Day 8: Rotorua

9 november

Today we take this 9.5 km hike through the rainforest. We make a short stop at a cultural centre that has information about the vegetation and locations and also about the recent past of the forest. We also had to fill in a paper with information for emergencies like: allergies, who to contact, etc. Afterwards we went on to the forest itself

Before entering the forest we prepared lunch that we would take with us. During the hike we stopped at a lot of places for more information about the vegetation, but also for the incredible view.

We had lunch near the Whirinaki waterfall. On the way back we made less stops (there was less to explain). The guides were surprised at the state of the path, it had improved since they did the tour for the last time the previous season (this was the first time they did the tour this season).

Back at the cars we ran into some problems. One of the vans battery was empty. As it was an old fashioned diesel that really required the pre-heater there was no way we could start it by letting it go downhill. Only solution was to pull it with the other car until we reach somebody with a starter cable. After 15 minutes we get that starter cable and are back on the road.

We did some bubbling in the Waitiki how spring pool before returning to Rotorua.