New Zealand 6 day slice of German Heaven

The Amora Resort at Okawa Bay is at the southeastern corner of Lake Rotoiti, it truly is such a serene spot that it takes some time to realise the only sounds you can hear are ducks and geese quacking on the lakeshore. No car horns, no traffic, congestion noises, alarms, sirens, nothing at all but natural, peaceful bliss. The mornings at the bay see the sun splitting the trees and glistening hypnotically on the lake, a spectacularly magical place to be for sure.

The nearby store, which was originally a garage until 2004 when it was then purchased and, was transformed into a quaint combined cafe, general store, deli and beer garden. Inside the store is a treasure of organic, sustainable goodness with many artisan products available and that wonderful smell of coffee throughout.

The store has been running the wonderful German  beerfest for the five years, it is  a reflection of the owners' German heritage and amazingly popular with New Zealand natives and migrants whether of German heritage or not. The beer garden is beautifully rustic and natural in the beautiful setting and has plenty of welcoming shady trees to offer relief to the heat and glare of the New Zealand sun.

The atmosphere of the beer fest takes some beating, all who attend are continually smiling, happy, polite and all thoroughly enjoy themselves - even the toilet queue is good natured and polite which may be surprising considering the heavy rays of sun and constant rays of hot sunshine one endures throughout the day. One could say it could be the serenity of the surroundings rubbing off, whatever it is the vibe is absolutely fantastic - year in year out.

The food available is wonderfully tasty and includes tradition German favourites such as bratwurst, giant pretzels, generous pork shanks and an array or potato and meat dishes all served at the festival with an offering of organic vegetables, native New Zealanders will include health with everything!

To enhance the jolly German experience there is a wonderful carnival band who play throughout the festival and can turn their hand to most styles including many traditional drinking songs amid the contemporary fare.