Wylie Court Motor Lodge Rotorua

The weather improved and at the last minute before heading to Rotorua we decided to hit the snow for one last session - at Tuora just 20min from Ohakune. There was blue sky when we checked out of the motel and we tripped up to the ski fields. They had 15cm of snow overnight and it showed. Powder Powder Powder. We hired a sled and hit the beginner's ski area - and anyone else in our way. Nick and Josh accidentally knocked over a toddler...his dad was not impressed...but then he and his Dad sho...

This morning we headed straight to the Te Puia attraction in Rotorua. There are plenty of geothermal sights and heaps about the Maori culture. When we arrived the rain was belting down. . . . again. It seems we can't get rid of the rain. But we were here so we rugged up and started with a walk around the geothermal valley. There was plenty of boiling mud, steam, and geysers. Nick was going off at the geysers. After the walk we booked into a Maori Cultural show. This involved our crew of touri...

Back in July Davin and Charity, a
couple of Kiwis who were visiting DC on their world tour, stayed with
us for a few days and came to our July 4th party. They
gave us a lot of tips and invited us to visit Charity's parents'
honey store when we came to NZ. Today we went and had a great time
meeting Robin, who was managing the store, Wendy, Charity's mom, and
Charity's grandmother, and brother.. Robin made both Mike and I
quadruple scoop cones which were delicious (Carl...

Hell's Gate – 50 acres of boiling mud, steaming waterfalls –it's like an alien landscape – totally different than anythingwe've seen. The land and establishment are Maori owned and operated.After touring the grounds and snapping numerous photos of boiling mud and steam we run into Ben – a very cool woodcarver who gave us lessons (carving is hard work!),but the conversation with a native New Zealander—and a Maori at that—was quite special. We discussed issue...

We started the morning working on a fix for A2's camera. We read all the forums and went to a local camera shop but the cleaning, firmware update, and resets did not work. The exchange rate is such that replacing my current camera is actually about half the cost of what I paid for it a year and a half ago, so we are considering doing that in Wellington. We went to the famous "Hell's Gate" thermal area to watch a bunch of bubbling pools of mud and hot sulfuric water. We had a blast trying to p...