A day in Rotorua go

 We stayed two night here in Rotorua. Last night and tonight, so we had today pretty much as a free day 

This morning dawned with fluffy white clouds and blue sky

After breakfast we were off on our morning adventure of zip lining 

This is the map of the course, but the lights in the building kind glared off it.

Not only was it a zip line, but we walk had some trail walking and the guides told us about this native forest and the conservation efforts. This bird was very friendly 

Some of the trees are between 800 and 1,000 years old. They are trying to bring back the native bird population as it has been hurt by predators brought in such as rats and possums. They actually are working on trapping the invasive species, so the birds can flourish again

This is Dale heading out on one of the zip lines. There may be more pictures later as we are supposed to get the ones our guides took.

After zip lining we went back to our hotel and wrote a couple of postcard to the grandkids, went to find a post office to mail them, then found a yummy cafe for a late lunch of French onion soup and crepes

Then we head out to explore the town. This is one of the main streets. This town is steeped in Māori history

It also has several very English looking large building. This once is the tourist information center.

Here is the entrance to there gardens which we spent a while strolling through

As we walked through the garden area, the museum became visible. Unfortunately it was closed as the building is still being repaired from an earthquake 

Spring flowers such as tulips, daffodils, and a flower I did not know flourished in lovely garden beds

This tree’s root system just caught my eye as it was so extensive above ground 

Another of the strollers out for a walk this afternoon. The blues in his body feathers were so vivid. 

We then took our walk over to wander down around part of the walkway along the lake. Named Lake Rotorua, who would have guested😉

The lake had a large flock of elegant Black swans on it. They were lovely to look at, but you had to watch you step as they left reminder of themselves on the sideway areas.

We decided to spend the evening in our room. The area is lovely, but the sulfur smell is pretty strong and if the wind is blowing inland it was more than we liked. Tomorrow we head to Auckland