ROTORUA, NEW ZEALAND

A 3 hour drive directly south from Auckland took us to Rotorua for a 3 day weekend.  We hit Motorway 1 South in our 'new' (2001) Subaru Forester.

Rotorua is known for its thermal activity due to surrounding volcanoes.  They are beautiful and powerful, but the kids did not enjoy the sulfur smell.  We went out for supper at Oppie's, a popular Fish n'Chips restaurant.  The walls are covered with different All Blacks players stopping in for a meal.  The All Blacks are the epitome of stardom in New Zealand. There is a movie that has just been released called Chasing Great, which is about Richie McCaw, the 'best' Rugby player in All Blacks history.

 Much to our dismay the only way up the local mountain was on the gondola.  You can see Lake Rotorua in the background.

If you ask the kids what they have enjoyed most so far on our trip they will say the Luge. Jonah describes this as "a thrilling go-kart ride down the mountain using gravity to pull you".  Holy smokes can you ever go fast!!

We also spent some time at Rainbow Springs Kiwi Nature Park.  We actually saw kiwis running around in a darkened habitat.  We also learned about the tuatara - more DNA than humans, have been around longer than dinosaurs, and their heart beats as low as once a minute during winter months!  The highlight of this for the kids zoo was 'The Big Splash'.

The boys learned the HAKA and the girls learned how to Poi Dance at our Maori Feast.  The food and entertainment were wonderful.  The Woods men looked very threatening!  We sat with some Australians who found New Zealand very cold and regretted their travels through the country in the 'wintertime'.

We went on a beautiful hike through the Redwood forest.  Some of the trees would take 5-6 people hand in hand to surround the trunk.  They are fast growing trees though (unlike the BC trees) so the large one are only 100 years old.  There is a massive network of mountain biking trails here, so we will definitely be back.