Brylin Motel Rotorua

... Its temperature is approximately 40 degrees C. The falls hold a special place for the Maori people in that the warriors used to bathe themselves to wash away the blood of battle. The sulphur in the water was very good as acting as a salve on their wounds.<br><br><br><br><br><br><br>The Suphur Lake (Medicine Lake) is the only pool that you ...

3/8 <br>Having dropped our hitchhiking couple off just south of the cape we drove back towards Auckland.<br>We stopped to admire the views along 90 mile beach on the west coast before camping up on a disused car park at Oponomi along the shores of Hokianga Harbour.<br><br>Next morning we stopped again to admire the vast stretch of water that is the harbour from the rocky inlet where we found a cliff-top ...

... was in the next building. We walked round there and it was called Regant Flashpackers, again i was thinking im going to have to walk in the rain to find somewhere cheaper cos this is going to be expensive. However inside and the guy was showing me round, it was so pretty, spacous and clean, a lovely place. I was told id more than likely have the room (a 4 share) all to myself for the 2 nights as they were quite quiet at the moment. So i eventually ...

... find the spare tyre was bald and off the rim - not what you want if you have a puncture on some of these mountain roads! Anyway, to cut a long story short we eventually got a new, very chunky car to replace a wreck! Rotarua is a big town, catering for tourists so lots of restaurants and snazzy shops. After checking in at our nice hotel we did a long walk around the town and by the lake including seeing the geysers and the sulpher springs. Stan ...

... her. It would have been some achievement 3 other cyclists on the road and managing to hit one. We continued to struggle our heavily laden way, sweating in the summer very humid if not very bright sun. We then zoomed down into the egg smelling, thermal town and found our hostel after one or two wrong turns. Then in case we had not sweated enough we went to a thermal spa in the evening to soak and sweat in wonderful thermal, sulfurous water.

... it is used to produce flour it isn't all that old. Our next stop was at Barry's favourit spot to get a photo of Mount Ruapehu and Mount Ngauruhoe. We then carried on towards Rotorua but when we reached Lake Taupo we got mixed up with a load of cyclists. It was the day of the yearly Taupo Cycle Challenge,which is a 160km loop around the lake. It is ridden by thousands of ameteur riders for charity and you shouldd have heard some of the ...

... water and also drifts up through natural vents in the area's thin crust. Its all very eerie to be walking along a residential street and see steam coming out of the drain or someone's front garden. Strangely, after a couple of hours you don't smell the eggs anymore - bit of a relief! I walked down to the Maori village of Ohinemutu and visited St Faith's Church on the lakefornt, the main feature of which is a ...

... can't even tell how far above you they are, which is kinda gross - they could only just be over your head.... bleurgh. Then we were done and stuck waiting for the Black Water Rafters to finish. Luckily the weather was waay better today it was actually quite hot so a few of us sat outside and had some lunch while we waited, and this is where I met Darren, a totally freak of nature, who reckoned he used to cook at some Embassy in Australia ...

... The Kauri tree is an ancient, giant tree that only grows here in massive trunks of hardwood that have been standing erect here for over 2000 years. Respect. Circumference is up to 13 meters, height up to 55 meters. Traditionally used for Maori canoe building. <br> That's it for my trip through New Zealand with Kathryn. We had our "last supper" together in Auckland, before she flew to Australia to do her PADI open water diver course with Ping on the Eat Coast. I was on ...