Day 2 Rainbow Springs

Firstly, the stars here are amazing. I mean, the stars throughout NZ are simply beautiful and 100x better than anything I’ve seen back in the UK as you always see the milky way quite distinctly. But last night? I swear it was a star gazers dream, I completely forgot to take a picture as I just got caught up looking up.

Today I woke with the sunrise and after a quick breakfast I head out looking for the trek I wanted to do. Now I’ve mentioned before that Kiwi’s aren’t big on signposting and never was that more true than today. I ended up going down 4 wrong roads because none, NONE of them were marked on any of my maps. And, of course, there are never any road signs in NZ

 It's hard to mind getting lost when you're getting lost that's just so pretty- these trees were massive! The bushes at the bottom were over three times my height!

 I did eventually find the track though and after seeing a slightly daunting warning not to attempt it when the river was in flood or after heavy rain I set off (I should maybe mention that last night it rained… pretty heavily)

The walk to Rainbow Springs was simply beautiful and definitely one of my favourites – the foliage was stunning and the path ran right along side the river so you’d often catch a glimpse of some rapids and the soar of the crashing river was your constant backdrop.

I’m really glad I set out early in the morning too, as despite it being winter here I definitely understand why its called the ‘winterless north’ as by around 10 it really started to heat up.

Just before I got to the waterfall everything went quite quiet, until I turned a corner on the path and got COMPLETELY drenched. I suppose the heavy rain had made the waterfall play up but my glasses were a blurry mess within seconds and my top was wet through!

So I quickly went up the cliff side to get a drier view of the falls.

 The walk back flew by and the whole trek only took a few hours so I decided to venture further along the river towards the Basin Reserve as I still had plenty of time. The section was definitely harder, purely because it was intensely muddy after the rain.

There also may have been one, or two terrifying moments that the mud was just too slippery and I did a crazy little wobble/skid towards the sheer drop down the river.

Despite nearly tumbling into the river a few times when I saw a thin, muddy little track to a second, surprise, waterfall I couldn’t resist. Although I think it was wading down to the rocks that really did it for my shoes – they’re now retired in the bin

I really love it when I come across a NZ heritage sight or historic landmark, because they always just seem so new to me! This was a historic power station that, weirdly, is just open for the public!

Steadily the path widened until I ended up in a park, from here I went to the Stone Store, which is the oldest stone building in New Zealand, and the missionary buildings - all of which look lovely in the sunshine

Everyone that works there is dressed in traditional clothing – think long dresses, corsets and shawls. And they sell only locally sourced bits and pieces, including preserves and jams made from the fruit grown in the gardens. They also make sure to sell a lot of what the store would have originally sold – gunpowder tea, handmade beeswax candles etc

Really falling in love with the horizontal lifestyle here in Kerikeri – the weath certainly doesn’t harm either! Walking around in t-shirts and shorts in winter? Yes please!

Rotorua

After Scuba Diving last weekend this weekend I had a much more relaxed time by going to Rotorua with Hanne and her sister Rini! It was a 2hr bus journey there and apart from the bus driver enjoying breaking too much meaning we all felt queasy we got to Rotorua super quickly and then it only took us 10 minutes to find our way to hostel - we managed to get a 4 bed room to ourselves too! 

 Me and Hanne loved this on top of a random motel!

We stumbled across a group of school children pulling a fire engine! 

Once we were settled in we decided where we wanted to go, rummaging through all the leaflets we'd picked up and planned our time in Rotorua. Then it was off to the first thing - Te Puia Thermal Park. There are quite a few thermal parks in Rotorua but this one had a large Maori focus which we really liked, and for the entry price you could also get a guided tour (our tour guide was so lovely!)

Kia Ora Te Puia! 

(made out of flax at the weaving school at the park)

 The park was pretty beautiful and I loved how you'd often turn a corner and find yourself facing a bubbling, steaming pool of water!

 Maori's traditionally used a lot of these naturally heated pools to cook with

 There was also a Geyser, I thought this part was so pretty!

 This is the Geyser slowly warming up

 Me, Hanne and Rini as the Geyster was about to blow!

 It goes over 20metres high!!

Sometimes there was no clear stream or pool, the ground was just smoking!

 A traditional Maori building which is still used today for members of the Maori community to practice some traditions ensuring their culture isn't forgotten

me and Hanne being touristy at the Gate to Te Puia!

By the time we finished Te Puia it was getting really late and once we'd walked back into town it was dark and we were starving so after a delicious dinner we all crawled into bed (after a lot of discussion about which way we had to turn our clocks!)

 Our second day started by checking out and storing our stuff in the luggage room before catching the bus to the AGRODOME. Ok, so it sounds terrible, I mean it's a sheep show… but it was really fun and surprisingly informative - all three of us loved it!

 I got to pet this little guy!

 The guy sheered a sheep for us - and I honestly think the sheep was nodding off, it clearly wasn't bothered by being sheered!

 19 prize winning Sires from 19 different breeds

As they came on stage he told us a little bit about each breed and it's funny how each sheep seemed to have a their own personality!

 One of the dogs they use of the Sheep Farm 

 As you can see the sheep were very interested in what was going on!

 After the show we caught a dog herding demonstration before catching the shuttle to Rainbow Springs Wildlife Park

 I didn't take many pictures in the park but we went to a bird show, and saw all sorts of native birds and the odd reptile. There was also a log flume!

 After having lunch and buying a few suviners we heading over the bus stop. Once we got there we realised we'd have to wait half an hour for the bus, luckily it was a beautiful day and there were two little ponies in the feild by the bus stop we sat down in the sun. We ended up only waiting 10 minute though as the shuttle driver, who we'd gotten talking to earlier and was really friendly, drove over and offered to take us into town! For free! we jumped in and got a ride to a local park that he recommended feeling!

Look at the sign! 

 The park was stunningly beautiful!

 And it was dotted with tons of steaming water and bubbling mud pools! It was ethereal!

 It was unlike anywhere I'd seen and it was just in the local park! There were children and families on the lawns and yet between the trees you'd see steam rising up!

 The highlight was definitely the massive steaming lake! It was huge and incredibly humid as you walked over the bridge - I loved it!!

 me, in the smoke!

 After enjoying the park we walked up the hill and got this amazing view of Rotorua Lake! 

 We'd have loved to have stayed longer on the hill, but we had to run to catch our bus! 

I had sure to take a photo of this!! 

I'd have loved to have spent a little longer in Rotorua as we didn't get change to walk around the lake but we packed in a lot in the short time we were there! We arrived at 12 on Saturday and left at 5 on the Sunday so it was flying visit!