Boscabel Lodge Tauranga

It is the first day since I've been here that I can see why this is such a popular beach destination: the water really IS blue here. And what a blue! When the sun is just right, the sea sparkles as though it is covered in millions of little sequins.

I started off my day with one and a half hours of vacuuming and an hour making beds. I am a lady of leisure no more. But it wasn't bad at all and I got a free night out of it. The very kind hostel ...

... und schmecken dann halt nicht gleich wie bei uns)...das fondue war aber super fein :-)

by the way..... wir haben nur noch eine handy-nummer zusammen, mit NZ-sim-karte...wir teilen das handy. die nummer: +64210325020

nach dem kältesten/regnerischsten oktober seit 64jahren hier in neuseeland (!) kommt nun langsam aber sicher der sommer...es wird deutlich wärmer. kuhl.

liebe grüsse nach hause....
domi und evi

... we will be just fine. Just takes a little while to get those thoughts and images out of your head. Anwyays, on a more happier note we have decided that we are sick of working these low paying fruit jobs and are going to fly to Bangkok in a few weeks! We can last much longer in a cheaper part of the world and be in the sun and relax. We are going to spend about a week in the Melbourne area of Australia but thats about it. I guess we will ...

... town at the same time as two girls I had met both in Bolivia and Argentina so that was good to have a catch up - bit strange as all the times we'd met previously I'd been with Nikki and they'd been with another friend, Alex and we were now in a different continent, the other side of the world and yet we'd both managed to arrive into smelly Rotorua at the same time - weird! We did some walking around Rotorua which was nice when your senses deadened a little and the rain on our ...

... for a sign for Brighton as one leaves Heathrow! The Peninsula is beautiful and well worth a diversion. I think a lot of tourists do miss it out and go straight for Rotorua in the middle. We stayed in Thames for one night in a great little motel. Motels here can be superb. They usually have cooking facilities (including oven, microwave and fridge) as this one did, but will also deliver breakfast to your room ...

Rotorua is famous for its stink... sulphur. It is a very thermal area, and it sure smells like it! There are an overwhelming number of ways to see the Maori's of this area, as well as the thermals. After much debate, we finally chose a Maori village to visit that was on a thermal area. Two for one! The short name of the village is Whakarewarewa... the really short name is Whaka. The long name I won't type out. First we ...

... I'm in New Zealand with a bike and not a coach pass or a car is the book 'Long Cloud Ride' by Josie Dew, which I read and thought how amazing, she is so free, I'd love that. Then I though, I could do that, maybe not as fast or as well but what's stopping me, I realized the answer was nothing. So after a few rides with friends none of whom thought the idea was to crazy, I decided I could do it, that book was a key component and this Mrs Negative was recommending to put me ...

... they filmed the scenes for hobbiton in lord of the rings. the hobbit holes were actually built on a private sheep farm...most of the holes were taken down, but it's still easy to imagine how this little peice of farmland could have been transformed into a bustling town full of hobbits! on my last day, i went to waitomo to check out the glow worm caves. they are supposed to be a big deal...but they're just caves...with worms...that glow....

They warn you that you smell Rotorua before you see it & its true. The sulphur smell is everywhere! The bubbling mud & boiling streams & geysers & amazing geological formations are amazing but the town is a bit of a dump! Its great fun looking at gloopy ...

... along at top speed of 50km we headed for Tauranga and Mount Maunganui. These towns are real student towns, and it is where they all go on the University holidays, and it just happened to be the Easter Holidays so lots of people, and parties were going on. So after a quick cruise along the main drag, with me and Fran going dead slow with **** rap music blaring out of the even ******* car stereo I felt like a true local! I even put on ...