February 24 - Tauranga, New Zealand
We set the alarm for 5:00 am since we had to be ready by 6:50 am for our tour. We had room service breakfast and were on the bus a little after 7:00 am. We had a very long bus ride to our first stop at Waiotapu Geothermal mud springs. It was quite beautiful, but the smell was a little nasty. Then it was on to Rainbow Springs, a bird sanctuar,y where we got a very quick tour, and were able to see a kiwi bird. Since they are nocturnal, they are kept in a very dark room and visitors aren't allowed to take any photos and are asked to be quiet. I saw one skittle by, I think! What a kiwi looks like Next was a lunch aboard the Lakeland Queen, a paddlewheeler, and a short Maori performance on a one hour cruise on Lake Rotorua. They pulled me and a few other women to learn to use a maori instrument, at which I was very inept. Then they pulled up some men to learn a quick version of the haka dance. Phil, on ...