Christmas with the family

Liza and Brent
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Set off from Raglan via the Waitomo glow worm caves, very cold and lots of stalactites and stalagmites as well as the glow worms!!!

Arrived in Rotorua and Rosie met me, strange to think we hadn't seen each other since 1982.!!! Met up with Keith at the house and later Liza and Brent came to visit.  They are 20 minutes or so out of the town and in the middle of farming land, so very peaceful, except for the noise of cows and sheep as well as the odd dog or two (and you know me and dogs!!!)  I think I did quite well actually!!

Christmas was grreat, very different, although the weather was not a hot as usual (or so I was informed!!!)

Christmas dinner
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Rosie and Liza had collected a selection of leaflets for me to look at as there is so much to do in Rotorua and they helped me choose the most appropriate and useful things to do - thanks so much.

We had wonderful food and about 6 meals a day!!!  (breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, evening meal and supper!!!)  I must have put on any weight I had lost over the last three months - enough to keep me going for a few months anyway!!!)

Christmas was grreat, very different, although the weather was not a hot as usual (or so I was informed!!!) we had a big ham and salads and the compulsary Pavlova, as well as other assorted cakes- gorgeous so I am bringing some recipes home!!!

Christmas dinner
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(great to speak to the family on the phone too)

On Boxing Day Richard and Jo took us to Lake Tarawera and we had a look at Derek and Val's new home, which is in the process of being built.  We had a dip in the water at another hot water beach on the lake and made another couple of stops before having a picnic on the beach - a lovely day.

On Wednesday evening we went to Waikite hot pools for a dip in the hot waters of the river - very relaxing.

Thursday we went to Tauronga to meet up with Derek and Val and we stayed for lunch after visiting the local "Mission House" in the centre, quite a bit of history there.  Good to meet Derek again as the last time I saw him I was still in school and a young teenager - many moons ago!!!

Rosie hard at work in the kitchen
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Friday was a busy day and Liza and Brent took us to Wai-o-tapu (where Liza works) and we had a good look around at the thermal pools, the champagne pool and all the other wonderful waters and hot pools. (Rachel was holding her nose all the way around 'cos of the sulphur smell!!!)  We saw the Lady Knox Geyser and then some boiling mud pools, before going on to the Buried Village.  This was a village buried in the eruption of 1886, which distroyed the famous pink and white terraces (they were silica deposits from the hot waters that had made natural pools and were a tourist attraction in the 1800's).

Rachel and I in a paddock, wellies (gum boots) an' all!!!
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After that we went shoppping and then the 'ZORB' - a large ball that you roll down a hill in - like a hamster!!!.  Rachel, Brent and I went in one with some water and we couldn't stop laughing - it was so funny!!!

A great day - thanks Liza and Brent - we really enjoyed ourselves.

On Saturday we went to the Rotorua Museum, to see how people had taken the cure in the hot spa's and mud baths of the 19th century.  We walked around the lake to Hinemoa and the church of St Faith where ther is a glass window with an etching of Christ and it has been done so you look through it onto the lake and it appears as 'Christ Walking on Water' (weren't allowed to take pictures tho' - sorry), there is also a Maori meeting house and community hall.  Rosie picked us up in the afternoon and we went to meet Lewis and Wanda, with whom I have been corresponding via email about family and rugby.  In the evening we went to a Hangi, traditional Maori feast, which included a cultural evening really enjoyable and great tasting food, cooked in the ground.

Me stroking a cow!!!
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Sunday, (New Year's Eve) we planned on going to the Mardi Gras and the firework display in town but the weather put the block on that as it started raining quite heavily so we had a quiet night with a bottle of wine to see in the New Year!!

Had a BBQ at Liza and Brent's on the Tuesday evening and met Brent's parents.   Then on Wednesday Lewis took us for a walk in the Redwood forest I was holding on to the dogs lead - wow.  Lewis also helped us to get all our photos sorted onto discs etc (thanks sooo much for that).

On Lake Tarawera
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We had a great time in Rotorua and the family have been fantastic, can't thank them enough and hope to see them again either if they come over to England or when I can afford to come out again!!!