Waking up to a New Lifestyle

Friday 13 December

Woke to our first morning on the road to find most of the rain cleared and sun peeping out from behind the clouds. The main challenge for the day was how little we could use the onboard Dometic toilet as neither of us fancied emptying the cassette at the dump station, so there were several walks and drives into town to avail ourselves of the public facilities!!!

Leaving Jez in the moho as he was WFH, Abby & I took Harley for walkies down to the lake, which was stunning in the early morning light.

Later in the morning three of us had a leisurely stop for tea & coffee at Cafe Dynasti, before Abby & I hit the local op shop (came away empty handed) then wandered back to the campsite. After dropping a coffee back to Jez, Louis, Abby & I headed into Rotorua itself to do some important shopping - hiking boots and bath mats (odd combo) before heading south towards Waiotapu to soak in the geothermal waters of Kerosene Creek - Hakereteke stream.

Parking up, there seemed to be a lot of cars and vans already there - with the advent of Insta and Tiktok, this little spot is no longer the local secret it once was. But walking down the path, people were heading out, so when we got to hot waterfall and the pool below, it wasn't that busy after all. The waters were wonderfully warm and relaxing, and after a good long soak in the main pool we took in the waters above the falls too - only realising when we changed afterwards, how smelly the geothermal water actually was!

By the time we got back, Jez had completed his working day and he & Louis were put in charge of the Weber while Abby & I created salads, and we ended the day with beersies, a BBQ & giggling at the Biggus Dickus Monty Python sketch! 🤣