We woke up and had a lovely breakfast brought to our room. We were each able to order our own things and there was plenty of food. David had his British beans on toast, I had yoghurt and Muesli, Danika had cereal and peaches, and Jason had scrambled eggs. They all came with toast and jam and our choice of juices. A lovely way to start the morning.
We checked out and headed down to Rotorua Lake. It was a lovely morning, partly cloudy and not raining, so I actually got to wear one of the dresses I had brought! The lake was beautiful...
We found a Maori Cultural Center where there was a church with an etched glass window of Jesus. The window looked out over the lake, so it looked as if Jesus was walking on water. The pictures of the window didn't turn out, but here is the church.
On the grounds of the church there were tombs of the Maori people.
We found a Maori Cultural Center where there was a church with an etched glass window of Jesus. The window looked out over the lake, so it looked as if Jesus was walking on water. The pictures of the window didn't turn out, but here is the church.
On the grounds of the church there were tombs of the Maori people.
We had a lovely walk around part of the lake, saw several thermal pools and even tested the water in different areas. Near the pools the water was really hot, further away it was bath temperature, and the normal lake water was nice and cool. The walk wandered through trees and back out to the lake shore.
There were all of these birds hanging out on this little island and it looked a bit creepy to me. We saw cormorants, seagulls, ducks, and black swans.
Next we headed to the Redwood Forest where we did a 5K walk. We found out which walk would work best for us timing-wise at the I-Site.
After stopping in for a map, we headed into the redwoods.
Of course we had to stop for a bit of tree hugging...
After stopping in for a map, we headed into the redwoods.
Of course we had to stop for a bit of tree hugging...
It was good exercise because there was a bit of a climb near the beginning. We were happy to get the tough part done early so that we had relaxing downhill the rest of the way.
There were these beautiful aqua blue streams...
I loved these ferns that were so tall they looked like palm trees.
Sitting on a bench I looked up to see this...
Danika and Jason always seem to have the most energy near the end of the walk!
The path was gorgeous and there were so many different things to see. We were so happy to see the Silver Fern, the national plant of New Zealand. It is the underside of the leaves that is silver.
We came back from the Redwood Forest and went to the grocery store and bought ham and cheese and soft buns. Then we headed back to the lake where we had a lovely lunch with a beautiful view.
Then we drove two hours to our next stop, the Glowworm Motel. The people that work here are really nice and told us of a number of things to do this evening that were free to the public. They gave us directions and everything, even lent us a flashlight as they said we would need one!
We have a three bedroom place here. Danika has three single beds in her room, and Jason has two in his. David and I took the room with the queen of course. It is nice to have a kitchen as well because we picked up some groceries so that we could make dinner.
There is a pool here, so we all went for a swim, but didn't stay long as the water was quite cool. David took this shot of us jumping in. Our three bedroom place is the building you see in the background. Lovely scenery surrounding us, and we even had a cow right outside our door!
Jason made dinner for us, pasta and sauce, and he did a great job considering the fact that the pots were from 1960, and the stove hovered between off and boiling hot, with no temperature in between.
After dinner we drove a half an hour on a beautiful winding road to Marakopa Falls. It was a short hike in to the falls and they were well worth it.
On the way back we stopped at Piripiri caves, another short hike.
On the way back we stopped at Piripiri caves, another short hike.
Then we went headed back toward our apartment and on the way we did a hike to the Natural Bridge. The hike was absolutely gorgeous, and it was really weird looking at the underside of trees when we arrived at this enormous earthen bridge above our heads.
Below you can see Danika in the bottom left corner. The natural bridge is across the top of the picture. It freaked me out a bit because it is all dirt with roots of trees showing through and it looks like it could come down at any second.
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We stopped at the General Store to pick up some milk and eggs for breakfast and then headed out to the Ruakuri Caves. We had a lovely half hour walk around the caves from around 9:00 to 9:30 p.m. The caves were really interesting with different kinds of rock formations in them.
However, the most amazing part was the glowworms. We didn't get any pictures that really show what it was like because our camera couldn't get them to register, but it was absolutely stunning. It was like walking through a fairy land of lights. After our half hour walk it had gotten much darker than when we began. On our way back from the caves there was a rock wall hidden behind trees and it was full of glowworms. What a lovely way to end the evening. These pictures just don't do it justice because only about one tenth of the glowworms that we could see are actually showing up in them.
However, the most amazing part was the glowworms. We didn't get any pictures that really show what it was like because our camera couldn't get them to register, but it was absolutely stunning. It was like walking through a fairy land of lights. After our half hour walk it had gotten much darker than when we began. On our way back from the caves there was a rock wall hidden behind trees and it was full of glowworms. What a lovely way to end the evening. These pictures just don't do it justice because only about one tenth of the glowworms that we could see are actually showing up in them.
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