Solitaire Lodge Rotorua

... the river and they were performing tradional chants. We were led into a staged area where we met the chief. From our group there were 19 different nationalities and one guy nominated himself as chief so he had to give a speech and we were accepted into the village. We were shown the different weapons the Maoris used and their tradional dress and dances and songs. The Maori's form of art was tattooing and that is where it originated and it was a form of ...

... south-east from Hobbiton, which is the main base for the thermal area of the central northern island. We walked around a few hydrogen-sulphide vents in a park in the town centre before going for a drive for a couple of hours to a couple of lakes. We also stopped by a buried village site, so named due to a volcanic eruption, but it was closed by the time we got there.

... the park and then a sulphur spa in sulphur thermal waters from the park while overlooking the park with steam rising from the fumeroles etc. Jack found a hair in the mudbath and was not happy after that! Specially as we had seen a poster in the visitors centre warning not to put your head under the mud in these places because of the risk of deadly amoebic meningitis! There were instructions not to at the spa too but not ...

... Village. We were being picked up at 7pm which meant we had time to get to the bar for free drinks at 6pm before hand. The trip to the Maori Village was a journey back in time to a pre-European lifestyle experience of customs and traditions while ambling down the pathways of the rediscovered village as it comes alive to the sound and activities of tribal songs, dances, myths, legends and spiritual stories. We shared a banquet of succulent foods cooked traditionally on ...

... us - try that in England. We arrived at the airport in two hours so had plenty of time before our flight left - especially as it was delayed by 30mins. A good flight in a prop plane that flew at about 19000ft so had a wonderful view of the islands as we flew between them. The weather was noticeably warmer in Rotarua and again the sun was shining. We had problems with the hire car which, fortunately, Stan decided to inspect properly only ...

... area. He told me all about rugby and I even learned how to play cricket, although I must confess knowing the rules makes it even more complicated, haha. I also worked with Hannah who was from colorodo and has been traveling for 3 weeks in New Zealand. She is going from farm to farm working. She is one of 10 siblings in her family and was a lot of fun to hang out with too. Becasue she was a middle child she liked to argue a lot and ...

... then went through the process of trying to cancel the first two charges but with no luck. Anyway our flight was ready now so I left Diana trying to cancel the first two charges and went out to the Helicopter. After having our photo taken we were off on our flight out to the White Volcano, the only live volcano in New Zealand. We flew out over the lake and then on over the Pacific Ocean, the volcano was about 50Km off shore. You can see were the last ...

... or the rabbits would die from overheating. The way they shear the rabbits is with a sheep shearer but they cannot rest the shearer on the rabbits or it would cut them. They also have to stretch the rabbits out to cut them. This is done by binding their feet and gently streting their feet. It almost looks like a pig on a spit. The ladies who own the place say that the rabbits come from Germany and their fur is some of the finest (very thin) that you can get ...

... et nous sommes alles visite le musee Te Papa, supose etre le plus interessant le Nouvelle-Zealande. Notre apres-midi au musee nous a permi d'en apprendre davantage sur la faune, la flore, l'histoire maori, l'arrivee des europeens, la conservation de la nature, les desastres naturels (tres presents en NZ: volcans, tremblements de terre, tsunami...). C'etait tres instructif ! Puis nous avons poursuivi notre route vers Turangi (situe pres du parc national Tongariro (le mordor ...

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We were soon climbing down to the lowest caves, which are where the glow worms live.

We climbed into a row boat, and slowly headed off into the pitch black. Our tour guide reached up above us for a series of ropes, which they use to silently pull the boats through the darkness.

Almost immediately we could see squillions of glow worms visible ...