Treating myself at the glass workshop

Yesterday the couple we spoke to at the thermal pools told us about a glass blowing place nearby called Lava Glass that they visited. When we left Taupo today heading towards Rotorua, our next stop, Nick happened to spot the glass place as we were driving and decided to pull in. Unfortunately they are currently using the low season as an opportunity to refit the cafe and install new ventilation in the workshop so we were unable to go on one of the demonstrations they usually offer. This did however mean they let us enter the gardens for free to have a look around at the pieces out there. The colours were beautiful against the greens of the garden plants and when light shone through some of the pieces it really did transform into quite a magical place. They had glass flowers, balls that reminded me of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and even small forest scenes trapped inside a glass snow globe style shape. After exploring the artwork outside we returned back inside to the shop where I had been admiring a few vases. We then spent about an hour looking at all the ones they had after I'd decided I wanted to buy one. I saw one I liked but felt it needed something else added to it. This lead us and the assistant on a journey from talking about commissioned pieces to even seeing works that were still in progress until eventually after realising how hard it is to control the outcome of the pieces I fell in love with the first one I was drawn to. Nick also really likes it so that is bonus seeing as he will have to see it everyday. Although it was a lot of money the level of skill that has been used is truly beautiful. It's inspiration was also the Huka Falls which we visited the other day so that makes it even more special. Every time I look at the photo of it and see how by some pure chance they managed to get those two bands of detail twisting around each other I just love it even more. It's been wrapped up in two layers of bubble wrap, cardboard, a bag, a dressing gown and put into a cardboard box with a cushion to protect it on our journey around NZ. I'm so very pleased I bought it and we will have this truly unique souvenir of our time here. We plan to return to the studio in summer to see the glass blowing demonstration once they are up and running again. After driving up north we made it to Rotorua and with no real plan we just headed to the lake front to explore. We strolled along the waters edge and eventually made it to a Maori village which had some beautiful Maori artwork on the buildings. Steam was rising from the lake and other areas around the site which gave it a very mysterious feeling. Unlike our last encounter with geothermic steam this really smelled strongly of sulphur. The whole town has a slight odour to it. After a little search on Campermate while we ate tea and biscuits I found a good deal on a powered site with free wifi included. We headed to the site quite early to do some research but we actually managed to get a lot of help from the receptionist instead. She gave us advice on what to do and even offered us discount for a geothermal place tomorrow and booked us a Maori village experience evening for tomorrow night. She was able to advise us which companies were best and it feels good knowing we have a planned day for tomorrow.Read more