Ferntree Cottage B & B Rotorua

... through the Waitomo caves. The tour was lots of fun, we were able to walk and float through the caves on inner tubes. The only down side was the annoying kids in the group that kept screaming the entire time. We did meet a couple of nice girls on our tour, one named Fiona was from Scotland and the other one named Nancy was from Germany. After the caves, we wanted to find a happening campground where we could meet people and hang out. So we decided that a ...

... rt wurden. Daneben locken heiße Quellen, Geysire und kochender Schlamm Menschen zum wellnessen und therapieren an. Sogar im öffentlichen Park kann man solche Quellen bestaunen und ein wohlig warmes Fußbad im Schwefelwasserbecken genießen!


Wie mein lebhaftes Maori-Gegenüber im heißen Nass sitzend, erklärte, sei er ein Nachkomme des hier ansässigen Te Arawa Stammes. Als ich, wieder mal in der Bibliothek, neugierig durch die Begegnung, nachschlug, um Maori Geschichte ...

... surface. The climb was difficult as the water was rushing fast but after a struggle we finally reached the surface. The whole journey was exhausting but extremely rewarding.

New Zealand is well known for its wool exports and sheep population. There are over 40 million sheep in NZ and only 4 million people. We were treated to a sheep shearing show where the sheep was stripped of its wool and I got to come up stage and milk a cow. The show was ...

... of snow to cover all these rocks!! We hiked at a lower altitude, in less than ideal weather, and saw some great sights. The next day we moved on to Waitomo to view glow worms. Took a boat tour through the caves with thousands of glow worms all over the ceilings. They glow a bright blue in the dark. Was truly AWESOME!! Then moved on to Lake Taupo and Rotorua. This is ...

... woods and the extremely bad NZ drivers. We are amazed how these very civilized people can drive this bad! They drive slow and when you try to overtake they speed up. What's that all about?! Anyway, after a scenic 6 hours we landed at Jon & Robyns house on the outskirts of Auckland and had a great evening with them and their friends. They have just been so amazingly hospitable, taking us in and looking after ...

... richesse de la région : de magnifiques lacs et montagnes, de nombreux volcans, toutes sortes de phénomènes intrigants liés à l'activité géothermique ... Visite de Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Reserve : petit parc dans lequel on se ballade en suivant le circuit en plein air, zigzaguant entre les geysers, les lacs de silice, les puits de souffre...Bref un ...

... pre european maori village and given a maori welcome and allowed to look around the village and then go watch and listen to story , singing and dance. after had a buffet meal and chatted to loads of people then it was time to go home had a really cool night . pics to follow soon.

... the water was low enough to reach the hot area. On the bright side though, arriving first did mean we got the biggest hired spade! Once the water-level had dropped enough, we shuffled around until our feet got hot, then dug on the warm spot. Initially, any attempts to create a hole or dam to hold back the sea were infuriatingly wiped out at regular intervals by large waves but, eventually, we managed to create a hole big enough to sit in ...

... terrible safe and secure exploring down there, even with the provided hard hat.

The regional history wing had some amazing Maori carvings and photographs of some of the significant individuals at different times. A couple of the women pictured were strikingly beautiful. There was also a exhibit dedicated to the "Maori Battalion" of WWII, and equally as interesting a section dedicated to the eruption of Tarawera in 1896, to ...

... Falls ihr das machen wollt, macht’s mit „Kaituna Rafting“, die heben einen Spitzenfotografen.

Am nächsten Tag ging’s dann nach Waitomo („Wasserlöcher“), einer Gegend mit zahllosen Höhlen und Heimat des Black Water Raftings. Dies beinhaltet das Gleiten entlang unterirdischer Wasserströme in einem Autoreifen-Schlauch. Klang spannen, aufgrund der vielen Regenfälle waren aber die meisten Höhlen wegen Hochwasser gesperrt, so ...