mrsjono

Checked out The Landing in the morning. Lake Tarawera was very calm and peaceful, the swans and ducks were floating quietly towards us. The silhouette and reflections of the black swans on the tranquil waters were stunningly beautiful.





Lake Tarawera


Stopped by a lookout at the junction of Temu Road and Tarawera Road


On the way to the Blue & Green Lakes, we passed the Te Wairoa car park and decided to check out what's on the information panels. This was the start of the Tarawera Trail which goes to Hot Water Beach, about 5-6 hours one way.


Let's try the 5-10 mins walk to the bridge and lookout


It turns out there was a bit of an incline to the Te Wairoa Valley lookout and we weren't sure if the view was worth it so we turned around and left lol


Blue Lake


Green Lake


Lake Rotorua


Checking out the steam


Te Papaiouru Marae in Ohinemutu


Government Gardens


Going for another dip again at Kuirau Park

Swung by the Bay of Plenty to introduce my family to Mt Maunganui and Te Puke. It was difficult to find a park in the morning and I had to get out of the driver seat to let Jeffrey parallel park for me while a line of vehicles waited, how embarrassing! When we visited Mt Maunganui two years ago, I felt the views at the top of The Mount was worth the effort and was confident my folks would be able to manage the short climb up, given the amount of morning exercise they have been consistently doing over the years. I was happy everyone enjoyed the splendid views at the top.










After a good work out we had lunch at the busy Eighty Eight Cafe and moved on to Te Puke. Rui and I have never been there before and only know of it as a place with many job opportunities in the kiwifruit industry. No fruits in winter so we just had a look around the shop and took photos with the big kiwi.





Only my father and I were interested to go up the big kiwi lol


Jump on the Kiwi Kart orchard tour!

The plan this morning was to take the folks to the Cambridge farmers market while the LOTR fans head off to Matamata for their Hobbiton tour in the other car.


Stayed two nights at this English Tudor house at Armagh St. Payment was made directly to the owner to avoid Bookabach's 2% credit card surcharge. The house was huge and my sis said it had a creepy feel. There is a pool, a piano in the living area, a study room and stuffed toys in the kids room.




They were most interested in the fruit and bakery stalls and bought some pears, apples and cookies back.


Near Town Hall


After shopping in the pink church, we wandered over to a park across the road.


They loitered around this tree with red leaves for some time


Maple leaf for you Mom


Te Koutu Lake



After a relaxing morning we met up with the rest in town for lunch at Dumpling House and checked out the Hamilton Gardens in the afternoon.



Into the bamboo forest



Victorian Flower Garden greenhouse

Roads remained closed the next morning. I was worried we would be stranded in Ohakune without a place to stay for the night. Cleaned up the bach and met the property manager when checking out. I asked her if the bach was available tonight in case we couldn’t get out, her reply made me sound like my worries were unwarranted; she said if you can’t get out they can’t come in too. Ya huh. There was already a long line of vehicles waiting for the roads to open. It was a relief when we could finally move at around 10.30-11am. The plan was to have lunch at Cambridge but due to a late start we were only at Taumarunui by lunch time so we stopped there and had Thai food. Happened to pass by an alpaca farm and drove up to check it out.




The gates were open and there wasn’t any entrance fee. My aunt was very excited as she was hoping to see one and there were lots of them. They seemed curious and came near the fence but moved away when we reached out for a pat. It was time to move on as the plan was to visit Waitomo Caves and there is another hour’s drive to Hamilton where we will be staying tonight.




There were lots of people at Waitomo. Rui & I didn’t want to go in when we saw the price and we weren’t fond of commercial tours anyway. My sis paid for us and got the basic tour tickets. We followed a guide through the caves and were asked if anyone wants to sing, no one did. We hopped on a boat into complete darkness and silence and it looked like the “sky” above was lit up by a massive patch of white blue spots. After around 15 mins or so we came out to light and all of us felt it was overrated and not worth the $50 pp lol.




There was still some time before it got dark so we tried a 25 min return walk to a lookout point along the Waitomo walkway. It was an easy and short walk up the hill to views of open farm land.