Affordable Westminster Lodge Rotorua

... plates up 4 times with 4 different courses- I was regretting it still the day after as I still felt stuffed! After dinner we went to see some geysters which were very active and really impressive- spurting out 100 degrees of water up to 30 metres high! If you sat on the ground any where in the area- it was really hot. The Mafia man then chanted a goodbye chant- in which i kept wanting to laugh and then we got taken back! Really really good evening!

... weekend. By then most restaurants had closed or stopped serving food so we went to Lone Star where we managed to get some food just before closing and it was BYO so we could drink a bottle of our purchased wine. After dinner we went to the Pig & Whistle where we listened to live music and drank way too much beer.

The following morning Nic and Frisbee woke up with terrible hangovers so they didn't want to join me in my Zorbing ...

... old pub quiz! We didn't win because it was fixed of course, but it was good night and made a change for watching DVD's in the campervan!

The next morning we checked out of the campsite and started to head for Napier..until Luke suddenly decided that after his brave leap out of a plane the day before, he now wanted to go and throw himself off a ledge by the river! We had a discount voucher for Taupo Bungy if you jumped before 11am and Luke ...

... lamb, chicken, potato, sweet potato, cauliflour...all quite famaliar but with the smokey flavour. And the dance was great to learn more aboot the culture, how they lived, survived, entertained themselves...they seemed like very happy and peaceful folk. The tribe that held this show seemed geniunely happy and thankful that we were there which was nice.

The next day, i did something i never do, i hired a car for ...

... drank herbal tea! I'm off to Hong Kong and Sunday and have mixed feelings as it will be the start of my journey home, but very excited to experience the vibrant city. My hotel, transfers and tours were all booked this morning so I'm all sorted now. We are going away to a friends place down on the beach, which will be really good to chill out in. Again no mobile reception or internet...how nice! I'm really happy here, especially now the sun has begun to shine again!

... meal, free drink and dessery for a bargain price of $11!!! haha! very rare we eat out so was nice luxury! Got 2 day in this eggy town so the next day decided to spend it going Lugeing..... ALice and Isabelle with us again so all went up there!!! 3 different tracks this time... it is soooo funny!!! bomb so fast down the slopes and the sicklehs even managed an extra luge for FREE!!!! At night had a huge ...

... hydrogen sulphide (rotten eggs) in the ground. walking round the bay you eventually get to a maori war canoe and then to a maori meeting house and craft centre. Looking round the craft centre i've already decided i'm going to buy some maori carvings and post them back to add to my wood carving collection - best look out for a big box from new zealand dad after the lakeside i went down to government gardens and had a walk round there for a bit and then ...

... why it's more of a gray color than a brown, I don't know.  All over town there are spas that use the (cooled) mud from the area to put on people and make them feel better.  However, as the mud is a depletable resource, they do some sort of recycling with it. Our next stop was the Wai o tapu thermal wonderland.  Here, there are various thermal pools, mineral buildups, and other signs of the subterranean geothermal activity in the area.  The whole area is on/near a fault ...

... was re-excavated starting in the 1930s to reveal all sorts of artefacts such as iron bedsteads, bottles of whisky and wine from the tourist hotel and childrens' shoes from the local schoolhouse. A very clear stream runs through the property with big trout and a waterfall. A short distance down the road there is a good view of Mount Tarawera over the lake. Then we have an 11km walk in the Whakawerewa Forest, climbing a hill through ...

... a few liters of water and get that authentic feeling I would like to call "the cat in the washing machine". Great fun, lotsa screams and limbs all over the place. At the end you flop out of a narrow opening with a gush of water sloshing out after you like your own birth relived. Great fun!
We also met two lovely German travellers in Rotorua, one of whom, Regine, was so lovely, I couldn't help myself going out with her and selling her our car. It's great to ...