Woke up to a very drizzly day and left Taupo quite early. So early in fact that we were at Rotorua right at 10am. It was only a 76 km drive but lots of traffic on the road as it is the last long weekend in NZ before Christmas. It is the Labour day weekend for New Zealanders. We got to our campground and set up then explored the camp as there is lots of geothermal activity here. You can walk to the beach and dig a hole in the sand and it will fill with hot water. I talked to one young fellow who told me he had found the water in the hole just too hot to lay in. There are all sorts of warning signs saying don't get off the beaten track as you could end up being parboiled! On our walk to town we saw many homes with pipes and elaborate shutoff mechanisms in their yard going down into the ground so they make use of the geothermal energy to heat their homes. Someone told us that there are new fumaroles opening up all the time. I am not sure how they would handle one suddenly starting up under their house. We had lunch in town and then walked over to the area Jean's choir seminars were being held. She is in a convention centre behind the Rotorua Museum which was the old Bathhouse in earlier days. Quite a spectacular building. Once the weather improves, I will take some pictures of it. The area is very well set up with various fields set up for bowls, crochet, and other sports. Looked just like an English town centre. This evening, we had to drive Jean to her location which is not an easy thing to do with the maggot. No problems getting there but coming back we found out definitely how much maggots are appreciated in NZ. Twice we were honked at because the back end of the maggot did not quite clear the travel lane when in the turning lane. It is quite noisy here right now as the campsite is hosting a large group of young swimmers and they are all right next door having their dinner with mothers exhorting their young ones to "eat more greens". It has been raining quite heavily this afternoon which is the first time we have encountered a lot of rain since our first day in Auckland. We will be here for 3 days so will have a look at what activities we can get involved in.