Day Six: Taupo to Rotorua, Turaunga and Mt. Maunganui

we were sad to leave taupo behind but the journey must continue right. so today we headed up to rotorua (the geothermal city aka rotten-rua). the sulfur smell here is really hard to get used to, so we didnt want to stay very long. we were planning on going into this geothermal area/ maori culture center but decided against it at the last second. i dont think our nose was much up for it. we drove through town a little bit and headed to the lake. the smell wasnt as bad next to it, so we took a stroll through the local saturday's market/swapmeet thing. we spent some time talking with this local man who was selling some of his paintings. he really did some amazing work with water colors, so justin and i picked out our favorite. we are now proud owners of a leo dibley original for when he becomes famous.

we were back on the road to continue up towards tauranga and mt. maunganui were we were going to stay they night. some of the prettiest countryside is on the drive toward the bay of plenty. we stopped at the kiwi 360 museum/exhibit to pick up some kiwi's for the trip. they were delicious. did you know there is a gold kiwi that is sweeter than a greem one with out any hair on it? and also they have a kiwi grape that looks like a grape but tastes like a kiwi? the little green thing is a kiwi sppon. its a wonderful invention because before there was no good way to do it. cut the skin off? eat the skin? eat around it? this spoon has revolutionized the way we eat them. brilliant!!

tauranga is situated on the inside of a bay and mt maunganui is on he pennisula that makes the bay. we headed over to mt maunganui to see if there was any surf. we cruised the town, picked up some lunch from the local bakery, fell in love with delicioso salt and vinegar chips and headed to the beach. this place reminded us alot of newport and huntington beach back in california, except without the pretentious people and the crowds. we loved it! we would call this home if we could! we spent the day hanging on the beach, watching the kite surfers, climbing to the top of the mount at the end of the pennisula (the town is named after the mount at the end) and having a great time. that night we feasted. we didnt want to go out again so we found a local grocery store and stoked up on everything we had been missing. we had a rotiserie chicken, salad, 2 litres of milk (which we finished in 24 hours. we had been so deprived), ice cream, yogurt, avocados (9 for 2 dollars! what a steal), apples and granola bars. oh we hadn't eaten that good the whole trip! we continued our LOTR marathon as we sat with full bellies. this place will definetly be our future residence. it has everything we want in california, without the things we dont. truely a beautiful place.