Mini Vacation

What a trip! We have just come back from Rotorua and Taupo, having had a wonderful time. The drive was about six hours each way, and was full of rolling green hills and an awful lot of sheep. We learned that there are more sheep in New Zealand than there are people. In fact, there are ten sheep to every person (a total of 40 million sheep!!!). It was pointed out to us that New Zealand is the pefect country for farming. The weather is fairly moderate all year round, and they get an awful lot of rain...which makes everything so beautifully green as you can see below!



We stayed in Rotorua at a Holiday Park (campground) in a cabin. It was small, but suited us just fine (especially because it was cheap!). Rotorua is basically the Niagara Falls of New Zealand. This means that it is beautiful and interesting...but extremely touristy. There were bus loads full of tourists with cameras strapped around their necks. Despite the commercialization of the city, there were still some really great things to discover. Our first stop in our adventure was at the redwood forest, which is still fairly young in regards to forestry. These particular trees seem to grow really fast, because they were quite large for being only 50 years old.



Our next stop was at the Green and Blue lakes, which disappointingly didn't look very green or blue simply because of the weather. It was very cloudy and rainy, and the grey sky made everything look sort of dull. So we decided to check out a popular historic site, called the blue baths. This was an old bath house built in the early 1900's, and was the first place in the entire world where men and women could swim together (first picture). The actual bath house (second picture) was a bathing place used for medicinal purposes. It was a gorgeous old building with a lot of interesting history. It was used as a medicinal hub during both of the world wars, and many people flocked to New Zealand because of the water's "healing powers" (or so they thought)


After that, we continued driving to a geothermal wonderland called Hell's Gate. This is a geothermic area consisting of bubbling mud, boiling hot pools and sulphuric lakes. The sulphur in the air was definately detectable - our noses reminded us of that! It had been raining most of the day, so the smell wasn't too bad. Though I don't know all the science behind it, it was interesting to see how New Zealand is effected by the fact that there are two colliding tectonic plates directly beneath it. Here are a few pictures of Hell's Gate and its geothermal activity.

Natural hot waterfall (the largest in the Southern Hemisphere)


Sulphur crystals



Bubbling Mud


Sulphuric Lakes


We then went home for a quick dinner (pasta of course!) and we headed out again to Waikite Valley Thermal Pools. This was really fun, because we were permitted to use any of the thermally heated pools throughout the park, and it wasn't too expensive or busy. That was a fabulous and relaxing end to a very full day.

The next morning we went to the Agrodome in Rotorua, which is primarily a working farm that runs tours and shows. This was a lot of fun! Since I am a total animal lover, I was completely enjoying every minute of it. We watched a one hour show that gave a demonstration of sheep shearing, cow milking, bottle feeding lambs, and the sheepdogs at work. We then went for a tour of the farm where I was allowed to feed many of the animals (feeding the lambs was the best...they wag their little tails like an excited puppy!!).



Well, that was the end of our day in Rotorua, and was time to start heading home. We decided to stop in Taupo, which is a rapidly growing (and less touristy) city south of Rotorua. The best part was when we stumbled upon a spa park that actually didn't charge an admission fee. Down at the bottom of a hill on Lake Taupo, only a short walk away, was a completely natural and undisturbed hot spring. The best spot to sit was where the hot waters of the spring met with the cold lake, and combined for the perfect temperature. It was the perfect way to end a great getaway.



Sorry about the long post...there was just so much to talk about!! :)

Yolanda