We woke early to eat and thank Barbra and Jack for their Amazing kindness before they went to work at 8am. Barbra even gave us some home grown tomatoes for the journey!

We went back into Tauranga to buy me some sunglasses and our fresh food shop. We got some ice for our fridge to keep it cool over night!

We then drove to Rotorua where we stopped at tourist information to try to figure out what on earth to do next! I was feeling pretty stressed at this point as there was no whee to park for free, no public toilets and no plan!! So Garth decided we would drive south to Waikite Valley to the natural hot springs, where for $20pp per nigh you can camp with full access to the 6 outdoor hot pools.

We arrived and went straight into the pools. At first they didn't seem hot compared to the pools in south America but I think that was due to the outside temp being warmer here (not at altitude). I chilled and read my book in the water all day! We took the Eco walk up stream to see the source of the hot water and it was quite something. This hole spouts out water at 98 degrees Celsius at like 60 litres per second!!! The steam that comes off this pool and the stream flowing from it is amazing! If the wind blows the wrong way you can't see anything. You can smell sulphur and there is some bizzare white moss growing on the water. There was also a fact board saying due to the plants here scientists can tell that 8 million years ago NZ was once connected with Australia and South America!

We enjoyed fish and courgette for dinner cooked at the back of our van. I quickly realised the rush to cook, eat, wash up and get ready for bed before sun down!