Another lie in, up at 0830, then pack up. Over the road for a coffee and a stop at the airport to claim the refund for the cancelled flight. The airport was the smallest I’ve ever seen, the cafe was bigger than the check in area, and the staff were nowhere to be seen, just a sign saying that the desk was unattended. Duh.
Left Taupo and drove to Rotorua, the weather was perfect and the drive pleasant – rolling hills and valleys. The roads here are very empty – only one or two cafes and no petrol stations at all for the entire journey – I saw a place that had a sign for emergency petrol. The drive took a couple of hours and we’re building up a decent insect collection on the front of the car. We found the motel easily enough but were a bit early to check in so drove into the town centre to look around. 5 minutes later we’d seen it all so drove out to a couple of lakes – the Green Lake and the Blue Lake. These are next to each other but different colours (see if you can guess) due to the different beds. We stood on a hill between them and I took a panoramic photo that I’ve uploaded. We were the only people there for a while – the same thing happened at the Huka Falls – and had it all to ourselves.
Jumped back into the car and headed back to the town, stopping at the Redwood Forest on the way. If you’ve seen trees before you get the basic idea.
Drove to the spa to book a soak, found out we didn’t need to, then walked around the Government Gardens. The whole town smells of sulphur and this area was the worst because it’s next to the lake. There are plumes of steam and bubbling pools dotted around. Checked into the motel and relaxed for a while before going out for dinner. There were lots of the usual places – pizza, Chinese, Indian, but we picked a tapas place from Tripadvisor. It was in a precinct called Eat Street which sounds naff but was actually really well done, and busy. We noticed on the way back the ‘traditional’ places were all empty.
We shared some plates – potato croquettes with chorizo, salmon sliders (mini burgers), slow cooked lamb, and a beetroot and fennel salad with goats cheese. I thought it was very good, Song thought it was nice. I also had a beer, a porter, which is a dark ale.
Drove down to the spa and got a private deluxe pool which overlooked the lake. It sounds expensive but was $27 less a 10% voucher from the motel. The water was about 39C, not too hot, and very relaxing. We sat there up to our necks in the hot water looking out over Lake, it was uncovered and the moon was out. We had to stand up every so often because it got a bit much, but it was very enjoyable. We had 30 minutes which was plenty. Had a shower and sat in the cafe to wind down while Song put a dent in the credit card in the gift shop to buy mud. Yes, mud. Apparently it’s good for the skin or something. Mud. That wet dirt stuff.
Back to the motel, watched tv then sleep.
Off to Auckland tomorrow.
