And on to Rotorua.

We spent two nights in the bush at Lake Waikaremoana.  We took the kids for a walk on the 'Great Walk' hiking track one day and told them if they were quiet they might see a deer - deathly silence for about three minutes!  Hubby did go for a couple of deer stalks and got close to one but spooked it, so no venison for us.

We knew the weather wasn't going to last, so we decided to head back to the camping ground and spend a night in the cabins again, and then head to Rotorua.  The kids were having so much fun that they really wanted to stay another night in the tent - but we promised them another camping trip next year instead.  The trip back in the boat was even smoother than trip out.

So we drove leisurely to Rotorua and the first camping ground we stopped at had nice wee cabins and their own thermally heated hot pools.  Bliss! 

Besides soaking in the hot pools twice a day, we did lots of touristy things - and there are plenty to choose from, Rotorua seems to deserve it's nickname 'Roto-vegas'.  We did the Gondola and Luge, we visited the Geyser Park, Te Puia, and we saw the lions being fed at Rainbow Springs.

And we had the biggest and yummiest iced chocolates ever!  The Hamilton cousins came and joined us at the camping ground for a night so that made it extra fun for our kids.  Chaotic, but fun.

Then, after three nights, it was time to head home.  We left Rotorua with the intention of staying one night somewhere along the way, but the kids were handling the driving and our timing was working out so we just kept going and made it from Rotorua to home all in one trip (we even managed to stop at Grandmother's Garden - I had racked up a few brownie points, but that's another story).

Home, sweet home.

Three weeks later...

I haven't updated this blog for three weeks or so.  It's been school holidays and that's always a busy time.  And this holiday we decided to take the kids camping - yes in the middle of winter!

After a hurried departure to make the most of the weather, we drove down to Lake Waikaremoana, spending one night at the Hamilton cousins on the way. 

Lake Waikaremoana is on about the same latitude as Lake Taupo but further towards the East Coast.  It's in the middle of Te Urewera National Park and to get to it you have to drive on about 90 km's of dirt road.  Now I live on a dirt road so they don't scare me, but the road to L. Waikaremoana is pretty bad!

We finally arrived and settled in for one night at the camping ground, in a cozy cabin.  The kids were very excited to wake up the next morning to snow on the hills and a doozy of a frost - the first real frost either of them had seen.




That's snow on them thar hills.

The weather forecast looked great for the next few days so we loaded up the boat and set off to find ourselves a camping spot.  Lake Waikaremoana has a very popular tramping track circumnavigating it and so has big, well appointed Department of Conservation huts around it.  But you have to pay quite a bit to stay in them and we wanted to give the kids are real tenting adventure so we decided to find our own spot.


You can see the glassy stillness of the lake.

The lake was absolutely flat and we motored through 'the narrows' (a skinny bit of the lake that cuts up rough when it's windy) without so much as a ripple.  We found a perfect camping spot on our first attempt and within a couple of hours we were relaxing in front of a roaring fire.

My Hubby sets up a large tarp as a 'roof' then we light the fire at one end and set up the tent at the other.  It gives a large area that you can live in and spread our your gear without fear of getting wet if it rains. 

We spent two nights here and we were snug and warm at night (if a little uncomfy - not used to hard ground!) and the kids had buckets of fun. 

And I think that's enough writing for today!

To be continued......