Easter Weekend in Rotorua, New Zealand

Easter seems to be a big deal in New Zealand – as in there is Easter Saturday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday. Not quite sure what they do on all these days, but here is what we did!

The Easter Bunny found us in the camper van and left treats for the kids – Kinder Chocolate Eggs, Cadbury eggs, and a cute Kiwi.

Next up was a tour of the Rotorua Museum which is housed in an old Bath House/Spa. There is tons of geothermal activity all around this area (last volcano blow was 1886 which destroyed the Pink and White Terraces which were one of the wonders of the world. They just rediscovered the terraces in Lake Rotorua covered by 65 meters of mud!). The town of Rotorua actually sits in a volcanic crater and the hills/mountains surrounding the the town are the Carter’s edges – pretty wild!

After that, we were ready to go enjoy some of the hot water, which we were able to do at the Blue Bath. The main pool was 30 degrees Celsius, one hot pool was 33 degrees Celsius and the other was 36 degrees. Toasty. Even I went in the water! The indoor pool isn’t used for swimming anymore (fancy or scientific). But they do use it for events – who would like to go dinning and dancing in a pool?

On Easter Monday we took a short trip to see the Redwoods in Whakarewarewa Forest. It was beautiful and magical. A great way to enjoy the land and get some energy out before our drive to Napier/Hastings area. The kids all did the Junior Orienteering Scavenger/Fact Hunt. It’s so neat to see them excited about completing the questions – then get even happier when they get a small token at the end for completing it.

The “kids” even got a chance to play at a playground …