Rotorua, New Zealand: Nature at It's Finest

Our next stop on our whirlwind tour of the North Island of New Zealand was Rotorua. We debated about staying in Rotorua or Taupo, but ultimately chose Rotorua due to the central location to everything else we were doing. 

It was an amazing place to spend a few days. Such a small town, but had all the amenities you could ever want. It was clear that it was catering to tourism, but for what we wanted to do, that was ok by us. We spent the entire time outside. Rotorua has so many outdoor places to explore too. 

One of the largest parts of Rotorua is the geo-thermal activity. It can be seen--and smelled--throughout the whole area. Because it was cooler autumn weather, the hot pools create a fog feeling wherever we are. Some of them are fenced in because they are too hot to enter. Others are more controlled so you can swim or soak in them. 

The hotel we stayed in had a geo-thermal heated pool. We loved that aspect and spent hours just relaxing in the warm water. 

In one of the large parks in the city center, you can walk the trails to see the geo-thermal pools and native nature. We were happy that we could soak our feet in one of the hot pools. It was fun until we saw the sign to not have any open wounds so you can avoid getting amoeba! HAHA. Lady Hiva quickly removed her feet, wounds or not, she did not want the chance of getting any unexpected souvenirs. HAHA

Green space!!! We have all missed it! The ability to just get out and walk, roll, and run in grass is priceless. 

It was fun to see the autumn colors start to change. A drastic difference from being at the hot weather of India. 

We found one bookstore in the middle of town. Bookstores are one place -- other than Disney -- that all four of us love. We could have been there for hours. And as expected, we walked out with a heavy bag of books to read. 

Lady Hiva loved these passionfruit ice creams. If we could not get scoop ice cream, she would go for this stick version. Every gift shop sold them and she made sure to sample each! HAHA

We did the Redwood tree walk. It was beautiful. We went to both the day walk and the evening lights walk. They have suspended a walkway across the area from huge tree, to huge tree. I cannot describe how just being in nature is rejuvenating to all of us. 

We went to see the Kiwi Hatchery, but were unable to get tickets. As we were driving the Muggles spotted these big balls you can ride down a steep hill. They wanted to go really bad. You get into the ball and they put some warm geo-thermal water inside and you slide down the hill. Because you get soaking wet, we went back to the hotel to get our clothes and went back. It was a great experience. 

We all had so MUCH fun! The first time Lady Hiva and the Muggles went down in the same ball. I went by myself. The second time the two Muggles went again together. We all laughed and shared stories for several days after of how we tumbled all over each other as we sped down the hill. 

We all did a lot of reading and card playing. We had to keep buying more and more books because we kept reading them all. We have loved playing games with the Muggles, they are learning all the games that we played with our families when we were younger--they can play Trumps, Solitaire, Hand and Foot Canasta, and Nertz. 

Our trip to Australia and New Zealand was amazing. Cannot wait to go back. Lady Hiva has already been trying to figure out when we could make another trip! I guess that is a big sign that we all enjoyed it! We came back happy and glad that we went.