Rotorua - Day 1

Heading to Rotorua

We decided not to drive back into/through Waitomo Caves Village for breakfast, even though it would have been neat to see Marokopa Falls and Marokopa's black sand beaches, but opted instead to get moving in the right direction.

We stopped in Otorohanga for breakfast at Ronnie's, next to the totem poles and i-Site. It was great. Looks very cafeteria-style. We chose Ronnie's over the much nicer looking O Cafe because O looked too hipster trendy cool for us. At Ronnie's, we got generous portions and a really impressive cappuccino. Really. This cappuccino was surprisingly good -- which may say more about us than them.

Totem poles in Otorohanga

Mike with his incredible cappuccino

Eggs Florentine

Pancakes with bananas and bacon

Old cafeteria-style setup

We walked through the Ed Hilary Walkway, a free Kiwiana display gallery. We learned about Haka history and that the pavlova was invented in New Zealand, not Australia! Or so they say. Also, did you know that New Zealand was the first country to give women the vote? The petition was signed by a third of all adult women in the country. That's huge!

Ed Hillary Walkway

Australia and New Zealand have a dispute over the invention of the Pavlova

The drive from Otorohanga was less than two hours to Rotorua! We were prepared for at least 2.5 because of traffic and construction.

Herro torua

(Did you all hear Mike just roll his eyes? I gave him a chance to change that heading.)

Checking-in at Bella Vista Motel was easy and the location is pretty easy, too. We got a comfortable, super clean, ground-floor room. The room is a bit cramped but the bathroom is roomy and it's nice to have clean and modern after a dingy (though adequate and spacious) accommodation the night before.

Our room

We put our stuff down, Mike changed into shorts, and we drove to Skyline for the scenic gondola ride. The view of the lake is lovely, and the coupon on the back of every tourist map gets you a whole dollar discount! And a free coffee or tea, which is actually pretty nice. We sat up there sipping tea in the air-conditioned cafe, enjoying the view and catching up on the Comey hearing.

Going up

Lake Rotorua

Rotovegas?

Tea in the cafe

Besides the gondola, Skyline in Rotorua operates a luge, sky swing, mountain biking trails, stargazing, and zip line. There's another Skyline location in Queenstown where we're probably going to book the gondola and stargazing combo. We didn't realize that stargazing requires 24-hr advance booking.

After parking the car back at the motel and changing from flip flops to walking shoes, we walked through Kuirau Park and headed to "Eat Street." We thought the park walk would be calm and uneventful, but it was actually neat to discover that it's full of little thermal activity sites.

It smelled of rice cakes or sulfur, depending on the direction of the wind.

A block at the lake-end of Tutanekai St has been closed off and turned into a pedestrian food area. There are lots of busy restaurants crammed in here that make you feel sort of sorry for the restaurants on the neighboring blocks that all look run down and abandoned by the city.

30 minute walk from the motel

We chose Ambrosia for dinner -- they offer a 3-course dinner for $29. The roast honey pumpkin prosciutto soup was delicious. Mike got the porterhouse entrée option and I chose the lamb. Both were quite good -- very good, actually -- but not special. The dessert on the other hand! The ambrosia was served in sugar baskets and had fresh fruit compote. I expected preserved fruits and marshmallow creme, but it was so much classier.

Beers from the South Island

Roast honey pumpkin prosciutto soup

NZ lamb rump, smoked pumpkin puree, falafel, marinated feta, tzatziki

Beef porterhouse steak, prawns, bacon-wrapped scallop, roast potato hash, Shanghai cabbage, Bearnaise sauce

Ambrosia - mini marshmallow, greek yoghurt, vanilla-infused cream, berry compote, chocolate, woven sugar basket

Toasted Almond (dessert cocktail)

Successful dinner

After dinner, we walked back to the motel along the park by the lake. We didn't bother getting to the lakeshore since it was dark and we'll have more time to explore tomorrow.

Walking home

Weather: It was a gorgeous day and evening in Rotorua. Once we got here, it was just a typical hot day. Unlike the morning and yesterday in King Country where we saw the sky (and temperature) change twice in an hour. This morning we woke to an overcast sky and drizzle, then saw the sun come out during breakfast and disappear again by the time we finished eating. Rotorua has just been hot. We've been comfortable in shorts and tees, even during our after-dinner walk home; and we were maybe too hot when we were standing in the sun watching the lugers at Skyline.

Well, that's all for today. Tomorrow: Hobbiton and Te Puia!