Solitaire Lodge Rotorua

... we were just about to do! Having seen the first two jump and land – and the plane come in, it was time for Jordan and I to don our jump suits complete with emergency parachute and meet our tandem masters and photographers. My tandem master was Pete, who ran NZONE and came from Stafford. My cameraman was Paul, a frenchman from Normandy. I noticed a few familiar accents amongst Jordan’s crew – one from Liverpool and one believe it or not from Bolton. Small world indeed ...

... on the windshield wipers everytime we changed lanes. It was a 4 hour drive to Rotorua and the highways were very similar to the States. We decided to land the spaceship at the blue lake campsite which was beautiful. I wish it was warm enough to swim, but 56 degree water was not going to work for a Florida boy. The first night camping in the space ship was nice. It would get a little cool around 50 ...

As it was dark when we came in last night, it appeared there was just a little park out the balcony but sunrise today showed that it was a full racing track with someone out for an early morning run.  We raced down to breakfast downstairs before backtracking to the Thermal Highway south of Rotorua.

... the luge in Queenstown so much we decided to do it again here - they have a similar set-up with a gondola ride then luge tracks at the top of the biggest hill in the area. If you were wondering where is best to do it definitely here in Roturua - they have really long tracks, with three different levels which have completely different tracks - scenic, intermediate and advanced. the chairlift back up to the start takes ten ...

... woods and the extremely bad NZ drivers. We are amazed how these very civilized people can drive this bad! They drive slow and when you try to overtake they speed up. What's that all about?! Anyway, after a scenic 6 hours we landed at Jon & Robyns house on the outskirts of Auckland and had a great evening with them and their friends. They have just been so amazingly hospitable, taking us in and looking after ...

... asking nina if i could get hold of the pictures she was taking - she's promised to email me them but i don't think it will be anytime soon anyway the inferno crater was amazing and was well worth the cost on its own Back to the hostel and a quick shower and change of clothes later i'm looking at spending the day in the hostel cos of the weather

... mud was boiling.  We watched as hot water pushed its way through the mud to the surface, causing the mud itself to jump feet into the air to let it through.  The whole area even sounded like it was boiling.  If you've ever boiled a thick stew, that's what the ground around us sounded like and looked like.  There was popping everywhere.  Apparently, the other difference between this mud and the mud at home is that this mud has all sorts of minerals in it.  Maybe that ...

... was re-excavated starting in the 1930s to reveal all sorts of artefacts such as iron bedsteads, bottles of whisky and wine from the tourist hotel and childrens' shoes from the local schoolhouse. A very clear stream runs through the property with big trout and a waterfall. A short distance down the road there is a good view of Mount Tarawera over the lake. Then we have an 11km walk in the Whakawerewa Forest, climbing a hill through ...

Eight hour bus journey from Napier to Auckland. (Rotorua half way.) Saturday 27 September Rotorua S 38° 08.7' E 174° 14.3' Caught the early bus to Auckland, via Taupo and Rotorua. It turned out to be the start of a fortnight's school holiday, so the Intercity Bus was full and I had to travel by the rather rougher "Naked Bus". At least, though busy, this didn't have anyone sitting on the driver's ...

... sulphur and ferrous salts,<br>and exaggerated by the cloud overcast- it was seriously like a pool of<br>highlighter fluid.<br><br>11:00 AM - We grabbed a bite to eat in the<br>cafe before heading out, where we tried an array of mini pot pies of<br>mysterious content (minced meat, sausage, etc), something as common as<br>burgers or pizza ...