Hello from Rotorua

Sunday, March 10, 2019
Tauranga, Bay Of Plenty, New Zealand
Tauranga, the city on the the Bay of Plenty, is the largest export town in New Zealand. Its name means "resting place for canoes". Tauranga is one of New Zealand's primary kiwi fruit and orchard regions and the gateway to the geothermal park, Rotorua. Tauranga has a population is 130,000. Tauranga had a 15km of beaches and house prices along the beach front range in price (broadly) from 1-2 million dollars. Rotorua has a population of 77,000 and is a 1 hour drive from Tauranga. We travelled to Rotorua by car and stopped at a popular white water rafting river and could see the rapids and hear them roar as they rushed down the river. Rotorua is popular for flying fox, quad biking and falconry. Lots of dairy  and sheep farms. Smoked trout and eel  is readily available at many shops. Fishing in the estuaries and the ocean is also popular and we saw people fly fishing for trout in Lake Rotorua. There were also lots of black swans swimming in the streams.
We drove past the Museum in Rotorua but it was unfortunately closed due to an earthquake, it is a beautiful building. We have seen son much destruction from earthquakes all over the county. The thermal pools are in abundance in Rotorua and can pop up anywhere at anytime. If one pops up in your backyard you are required to leave your home and the authorities fence off the property. Basically living on a active volcano. We then visited the Hells Gate geothermal reserve and it's thought to be a magna spike that protrudes up from the Earth's core. We also visited Kakahi Falls, the hottest waterfalls (at 40 degrees) in the Southern Hemisphere. We had a mud bath followed by a swim in the sulphur spa and are still trying to get rid of that rotten egg smell!! On our way back to the ship we stopped off at a Kiwi fruit plantation. We had a kiwi fruit ice cream and tastings of kiwi fruit and fresh juices. A great day and back to the ship for our last night. It might be a big one! Next stop Auckland.
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2025-02-06

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