A few days away in Rotorua sounded like a good plan so after restocking the fridge and topping up with a bit of water, we set off for Rotorua. Straight down the motorway with the new Hamilton bypass, it was too easy.

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We arrived at the Rotorua Thermal Holiday Park early in the afternoon and after plugging in, we headed straight for the Hot Pools. The last time we were here, I took a lot more images so check it out here.

The park is quite different from your average holiday park in that is has a covered boardwalk that surrounds the park and meets at the newish ablution block. It means you can park close and avoid getting too wet if its pouring with rain to get the facilities. Clever.

After an afternoon of a few swims as you do, we settled down for the night. The forecast was evil with heavy rain and maybe some thunder too.

About 4am, we were woken up by this massive thunderclap and huge lightning. You could feel the vibration of the thunder through the motorhome even through the bedding! There were a couple of more strikes and then things settled down to just heaps of rain and wind.

In the morning, we woke up to a fridge which had been on power, a bit slow to respond and it was decidedly warmer than it should have been. We thought maybe it had been spiked.

Reading the Herald on the iPad, we saw that at the Golf course just a 100 or so metres away over the road, a Cyprus tree had exploded, and bits went flying up to 50 metres away after a lightning strike. We figured this must be what we heard at 4am.

The fridge was still a bit lethargic so after talking to my son, he suggested (I should have thought of this) that reset the fridge and try it on gas until we get back to Auckland to save our food. The fridge worked brilliantly and when we got home, we tested it on power with some ice and glass of water and it passed with flying colours 🙂

After getting over the fridge and getting things together, we headed into Rotorua on a bus and headed to Fiona’s favourite French Cafe in Rotorua. As always, the food was fantastic and from there, we went for a wander through the shopping area.

Rotorua always has that holiday feel to it with the thermal smell and all the touristy stuff happening. It’s a great spot and we can never get enough of it. The Hot pools of course make it even better.

We finished off at Farmers and Noel Leeming and some of the big shops.  A cruise back on the Bus and we were back in for another swim in the Hot Pools. Bliss.