Sunset Lodge Taupo

... sulphur. There is a slight possibility we might bore people with the sheer amount of photographs, but it's just impossible not to click away at these spectacles. Orekei is where the BBC documentary 'Walking with Dinosaurs' was filmed and when visiting it was easy to see why...<br><br>To end our 2 days around Taupo/Rotoua we decided to 'return to childhood' and race on the luge! To reach the area we had to take a cable car, then there were 3 tracks down. At at the bottom there ...

... was concerned that I had overtaken where I had as the straight had a slight kink and we were only supposed to overtake on the straights). I was getting used to the car and track and braking later and cornering faster. Particularly turn 11 where I was getting the power on early and the rear end was sliding out. On one lap I over did it and span 270 degrees and stalled. This was more entertainment for the kids.<br><br ...

... by a massive earthquake (7,8 on Richter) and instead of everyone re-building as they liked, they were all housed in tents until a new structure and town plan was agreed upon. They started building and did this with great speed, and that has made it this lovely example of Art Deco at its best, which stands today. Everywhere you go the houses are pastel coloured, the window panels cut glass in Deco sharp form and all we needed are the automobiles from back then and ...

... which rapidly switches from the breezy vanilla Ponderosa to moss and acrid rotting jungle leaves. Some boys on the bank far below are yelling and preparing to leap onto innertubes. Yellow autumn leaves float from the trees and land on the slow, smooth river. A bit further there is a resort and a construction sight. ew. But then the path dips into a tree tunnel strewn with white blossoms, sunshine hitting dark wet leaves, and then you pop out onto the viewing area of Huka Falls ...

Fortunately we arrived in Napier just in time to catch the tail end of the Art Deco Festival, an annual event when people dress up to match the great Art Deco architecture for which the town of Napier is famous. There were wonderful period cars all over the place with great examples of the best of British car manufacturing. We stayed at The Crown Hotel,just out of the main town at Ahuriri, the old port , where Geoff stood and watched the ...

... hingegen ein Highlight, da wir alles runterrutschen und runterspringen konnten. Wir waren dann in ca 15 Min unten (Aufstieg dauerte im Gegensatz ca 2 Std). Alles in allem war es ein echt beeindruckender Tag mit einer Landschaft, die echt einzigartig ist. Ich hab mir uebrigens noch 2 einzigartige Blasen an beisen Fersen geholt, die dann schoen während der ersten paar Kilometer aufplatzten...ja geil!! An diesem Tag liefen wir ca 24 Kilometer Yeeehaaa!

... retired to bed at a reasonable time, like 11pm. That night, at 2:50am, we were up again. England vs New Zealand All Blacks. was on the telly, and if England won, Kerry would drive the bus naked. Of course England were embarrassingly woeful, and Kerry kept his clothes on. I would later find out this would be only a temporary respite. To be continued in Part 5, the last of the North Island story....

... off every day at 10.15 in the morning - helped along by some soap which they put in the hole to break the surface tension of the water. It goes up 15 metres. Apparently the soap trick was discovered by some prisoners from an open prison near by - they were doing their washing and next thing they knew, their ...

... up a pontoon about 100m of the shore and put some gold holes there. So you hit balls from the shore and if it lands on the pontoon you win some money. I am **** golfer but decided to give it a go anyway. I hit 2 alright ones out of 5, Mark hit some decent ones but no one managed to get it on. The rest of the night was spent playing scrabble and some games! I showed some of the bus dudes how to play beer pong which was fun! Next morning, heading north!

... sample the medicinal qualities of the mud, which the Maoris swore by for hundreds of years before we showed up. Apparently who tribes would bathe in the bigger pools, rather them than me!<br><br>As we approached the end of the walk it started tipping down with rain, so we huddled under a tree to avoid ...