Rotorua

We spent the night in Rotorua. Rotorua is famous for boiling mud pools which we plan to see today. Pictures will not do this town justice. You need the sense of smell to fully appreciate this place... imagine French Lick on steroids!

We drove for several hours, yesterday, seeing many sheep, cows, sheep, horses, sheep, red deer, and even a few sheep. The landscape is quite breathtaking. After seeing these many sights, we stopped off to see, you guessed it, a sheep show. The kids really enjoyed it. I especially liked seeing the dogs work the sheep.

I have encountered many oddities compared to the States. As some examples...

• Kiwi seem to be prejudiced against ice. Fountain Coke machines do not dispense Ice. Drinks are not served with Ice. Ice can not be bought in convenience stores.
• People look at you strange when you ask for ketchup. I found out it is called tomato sauce here.
• French Fries are served coated in Vinegar and Salt.
• Dewar asked Austin if he had some rubbish he need to throw away. Austin replied... 'No, it's just trash.' (Rubbish is NZ for trash.)
• You push down on light switches to turn them on.
• Each electrical outlet has a switch next to it to turn it on.
• People look at you strange when you ask for a rest room. This worried me at first because Austin really had to go. I found out that this terminology is foreign to them. They call it a toilet or bathroom.
• Toilets have two flushing options so you can adjust based upon the load you deposit.

Today, we are off exploring more hoping to see boiling mud and glow worms.