to town and stopped at the info centre at Redwood Forest. We bought tickets and went for a walk in the tree tops. This is a suspension/platform style walk through (under) the canopy of the majestic redwood trees. Although we did this during the day you can also do the walk during the night and they have lanterns lighting up the forest canopy. Free stuff here is a walk thru the Redwoods on the forest floor.

After Redwoods we headed to town and checked out the geothermal pools (free) just located in a pack in town. There was probably about 20 oddly pools/steam vents scattered around the park - from bubbling mud pools to sulphur pools. In one section there was a huge geothermal lake emitting gases - the whole town smells like farts.

Headed back to the motel and got ready for dinner. We booked in for a Māori cultural experience at Mitai Māori Village. This was a fantastic experience and we got to experience a Māori entrance into a village on their boat, traditional dances (including an intense Huka) and a Hāngi for dinner. Watching the traditional dances was just amazing, especially seeing the role women had in the songs - would hate to meet either gender on the battle fields in the wars of the past. Also got a detailed explanation of the facial tattoos- the chin tattoo that both men and women get is an owl (protector of the family), with men also getting the kiwi on the checks, parrot on the nose (being able to talk/recall stories) and bat on the forehead.
After dinner we were taken on a quick walk of the first where we got to see some glow worms on the path edges. It was a really good night and would definitely recommend.

What a day!!

MTB ING with kids
Dive to the lakes
Walk around geothermal area in town
Māori experience