(Day #34) Rotorua

We packed our bags and headed towards Rotorua.  Once again the drive was filled with beautiful
scenery.  There were the green pastures, hills, cows, and forest.  This is logging territory.

 

In my mind I had pictured Rotorua to look like West Yellowstone or Park City.  It didn't look like
either one.  It looked like any other town in New Zealand.  The first thing we did was find the
Duck Tour that we had tickets for.  It took us around to different points of interest in the town and
then it took us to the blue lake and the green lake.

 

After the tour we drove back and looked around The Buried Village of TeWairoa.  On June 10, 1886,
the Tarawera mountain erupted through a line of 21 craters.  This village and other sites were
buried under volcanic mud and ash.

 

We found our hotel and checked in.  That was the beginning of the low point of our trip.  Our room
had no air conditioning and was stifling hot.  This did not settle well with Dennis.  It made him mad
because he had booked our room in July and the hotel let anyone that came along that day get the
rooms with air conditioning.  Even with three fans running, it was about 85 to 90 degrees.  We couldn't
leave the window open because we were down wind from the Polynesian Spa that used thermal
geyser water that smelt very strong of sulfur.

 

That evening we went to a dinner and Maori show.  We sat next to a nice couple from New Jersey.

Dennis said that the bug in our room was a katydid.  The katydid thought it was hot in our room too.

We are leaving tomorrow instead of the two days we had planned.