Spencer Lodge Rotorua

... br>Once airborne, we climbed to 15,000 feet, with Pete trying to calm my nerves by pointing out landmarks, including his house, down on the ground below. To be fair it worked reasonably well. <br><br>Once at 15,000 feet, we were ready and I must admit I didn&#8217;t give not jumping a thought. What then followed was quite hard to describe! Inspired, amazing, adreneline-pumping and serene are words that come to mind. Oh and it stank of sulphur &#8211; due to the volcanic nature of ...

... but with the thick blanket they provided it was not bad at all. The sky was clear and stars completely were spread about the valley with a misty haze drifting off the surrounding mountains. Laura and I woke up early around 4 a' clock then fell back asleep till 7. Jet lag was still evident, but it was nothing that a good cup of coffee couldn&#8217;t fix. The morning began with a walk through a Red ...

Arrived in Rotorua after night and spent a couple of trips through the town centre before finding Rydges.  The first step outside reminds you that you're surrounded by thermals and sulfur spots...everything outside smells like rotten eggs. We've certainly found our way into some bigger towns with a few more people as each town/city along the way in the North Island, including Rotorua, had it's more than fair share of fast food ...

... that gives you some idea of the length. the advanced one in particular has some great steep bits to go down. There is one place with sandbags which we saw from the lift and wondered why. It is quite obvious when you get there! the camber goes to 45 degrees first one way then the other on a bend and lots of people have obviously come off here, it is quite mental. Jack looked extremely gleeful as he overtook me, charming.

... We wish we could have stayed longer but have this action packed intinerary, so had to move on this morning, but first with a stop at some of Jon &amp; Robyn's very good friends' kiwi orchard. We got to see how the kiwis are grown, on vines like grapes for wine, and strung up the same way. Excellent to see, as we only eat the fruit back in DK but have no idea how it is grown. We said our goodbyes to friends and ...

... not have a camera to the ready to take a pic! Rotorua was one of the more unusual NZ towns we have visited, but a great experience once you got used to the Sulphuric smell from the geysers/hot pools1 Our hotel was great with our own private spa pool in our private courtyard!! We spent a great day at Te Puia, where we had a tour round the geyers and saw three eruptions, which was quite ...

... why it's more of a gray color than a brown, I don't know.  All over town there are spas that use the (cooled) mud from the area to put on people and make them feel better.  However, as the mud is a depletable resource, they do some sort of recycling with it. Our next stop was the Wai o tapu thermal wonderland.  Here, there are various thermal pools, mineral buildups, and other signs of the subterranean geothermal activity in the area.  The whole area is on/near a fault ...

... redwoods for a view back over the town and lake. There are a good number of well-marked mountain bike trails up and down the hillside and while we are there some poor fellow comes off, apparently fracturing his pelvis and puncturing his lung. Happily we weren't involved. We drive south of town to the Waikiti Valley Thermal Pools where the swimming pools are fed by boiling mineral waters cooled to 39deg C. They have a ...

... Both the towns mentioned were touristy and well-equipped with burger chains. I assume that once you get more than a few hundred metres from the bus stop, things improve - especially along the lakesides. The countryside was very mixed on the journey - some downland reminiscent of southern England, some vineyards, many very steep hillsides and distant mountains. The vegetation, too, was a ...

... the US. On our way out we pop out of the car to see<br>the mud pools, not cut out to what I thought it would be from the<br>photos which were probably just zoomed into the little bubbles, way out<br>of scale from what I expected.<br><br><br>12:30<br>PM - Back in Rotorua, we went to the Polynesian Spa and rented a<br>private thermal spa ...