Cleveland Motel Rotorua

... put your hand into. Around the edge of the pool there is the grey mud which is extremely fine and has been used for hundreds of years for body treatments and bathing. <br>The temperature at the edge of the lake is approximately 38 degrees C whereas in the middle it is 68degrees C plus. <br><br><br>The water and grey mud can be experienced as ...

... point.<br>Onwards from here via the Waipoua Forest to look at the giant Kauri tree there called 'Tane Mahuta' (Lord of the Forest). This rare example is the biggest in NZ at 18M's high and 14M's in girth. Thought to be between 1250-2500 years old, it was an impressive sight.<br><br>Later that day we parked off-road south of Auckland city and early on the 5th we continued south for Waitomo Caves and our ...

... the price and he said $27, wow awesome, ill stay, i later found out that was the price for the party hostel where most of the rest of the bus were staying. Id landed a place of luxury for the same price. <br><br>I was given a fluffy towel, wow i have a fluffy towel for 2 night, yipee, that was so nice after using my flumsy travel towel for the past year, i could now use a nice warm cosey towel. The whole place had under floor heating, so i was ...

... to see if anything took our fancy) and finally a trip to 'Hell's Gate', a highly volcanic active site with various volcanic outlays and hot mud paths and sulphur pools to bathe in. We stayed in what was a 'Mexican meets wild west' themed hostel. It was a nice novelty but that's about where the niceness ended. It took ages to check in - the reception was empty and the person that was meant to be there could not be found. Eventually Fran found someone who looked liked ...

... they didn't start to compare with what they had in Yellowstone Park and I was happy that I'd seen smoke coming out of the ground and mud bubbling we so weren't bothered about doing more here. I did have a swim in the pool at the hotel (30 degrees) and a short soak in the geothermal hot bath (40 degrees) but found both too warm to stay in for long. Then we had just the best fish meal - pan fried John Dory with prawns, squid, and scallops ...

we arrived here anticipating a very strong stinky sulfur, rotten egg smell but i have to say...it wasn't that bad. Everyone explains Rotorua as being the stinkiest city they've ever been to and the Lonely Planet book even said it would take about 2 weeks to get used to the smell! Lucky for us...we didn't mind it so much. We arrived here knowing that we wanted to do 3 things: 1. Zorb! 2. Sheep Shearing Show and 3. Maori Cultural Performance and Hangi Dinner. So we made our way over ...

... from the rest of the group as Barry weaved his way through the riders. When we got to Taupo we weren't able to get down to the lake side as the center of the town was closed off for the start and finish of the ride. Barry said knew somewhere were we could stop for a break, so we went on to the Huka ( pronouced Hooker!! ) Falls. After the falls we pushed on to Rotorua, arriving shortly before dinner time. This had been a very long drive in deed.

... depicting Christ wrapped in a Maori cload and feathers, positioned so that it looks like he is walking on the lake. I walked down past the meeting house and then onto a Maori craft centre where I bought a wood carving made by Kerry Te Kanawa (Kiri's nephew would you believe). Its very small and light, which is the pre-requisite for everything I buy on this trip! The culture over, I headed to town and posted my Thai ...

... 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 ...

... own now. Boohoo. We had a great time, the two of us and Ray. Kathryn is now keeping me up to date with what it's like being back home with all it's pro's and con's. <br> So I packed up and drove myself and Ray (the car) back down to Taupo to meet up with Regine and her friend Karin. We then went back to Tongariro National Park where we skied for a day at Whakapapa, NZ's biggest and very cool ski field, and then did the Tongariro crossing again, this time the right way ...