Cathedral coves
Travel Location: Rotorua,New-Zealand
After my cats pyjama adventure I headed off for the cathedral cove. This is a big cove that can be walked through when the tides are low. It was very nice. The weather started out cloudy but it cleared up when I got there. After the coves I moved over Tauranga.
It was raining a lot in Tauranga so I didn’t really do anything on the day of my arrival and basically hung out at the hostel. I stayed at the at a YHA hostel and when I was in the US with my brother, we didn’t really liked the YHA hostels, and I must again reconfirm that. It was a rather boring place. The next day in Tauranga was pretty good. The weather was not too bad and I decided to climb to the top of the mountain that lies next to the ocean. Well, mountain, it’s rather a hill, only 293 meters i believe. From atop you had a really nice view of the surroundings. After the hill climb I took a little visit to the surf museum, basically a surf shop with lots of old boards in the basement 
(but with dates next to them, and the name of the shaper)
the most touristy things I have ever done
Next stop, Rotorua…
Rotorua is one of the termal cities in New Zealand, meaning it is a vulcanic area and it has geisers, mud pools, boiling water pits, lakes formed by eruptions and many other hot and steamy things.
I arrived in the afternoon and decided to go for a walk. There are excellent walking trails all over the place. The forest that I walked at was really nice, you had mountainbiking sections, short walks, long walks, something for everybody.
After spending the night in Rotorua I went to see a real thermal village. There are actually families living inside this village, making use of the boiling water that the earth provides. It was rather small but the people were very friendly. But I couldn’t see myself living there at all. At this same place I did what must be one of the most touristy things I have ever done in my life… they gave this Maori show where they dance and sing… and at the end of it they had a section called audience participation… soo… they ‘teach’ the visitors a little song along with the nicely choreographed dance moves. Yep, it was peer pressure to the fullest extent. But hey, there is no evidence of it in photographic form so it is all good.
Anyhow, I have more to write about this day but my internet time is running out again. Darn it, i need a place with free internet access so I might update this entry again.
Anyhow, the first batch of NZ pictures is on my flickr site
