5th and 6th day - Rotorua

My photos have all turned upside down. It it too much of a lengthy process to turn it the other way round.

This was the day that we will be taking a drive to Rotorua. On the way we saw many scenaries of rolling mountains and many sheeps and cows....it was really beautiful. It sort of reminded me of the out-skirts scenaries in Italy as well....but in Italy, there will be many castles on top of mountains.

Unfortunately as it was rainy most of the time, I did not get an opportunity to stop at one of the nearby sheep farm to take pictures. Maybe one day, I will return there with Ben and husband to do so!

On the way we stop at this place for its ham, bacon and sausages - Pokeno...Yummy, again, I will let the pictures do its work. Generally meat is superb in New Zealand, not just this place.

Then we made another pit stop at this place called Tirau which has corrugated iron buildings in many shapes ...so you can see that how they have created this big huge dog which actually house its local tourism centre. The other one is of Jesus Christ in front of their local church.

By the time we reach Rotorua, it was quite late. It took us about 3-4 hours as it was quite a distance. The unique thing about Rotorua which many people will have know is the smell! It smell like someone shitted...haha! At first, we kept checking on Jack!...But of course, it is not ALL the time the smell is there. It is only when the wind blows. Another unique thing about the town is that at the Government Garden, there was steam (smelly of course) blowing out from bubbling geothermal pools. This is truly one unique experience. However the tulips and flowers were out in full bloom (albeit the smell!) so we took opportunity to take more photos.

Next morning, brother took us to (where else?) a thermal pool park where there were many pools of colourful water due to the volcano activities. It was a walk around a park to see those colourful thermals and heated pools.

After lunch, we took a gondola ride up to Mt Ngongataha and sat this thing got luge. It is really one of a kind experience (not cheap though). Haha.....

That basically ends the day...but wait! brother has another surprise for us.

After dinner, we went to a spa! - The Polynesian spa....it was quite an interesting place as well. There were 5 pools which had different levels of temperature. Unfortunately no cameras were allowed! Entrance fees were charged based on the number of pools that we wanted to go. For the swimming pool, it was the cheapest rate. If we wanted access to the other 4 pools, it was a higher rate and of course the most expensive will be a private pool. We paid for access to the 5 pools which overlooked the Rotorua Lake. It was beautiful.

How was the experience? Well at first it was quite relaxing but as time passed, I was not feeling so great already. My stomach was getting queasy and I was feeling a bit faint. It seemed this was due to too much blood rushing to the brains as we were dipping in the hot hot water.

Check it out at its website. http://www.polynesianspa.co.nz/Polynesian_Spa/Lake_Spa_(deluxe)_IDL=5_IDT=1656_ID=10377_.html

However once we got out of the pool and clean, etc....the after-effect was quite nice....! Slept like a baby that night as well.