DAY 29 - 30: TO ROTORUA AND AUCKLAND

Tuesday, Feb 18 and Wednesday, Feb 19, Day 29 & 30

Hawkes Bay to Napier and on to Rotorua (140 miles/3 hours)

Sadly, we said goodbye to our friends at Cape Kidnappers and got back in the car to continue our journey.  Once again we drove along windy roads and beautiful scenery.   First stop was the resort town of Taupo, which sits on New Zealand's largest lake (for those paying attention, a few days ago we saw the second largest lake).  After lunch we went to the Huka Falls -- there were three ways to view the falls: a minute walk, an hour and a two hour.  Guess which we did?!?!  

See views from a one minute trek.

We continued on to our destination of Tree Tops Lodge which is located outside Rotorua. This lodge is truly a hunting and fishing lodge (our welcome tour included the library which boasts the heads of  deer, elk, etc.)
 

It is situated on 2,500 acres of forest and game reserve with over 70 kilometers of hiking trails.   Upon arrival we realized that we didn't want to leave at 7 am as planned to see the Waitomo Caves so we "called an audible" and cancelled our tour.  Prior to cocktails and canapés, the Greenbergs found a quiet area on the porch to relax and Steven and I went for a hike.  I was hoping not to run into any of the relatives of the animals hanging in the lodge.  Our waitress, Kelsey, was an adorable girl who told us about how her family found a baby Wallaby and raised it for 8 months (she showed us pictures of the baby Wallaby wrapped in a "beanie").  After dinner, Kelsey took us on a little walk behind the lodge to see the glow warms (since we wouldn't be seeing them in the caves.).  When we turned off our "torches" the trees were illuminated with the glowing larvae.  

Wednesday, Feb 19 Day 30
After breakfast we took a short hike to view The Bridal Falls -- which did not disappoint. We all agreed that this wins the best waterfall award of the trip.  

On our way to the falls we saw the three buffalo and two baby buffalo.  We were told that these babies (who are quite large) were recently born.  

While walking back to the lodge, we came upon a pen with three pigs -- a mother, a daughter and a "rent-a-bull" -- and it was feeding time.  Those piggies eat anything. See Beth and Steven checking out the meal of the day.

Then it was off to Auckland.  A quick stop in a Rotorua to check out the smell (sulphur from the geothermal activity).   

We can't believe that we are in the final days of our trip (we now have more dirty clothes than clean and it is ok!) [SO MUCH WATER IN THIS POST! (beth)]

See everyone in a week,
The Sisselberg's (via Karen)