The Springs Rotorua

... in our group) and few other words from the heart. It was a fantastic spectacle and fair play to our chief did a great job. I kind of wish I had had done it but I would have been very nervous speaking in front of that many people but would recommend if you go volunteer yourself. The 2 chiefs then touched nose's, which is Maori traditional welcome. We all stood and sang the song we had practiced, while the chief stood there looking menacing on the stage. The warriors all ...

... man powered pod bike coarse and the jet boat goes almost 100 kph. I had so much fun there! After that fun adventure and looking at lots of very cute lambs we continued on our journey. I fell asleep for the rest of our journey so nothing else really happened. When we arrived after 4 hours of driving. Rotorua defiantly lived up to its name SMELLY TOWN, everything smells of sulfur. We then went to a park where we saw a lot of bores. Bores are these holes that release ...

... a talking horse.

Just outside the town of Rotorua are a couiple of National Parks which have all sorts of weird and wonderful volcanic activity with sulphurous pools, geysers and bubbling mud. The bubbling mud by far and away is the most interesting. If you´re ever in this neck of the woods try taking a picture when the mud explodes...nigh on impossible.

Rotorua itself is a fairly large town, in New Zealand terms, and seems to be the epicentre of motel life on the ...

... but couldn't find it. Instead I stumbled across a Maori village next to Lake Rotorua. I went to the dining room, meeting room, church and a few other buildings. They have a very traditional culture and seem to be very community orientated. The buildings are beautifully decorated with wooden carvings, each with a different meaning. Then I went past some geothermal lakes which bubble and steam and smell bad. We had another fairly quiet night because the next day was a ...

... creating garments from their "flax"... a hearty fiber scraped from the back of a local plant. Having heard from our guide about the various properties of the local mud we purchased some from the gift shop. We returned "home" (camper van, spot 12) and had a short rest before heading out for a "Zorb". What is that you ask? Well, it's a New Zealand creation of a very large rubber ball ...

... all the same. After a couple of drinks in the backpacker bar attached to the hostel we were staying in (when I realised I was a lot older than about 90% of the people there) we went to bed still debating if we were really brave enough for the next day's activities - sky-diving! I dreamt of falling out of planes that night but despite that we decided we were definitely up for sky-diving by the time we woke up, unfortunately the weather wasn't going to comply. We drove to Taupo ...

... pavements are small vents with water and steam boiling out, unguarded and not roped off at all. We saw a replica 20m long Maori war canoe and at 6pm went to Mass at the church. I wasn't too keen, I went a few months ago after all. Most of the congregation were white but some parts were said in Maori and the final hymn sung in Maori too so I quite enjoyed it as it was cultural and different. I did stop ...

... but we eventually found it. The creek was about 8 feet across and really was quite warm. Think of hot tub temperature water. It is called Kerosene Creek because that is exactly how the water smelled due to the sulfur content. We spent about an hour soaking in the water before getting out and heading back on the highway. We reached the Belcaster's house in Tauranga at about 6pm or so. I jumped in the shower to get the stink off of me. Later that night ...

... the caves...or you can go Black Water Rafting. Black Water Rafting is basically caving except you have a full body thick wet suit on and a very small inner tube. Since the caves we are entering have water running through them, we basically float/raft through the caves going over several waterfalls and slides. It was a blast. Sorry I did not take any pictures of the glow worms or in the cave because I didn't have a waterproof camera. Once we exited the ...

... vervolgens mijn theorie over de beelden en de afbeeldingen op de sokkels uitlegde... hihi. Zo werd mijn middag toch nog leuk.
Terug in het hostel mijn uitjes voor de volgende dag gepland en daarna geBBQd met een paar andere gasten uit het hostel.

De volgende ochtend zou mijn shuttle naar Wai-O-Tapu mij om 9.20 op komen pikken voor een lift naar dit "Thermal Wonderland". Met moeite had ik mezelf uit bed weten te krijgen, na de drukke dag gister, die eindigde met iets teveel bier ...