We woke up to a rainy day and so there was no chance of us being able to go sea kayaking. There was in fact no chance of us being able to do anything in Whitianga so we sharply got ready and began driving to Rotorua after we had eaten breakfast. We soon came across a flooded road as a nearby river had burst leaving a muddy trail. Andrew failed to realise that there was a queue of traffic waiting to pass through the flood so he just drove straight through when the road was clear. We stopped at a bakery in Waihi to buy some bread buns to eat with our daily soup meal and then found a picnic spot to eat. We continued our journey to Rotorua and found a campsite called 'Kiwi Paka' which was the cheapest campsite so far on our trip through New Zealand and it even had a thermal outdoor pool! We found our camping site which was made very private as it had a high hedge on each side. I headed straight for the shower block and spent a fair bit of time in a hot shower to warm up. We then drove into the centre of Rotorua to find a pharmacy. It was a nice place but we laughed at the fact that it was described as a city as the population was only 70,400 which is actually pretty huge for a New Zealand settlement. We returned to 'Kiwi Paka' to drop off our campervan and then we walked through 'Kuirau Park' which was a highly active thermal area. There were many steaming pools of water and there was also a place where we could sit and dip our feet into a hot water tank. However, it looked a little grubby so we just used our finger to test the water temperature, which was pretty hot. It all looked very strange as the whole area appeared to be smoking away! We continued our walk to the 'Pig & Whistle' pub where we paid a whopping $19 for two Becks, which weren't even a full pint! However, the building itself was pretty impressive as it was a former Police Station. A plaque on the wall explained the history of the building and there was an interesting quote that caught my eye - “The new building produces a humorous side to life in the Thermal Regions, being the most imposing building in the main street, it had previously been mistaken by visitors as a Library, the Post Office, a Bank, the Tourist Office, and even one Sunday, as a place of worship. No one has yet mistaken it for a Pub” – New Zealand Police Journal, December 1940. We only had the one drink as it was really expensive for people on a budget but as we continued walking down the street we came across 'Hennessey's Bar' which offered a 'Shepherd's Pie' plus a drink for $10. We couldn't resist the offer so we both ordered the deal and we could even choose a local tap beer. We weren't really expecting all that much but the 'Shepherd's Pie' was so tasty and we got a big bowl full! We left the place in search of a liquor shop but we didn't find one so we just walked back to our campervan through the now dark 'Kuirau Park'. We managed to complete a washing load but the dryer decided to break so that our clothes remained wet. We then had to pay again to use a different dryer even though we told a member of staff that it stopped working half way through the cycle. We had another beer whilst we were waiting patiently for our laundry drying and then went off to bed.