Quality Inn Geyserland Rotorua

... a lovely cup of tea by the roaring wood fire, possibly sharing with one of the 3 other hikers we had seen all day. 5 minutes later, just as we took our boots off, 2 groups of Nelson teenagers (20 of em) on a school trip turned up. Aaaaargh! Almost weeping, the boots went on again and we trooped another 4km to another hut. We had the place to oursleves and cooked up a gourmet pasta meal to celebrate before collapsing into bed for a 9 hour sleep. We made it out along ...

We headed east to the town of Rotorua, which is a thermally active region, and you can smell it from a mile away, with the sulphur rotten egg smell. It started to rain last night and didnt stop all day, so after yesterdays exciting adventures, we decided to relax and have a day at the spa.

Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand zoeandgigs

... muscle mountain of a driver and guide. After saying hello to us in 72 different languages we arrived at the Maori centre.

We waited outside the gates to the traditional village in the pitch black surrounded by wood carving of scary faces. All of a sudden the Maori warriors appeared sporting traditional spears and war clothes, screaming and dancing at our "tribe leaders". At this point Niamh spotted quite ...

... to buy a ticket elsewhere before we could get to the geyser! we rushed off and just made it by the skin of our teeth. however it was a huge anti-climax really. the most touristy thing we have done so far in NZ, there were 400 people here videoing etc - I don't know where all these tourists have been hiding themselves, as we've not seen that many all holiday! it was ok, just some guy adding bio-degradable soapflakes to ...

... of a platform and aim to land with our bottom in our tube, the right way up in the water - sound scary, well it was. OK so we all passed and survived the test so now it was into the cave. Our guide was rather scary and was taking no messing so off we went with about 10 in our group, following one after the other. At 1st we were allowed out headlamps on but at points we had to go blind and navigate our way around in pitch black, it was kind of fun but did lead to a ...

... was funny. In Rotorua, we spent the day walking around the big lake and exploring the Sulphur pots. It's like they built a town where the paint pots and sulphur pots in Yellowstone are. It's very strange, the town stinks. I mean, lovely people, lovely shops, but it literally stinks. The pictures of the thermal beds are on Kristen's camera though, so she'll have to upload them. Well, better get going, I'm hungry...as usual. --Jimmy

... got an all expense paid trip for this time and told friends that they were off on vacation and had rented their home. Airplanes were not allowed to fly over the farm at certain heights. Extras that were hobbits in the films were not allowed to talk about their experiences until all 3 of the films were released. When they cast the hobbits, the only requirements published were for short people under 5 foot 4 inches tall with round faces. The cast ...

man, rotorua stinks!! there are sulphur springs everywhere, so the entire city smells like rotten eggs. anyway, rotorua is a major hub for maori culture. on my first night there, i went to the Tamaki Heritage Experience where they put on a a maori show and had a little village setup for us to wander through. in the end we had an amazing traditional maori meal with delicious meat roasted underground! nearby rotorua is also a town called matamata ...

... people to bath in it. Some of the early 20th century treatments looked pretty gruesome, sit in a bath of sulphuric acid spiced with radium and have an electric current passed through you (no thanks). And finally the story of the Tarawera volcanic eruption in 1886 which killed a hundred or so folk and nearly wrecked Rotorua for good. Next stop the skyline skyway and luge, a ski-lift like gondola which takes you up to a hill ...

... in New Zealand are very well marked, until you get to the 16 or 18 somewhere. We stopped for directions at a supper market and ate lunch in the parking lot. The man at the supper market gave us great directions because when followed they got us exactly were we wanted to be. We made one stopped at a gas station, filled up the ...