NZ Day 18 - Rest Day (HA!)

Our rest day started with a lovely 6k run around Blue Lake at 7.30 am. The Marsh-Bluetts, Hawthornes, Simpsons and Verde-Thons are all staying out here which is fun.  

Then we had a delicious breakfast and headed off to Rainbow Mountain Recreation Area.  Our plan was to hike to Crater lake, then maybe to the top of Rainbow Mountain, then to go to Kerosine Springs - a completely natural spring area you can walk to and swim in. I was resigned for this not to be as good as it sounded, as the photos on the web didn't look that enticing, but I really liked the idea of being able to swim in a natural hot springs so we all packed our bathers and hoped for the best.

After hiking and sliding back down to bottom we went along to Kerosine springs - a completely natural hot springs area with a waterfall and everything - it was really really awesome.  The water was delightfully warm, although, as the name suggests, it did have a slightly kerosiny smell to it!  

Our long morning meant we had to postpone the luge until another day, much to the dissapointment of the kids who have a wish list of activities a mile long that they are desperate to get through.