Reflections Bed & Breakfast Rotorua

... stats here are not surprisingly very bad but did you know you can start driving here at 15?<br><br>I knew the Dunedin Top 10 campsite was only 2.5km from the city centre so thought it would be a good walk in and out &#8211; what I didn&#8217;t know was that it was 2.5km worth of very steep hill &#8211; the van struggled enough not sure how my wee legs would manage. I opted for the bus in and out for my first visit and sorted myself out with a couple of contrasting ...

... Indeed, it was disappointing to not have my camera, but I did buy some postcards and so that will have to do. I was able to buy a chocolate bar for the glacier hike, so I did not go completely hungry. In fact, most of the time I was definitely not thinking about food! But when I returned, I was quite hungry. <br><br>First, we got all geared up. They gave us wool socks, boots, crampons, hat, mittens, and a rain ...

... so glad that I did this, but to be honest, I am too scared to go and do it again. Chonk told us that when we hit the bottom of the water fall, we had gone about 6 feet completely under the water. I was relieved to be alive and couldn't wait to be warm again. Afterwards, we loaded the rafts and went back to base to change and for pictures. All of us then headed to the Hostel to ...

... where we saw a collection of pools, sands and craters which come about naturally due to the geothermal energy in the area. For those of you that don't know - subduction zone, Australasian + Pacific plates.<br><br>After lunch we hitched a lift on the bus we would be catching tomorrow to Rainbow Springs. Here they have a captive breeding centre where the staff are involved in conservation of the Kiwi bird ...

... we were staying that night. this is mostly a daily thing at the pub, they hold a costume party where people dress up in a particular theme and have a few drinks and get to know everybody. <br>Rangi gave us the theme which was "Bad taste", to me this was an odd theme but people managed to be creative, with ideas like Priest and a school boy which was what i went as with Nishant, he was the priest and i was the school boy. Other costumes included a Gollywog, which won the ...

... making my way back through the course of bar stools to drop her at the bar where she'll down a shot through a straw. We do it in amazing time but finish second to a local driver who does the competition all the time and could eat the glass the pint was in and all. But we beat all the young busses and so I did my bit for Ireland as did Kay for England. Upon realising I did this sober, I retire to my bed and cry. On my iPod On the Road Again - Willie Nelson

... to see something like that happen. The guide in the boat was really quick and had it turned back upright and everyone back inside within about 10-15 seconds, kudos. We headed downstream and jumped in the river. There we were given the option to stay in the river through a rapid, or get back in the boat for the rapid. Most of our boat wanted back in, but we couldn't climb back in time. Watching Charlotte and Lucy try to pull 6 foot 7 Mark back into the boat was hilarious ...

... is done well, no matter how cheap it is. I have not eaten one bad chip, potato wedge, burger or piece of bacon since I have been here. May not sound a lot to ask if you're eating out, but so many places in the UK, especially the cheaper places, so often fail to deliver on these things - soggy or undercooked junk food is clearly not tolerated in New Zealand!! The challenge for us, eating down at that end of the scale, is going to be controlling our waistlines, us both being ...

... even in photos we&#8217;ve taken. <br><br>From Franz Josef, our next destination was Wellington on the North Island. This involved 2 days of continuous travelling. From Franz Josef we travelled to Nelson, a 10 hour bus ride, where we stayed overnight. The next morning we had a 2 ½ hour bus journey to catch the Interislander ferry, which ran from Picton to Wellington and took 3 hours. So it was 7pm when we finally arrived in our accommodation in Wellington

... are also dominated by the gagging smell of sulphur, and it was interesting to find out that the smell around the thermal areas and boiling mud was actually as bad as I remembered.<br> <br>After checking into our accommodation and having a hangi-style dinner where the food was cooked in the ground, we wandered down the road, past steam billowing out of the roadside drains, for a Maori concert. There we were entertained by Maoris who I&#8217;m sure all had ...