New Zealand, North Island Adventure: Auckland to Rotorua

Auckland to Rotorua

We picked up the hire car from Apex Car Rentals in Beach Street, Auckland at 9.00am, and headed off in the rough direction of Rotorua. The car is a Nissan Tida, which has plenty of room and a large boot.
Firstly on the motorway (Hwy 1) then we turned off and followed the rural roads through Tahuna, Morrinsville, Tirau then Rotorua.
The farms and hills were the greenest I have ever seen for the entire trip, good rainfall and fertile soil I think would be the reason.
We stopped at a few antique shops but prices were WOW almost triple what you would pay at home. We had a picnic lunch alongside the road with bread, meat, cheese and tomatoes we bought from a supermarket back along the way. A great way of having cheap healthy things to eat where you want to stop. When driving, we always do this as you can find a nice out of the way place to pull up, usually a river, park etc.
We drove around Rotorua and stopped at some thermal springs alongside the road, funny seeing steam coming from people’s backyards, out of the storm-water inlets along the gutters, more on the thermal stuff tomorrow. When you first hit town you can smell the hydrogen sulphide in the air no matter where you go.
We booked into the Hotel Sudima on the edge of Lake Rotorua for two nights.http://www.sudimahotels.com/rotorua/
Dinner was at the Fat Dog in town, gourmet fish and chips for me and fish burger for Kaye, we only wanted something light but the meals were huge.
http://www.fatdogcafe.co.nz/Back in our room for Chai Latte and anniversary chocolates, then bed.