New Zealand - Rotorua

We didn't have a long drive to Rotarua and arrived at our hotel in decent time.  I had been looking forward to being in Rotarua since that is where my friend, Liz, and her family lived when I went to visit them.  But familiarity also gave a sense of pressure...how good was my memory? Would our party agree with what I thought was worth our time and energy visiting?

After getting settled, we decided to look for food and some souvenir shops.  We went into town and found ourselves on Eat Street, a blocked off section of town with lots of restaurants and outdoor seating. Liz took me there for dessert, and it was such fun atmosphere.  We made it to a great restaurant, didn't have to wait in line, and they had a big table waiting just for us.

We had a delicious meal, walked around town a bit, then headed back to our hotel...well fed and tired.

The next day, we had a lazy morning and breakfast at the hotel. Then we went to the Geothermal Wonderlands.  We paid the extra money to see Lady Knox, the geyser, do her thing, and checked out sulfuric pools.  While I thought this was pretty cool...some of the younger kids did not...but we still spent all morning getting our money's worth.

  One thing I had thoroughly enjoyed when visiting the Goodgames was spending time on Blue Lake.  I thought it would be a great idea to take out fish 'n chips and have a picnic by the lake.  Unfortunately, it was very windy and somewhat chilly, so the imagined picnic by the lake turned into a picnic in our van by the lake.  Oh well...best laid plans:)

Josh had a hard time getting his picture taken

After that, the crew was just eager to get to Waihi Beach and our home for the next week.  We had done quite a bit of traveling, and I think everyone was ready to settle down.  So, we headed to Waihi...and while I was disappointed to be leaving Rotarua without doing some of the other things I had planned...it was time:)