Rotorua

Rotorua is surprisingly quite a large city with many ethnic cafes and shops. Derek was extremely excited to order a real coffee.  We ate lunch in a sweet little cafe which had been awarded the best coffee on the island for the past three years.  Well, after Derek chatted it up with the waitress, and awaited the delivery of his promised tall coffee (guaranteed to be what he was craving), turned out to be 'just okay!'.  It is difficult to find a good perculated coffee as everything is espresso or instant.  Rotorua turned out to be yet another amazing experience despite the rotten egg smell throughout the entire city.  Rotorua is known for its thermal geysers, hence the sulphur scent.  We walked through waitopu thermal wonderland and viewed many colorful pools, geysers and bubbling mud pools.

Next stop was a leisurely walk through the giant redwood forest.  Again, another stunning sight to see on the north island.  The boys wanted to check out this hotspot because they remembered that their teachers talked about the redwood trees in California.  These trees were not as large in diameter as Grandpa Capilano in Vancouver but they sure were some of the tallest trees we've ever seen.

From here we went caving in Waitomo.  We toured in the glow worm caves by foot and boat. Studied stalagmites and stalactites.  We learned that it is almost unheard of to find cave art beyond the entrances of caves in NZ because the Maori people would only go as far into the cave as long as they could see natural light glowing.  Once it was dark, they believed their soul would be taken and would not go any further because they considered this a sacred area.  We continued on to have a guided tour through the Ruakuri cave which was unbelievably spectacular.  We were lucky to get up close and personal with the glow worms and learned about their life cycle and how they glow.  Braden answered every question correctly that the guide asked so I guess he is learning something on this trip!!!  I took the boys into the glow worm museum  while Derek had a rest in the car before heading back to Piha. 

Piha....definitely a favorite spot that we will miss greatly. We were invited to spend our last night in NZ with Jackie and John.  We had hoped to get some surf in but the weather was spotty.  Our last few hours in NZ should have been carefree and relaxing.  The laundry was done, the bags were packed, we said our goodbyes and we were getting into the car to leave when.......................
Derek asks me, "Kerri do you have the keys?".  ME!!! I haven't touched the keys this whole trip. I replied "ummmm, No." Right there, We knew we had a problem.  Derek did not have the keys.  We unpacked the car, which is a talent as we have soooooooo many bags!!!! Too many to say the least.  No keys.  Derek started retracing his steps and I unpacked every bag we had.  Then he double checked them. The Cassidy's tore their house apart. We looked through the garbages and still nothing.  I think derek was about to cry as we were now getting close to our flight time and we had no way of returning the rental car. We called the car rental company and told them what has happened. They suggested we be fined $500 to replace the key and pay for a tow truck to tow it back (minimum $500/way) Ugh! John, being the kind man that he is, came up with a suggestion that he'd drive us to the airport so we didn't miss the flight to Australia and we'd add him to our rental contract, pick up the extra key at the airport and he'd return the car the next day.  Can you believe it? Sad to have to take his offer but relieved and ever so appreciative of his kind heartedness.  So, off we went. Got the spare key for $500 and made our flight. This is where our next adventure begins but I'm running out of steam to write so it will have to wait till tomorrow.  Stay tuned...the story gets even better!