Lake Tarawera

Lake Tarawera is approximately 20 minutes south east of Rotorua and is where we spent last weekend with Anna, Owen, Ruby, Sarah and Mike. Anna had found an amazing batch for us stay in and this was the view we awoke to on Saturday morning.







We enjoyed a lazy breakfast in the batch before heading into Rotorua for a picnic in the park and a soak of the feet in the thermal baths.



Ruby enjoying Dad's guitar case!




Breakfast




The real mountain bike




Picnic in the park








Bit blurred, bit Ruby is a thrill seeker!

Next stop was the bike park in the redwood forest. Gareth really built up his confidence and was doing some tricky rides by the end of the weekend, while Hannh enjoyed a quieter ride though the forest listening to the birds and admiring the view!



Back to the lake and the kayaks were out. Hannah and Owen had an evening paddle around the shores, admiring the black swans and some of the huge properties down there! Gareth jumped in for a quick tour of the shore too.







A BBQ is a must in a kiwi batch, especially with a view like this one!







On Sunday morning, we took a little boat across Lake Tarawera to a hot thermal river for a soak in the water, which was followed by a visit to hot water beach....very strange sensation of hot water at the top, mixed with cold lake water at the bottom!



Our boat for the morning



Enjoying the ride




Thermal river




Hot water beach


Sunday afternoon involved another visit to the biking park, followed by a quick trip to kerosene creek and the hot waterfall before our drive back to Auckland.



One last ride of the weekend




Kerosene creek