Kiwi Paka Rotorua

After leaving Uncle Boy's Place in Maketu we were on our way to Rotorua. Once again we made a few more "leg stretching" stops along the way. In case you have never heard of it, Rotorua is known as the geothermal wonderland of New Zealand; thus making it one of the top tourist attractions of the country. It contains two lakes- Lake Rotorua and Lake Rotoiti. (Pronounced with the traditional rolling of the tongue on the "r" sound... something Morrie was quite good at.) For being a Pakeha (white ...

*** Sorry it's taken me SO long to update. I've been trying to keep up with school, and other social activities :) Over a month after my trip, I'm finally going to finish! Thanks to all of my loyal readers! *** After being dropped off at the Kiwi Paka and saying farewell to Morrie and my new friends, I checked in and went to my room. This was a very nicely furnished hostel, with a restaurant/bar, huge kitchen, TV lounge and even a naturally-heated hot tub/pool! I got settled in the room, did ...

Shortly after leaving Orakei Korako, which we both agreed was well worth a visit, we made an abrupt stop to rescue a baby hedgehog. Having ambled on to the white line in the middle of the road we predicted that the tiny little thing probably wouldn't have too much of his young life left if not helped to the grassy banking fairly promptly. Dan scooped the little fellow up and safely deposited him on the other side of the road. His life had been saved - if only temporarily. Once we checked into...

Hello! Walking in a Thermal wonderland! Hello from Rotorua. If only you could all smell this e-mail! Rotten eggs! The whole place smells of them because of the sulphur in the air in of this volcanic region of the country. We came here from Taupo, a town on the shores of Lake Taupo further south. Taupo is one of New Zealand's leading holiday destinations offering just about any outdoor experience you could ask for including the gorgeous Taupo Bungee. Overcast conditions aside, we found it to b...

Rain on way here...so called in at Athenree hot springs to get warm and also get a shower. Joined the local OAPs in the pool and relaxed..getting more acclimatised to the cold after the mild weather of Auckland. Eggs...is the word for this town north-centre of the north island. Thermal activity, hot pools, spas, lake views and eggs, eggs, and erm eggs. The YHA had a clever deal whereby we could park up, get electricity to power light, tiny bl & wh tv, tiny heater...then use facilities inside....

For the first time since we got to New Zealand it is raining. And we're not talking about a little shower, oh no. It's nearly torrential, it'll drown the kiwis! Looking on the bright side it has given us the chance to update, because lets face it, we haven't in awhile. We left Auckland two days ago and headed towards Rotorua. The bus journey was only a couple of hours and the scenery gave us something to look at so we weren't bored out of our minds. We passed Matamata, which for all you movie...

It was my birthday on the 3rd March. Thanks to everyone who sent Happy Birthday texts/emails! In the morning we went on a 1200ft parasail around the Bay of Islands, then we had a picnic on the beach followed by a meal out at a restaurant on the beach front in Paihia. First time I've spent my bday sun bathing on the beach! Next day we headed down to Rotorua, famous for its thermal activity & smell of rotten eggs! Didn't smell when we first got here but then we suddenly got a whiff of it! W...

And so the tour with the Magic Bus starts with just a small bunch of people. I was totally surprised but on the other hand it was better this way. The first stop was very soon at a nearby volcano where we had a view over a very clouded Auckland. Continuing with driving away from Auckland - where the "real New Zealand starts" in the opinion of our bus driver. On our way to Rotorua we then had another stop just before Waitomo to see a rabbit shearing (yes! A rabbit!). Arriving at Waitomo of cou...

Spent the first half of the morning finishing off in Napier: photographing some of the outlying Art Deco buildings (including one owned by British American Tobacco and a McDonalds!) and then touring the suburb with the most houses in that style. Didn't bother with the whole walk but I drove round part of it... Then it was off to Taupo, by the biggest lake in New Zealand and the start of the volcanic/hot springs area of the country. The road went through a few rugged valleys which were used fo...