Day 4 New Zealand – The Road to Rotorua
We ended up hitting a couple thermal spots on the way to Rotorua.
The Orakei Korako park in Hidden Valley was nice – a 1 hour trek and lots of cool features – unfortunately we only saw the geyser (which erupts erratically) from a distance as we had already moved on further in the trek. The Geothermal cave, the only one in the world, was beautiful.
The sulphur smell and rising steam and gasses throughout the area was a constant reminder that at any time the whole area could blow – just like the volcano that erupted in September of this year in this area.
On the way to Rotorua we took a little side road at the last minute and we were able soak in some natural thermal pools in Waikite Valley for a couple of hours.
We arrived in Rotorua and hit the information center, had a spectacular lunch of ribs, lamb salad and Nachos (the meat was so good I am considering a return trip) at the Pig and Whistle Pub.
We then headed over to Te Puia – the cultural village but the entrance fees were astronomical ($125 with or without a tour) and they closed at 6pm – as it it was 5 when we arrived we made the tough decision to skip the village (I was really looking forward to this). We perused the examples of carvings and weavings in the gift store which was surprisingly comprehensive and I purchased a book on Maori history and decided to find a hotel in town for the night – despite the constant smell of eggs.
Pam is still disappointed that we did not ride on the river jet boats.
We found a great deal and a nice room in Rotorua at the Rydges Hotel. They have a broadband connection but it is $30 for the night. Pam signed up for their frequent visitor program and saved us 50% on the internet connection - nice.
Right now Pam is checking out the hotel I am catching up on some work and the girls are watching TV.
We also have to figure out what we are going to do tomorrow; we resent the URL for the blog.
A quick dip in the pool and hot tub and I was ready for bed – these are long days – 11:00pm and I am out.
I want to start adding links to the sites of interest in the blogs – I wonder if I should go back through the entries to do so when I have internet access? I also want to link to the photos of interest. I have to figure out how to manage these photos – we already have >1000.