Tuesday: Shopping, Middle School, Redwoods, Queenstown, Arrowtown

I wave good-bye to the Rotorua Rydges Hotel and the group makes a quick stop at a souvenir shop. I don't want to buy much until we get to Wellington.

We drive to Kaitao Middle School (grades 7 - 8) in Rotorua headed for the past 19 years by Principal Rory O'Rourke. He's an educator known country-wide for his innovative programs in helping his area's low socio-economic school-age population, 62% are Maori. A group of students welcome us with song and "hongi" - the touching of forehead and nose, and we tour the classrooms.

I speak to a few of the teachers, one a Maori who teaches remedial skills to students in the "Discovery Academy." There are different academies focused on different skills and gifts be they sports, the arts, academic...

Before we head to the Rotorua Airport to fly to Queenstown, we pause for a stroll through the Redwood Grove. The California Redwoods were a gift from the U.S. In 1947 the grove was dedicated to the Maori and "Pakeha" (European descendents) forestry soldiers who lost their lives in the two World Wars. I am reminded of Muir Woods north of San Francisco. The clean air is refreshing after the sulphur atmosphere of Rotorua. I was getting worried, because I was actually getting used to the stench in the city.

We have a quick lunch (chicken noodle soup) at the Rotorua Airport as we wait to fly to Christchurch, then Queenstown. They hold the connecting flight in Christchurch for us because we are 20 minutes late due to high winds. In fact, we didn't have to enter the terminal, instead walking across the tarmac and onto the waiting prop-plane.

The air is COLD! and there is snow on the mountains of the NZ Alps. (In fact, the southern tip of NZ is only 1584 miles from Antarctica, or 3529 miles Queenstown to Antarctica.) The Millbrook Resort in Arrowtown is one of NZ's finest resorts; it includes a golf course. Not all the accommodations in NZ are this lush, so our 3 nights here will be a treat.

Nearby Arrowtown is a quaint, historic gold-mining town. The resort's shuttle takes us the 5 minutes into Arrowtown to dine at  the New Orleans Bar and Grill.  I have the Blue Cod Burger and salad. Tomorrow we have a 6-hour bus ride to Milford Sound.