Day Forty Eight Rotorua to Waihi

Goodbye, SmellyTown. You were very pretty but now we stink, in fact, all our clothes stink. 

Out of Holiday Inn earlyish to head into town to buy new SD card for Howie's camera and for breakfast (supplies had run out!). Plan was to hire bikes in the Redwoods Forest so needed to take in some fuel! 

Healthy but plentiful breakfasts - note the silicone hair do!

After much faffing about - road works everywhere, we eventually found the Whakarewarewa Forest! Yes, the Whakarewarewa Forest - easy to say when you knew how! Sadly no mountain bikes were available to hire so we just did a 'tramp', as they call it here. We chose a route that was about an hour long. 

Spectacular huge redwood trees, lovely and cool on the walk and not too many tourists walking about (apart from a bus load of Chinese who appeared out of no where, walking the wrong direction, shouting at the top of their voices and blocking any chances of passing on the track as they posed for their photos!). 

Howie took out his frustation of having his peace disturbed by punching the trees. 

Came to an extra smelly lake where the water was so clear you could see everything underneath it. 

Not being able to see the wood for the trees we left after a couple of hours to get to our next destination. 

10000 ish steps. 

Drove for about 130 km north east to Waihi, to a beach apartment. Not that close to the beach, as it turns out, but nice facilities. Got a sitting out bit at the back to chill in. We walked down to the beach (about 10 mins away) and had a play in the Bay of Plenty. Sea wasn't too cold and the waves just big enough to give me Boogie Board envy! Watched a couple boogie boarding!  Looked like fun and made me remember my dad making us plywood boards to surf with. They used to just about cut us in two when they jammed into the sand as we tried to surf. Howie had the same idea as a teenager in Tobruk! - probably without the splinters we got! 

Gathered a few shells as evidence. 

Back to our apartment. Sadly, right next door to an Indian restaurant. So, we're sitting outside eating our salad, smelling the delicious smells wafting over the fence. 

Happy Mother's Day to all you mums and daughters. I'm missing my babies and their babies but had a little 'fix' the other night with a Skype to Fi and boys and a chat to Al with a photo of the lovely Ara!  

Goodnight, all.