Astray Rotorua

... went in search of the source of the smell, which smells similar to most Chemistry labs in school but a little stronger. We could see the smoking holes quite easily and there quite a few to choose from. Some looked like milky/watery puddles that had a couple of bubbles, some looked like a normal pond in a park but had a nice mist effect on the top and then there was the steaming and belching mud pits that if you were stood in the wrong place sent a warm wet cloud of neat sulphur ...

... Caine in CSI:Miami - sunglasses on; sunglasses off: sunglasses on… etc, etc.

But the motorway to Auckland appeared finally and we blasted through Auckland to the southern service station at Papakura for lunch. There was a craft shop in the service station and Wendy got talking to the woman there about quilting (as you do) and she told us of a quilt shop that was on our route. Resigned looks from me. The sun had come out to play properly at this point and has stayed ...

... the female staff (well it’s good to know the Hadwin’s have something in common).

I left Fred at a remote bus stop (hopefully he’s home by now) and headed off in my new chariot (A silver Toyota Corolla) to find my way to Rotorua. A great drive across the North of New Zealand on good roads. The country is young geologically, in fact, if it was painted you would still be able to smell it and when you get ...

... views then you head over to the luge which is like a cart that you steer and go down a hill with lots of turns then when you get to the bottom you catch a chairlift up to the top again to do it all over again. We had three goes on the luge then headed to the Gondolas for the ride back down. Earlier in the morning we had booked a KJet ride which took us across the river to the other side to go and have a look at this ...

... the bus today. It's just strange. McDonalds is everywhere, and we've had two meals at the "Hollywood Bakery." When we walked into a sporting goods store the Boss's Glory Days was blaring. The song was about a friend who "was a big baseball player, back in high school." I don't think there's a baseball diamond in all of New Zealand, and the Brits we befriended didn't even really talk of high school. But anyways ...

... photos of our adventure we got the cd and the photos are up on here too. We also thought we deserved some down time and to relax, and what better than the natural mudpools at Hells Gate! The name is pretty self explanatory when the water in the grounds naturally bubbles and explodes and is well over boiling point. The place also stunk of sulphur.

After looking at all the pools and seeing water shoot metres into the sky we were told to ...

... the whole town smells like freaking rotten eggs and it is hard to hack sometimes. So we went in search of internet and found a hostel as it was closing. We got to talking to the Canadian girl behind the counter and found it was the cheapest in town. We were going to put our stuff in our room when I met a girl from Scotland on the stairs that were headed out to some amazing river that is just a heated river out in the middle of nowhere ...

... but they only worked from 9 to 5 on Sundays so with the difference in time I had to recall them at 2200 that night and leave Diana to try to sort out the charges on Monday morning!!! That night we had a Hangi meal, which was very good. With a buffet meal followed by a group of singers who sang some Maori songs. Mind you they could be singing about anything we would have no idea what they were saying !! Ha Ha :( The next day we were moving on to the Bay of Islands

... cultural event and hangi. About 100 tourists (from 17 nations, it emerged) entertained by 1) the arrival of Maori warriors in a waka (canoe) 2) a traditional Moari welcome ceremony 3) Maori Poi dancing 4) the local tribes Haka , then a buffet of lamb, chicken & kumara (sweet potato) cooked in a haangi (underground like the Umu we had in Tonga). It was all pretty amusing and a slick operation, although I was disappointed ...

... When she arrived back Tara said that the rafting was amazing and not at all like what you imagine it to be. She had also decided to stay in Rotorua tonight too - the bus driver had told her that there was nothing else to do in Waitomo other than what she had already done... so fair enough. It didn't take long at all to get to our final destination and get dropped off at our hostel for the few nights we were staying, and typically Darren ...