Rotorua – geothermal soaking and Lake Hopping

Kia Ora! (Hello)

So, this is one of the last blogs I will write on this trip. Cannot believe there is only a little more than one week to go. This extra ordinary experience has proven wonderful and has brought us very close to nature in its most beautiful appearances and closer to each other. Ok, a little too close at times, I admit, (it will be good to get a baby sitter when we get back home ;) )

We spent two days in Rotorua which is a town on the shores of lake Rotorua. The motel owner explained to us that Rotorua town as well as the other towns around the lake were actually built in the crater that the volcano left behind.

We decided against going to the Maori-show, just too commercial and very costly.

Instead we went lake hopping yesterday, starting with the Blue lake some 20 minutes from Rotorua, it had a beach and lots of kids playing. For the first time I heard some Maori spoken, be it mixed with English.

Then on to the Green lake with a stop at the Buried Village in between.

The buried village is a museum telling the story of the village which was destroyed by the Tarawera eruption in 1886. The place was world famous for the so called terraces, beautiful volcanic formations with lots of hot springs, attracting thousands of travelers each year (this in the 19^th century) The inhabitants, a mix of Maori and English ran hotels and sight seeing tours by boat until the disaster struck and all 150 were killed.

Today on our way to Auckland we did a detour to the Waitomo glow worm caves. Beautiful caves, where you go by boat in absolute quietness and darkness except for the millions of glow worms attached to the humid roof of the cave. Nice doesn’t really cover the phenomenon, but we are being so spoilt here with magnificent views and experiences.
Now we are in the Surrey hotel, having pizza and watching Monfils go through to the second round of the Auckland tennis tournament J Will try to get tickets I think.
Haere ra! (Farewell)