NZ Day 3: Driving to Waitomo

After we finished our hike to Rotorua, we started the drive over to our destination for the night's lodging: Waitomo! We had plenty of time to make the drive, so we took a few fun stops.

 

One of our stops was at a blueberry farm, which was a big hit with one of us!

And a bit later one, we stopped for a picnic lunch and ate some delicious New Zealand cheeses and fruit we'd bought before leaving Rotorua.

This is what you call a picnic!

By late afternoon, we arrived in Waitomo.

There's not too much to Waitomo; here's Holly and Toby with the entirety of the village behind them.

Luckily, we'd pre-booked our accommodations for the evening. We were staying at the Waitomo Caves Hotel. We knew we were in for a treat when we saw its website that said "Waitomo Caves Hotel is not for those of you seeking the modern sterile chic rather this is a sedate haven of faded decor, doubtful 60's renovations, sparkling crystal chandeliers, spacious clean rooms, deliciously comfortable beds and deep armchairs." We certainly found the first part of that description to be true!

The sweeping staircase, which was also described on the website, was something else!

The hallway to our room. I did my hair in one of these mirrors because the light was better than in our room

If the inside looked a little questionable, the outside brought a little reassurance because it was very charming and overlooked the valley of Waitomo.

And even though the hotel had a dining room (which had very high standards)...

...we were told they were not serving dinner. Which was probably not surprising given that there were only three cars in the lot besides ours. Luckily, though, there was a general store that sold food, as well as a cute little restaurant where we had a fabulous dinner!

We had an early appointment at the caves, so we called it a night pretty soon after dinner - not that there seemed to be much of a nightlife in Waitomo. We learned that our room had neither air conditioning or a fan, so we opened the windows, opened the hallway door, out the chain lock in and enjoyed a good breeze for the night. I don't know if we would describe ourselves as "deliciously comfortable," but we slept pretty well and enjoyed our Waitomo night!

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