Adventure in the Bay

21st Jan 2009
Once again I find myself playing catch up with updating our blog. The new cruise ship package page I put on the web site almost immediately started getting results and as a result I had was able to arrange a trip via emails for Monika and Jimmy from Australia. I was glad I encouraged Monika to try and get a few more as we ended up with 8. John, Helen, Lubi Vicky, Dimitra and Tina were our extras. Monika and Jimmy had already forwarded me some ideas of where they would like to go so we stuck with that. First stop was Rainbow Springs, Rotorua. Rainbow Springs provides a lovely walk through native bush with displays of native animals and birds including the Tuatara, Kiwi, Tui and plenty of Rainbow and Brown Trout with a few introduced species also.
Next stop Hells Gate, with a short stop at a local park that shows on a smaller scale what some of the larger attractions offer, and it's free. Hells Gate was still the preferred choice so off we went. Providing the largest and probably the most active of the geothermal areas it is a favourite of many tourists.
Whenever we have time I like to show our groups a couple of the more beautiful lakes in the area so after Hells Gate we took off to the Blue Lake (Lake Tikitapu) and Lake Tarawera. They are places where you get to relax and enjoy the scenery away from all the crowds. it was soon time to head back to the ship but we had one lat stop, Papamoa Hills, which provides amazing panoramic views of Tauranga, Bay of Plenty.