Weekend Getaway to Rotorua

This past weekend Diego and I took a spur of the moment trip to Rotorua to visit my dad. Unfortunately, the whole trip seemed to be filled with stormy weather so I wasn't able to get the camera out of its bag very often. Diego and I drove up from Whanganui on the Friday and it is such a beautiful drive along a quiet, old highway surrounded by farm land and tumbling hills. When we arrived in Rotorua, we went straight to the Redwoods for a stroll. It was a patch of decent weather, only spitting for a bit of our walk. I am still working on my photography in low lit areas, so walking the forest did come up with a bit of a challenge for me, but I think I managed to get a few nice shots.

On the Saturday, we went out for brunch and had a coffee, then went back to the Redwoods. I accidentally left my camera at home this day so I didn't get any photos. We explored further into the bush on that walk, and actually went up into the hills which I didn't do on Friday. It was a wicked walk, but due to the poor weather recently, it was quite muddy. Dad has a bet going about being able to swim outside every single day for a year, so late at night Diego, Dad and I all trudged down to the lake that he lives by and Diego and Dad went for a pitch black swim. Diego was a lot less brave than Dad, and only put his paws in before running up and down the shoreline.

On Sunday, it was a terrible storm, with no break in sight. We planned to go on a hike at a nearby reserve to dad's home. Finally there was a tiny break in the weather, so we quickly packed up and headed onto the trail. About a minute into our walk it started pouring down, so the rain jacket had to go on my camera bag and at no point did the rain stop. That was unfortunate because it was a super nice walk and it would have been so much better without the rain!

Monday was the day we were to head back to Whanganui, so after we had packed up the car and were ready to go, we took one final trip to the Redwoods. This time we went on the dog side, and this is a huge area with lots of open fields, and planted trees. This area was allowed off-leash and Diego had a great romp around. This was a great way to end our trip to Rotorua, and start the four hour journey back home. On the way home we stopped off to view this waterfall, and have a quick rest stop to stretch our legs. It kept raining on our way home as well otherwise I would have stopped at more of the scenic lookouts. It really is such a beautiful drive and showcases New Zealand's beauty.