Part 3: Rotorua, New Zealand

With our entire crew assembled, we were finally ready for a road trip.

Driving from Napier to Rotorua took us through steep and twisting canyons completely carpeted with eucalyptus, manuka, kanuka, and fern trees, feeling like a Jurassic Forest. The landscape slowly gave way to a land of massive crater lakes with increasing geothermal activity. Steam erupting all around and geothermal power plants everywhere felt reminiscent of Iceland. We made pub stops at Rangitaiki (little roadside spot in the country with excellent toasties), Taupo (tourist town on the shores of a ginormous caldera lake) and Huka falls (pretty little waterfall with ice blue and white churning waters).

Once in Rotorua, pending rain in the forecast motivated us to power through most of our to-do list in one day. We went to see the Lady Knox and Te Puia geysers, giant hot pools at Wai-o-tapu thermal area, and the Redwoods tree-walk. We finished our night with an epic kayak adventure under the stars to the glow worm caves on lake Okareka. The glow worms made a blanket of stars all around and above us, reflecting on the water below, accompanied by the soundtrack of dripping water and native night birds. Absolute magic! Light was restricted, as it would damage the delicate worms, so we left our phones behind. The pic below of the cave is from the internet, sorry.

With the rain finally coming later in the day today, we had more relaxed adventures. We stumbled upon a pretty little wetland at a nearby lake, full of black swans and native birds. We saw Tui birds wearing their bowties at a local park, which had tons of flowers and hot pools, and little hot pots for soaking your feet. We found a dead Weta bug, so cool! It was a baby, apparently. Finally we went "home" to recuperate in the geothermal hot tub at our rental. We all needed it!

Tomorrow: Christchurch...