Rotorua

Rotorua, Rotovegas or just plain old Vegas, you know you've arrived when that delightfully sulphuric rotten egg aroma has a firm hold on your olfactory senses.

We visited to ride some of the fast flowing mountain bike trails behind the town with the kids. Once we'd worn ourselves out on the trials and washed off in the pools it was time for a bit of culture at the old Bath House, now the Rotorua Museum. Set in a sort of steaming Victorian time warp, the old tudor style building is surrounded by formal gardens, thermal vents, various monuments and croquet and bowling greens.

The sketch possibilities here are endless, I sketched some of the taonga inside the museum, the ancestral carvings that stand guard at the gates and a crack at the whole building, though I quickly regretted it when I realised the how much detail there is!