Lake Okareka Lodge Rotorua

Taupo<br>Adventure capital of the north island and cheapest place in New Zealand to do a skydive due to the airspace only being used by skydive companies - it seemed only fair to go and throw ourselves out of a plane!! So we headed to the tourist information centre to ask about booking. The only trouble was that, it was really cloudy, and all dives were on hold until the cloud cleared. This might be in a couple of hours but might not be for days! We ...

... in my mind way to much planning. <br><br>Aside from ovserving people's various sizes and conditions the show is progresssing much as teh last one including crazy comments such as:<br><br>"I took teh day off work for this how can you not have the perfume I want"<br><br>or<br><br>"I don't want to use teh lipstick testers in case I get swine flu" You put them on your hands for ...

... at the very top which is perched over the drop. The word "****" is coming in very useful and is repeated liberally - much in the style of the start of Four Weddings and a Funeral when they're late for the wedding. Then we let go of the bar and rely on the friction racks as Iain stays above us so we can set our own pace. The minute we set off, you feel as safe as you possibly could dangling from a rope 100m in the air and begin our descent. Now ...

... dancing until 3am. Great great fun! The next morning is another getting up early day to get to Tongariro National Park.. I am really really looking forward to this stop actually!! --------------------------------------- --------------------- Resume francais Notre premier arret sont les grottes de Waitomo. J'adore la speleo et donc je m'inscris pour aller visiter les grottes mais cette fois ci je vais le faire sur une bouee sur l'eau .... il faut regarder ...

... never seen one before! We arrived at East West Homestay - our accommodation - at 2.30 in the afternoon and met Kris, our host, who was a very chatty lovely lady. The house was a two-bed semi one block back from centre of town and was immaculately clean and spacious. The first thing we did was to use the thermal swimming pool at the main house next door where they had two further apartments. We ...

... town in the middle of the North Island. There is a heavy Maori influence and geothermal activity all over the place. I could care less about the thermal pools when they smell like rotten eggs (sulphur). The whole town smells that way. The first day you're thinking...I gotta get myself out of here and the next it seems almost normal. We went to a traditional Maori feast called a hangi which is steamed food cooked in the earth. It's usually root veggies, chicken, fish ...

... Along with items recovered during Archaeological digs. We saw half buried houses and the wreckage of the hotel. We also saw the beautiful Wairoa Stream with rainbow trout swimming around and climbed down some very steep stairs to see a beautiful waterfall the Wairere Falls which plunges 30 meters over the Waitoharuru Cliffs. Then we climbed back up the steep steps and took photo's of the ...

... can see around 500 race horses being exercised in the early morning. Actually, the Hobbiton trip was fun. I've seen the Party Tree and the Party Field and the lake, I've walked up Bag Shot Row to Bag End, Bilbo and Frodo Baggins' home. I've seen lots of hobbit holes, and learned fascinating facts about how they make movies - or these movies in particular. This included cutting down an oak tree at Matamata, and transporting it to the 1250 acre ...

... large mountain that was Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings. We also stopped by the Huka Falls, which are these big rapids that creates 85% of New Zealand's hydro-electric power, and 15% of NZ's overall power. When we reached Rotorua in the evening, we found the motel where Shannon and Paul were staying, which had an excellect jacuzzi spa tub. The only problem about Rotorua is that the geo-thermal activity causes the whole town ...

... you what really rocks. Finding free pools out in nature. There's a hot and cold stream mixing waters next to the wooden bridge on the access road to Wai-o-tapu so you can find whatever temperature you prefer depending on where you plonk yourself, then there's Kerosene Creek and Butcher's Pool. You might also remember me telling you of the Welcome Flat springs on the Copland track in the southern Alps near Fox. These were definitely the mother of all hot springs. <br> We ...