Rotorua, Whakatane & Ohope Beach

---

---

I have been here almost for a week and have seen already so many amazing things, I still cannot believe it.

We caught really bad weather in Rotorua, although, we wanted to stay a little bit longer we had to find the sun and head towards Whakatane. After some shopping we drove towards the Rainbow Mountain and Kerosene Creek Thermal Area which looked secluded enough. We wanted to be away from tourists! It is surprising how touristic NZ actually is. You have to pay pretty much for everything. We were lucky to find this spot as it is the only free place where you can swim in thermal river in a beautiful nature. We stayed over night. I am getting comfortable with the van however still uneasy when at night. I am scared someone will knock on the window one day haha.

I wanted to get on top of the Mt Tarawera (1047 m) but again the rain was so bad we had to leave it. You can go for a walk in the Waimangu Thermal Valley but again you have to pay. We got a Czech information flyer at least. We stopped in a magicial place by the Okataina Lake and went for a 7km walk along the lake. There is so much fauna and flora in here...so different.

We were also stopped by the police and when asked why (why wouldn't you question a Police Officer haha) we found out that there was a landslide right in front of us. That looked so scary! It is happening a lot in NZ and I was glad we were not underneath it. The police officer works with a Czech police officer btw. and this is the second time I hear about this Czech fella so maybe we will meet him one day. We parked near Ohope beach - I like it there. You could see the Whales Island and I think there was a full moon too.

Next day after a bottle of local red wine we went to Port Ohope and visited the Bird Sanctuary Wildlife Watching. This was pretty amazing!!! I mean I thought we will see couple of birds but didn't expect anything like this! We were like in a proper documentary film. We saw lots of flocks of birds and were even attacked by an oystercatcher as he was protecting his nest. So far during our trip we saw: black swan, California quail, Pukeko, oystercatcher, Marsh sandpiper (not sure if it was this kind as we were not near enough), red-billed gull, New Zealand pigeon (it is huge with 51 cm!!!), Goldfinch which were introduced to NZ from Britain in the 1860s, Australian magpie.

As the weater got better we decided to visit local Aquatic Park then headed towards Waiotahi Beach and stopped in Hikuwai Beach - Tirohanga Dunes Conservation Area which was pretty amazing.

The people here are very friendly, although have some experience with unfriendly people who most probably don't like tourists..like us..in campervans. I don't envy them. I still didn't manage to get to know Maori people. Just read quite a lot. Lukas knows a couple and the girl is Maori. We are invited to stay with them for a bit.

Today we are in Gisborne which was Cooks landing place in 1769 and I was finally brave enough to try the sea. The scenery here is beautiful and we had a great afternoon until Lukas found out that he left his bank cards in his swimming shorts .... you can guess what happened with them. Yes, the bank cards were all washed away and so we spent couple of hours looking for those little plastic things..without success. It could have been worse... I mean he had the car keys in the pocket too! LOL anyway, all is good and we are enjoying the sun.

---