Rotorua - 10.12.-12.12.

      On the 10.12.2012 i arrived in Rotorua. Our bus regularly only stops at Rotorua for 1 or 2 hours, which is why i decided to stay at Rotorua for 2 extra days. On my first day at Rotorua, i decided to go to the Poleneysian Spa, which is at the lake. I spent the rest of the day at this spa.  Rotorua in general is quite an interesting area, because i think it is settled on the remains of an old volcano and the lake of Rotorua is a caldera. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotorua_Caldera)

rotorua lake as seen from the spa.

 

sign inside the spa

       

Poleneysian Spa

On my second day in Rotorua i rented a mountain Bike from my hostel (the crank backpackers hostel) for i think 25$ for a whole day. With this mountain bike i drove to the red woods in Rotorua, because some people told me that they have some nice mountain bike tracks there, which are fun to drive. On my way to the red woods i qickly stopped at the lake and took this picture of the lake:      

Rotorua Lake

    After i arrived at the red woods, i made my way into the forest. Inside the forest you could chose between different tracks. Each track has a different level of difficulty from 1 to 6 where 1 is the easiest and 6 the hardest. I tried some of the tracks with lvl 3. I think Lvl 3 is possible to drive for everyone who knows how to ride a bike. You don*t have to be an expert to drive it. If you just don*t drive to fast, it is not as hard as it looks like. Sometimes there are jumps on the tracks, but if you are a beginner you don*t have to do them and can just go around them :)   

Mountain Bike Tracks Lvl 3

   

Mountain Bike Track in the forest

On my way through the red woods and through the different mountain bike tracks i crossed some nice landscapes and also a tiny lake.

nice landscape :)

tiny lake

Another Mountain Bike Track

I think at about 6 pm this day, i decided to finish my tour by visiting a small lake in the redwoods, before it would become dark. Here is a picture of the lake. At the lake there were some ducks, which i feeded with some food, i had brought to the lake. I am not 100% sure but i think the name of this lake was "lake" Okareka.

Lake Okareka

ducks at lake Okareka

After my short stay at the Okareka lake i returned to the town of Rotorua. Because i came back,
to the city from a hill, i had a pretty nice view on the lake.

the Rotorua Lake as seen from the hill