FRIDAY, 6 MAY 2011 RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY...

A couple of things Jim wanted to do on the North Island is go to Rotorua, which is New Zealand’s answer to Yellowstone and also a place that has several Maori cultural centers, and Hot Water Beach, a beach where you can dig out your own spa in the sand during low tide. Hank thought it would be fun to go to Waitomo Caves where you can see glow worms and raft down the underground river.

Since it was raining we decided to go to Rotorua first with a stop along the way in Hamilton, to see the LDS temple and have breakfast.

As we drove through Tirau we saw a plethora of corrugated steel buildings, statues, and signs. 

There are lots of things to do in Rotorua on a nice day like roll down the hill in a Zorb, Alpine slide, bungy jump, etc, but since it was still raining when we arrived we went to the Information Centre to see what we could do.  

We decided to go to the Agrodome, where one can see a variety of different breeds of sheep,

                                       

watch sheep shearing,

get called up on stage and feed baby sheep, 

tour the "organic farm" where one of the things they grow is kiwi fruit.

hand feed alpacas, red deer, and ostriches.

 and see a dairy cow named Sweet Heart. It was pretty interesting.











We stayed at the Holiday Inn and ate at the seafood buffet as suggested by the guy working at the Information Centre. It was okay.