Mud baths and hot rivers

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Leaving Papamoa Beach en route to Tongoriro National Park we stopped at the mud baths of Hells Gate.

*** edit - we would not recommend this activity. It’s fun but it’s expensive and we all got sulphur burns that have lasted for weeks and our clothes smelled like sulphur for days, even ones we didn’t wear in the pools or the next day…

Now on to some posers:

edit - here is Kylie happily not realizing she is burning her face and neck and the red peeling skin will last for weeks…

;-)

And now from Levi’s journal:

We went to the mud pits it was hot mud that you could rub all over you I think my skins smoother than before it was very fun there was also a hot spring and a cold tub it was so fun but now I smell like sulfur.

cont.

After that we went to another hot spring but it was a river. It was really cool because there was lava underneath us. And then there was a waterfall. It was the coolest hot spring Ive been to.

(Marc again) kerosene creek was the highlight of the day for me. 2k up a gravel road. No signs, no change rooms and  best of all free! Bathing in a hot river is a whole different level. We visited this spot on our last time through NZ (pre kids) and we were happy to see that little had changed. A few other families but certainly less busy than the paved versions.

After that we did a serious grocery trip in Taupō, had a picnic on the beach and then drove on to Tongoriro!

Papamoa with Julie and the boys

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Our second week in NZ we shared a house on Papamoa beach with my sister Julie, her husband Lowell and their two boys Fraser and Stefan.

Julie met us on the beach at Mt Manganui and kindly drove us 15k down the coast to our new home.

Major highlight of the trip so far for the kids was hanging with the cousins.

Also Auntie Julie’s styling prowess.

Our place was across the street from a 23k beach. We didn’t even need to put our shoes on.

Another surf lesson (again with Dominic but this time during a storm) was the high point for the boys:

From Zeke’s journal:

We had a surf lesson in the rain it was so fun all of us got up at least once or twice. The rain felt like hail coming down on us, it was even better with Fraser and Stefan with us.

We went to the beach everyday and a couple of us went on a 6km run on the beach. One night we went for a night walk and talked to a very nice fisherman he told us about eels in the water at least 5 of em, they were very freaky.

We spent a day at Skyline Rotorua adventure park. From Mikaya’s journal:

Luge- I went so fast I didn’t tell my dad to stop.

Zipline- I was so scared but it wasint scary and I chipt my tooth. 

Skyswing- On the skyswing there were so meny seatbelts and we were upsy down and the stumic drop was so scary and we did a flip at the end.

After the adventure park we walked around downtown Rotorua. I enjoyed the feeling of getting lost in a foreign country with no particular goal beyond getting home for dinner.

We happened upon some lovely parks and gardens. Zeke wanted to jump off everything.

Next stop mud baths and hot rivers… will finish off with a few random pics:

Goodbye Papamoa Beach!