Catching up with the Rellies

Stephen has some aunts and uncles living in the North Island and of course we don't normally get to see much of them. So we have made an effort to catch up with them.

His Aunty Pearl (his mother's sister) lives in Tokoroa so we decided that we would incorporate a trip from Tauranga via Rotorua.  We set the alarm for a 7am start and by 8:30 we were on the road to Rotorua. It took us about an hour and we spent the morning exploring the area. We walked along the waterfront along passed Sulphur Bay. Here there is plenty of steam rising up through the ground, including Cameron's Laughing Pool  and the 'coffee pot' which didn't look like a place I would have liked to have a therapeutic dip like they did in earlier days.  We debated whether or not to visit some of the more 'touristy' places like the museum and Whakarewarewa but decided on looking at the entry prices that for the time that we had, it wouldn't be good value.

Does this have a link to the Cameron rellies in the family?

Steam rising from the rocks in Sulpher Bay

The smell in the area wasn't flash!

The coffee pot

After a quick lunch we headed on to Tokoroa and Aunty Pearl and Uncle Ron were very pleased to see it. Their daughter Karen from Wellington was visiting so it was a bonus to catch up with her too.  We plan to visit her again on our way back through Wellington.  Unfortunately we forgot to get the camera out so no photos this time.

Next visit was in Katikati. Stephen's Dad has a brother Neil living here. There is a very interesting story with this brother. Maurice always knew he had been an adopted son but neither brother knew the other existed until 1987 when Maurice traced his birth parents.  Seeing Neil it is very easy to see the family resemblance.  We spent a lovely afternoon with Neil and Faye, leaving with both promises of not taking so long to visit again and an address for their son Rodger in Whangaparoa.

Stephe, Faye and Neil.