Rotorua New Zealand January 29,2015

Rotorua, New Zealand , January 29.2015 After the last 3 days of the cruise which were spent in French Polynesia , we reluctantly left the Ocean Princess. This was probably our favorite cruise so far primarily due to the crew and intimate size of the ship. but all good things come to an end and we flew on to Auckland, New Zealand. whenever I have asked frequent travelers which country was their favorite the most frequent response is NZ. now we will see why.It was a 6 hour flight from Papeete Tahiti on Air New Zealand. Quick overnight and car pick up the next day. It is a little disorienting as we lost a whole day crossing the international dateline. Get it back on the way home. NZ is composed of 2 large sized islands. The north island is the warmer one and gets cooler as you go south. Auckland is the largest city and pretty far north . It has about 1 million of the 3 million who live on the North Island. More or less skipped this to drive 3 hours south to Rotorua which is the geothermal center of the country. You can tell you are near as the sulfur smell is pervasive.The city itself is charming, clean, wide streets with little traffic. Except for the smell ,very livable with one big caveat; they literally live above a volcano. So many areas have steam vents erupting with sulfurous clouds of gas. We walked for miles from the government park with its old sanatorium and thermal baths ,now museum ,to the Maori village next to Rotorua Lake. These Maori people literally live on top of active vents. Steam come out of sewers, holes in the ground, even tombstones in their village. So strange to see and think about. The Maoris, the indigenous people,are seen everywhere and their language is used extensively. Driving is on the left side of the road so a little disconcerting but easy enough after last year in England. First overall impression is that this is a special place. Tomorrow we will tour the redwoods forest and drive back to Auckland for a flight to the South Island and Christchurch. Sent from my iPa🐪