New Zealand: Waitomo to Rotorua

Today was a beautiful sunny day, perfect weather. We left Matamata early morning and drove through rolling hills and rural properties. We broke fast in Ototohanga at a bakery in town.  We saw beautiful lakes and drove across narrow old weathered dam walls.

We got to Waitomo with time to spare before the next cave tour, and the Waitomo Caves are just stunning. We descended into the Glow Worm cave, and floated beneath a sea of green stars on a punt, silently in awe of the display above.  Well except for the noisy American tourist asking stupid questions.

From here we drove through some more stunning countryside and past beautiful lakes where I'd love to come back and camp beside.

We arriving in Rotorua early afternoon.  We opened the car doors and were whacked solidly in the face with the stench of sulphur.  We were in the town of the bog of eternal stench.
We just had time to visit Hells Gate, walking around amongst the sulphur spewing mud pools finishing with a foot mud bath before being picked up and taken to Te Puia.

At Te Puia, we saw Maori dance and song including the obligatory haka; I even got up on stage and did the haka as well.  Dinner was a huge tasty hangi feast and we finished the evening with hot chocolate by the erupting geyser.