Silver Fern Resort Rotorua

... I had booked in for a jump at 11:30. <br><br>Arriving at Rotorua Airport (a relatively small commercial airport serving a few Air New Zealand flights each day) at 11:15, I made my way to NZONE &#8211; the company I was entrusting to safely throw me out of an aeroplane at 15,000 feet! Anticipation aside, what struck me most about the setup at NZONE is how professionally organised it was, particularly from a marketing perspective (it is my job!). They had obviously paid a lot of ...

After swinging by the gondola center in Rotorua and realizing that the view from the top didn't come close to any we'd seen so far, we headed back into town to explore and ran across the Government Gardens.  Bathhouses and other buildings surrounded huge croquet lawns that must have been popping when they were originally built.

On the road again this afternoon, we depart Wellington and head north through farming country. We'll make a stop at the raging waters of Huka Falls, and past Wairakei Geo-thermal area. You'll see that Rotorua is truly alive as we drive through it on our way to our nights accommodation. Tonight we will be staying in a traditional Maori Marae, we will be welcomed onto the Marae by the elders in traditional style. Traditional Maori Marae Stay - open plan multi-share accommodation

... again no pics as wasnt allowed to...)... its a cave full of glowworms... pretty sight... looks like i was lookin at a ceiling full of those glow in the dark stars stickers... pretty cool!!!!! (here the web link... to give u a idea of the caves ... http://www.waitomo.com/waitomo-glowworm -caves.aspx) tk care... next stop is Auckland... will email u soon! k xxx

... seconds and thirds (possibly fourths). The next dinning sitting started while we were still there and we soon had half the dinning room drinking the stuff! Afterwards we saw a show and then ended the evening at the ships nightclub which mysteriously we had all to ourselves (there were people there before we started dancing to 70's hits).<br><br>Overall a totally fantastic day - Right I really do need to now start planning the proposal lol

... the US, yet the dolma didn't fall apart at any time.  The grape leaves were soft, supple, and not stringy at all.  It is definitely in my top 3 things I ate on this trip.  So, if you're ever in Rotorua, go to Ephesus on Tutanekai St. and get dolmas.  Had I not been completely full because the plate was more than enough food, I would have ordered a whole order of just dolmas on the spot. Then, it was time to come home.   We boarded ...

We have eschewed many of the numerous tourism opportunities available in Rotorua: downhill sledging, Maori culture shows, helicopter flights, tandem parachute jumps, zorbing (don't ask) and pedalos. Instead, we visit Te Waioura, a village that was buried in mud in the 1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera. Most of the people escaped but four neighbouring villages nearer the eruption were totally destroyed with the loss of all hands. The Lonely ...

... kayak can and go upstream at 90km/h! going down wave trains seems to involve the boat deciding that flying would be more fun so little time is spent with it's hull in the water. on my way north i popped into Wautapo a geothermal reserve, they had all sorts of funny coloured chemicals and steaming pools and bubbling streams etc, quite cool, the Geyser wwas OK, it was a jet of water flying into the sky. I then headed onto Rotorua. a good wee town ...

... points us in the direction with urgency because it takes<br>exactly 30 min to get there. After buying our tickets from the main<br>building, we drive back to the separate area where the geyser is, throw<br>our waterproof hiking boots on, and assemble at the end of path with<br>many other tourists, mostly Asian as we've seen everywhere ...