Best Western Summit Motor Lodg Tauranga

... br><br><br>At night we go to the Polynesian Spa on the lake side where you can see the stars while becoming thoroughly relaxed in the hot mineral water. <br><br> <br><br><br>The day after having done a fair bit of work to keep the diary up to date and run some errands in town I get picked up by the MC Gregors of the apple house farm. Mari is waiting for me!

... today were from Australia who own a bed and breakfast, a travel agent from Brazil, and another couple from New Zealand. Looking forward to arriving in Rarotonga tomorrow, a small island that we hear you can bike around in a matter of just a few hours (Don M could probably do this in 30 minutes flat). We also heard that the snorkeling is great so may check that out. Will update you more tomorrow, Goodnight! Lessons Learned: - Even when boredom kicks in,,,, vacations are GOOD!

... is encouraged though I dont really do aggression. We then do our respective performances and it goes pretty well. The leader of the marae, Uncle Boys, is very complimentary of our performances, our driver tells us that he wasnt as effusive about the last group. The rest of the night is spent on the beach, glad I brought my wind-up torch now.

  Well, I have been at my friends house for about five days now and I feel the familiar itch to get on my way to a new adventure before school starts. New Zealand offers so much kindness, you simply have to have the courage to trust people. Perhaps this will get me into trouble, but I feel the risk is well worth the pay. The last five days have been very interesting, fun, and strange. One of the girls here, the one that picked me up, turned 25 and had a birthday party a few days ago ...

... there was already a line of prospective sellers all ready to claim their spot in the parking lot to sell their goods. At 7:30, everyone was allowed in the parking lot to set up. Most people had garage sale type things but people were also selling produce, arts, crafts, and there were some food vendors as well. I didn't see anything worth buying, but it was still comforting to know that the Kiwi's love their flea markets also ...

... lake. As a bit of a package deal, I was going to do it all along but by waiting until the end to add it on i basically got it included in the price of the photos - nice. Only downside was that i had to walk home (10/15min) to my hostel with damp hair unless i wanted to hire (basically buy at that price) a hair-dryer!...I bought dinner instead ;)

We awoke to rain and mist, so we didn't hurry off the ship. I finished the necklace I was making for Rhian then we had an early lunch before walking into town. We looked in the shops and bought some postcards, then went into an ...

... to more hot springs by staying at the Waikate Thermal Valley Springs campsite which was very nice. After another dip in the morning - it beats the tube first thing - we headed into Roturua where we visited The Buried Village in Te Wairoa so called because it was buried by mud and ash from a volcanic eruption in 1886. We also stopped of at some gorgeous pools , The Green Pool and The Blue Pool, and went down to ...

... the Chinese Takeaway again to "ta pau". I discovered something new. They have 3 takeaway container sizes (Small: NZD5.50, Med: NZD7, Big: NZD9). They also have a range of dishes laid out with fried rice &amp; noodles too (just like our economy rice). You can take whatever u like until the container is full. It was real cheap &amp; tasty. I ate half for dinner &amp; save the other half for lunch tomorrow. :) Tomorrow, I plan to move to Rotorua where I'll spend 4 nights.

... Tuesday down in Hastings near Napier.<br><br><br><br><br><br> Apart from sun tanning, we did not really get too active. The only more energetic activity we did for a few days was blokarting, Julien's new favourite sport. You drive around a course in a small kart that has a big sail, going up to 90km/h (we didn't reach that kind of speed fortunately, 30km/h seemed quite fast already). Jo drove like a woman she is and flipped the ...