Day 35 - Thursday 8 February 2024

Today feels like a bit of an odd day. It was due to be day 5 at the test match, but since that's finished I find myself at a bit of a nothing day. I had considered exploring down the east coast, but as the place I'd spotted was a 2.5 hour drive each way apathy won the day. So, I've had a day of reviewing where I'm at and planning for the next week or so.

Tomorrow I leave Tauranga after 9 nights here, and I won't have another stay in one place as long until I get home, so perhaps a day doing nothing of note isn't such a bad idea.

After an early breakfast as is my habit, I started looking at the next few days and what I have planned. I'm leaving Tauranga for Rotorua tomorrow, and was looking for things to do tomorrow as it's only about an hour away. Rotorua is the geothermal capital of New Zealand, so after looking at a few brochures that I found in a rack here I've settled on the Waimangu Volcanic Valley for tomorrow and have booked the 'Full Waimangu Experience' for 12:00 which involves a 2km walk followed by a 45 minute cruise on Lake Rotomahana.

Around 11:00 I figured sitting around all day doing nothing probably wasn't the best idea, so I had a wander to downtown Tauranga. It's a hot day, so I stopped at a bar for a beer (as you do!) before making my way back to my hotel at Trinity Wharf, where I had a dip in the pool, and am now considering starting the preparation for my departure tomorrow morning.

The one advantage of driving tomorrow is that today I will not be tempted to overdo the beer (which is a real danger when nothing is happening).

I then did a bit of file management, making sure that all the content that I've captured so far is backed up before sorting my stuff to pack in the morning, then just kicking back and chilling for the afternoon.

Not much else to report for the day really; just nice and quiet before the touring kicks off again in the morning.

One final point that will doubtless please my nephew Sebastian. I've been reading back through some of my early blogs, and have noticed spelling errors which I've been correcting as I go (well, correcting the errors that I spot!)




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