Christmas in the Bay

We depart Auckland for Cambridge where we stop for lunch on our way to our hotel at Okawa Bay on the shores of Lake Rotoiti. Just across the hotel's lawn the large, luxury catamaran "Tuia" waits at the jetty. We set sail to explore the lake's secluded reaches on our own private Christmas Eve cruise. 

We call into Manupirua Hot Pools, reached only by water, for a late afternoon soak in the hot pools. We cruise back down the lake to the hotel's jetty and dine in this evening at our hotel our home for two nights. 

We visit beautiful Hamurana Spring, the deepest freshwater spring in the North Island and walk through the magnificent redwoods before heading back to our hotel for a Christmas lunch.

This afternoon we sightsee in Rotorua to Kuirau Park's steaming mud pools and ride the Skyline gondola up Mount Ngongotaha to enjoy the spectacular views of Rotorua and its steaming geothermal landscape.

We return to our hotel to relax and enjoy the Christmas buffet.  

This morning at Wingspan, the National  Bird of Prey Centre, in Paradise Valley we watch the native Falcon (Karearea) on a flight training display. 

After lunch we .head over to Tauranga to take a guided tour of a hidden gem, The Elms Mission homestead completed in 1847 and surrounded by gardens of National Significance.

We check into our hotel, Trinity Wharf, for two nights on the harbour's edge and dine in both evenings.

After breakfast we drive across to Mount Maunganui  to take a stroll along the beach boardwalk. Then we head further east to Papamoa to check out this fast-growing beachside town.

Near Te Puke, at Awakeri Station we meet Paul for a fun adventure. We hop on board his rail carts and take a leisurely scenic ride along the tracks towards Taneatua, stopping for a picnic lunch along the way. We return to Tauranga in the mid afternoon.

We leave Tauranga and drive through the Karangahake Gorge where rusting machinery is the only sign of the gorge's fascinating gold-mining past.

At the Victoria Battery local guide George shows us through the Mining Museum’s collections.

A pretty back country road leads to the Waterlily Gardens where we stop for lunch and a wander among the waterlily ponds. In the mid afternoon we return to Auckland over the Hauraki Plains .