Our first night in New Zealand was spent in a gorgeous YHA with only 3 rooms, in Te Aroha, Waikato country. It was refreshing, after the dry Australian bush, to see lush green grass and trees, but it took us some getting used to all the buttercups, daisies and blackbirds; only the towering tree ferns reminded us that we weren't at home. We enjoyed our first week in Rotorua and the Bay of Plenty in balmy temperatures and sunshine. We hit the tourist spots in Rotorua, dipping in thermal pools and touring the geysers, but our highlight was a morning spent with mountain bikes in Whakarewarewa Redwood Forest, a forest of over 90 km of graded mountain biking trails. Mountain Biking in Rotorua, by Eve The Redwoods Forest (Whakarewarewa forest) is one of the oldest and
... read more