Road to Rotorua

---

Today we traveled from Auckland by bus on our way to Rotorua, NZ (Rotorua meaning lake number two in the Maori language). Along the way the the landscape looked similar to the US with cattle and farming land along the highway. There were also many sheep; the tour guide told us there are 6 sheep per person in NZ. I am happy to leave the city as most have told me the beauty of NZ is in the land.



An interesting coincidence is Aukland, NZ is on the 36th parallel south while Nashville, TN is on the 36th parallel north. it is summertime here in NZ, but the weather is much cooler than a Nashville summer, being a high yesterday of 72, in the middle of summer.



We stopped at the 54 acre Hamilton Gardens, which is a depiction of various garden types such as English, Italian Renaissance and Kitchen, including herbs. It also had a lake where radio controlled boats were being piloted, similar to Del Webb.



We stopped for a home hosted lunch with a couple who run a relatively small organic milk farm with approximately 150 cows. In addition to lunch they gave us a tour of their farm which included the milking stations. Organic milk is tightly controlled in NZ and allows only natural grass fed cows with most of the production exported to the US and sold in stores like Fresh Market.

---