After leaving Uncle Boy's Place in Maketu we were on our way to Rotorua. Once again we made a few more "leg stretching" stops along the way. In case you have never heard of it, Rotorua is known as the geothermal wonderland of New Zealand; thus making it one of the top tourist attractions of the country. It contains two lakes- Lake Rotorua and La...

There was a lot to do in Rotorua (it's abit like the Queenstown of the North Island) so we decided to spend a few days here with our new found travelling buddies who at this point we had now formed a convoy of 3 cars/vans with. First up was the much anticpated Luge Grand Prix which, as in Queenstown, a go cart track down the side of a hill which...

What a last 10 days we have had. We left you in Rotorua pondering the lax level of car driving in this fair isle and have since progressed north to seek sun and sand. We departed the sulphorous Rotorua and journeyed to the Coromandel Penninsula which was roughly 100km further North. We made it as far as Paeroa's Northern border when the weather ...

Went through Auckland to pick up my unlocked phone (so you can all text me now! only costs 10p to text nz from the uk) and reached Rotorua at about 3pm. First thing that lets you know you've arrived in Rotorua is the stench. It's a volcanic town and there are sulpur pools everywhere. Sulphur bubbles out of the mud and you can smell it for about ...

The final entry from the weekend is here- huzzah! After a wonderful experience in Waitomo, we were really excited to go to Rotorua: the home of Zorbing! We had heard great things about the city from everyone we met and talked to. It's funny, though, because they all forgot to mention one key thing... the city smells AWFUL! Rotorua is home to a f...

En route to Rotorua we stopped off at the Agrodome. The Agrodome is a 160 hectare working sheep and cattle farm with 1200 sheep and 120 beef cattle. We had stopped just in time to watch the animated sheep show which highlighted19 breeds of sheep. We then headed off to The New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Center. At this site, exploding from the...

Hallo allemaal! We zitten alweer 3 dagen in Rotorua in het midden van het Noordereiland. Na een lange busreis (8 uur) vanuit Paihia (overigens wel heel relax want zo zie je heel veel van het land en kan je tussendoor ook gewoon lekker maffen wat Monno dan ook veel doet)aangekomen in deze stad, waarvan wij eigenlijk voor het eerst in NZ echt een ...

After breakfast we drove to the i-site to check out prices of the various White Island trips on offer, so we could actually see it this time! Transport to the island can be via boat or helicopter, but they all seemed a little too expensive so we decided to think about it whilst walking into town to find an internet cafe. The first internet cafe ...

Dear All, We got the stray bus a few days ago and have already been to Haihi & visited cathedral cove. Raglan for a surfing lesson in the pouring rain (& at one point hail!)- I did manage to stand up for 2 waves (briefly) & swallowed a lot of sea water. We've also been to Waitomo caves to see glo worms & are now here in Rotorua foe a few days - ...

And so we sailed from the South Island to the North Island from Picton. Not much to recommend in Picton apart from the ferry terminal but unless you want to get a dinghy and try and catch the boat in mid-voyage, you gotta go there. We arrived there a wee bit early for the crossing and as it was around lunch time and we were by the sea, we got so...