100% Pure New Zealand 🇳🇿 A Welcoming Journey to Rotorua New Zealand | 197 Countries, 3 Kids

Join us as we begin our epic adventure in Rotorua, New Zealand!

But before we show you around Rotorua, let us explain how we actually ended up coming to New Zealand.

It all started in November of 2018 on our trip to Nicaragua. We traveled to a small town called San Juan del Sur and on our first day, we met this really cool family from New Zealand who called themselves Kiwis (we didn’t know what that meant at the time).

We spent the days together swimming, surfing, and getting to know each other. Every time we extended a day, our new friends did too, so what was supposed to be a three-day trip turned into a nine weeks prolonged stay in Nicaragua.

We learned so much about New Zealand from their stories that it made us really look forward to visiting the country.

Fast forward to early 2020, we were traveling in SouthEast Asia, when suddenly the pandemic struck, and fortuitously we decided to head to New Zealand a month earlier than planned.

Our friends arranged for a home for us to stay at in Rotorua for four weeks and then we naively thought we would continue on with our world travels. 2 days after we arrived in Christchurch, the borders closed and shortly thereafter, New Zealand went into a 7-week-long complete lockdown. The home our friends arranged was no longer available and we ended up staying on the South Island in Queenstown.

A few months later, it was finally time for our families to meet. We were still on the South Island and they decided to drive down and join us for a few days in Kaiteriteri.

Time passed again and 2 months later we found ourselves on the North Island, first visiting Wellington and Gisborne before finally heading to Rotorua!

Needless to say, the drive from Gisborne to Rotorua was incredible. So much beauty, picturesque scenery, diverse landscape, and breathtaking nature all in one place.

Along the way, looking into the sea, we also noticed the most active volcano in New Zealand, called Whakaari or White Island.

As we were pulling into Rotorua, we opened the windows to film a little video and we could already smell the Sulphur City due to the hydrogen sulfide emissions that give the smell of rotten eggs.

Later in the afternoon, we checked into our home exchange, which was right on the shores of Lake Rotoiti. It was spacious, fully equipped, and had an amazing view. We also had a black-swan visitor welcome us into the area!

We didn’t have much time to eat a proper dinner, so we had a quick snack and soon were back on the road to surprise our friends who were not expecting us until the following day.

We arrived at their house, but instead of ringing the bell, we decided to go live on Instagram, dancing at their back door. It took them a while to realize we were showing them their own backyard, but once they did, it was time for hugs and smiles!

We were so happy to see each other after waiting so long.

Enjoy the video and stay tuned for our epic adventures in Rotorua!

1:22 Why We Came to New Zealand
3:10 All Packed for Rotorua
4:01 Breathtaking Scenery on the way to Rotorua, New Zealand
4:38 Whakaari/White Island Volcano, New Zealand
5:38 Rotorua Smells Like Rotten Eggs
7:28 Lake Rotoiti, New Zealand
8:22 Our Home Exchange in Rotorua
9:42 New Zealand Black Swan
12:36 Surprising our Kiwi Friends
15:34 The Start of our Rotorua Adventure

#Rotorua #NewZealand #LakeRotoiti
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