Late summer through to winter is my most favourite time of year. On the drive down to Rotorua we had some great driving tunes playing, the sun made its way down the sky and we passed a number of farms selling fresh produce such as corn and eggs.
The next morning, we headed out towards Government House and museum where we got some breakfast. We then walked by the lakeside and looked at some of the mud pools there and then we went to a park to see some of the geothermal activity there. We had joked before about how you could poach an egg in the bubbling water and on our walk through the park there was indeed an egg cooking in one of the pools!
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| Top: Government House, Left: Skyline, Right: Geothermal Activity |
Later that night my in-laws wanted to go to a cultural evening and booked us in to Te Puia. This started with an introduction to the Maori language, a guided walk through the park to see some geothermal activity along with some history of the area and an insight into early Maori life. This was around 1.5 - 2 hours long. After this we were entertained in the Marae with singing and dancing - I had a go with a poi and Kane and his dad had a go at the Haka. Then it was time to eat! Food was buffet style and there was heaps of it. After the meal we took a walk back down to the geyser and sat on the hot rocks with cups of hot chocolate while one of our hosts sang a beautiful love song. It was truly a perfect summer evening.
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| Top Left: Hangi, Top Right: Pohutu, Bottom Left: Hot Chocolate, Bottom Right: Haka in Marae |
The following day we were straight in the pools at the lodge for a few hours before we went to the Skyline and took the gondola up for views over Rotorua. We enjoyed a walk around, checked out the other activities to do up there, considered the luge but then took the gondola back down. (We're going to do the luge another time).
Kane and his dad had talked about Zorbing and we're pretty keen on this. I don't think Kane's dad wanted the hassle of togs and towels so opted for a dry zorb, whereas Kane went for a nice twisty wet zorb. It wasn't until afterwards (or possibly during!) that Kane's dad discovered he had chosen the most daredevil, scary ride of them all!
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| Zydro - Sidewinder Zorb |
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| Fun! |
We started our last day with a dip in the pool. The pool was heated and in the morning you can see the steam rising from it. It looks so beautiful in the morning sun and so inviting and I really didn't want to leave. I was the last of us out the pool but I knew we had to get to Wai O Tapu by 10am because the geyser only erupts once a day at 10.15am. We were curious about how it keeps time and can change with daylight savings but all was revealed when the host explained that it was discovered many many years ago by some men who were washing their clothes bumped soap into it that set off this might eruption and today they use a similar chemical reaction.
After this we headed into the main park where there are 3 loops that you can do, we did all of them and it took a few hours.
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| Top Left: Lady Knox Geyser, Top Right: Artists Palette, Bottom: Artists Palette panoramic view |
Then we headed towards Taupo to for a very quick visit. We had lunch at the French Cafe, took a walk down by the water front and then drove homewards.
It was just a gorgeous summer getaway that I enjoyed so much!
