Rotorua January 3

Sunday, January 3, 2010     Rotorua, New Zealand

On the recommendation of our B&B host we drove up to Lake Okataina and hiked through the forest.  In some ways it reminded us of temperate rain forests like Olympic National Park in Washington, but the vegetation was all different.  One of the dominant types of large plant things (obviously this is being written by Tyler, not by Paula the botanist) is tree ferns, in several different species.  Here are two of them.

Here is the distinctive fiddlehead of the so-called "freeflow" fern, which is well-known for its medicinal properties - - as a laxative.  Hence the expression, "with fronds like these, who needs enemas."

We set out on a track (NZ for "trail") that we thought might be the 0.5 km walk to a waterfall.  It turned out to be quite a bit longer, and no falls, but it was an interesting experience.  Tyler thought it must have been about 10 miles because Paula was going SO SLOW!! - - looking at every side of every plant, and taking at least 5 photos of each.  

But, with occasional sessions of sitting down and playing with his iPod while Paula was catching up, it worked out ok.  And you can see from the sign how long it really was.

Along the way we met this real fun guy!