New Zealand

We were up early and took a cab to the airport at 6:00 am to catch our flight to Auckland.  All went smoothly and after 3 1/2 hours in the hour (and a two-hour time zone change), we landed in Auckland about 2:30 pm.  Immigration and baggage went very smoothly, but we ran into some issues at the bio-hazard inspection.  New Zealand is very diligent to inspect everybody and everything coming into the country to at least try to keep out invasives and new pathogens.  We had to have our shoes inspected since we had been bushwalking within the past 30 days and that went fine.  The rub was that some of the shells that Susan collected on the beach are apparently form endangered species.  Her choices were:  1)  toss them or 2) pay a NZ$10 "storage" fee and have them returned to her on departure.  She opted for the latter, so she and the agent spent 1/2 hour or so filling out paperwork.  We then left the quarantine area and were to go to window outside to pay the fee.  After another 10 minute wait, it was determined that the shells were small enough that it was ok to simply keep them, so off we went with shells in hand.
We next caught the shuttle to the rental agency and in short order were on our way heading south out of Auckland.  In the first 45 minutes, we managed only 10 km (rush hour with some construction), but after a stop for dinner, it cleared out and we started to cruise at the speed limit, finally arriving in Cambridge for the night (140 km from Auckland).  First impressions:  worse traffic than Australia, much greener and lusher and lots of non-native trees.  It was another unusual day with no photos to post--maybe some tomorrow.
We left Cambridge for the one-hour drive to Rotorua to begin our "real" Kiwi experience and Rotorua is truly like no other town I've been in.  We are using a guide book that Erin and William recommended (NZ Frenzy) and I think our view aligns with the author:  it's a highly unique and worthwhile place to visit, but it is also very commercial and has all manor of places that are all very keen on separating you from your money.  You can:  parasail, take helicopter or sea plane rides, lunch/dinner cruises on the lake, kayaking, rafting, mini-golf, rolling down hills inside of large plastic balls, ...  In fact the author says that locals refer to Rotorua to Roto Vegas.
Driving into town,  one is immediately met with the smell of sulphur and steam arising from Kuirau Park (a city park) beside the road.  We first went to the park and strolled around the different thermal features--some are clear, some are muddy, some are just steam vents.

Susan by one of the thermal pools in Kuirau Park.  Generally they were fenced off, but there were a few places without fencing.  The vents end to move some, so you can see in paces where the fencing had to be moved.

View of steaming, bubbling mud pot.  The smell was rather potent all over town,, but especially close to the pool locations.

One of the largest warm water pools in Rotorua with a group of school kids on a field trip in their uniforms.

There were even vents in places like yards, boulevards, parking lots, etc.  This is a vent right beside the main road into town (not sure if the steam will show up in the photo).  On one street, we saw a small hole in the asphalt that was caused by a hot vent forcing its way through the pavement.

We then did some walking through town, starting with the Government Gardens where the Rotorua Museum is located.  The museum is an old, beautiful, Tudor-inspired bath house (for the thermal baths) from the early 1900's but is currently closed due to earthquake damage.  They are trying to reinforce the building while still maintaining historic integrity and cutting budgets at the same time.  We then went past the Blue Baths (still in use, but inside a private enclosure) and the Polinesian Spa (a commercial spa) on the way to the shore of Lake Rotorua at an aptly named place called Sulphur Bay.  We then followed the shoreline back to the north (past a lake-side golf course that is reputed to have steaming mud hazards) to a Mauri neighborhood called Ohinemutu before heading south along the Thermal Explorer Highway.

Rotorua Museum building from across the Governmment Gardens.  The view here shows only bowling greens, however the park aso had floral displays and monuments to various wars and the visits of British royalty.

Looking out at Sulphur Bay in Lake Rotorua.  This bay is basically dead biologically, but to the left in the main part of the lake, there are gulls, swans, ducks, etc., apparently able to find food.  If you look in the picture, you can see steam rising directly out of the lake water in the distance, giving the appearance of being on fire.

A recently made (not historic) Mauri war conoe on display.  It's very impressive at 20 meters long, 2.5 tons, with elaborate carving all over.

A whimsical sculpture we ran into with old bicycles and parts welded into a pine-tree shape.

Erin gave us a tip on something to do, but unfortunately we were confused as to which geyser was "insoapiated"  (her word;  apparently at some geysers, they used soap or some surfactant to "induce" geyser eruptions on a convenient-for-toourists schedule!), so we never found it.  However, Erin & Wm's handy-dandy guide book was very useful as we experienced three very cool places on our way south.  The first stop was Kerosene Creek, a spot about two km off the highway on a gravel track where there is a thermal stream that goes over a small waterfall.  The termperature is about 40 C (104 F), so it is quite warm and the waterfall turbulence is much better than Jacuzzi jets.  We put on swimwear and sat around being soothed for a bit.

On the road to Kerosene Creek, we passed t his eerily colored green lake.  The water was not hot, but warmer than otherwise expected and steam was rising from the far side.

Susan just under the waterfall at Kerosene Creek.

Another photo of me in the water to show what a sport I am.  Actually, this  isn't a real sacrifice as it's basically a hot tub.

Next we went to Rainbow Mountain for a short bush walk.  We didn't have time to go to the top, but did pass a couple of beautiful crater lakes on the way up.  Finally, we made a stop at the mud pool, a feature reminescent of Yellowstone, but each mud pot at Yellowstone is only a couple of meter across, whereas this is one continuous pool probably 40 or 50 meters across.  In  fact, this part of NZ all reminds one of Yellowstone, but much more accessible since many of the areas are available without charge.

Rainbow Mountain.  With more time, we could have gone to the top and had a great view with the clear weather.

A crater lake along the Rainbow Mountain track.  It's also an uncommon color for bodies of water but much more appealing than the lake near Kerosene Creek.

Overall view of the mud pool to show the large scale.

Close-up of the mud.  Boiling mud is strangely mesmerizing.

Another view of the mud.

After the mud pool, we inquired about a room at a nearby pub/hotel.  The had a room for three for NZ$90 (US$63--a great price), but it was right on the noisy highway, not air conditioned, shared bath, etc., so we opted to go farther towards Taupo.  About half-way there, we stopped at a road-side motel to check it out.  The clerk was Chinese and literally spoke no English--used pantomime to see if we wanted to sleep, then put the price into a calculator to show us.  It was NZ$180, which seemed too rich for our taste, so we went on to Taupo.  Taupo is a resort town on a beautiful lake, but school has started so it is not peak season and we expected o problem finding a room for the night--WRONG!  Turns out there is a big swimming race on Sat and literally every hotel/motel had no vacancy.  Finally we stopped at a random motel to see if they might recommend a nearby town or someplace more likely to have a vacancy, but luckily, they happened to have one last room with two bedrooms available for only NZ$310.  After almost choking at the price, we calculated that it would be approximately US$70 each, so we swallowed hard and took the room.  It was a nice room, but we didn't use the jaccuzzi, the gym, the TV's, the private balcony, etc., so Im not sure we got our value out of it (although we did not have to sleep in a park).