Weekend Get-Away...Destination: Rotorua

This weekend we decided to take a little trip inland to Rotorua, about a four hour drive from Gisborne.  The boys & I picked Brad up from work on Friday and took off.  Now, we've been told that Gisborne is a fairly isolated town (thus, not extremely touristy which is nice), but we didn't realize how true this was until we left on Friday.  The past seven weeks we've been enjoying our little slice of heaven here on the East coast of NZ, not realizing how difficult it would be to escape this place if necessary.  The first 160 km (about 100 miles) of the trip was an extremely curvy, two-lane road through the mountains, with one small town of about 50 residents.  This wouldn't have been that bad (we were well prepared with a full tank of gas, lots of food & drinks, etc.), except we found out that Harrison gets car sick, and he obviously prefers to do this when there is nothing around for many miles!  So we had a brief delay in our trip to clean up the results of the curvy road and cheese and crackers.  We regrouped, gathered up our amassed pile of soiled wipes, paper towels and clothing, and continued on our way (with all of the windows rolled down, as the stench continued to linger).  Luckily the boys fell asleep soon after and the roads straightened out (a little bit!).

Saturday morning we woke up refreshed and ready to take on the day.  Since Rotorua is known as the hot springs capital of NZ, we had a nice warm pool to enjoy at our hotel, despite the overcast day.  After a quick swim, we headed out to do what all foreign tourists do when they visit Rotorua...We took a gondola ride up a hill and luged down.  Following are a couple of pictures of us in the gondola...Harrison was really excited. 

When we got to the top we picked out the lovely helmet of our choice, then got in line for the luge.  The boys were able to ride with us, and had a really good time.  Here are Brad & Jonathan coming down the mountain:

Now it's Kim & Jonathan's turn...We did let Harrison go, too.  Notice the lovely safety rails along the side, these seemed to be an afterthought, and were actually missing in places where there was an actual drop-off!  You'd never see that in the states!  Actually, this entire set-up would never be allowed...too many lawsuits!

Waiting in line for the chair-lift to take us back to the top.

Brad & Harrison riding the chair-lift.

Following are a few more pictures from Saturday.  Our hotel was located right near the lake, so we walked around checking out the seaplanes & helicopters they use for sightseeing tours (viewing them from shore is more along our budget allowance...and probably more exciting for the boys, anyway).  There was also a park nearby that the boys enjoyed.

Brotherly love (or maybe Jonathan was trying to push Harrison into the lake)

On your marks...Get set...GO!

Brad & Jonathan hiking around some of the hot springs...we wish we could capture the lovely smell and let you experience it for yourself!

We had a great time in Rotorua, especially catching up on a bit of television viewing.  After flipping through the channels a few times, we decided it's a good thing we don't have a TV...There is absolutely nothing on (except Disney's "Camp Rock"...on two channels...Nothing like a little Jonas Brothers to brighten your day!).