Jeffrey and Kristin Lee on the Road: Taihape, Haku Falls, Rotorua, New Zealand (April 2018)

After we left Wellington, we passed through several retiree communities, such a Tawa. Throughout the day, the cloud was cast low and the day was gloomy.

Galloway cows are one of the longest established breeds of beef castle, from Galloway, Scotland. They have white belt in the body, unlike Black Angus.

We made a comfort stop at Levin and lunch stop at Taihape, Palmerston North, the gumboot capital. There was a gumboot throwing place. I was able to throw 20 meters and the winner at Taihape's throw day was 34 meter. The world record is known to be 49 meter. Wow...! This town have a giant statue of gumboot.

We visited Haku Falls. It was almost horizontal falls which resulted from the water that branches out from the main river and gush into a gorge. The sound and the scene were quite unearthly.

Wairaki Golf Club is now owned by Koreans. The round of game is said to be quite expensive. We passed through a thermal steam power plant.

We stopped over at Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland. Mud pools were fuming out the steams.

Rotorua means Lake No. 2. Probably it was discovered as the second lake among 18 lakes in the area.

Now Rotorua is nicknamed Rotovegas, obviously like Las Vegas. Not because Roturua has a lot of casinos but because it has a lot of accommodations based on hot springs on the main street, like Las Vegas. The most famous of all is Polynesian Spa. We peeked in and saw a lot of Korean tourists. Given that Korean love hot bath, no wonder. Overall, Rotorua is called the Geothermal Wonderland.

We had dinner with soup, seafood salad including prawns and mussels. Fabulous desert bar was quite enticing and satisfying.

The following day, we woke up early to take a Gondola to have breakfast at the top of the Gondola. The view was panoramic!

After the breakfast, we were given one tick for riding Luse, actually a go-cart on the hill. One of the travel mates gave her ticket so I had two. I rode twice and it was fun.

We then went to Agrodome to watch a farm show. All breeds of sheep were placed on the show and they looked so big because their wool were uncut. The show host demonstrated how to shear the sheep and also how to use sheep dog to tender sheep and even ducks.

We visited Te Puia Arts and Culture Center. We watched boiling mud pools and also shooting geysers. We had a chance to watch the Kiwi birds, but they are nocturnal and I could not see anything because it was so dark.

After a Tiki tour of Roturua, we had a free time in the afternoon. I signed up for the Duck Boat ride. The Duck Boat we rode was 74 years old dating back to the World War II. It was designed and made over only 38 days. It did not draw interest initially but after it successfully rescued people on a stormy day, it received support and because part of the battle vehicles. We were told that there are only 1,000 Duck Boats left in the world. This company owned two. It was going at about 40 km per hour on the land, but it was able to go only 5 knots on the water. Far too slow for doing anything meaningful.

We visited the Lake Rotorua, a shallow 4-5 meter deep withing entering because it is too shallow. But we entered into Blue Lake and Lake Okareka. It was raining and the Duck Boat ride was lacking excitement.

On the way, we visited a museum that used to be a jazz club. The building was quite interesting in architecture.

Also, we passed by Devil's Smell Hot Spring Place where sulfur smell was really bad. The water temperature is 100 degrees C and could not enter. It was called Rachel's Spring.

In the afternoon, we went to Polynesian Spa. We went into the open air pools with the panoramic view of the lake where all kinds of birds were gathering. It was a bird sanctuary. We were sitting in a shaded pool all to ourselves only until when a group of Korean tourists poured in. But we were about to leave anyway after enjoying relaxing moments.

The dinner was with Hangi food and Maori Pui Ball Dance for women and Haka Dance for men. After we watching their show, we were invited to learn and practice their dances. I participated in it and they said I was funny. I meant to be funny.