Monday, July 10, 2006
Rotorua Visit to the Swap Meet
We spent 2 days in Rotorua, firstly to visit the vintage Car Swap Meet at the racecouse on Sunday, (good show but I didn't buy anything) and we also took in a few of the sights.
We stayed at Duxtons Okawa Bay, which is about 15km out of Rotorua, past the airport, set on the shores of a bay in Lake Rotoiti. Very nice too, enjoyed the World Cup Final from a nice big bed.
There is a plane fleet at the Rotorua Lake edge, the floatplane in the distance looks like a Beaver.
Some different ducks from our Manurewa ones live in Rotorua. Some different people live there, too, there is no graffiti!
The Government Gardens still looks nice, Fred Wylie keeps an eye on the Japanese tourists and King George watches down the road where their buses park.
We went out to Okere falls, about 5km past Duxtons, this is the outlet of Lake Rotoiti and has a good flow of white water for the rafters. They were just packing up as we arrived. This spot would get some great action shots, must go back when I get my new camera......(hint, hint).
Sunday, after visiting the swap meet, we checked out the gondola ride up Mt Ngongotaha. Very flash, the luge ride was very crowded with about 1 hour queues, otherwise I would have had a go.
To distract you from the great view, this scream-inducing ride launches you, hanging upside down, to 150 kmh in 2 seconds.
We checked out the Blue & Green Lakes, and Lake Tarawera.
You can see Mount Tarawera in the distance, it blew up in the 1860's, destroying the Pink & White Terraces and burying much of the surroundings. A tame sparrow lives there, too.
We stayed at Duxtons Okawa Bay, which is about 15km out of Rotorua, past the airport, set on the shores of a bay in Lake Rotoiti. Very nice too, enjoyed the World Cup Final from a nice big bed.
There is a plane fleet at the Rotorua Lake edge, the floatplane in the distance looks like a Beaver.
Some different ducks from our Manurewa ones live in Rotorua. Some different people live there, too, there is no graffiti!
The Government Gardens still looks nice, Fred Wylie keeps an eye on the Japanese tourists and King George watches down the road where their buses park.
We went out to Okere falls, about 5km past Duxtons, this is the outlet of Lake Rotoiti and has a good flow of white water for the rafters. They were just packing up as we arrived. This spot would get some great action shots, must go back when I get my new camera......(hint, hint).
Sunday, after visiting the swap meet, we checked out the gondola ride up Mt Ngongotaha. Very flash, the luge ride was very crowded with about 1 hour queues, otherwise I would have had a go.
To distract you from the great view, this scream-inducing ride launches you, hanging upside down, to 150 kmh in 2 seconds.
We checked out the Blue & Green Lakes, and Lake Tarawera.
You can see Mount Tarawera in the distance, it blew up in the 1860's, destroying the Pink & White Terraces and burying much of the surroundings. A tame sparrow lives there, too.
# posted by Doug @ 2:57 PM 
