Big Trip Day 8 (Auckland, Hamilton and Rotorua)

Rochelle fed us a fantastic breakfast and we were sadly and slowly out the door.  We made the trip to Hamilton in about 3 hours and 15 minutes (normally 1 hour and 45 minutes) arriving just after 3:00.  McDonald's was on the way at $40 for lunch.

The LDS Hamilton New Zealand temple sits in the middle of vast amounts of farmland.  It has a lovely Visitor's Center and a Distribution Store.

We drove an hour and a half to Rotorua.  We had booked a couple nights in the Rydes Hotel.  (Rotorua does indeed "stink" because of the sulfur geysers.)  The hotel had large, connecting rooms and a pool.  We had Pizza Hut for dinner (2 larges for $25).  We stopped at a local grocery store (Countdown) for breakfast and snack items (including some New Zealand staples--Pavlova, Lamington, Tim Tam, Cadbury candies, L&P chocolate bar...).