Devonwood Manor Rotorua

... and the right way up) at the bottom. Worst for wear seemed to be Dave who looked a bit like he had been three rounds with Mike Tyson. The photos at the end also showed a strange emission of water from his nose!<br><br>There were some more cool rapids before we got out and carried the raft (on our heads) back to the waiting van. All in all a great experience, grade V rivers are actually the hardest you can do so everything else ...

... our chief who had to make sure that once we arrived at the village we would be welcomed. Once there we watched a show and saw them perform the Haka. We then headed around the village and got an insight into some of the types of activities they got up to for entertainment. We did this until we were called into dinner. Dinner was amazing. It was a buffet style meal with all thw works, and the food had been slowly roasted underground for 5 hours. I ate so much food, it was great.<br>

... pool. on the way we drove down a huge gorge which was about 55km long and very steep in parts. <br>28th-1st july we stayed at rotorua. The weather there was mostly rain. we went to hells gate which has mud pools and sulphur baths this was very good and relaxing. we also went to te puia which had information about maori culture and had a geyser which erupts everyday about once an hour.

... for the night and a nut at that! We arrived at the village and were placed at various tables and introduced ourselves to those we would be sharing our hangi with. After the brief intros and a few drinks the host for the night (and a very entertaining one at that) told us a few stories and jokes and let us know the plan for the evening. We were first treated to a Maori packed canoe paddle-by, as 6 giant Maori in traditional garments complete with facial designs ripped up ...

... had a screaming good time! Jess and I had a blast and she ranks the ride up there with any awesome rollercoaster she's been on. She also had suggested that making Zorb the primary means of transportation would remedy many problems (pollution, high gas prices and obesity). I burst the bubble (no pun intended) by reminding her everything would have to be down hill for it to work. Back at ...

... River. Those who come to Rotorua shouldn't miss the Hangi, a Maori culture performance to learn about history, traditions and of course traditional Maori food. There are a few different tour run by different company so I can't really comment which one is better. Tamaki was not too bad with performance on its history, tour of how the Maori leaves in the past, song and dance and follow by dinner reception. A chief was chosen ...

Our first glimpse of New Zealand from the plane confirmed what we were expecting to see: an incredibly green country, with beautiful mountains ending up straight into the ocean. Our experience at the Auckland airport, a clean, modern and very efficient place, also made us believe that we were in for a treat in terms of service and efficiency. What a disappointment then in the following weeks, when we've discovered that people here do live after a kiwi version of ...

... for those people just wanting to see the geyser you can actually turn down 1st left before hitting the main car park , park with everyone else &amp; view the geyser for free as no-one checks your tickets here. If you do have the cash though then it is worth going into the rest of the park to follow a 2 hour walk around lurid green sulphur lakes, bubbling smelly mud/streams &amp; last but not least the quite amazing champagne pool. This ...

... got a shuttle direct from the airport to Rotorua which meant that by 9pm that evening I had managed to catch up with myself. Disaster averted! By this time I'd been travelling 18.5 hours, with only emergency rations to eat and in the absence of anywhere being open at that time of night just unpacked my bag and fell into bed, hoping I could sleep through the grumbling stomach and that things would seem brighter in the morning!

... weiß ich, dass ich verwirrte, aber glückliche Wäsche besitze und werde mal genau hinhören, ob meine Wäsche in der Maschine auch so laut schreit wie wir...<br><br>Weißwasser Rafting hieß für uns 6 Mann in einem Schlauchboot auf dem Kaituna River. Da gab&#8217;s Stromschnellen zu meistern, doch der Hit war der mal eben 7 Meter hohe Wasserfall, den wir lässig gemeistert haben, ohne umzukippen, was keineswegs selbstverständlich ist. Da gibt&#8217;s unschlagbare Bilder ...