John & I left Auckland for a couple of days and headed to Rotorua. We drove through Hamilton where we stopped and walked along the river before heading further south to Rotorua. We booked into a cabin for 2 nights and then set off to explore the town and had a general orientation including driving to the top of a nearby mountain to see a wonderful view over the city.
Spent the next morning at the Rotorua Museum, an historic Bath house building and one of New Zealand's most famous architectural structures (built in 1908). From there we visited Whakarewarewa, a living Maori village set within geothermal grounds where we saw a Maori cultural performance which included the Haka. We also saw hot springs, mud pools and Maori women preparing and weaving flax leaves. Went for a walk along a trout stream and then to Kuirau Park right in the middle of town where we strolled among bubbling mud pools and steaming holes and also soaked our feet in the open air mineral foot baths.
The following day we left the beautiful (if not a little sulphur smelly) Roturua and headed for Mount Maunganui – a lovely beachside town. There was a huge cruise ship, on the harbour side of the peninsula leading to the Mount and on the other side were beautiful beaches with rolling surf.
Drove back along the east coast through Beachlands where Blake & Jonno have been looking at some real estate as it is where they would like to live – very nice place. (they have since moved into Beachlands and are just loving the 'country' feel of the town)
Met Blake at the International Travel College where she works. She gave us a tour of the college and we met some of her students as well as fellow staff members and the Director. It was certainly a very friendly environment and it is now very clear why she loves working there.
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