Rotorua, New Zealand, Saturday, February 10, 2018

Today we hired a taxi to take us to Rotorua, about 3 hours drive south of Auckland.

The landscape between Auckland and Rotorua was largely agricultural, with cattle farms dominating.

We stopped at a place called "The Redwoods" in Rotorua.

With a light rain, the redwood forest undergrown with ferns was very green.

An elevated walkway through the redwood forest.

A close-up.

From the redwood forest, we went to Lake Rotorua, the second largest lake on the north island of New Zealand.  The lake was formed inside a caldera of a volcano, with an island in the center.  The weather was rainy and windy.

 A black swan on the lake.

These black swans are unique to Australia and New Zealand.