Sunday - Rotorua

Waking up this morning we could barely walk as our legs were sore from yesterday....it was going to be a slow day! We had our breakfast and picked up the certificates and t-shirts (that Mark left me notes about!!) and it was off to our next destination, a small discussion was had about the direction we were headed, I was navigator of the trip so I was right.....half an hour in I realised I was not right! We had taken a wrong turn fortunately it was an easy fix only adding a short time on to our route and we got to see more of the country and take in the beautiful scenery along the Waikato. Mark only stressed out about running out of petrol for 70km's, but the sun was shining and we had radio signal for most of the drive.

As we pulled in to Rotorua we spotted a sigh for the Te Piua geysers, great one thing ticked off the list and it wasn't even lunch time....the car park was empty so we had hit gold...until we went on a 5 min walk to the main entrance with our sore legs and realised we had parked in the camper car park...it was busy. We purchased our tickets and got residence discount (over half) so the day was still looking up.

We were giving a map and went off exploring, te geysers were fascinating, it is crazy to think that the water can get so hot...we even saw bubbling mud pools at 95 degrees. The main geysers was called Pohutu meaning constant splashing in Maori. This area was rich in Maori culture and it was great to see the culture up close.

After a slow walk around the park....slower still as our legs were still sore....we stopped off at the gift shop and bought some Rotorua mud for some home facials when we were back in Christchurch. Then it was on to the trusty I-site for the local run down and plan our stay there....we didn't realise how much Rotorua had to offer there was so much we both wanted to do however we had to whittle it down to the must-do's for us this was decided over a much needed foot long sub...each of course.

We couldn't miss the luge as we loved the one in Queenstown and had heard that the Rotorua one was even better...it did not disappoint, although the views weren't as breath-taking as Queenstown. The luge was sooo much fun, there were 3 tracks scenic, intermediate and advanced, clearly realising we were luge veterans we were allowed to by pass the obligatory scenic track and head straight for intermediate...check us out. Mark beat me to the bottom on the two higher tracks...both our luge's getting some air time over some of the 'hills', I was also competing with a helmet that was clearly 5 times bigger then my head!! But on the scenic route I over took him on a bend and it was sweet sweet victory...I even have the photo evidence to prove it...

We then decided to head to the Lake Tatawera as it was advertised you could get a water taxi to a natural hot pool....sounded good although probably not the best weather for it. When we arrived at the lake we had missed the last water taxi....never mind. One the way we stopped off at the Green Lake & Blue Lake, 2 lakes next to each over with a striking colour difference. We had a brilliant day and was going to make good time getting over to the coast a day earlier then planned, although not before stopping to take some pictures of the Rotorua museum and Rachel spring which was 212 degrees...yikes....and supposedly had youthful properties....probably because it burnt off your wrinkles!

It was a nice drive to Whakatane and we decided to stay at the hotel running our White Island tours the following day...you gotta love convenience. And then it was straight down the chippie for some fish and chups. Then a nice night in watching tv in a very comfy bed....ready for what tomorrow brings!