Day 133 Auckland, New Zealand

What an amazing day!!!!! We arrived in Auckland New Zealand at 0700 this morning…. Very exciting. I left at 0800 for my Overland Adventure…. We toured Auckland first and then headed across the Hauraki Plains on our way to Rotorua, New Zealand’s Yellowstone Park with geysers, mud pots and steam vents. The drive was just beautiful. We traveled thru dairy country (lots of cows), horse country and sheep country. The countryside was beautiful. We first went to the Agradome for a farm show. We were shown all the various varieties of sheep, got a sheep shearing demonstration and sheep dog demonstration. We even got a cow milking demo performed by members of the audience (not me). Next we went on the skyline skyride to the restaurant where we had a great view of Lake Rotorua and the surrounding countryside. Next we went to one of my personal favorites, Te Puia (Whakarewarewa Thermal Reserve). The geysers were tremendous. One went up about 60 feet and would last about half an hour…. Fabulous! We also saw the Maori Arts & Crafts Institute and saw many of their spectacular works. Then it was off to Rainbow Springs where we saw essentially a trout farm with some really huge fish. It is also a breeding place for the endangered Kiwi bird, the symbol of New Zealand. We checked into our hotel along Lake Rotorua and got ready for dinner. Dinner was a traditional Moari dinner which was similar to an Hawaiian Luau where the food is cooked in the ground (steamed). This is just the place for it with geothermal steam vents everywhere…. What a day! (here are some Auckland photos)