Rotorua, so much to see!

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The sun is back...and we love New Zealand under the sun shine! But don't worry, we still had few showers on the way.



We are staying for two nights in downtown Rotorua. Not a lot to say about the city, you don't come for the city here, but for what is just out of it! We are staying at the Ibis. 100usd per night for such a place is just a rip-off, but I guess this is the common rule in most of New Zealand for now when it comes to price of services. We had a box of a room, but who cares, we were out most of the time.



There is a lot to visit around Rotorua, and when I mean a lot, it is a lot. We spend first some time walking the Redwoods forest. Amazing huge trees. They may not be as large as the one you will find in North California, but they are still huge, all those red trees surrounded by amazing ferns of different shape. Just gorgeous! After this, we drove to the Blue Lake and the Green lake, and still ferns were all over the place.



Afternoon was an hour away from Rotorua. Tanya dreamed about visiting Hobbiton since she saw The Lord of the Ring. I have to admit, I've never seen the movie. Entry to Hobbiton is close to 60usd...pretty insane for just a tour of two hour, for just a film outside set. So Tanya indulged...and I went to play golf! In this entry, few of her pictures....and trust me, the smile at the end of the visit for Tanya clearly told me how happy she was with her visit.



On my side, I went to play Matamata golf course, some 20 minutes away. Cute little hilly course...and quite some years since I play any golf in New Zealand. That was a day, for both of us!



Next morning, we are hitting the road again. We don't have that many days in New Zealand, so the plan is to explore as much as we can of the North Island. So we drove south, all the way pass the Lake Taupo till we reached Waiouru before heading north again all the way to Hamilton. Trust me, it's a drive, but it's a pretty amazing one too!



South of Rotorua, we spent few hours at Waiotapu. These are a collection of geothermal amazing fields. We witnessed first the mud pools, than the 10.15am burst of the Lady Knox Geyser. This is happening everyday at the same time, because they simply add some chemicals to have the reaction leading to a 10 meters high burst of bubbling water. Pretty fun experience...even if slightly manufactured.





Walking Waiotapu took us a good two hours. We had the sun, we had the heavy shower...lucky for us we had the huge golf umbrella. The full circuit is very well organized at Waiotapu. I have to admit, it was one of these amazing sites on earth. I've never seen anything like this on the South Island. But Waiotapu will for sure remain one of the highlights of our visit to the North Island.



Next entry will be about Hamilton, a more sizable city. Less pictures coming next, as we would spend some crazy time under earth!

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