The Views Rotorua

... due to our busy days and absent-mindedness, we didn't take any pictures of the farm itself. We hope to drop in on our way back to Auckland later in 2010 to take some then. <br><br>Our work on their farm was preparing the bushes for harvesting which will begin in a couple months. We covered the roots with hay, compost,and slash (log shreddings) to keep weeds from growing and to protect the bushes. We only worked about 4 hours a day with a ...

... finally finding the rental place, we ended up leaving 1 1/2 hours late. Our rental car was a small, white Toyota that came right from Asia (all the words in the car were in some Asian language). What made it more interesting was who was driving. Ben had never heard of or driven an automatic before, but since he's from Scotland he was used to driving on the left side of the road ...

... t ya know it, we had another big night anyway. Two of the locals from the night before were there so we enjoyed a heartfelt reunion, had a few drinks and watched some particularly loose-limbed boys and girls get nutty on the dancefloor...including a porky asian weirdo with evident social malfunctions who took a shine to me (based on what, I can only imagine) and then wordlessly insisted on paying for not only my drinks, but those of everyone I spoke to. Needless to say I ...

... freezing temps. <br><br>We luckily get a great suggestion for a campground at a hot spring. It is a romantic setting with several hot springs overlooking mountains. We pay $12 each per night and eat a great dinner afterwards. The locals often rent campers for their vacations and come to places like this for a getaway. They definitely seem more relaxed than us in the US. <br><br>

... 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 ...

... zealous hand of his slightly younger brother. They are told that the youngest chief to represent the vistors was 12 years of age and ran away from their chief when greated in the traditional way. We ended up geting a young British guy, Bill, who must have been about 19. As it was being explained about how the Maori chief would give a piece offering and how the tribe would do warrior dances and stick out their tongues, "chief" Bill as given a chance to reconsider. At ...

... Haka in all its vehemence and tongue thrusting. The highlight of the afternoon was a guided tour by Anita - a third generation guide. It was fascinating getting an insight into her life and how the people have used the thermal activities at Rotorua for their daily lives - including heating, cooking and bathing. The village is set in an area of intense volcanic activity and after the tour we got to wander past hot pools, geysers and bubbling mud ...

... us through the Waimangu forest area so that we could have a look at how previous eruptions altered the landscape.  In some cases, there were even photographs of what the land looked like before as the eruptions happened in the 1900s. As we walked through the forest, Cousin Ben also told us all about the various plants.  He showed us some that were poisonous to people, some that the Maori cooked and ate, and the plant that the Maori used to use as TP.   It's got a ...

... to go for a canter a bit later on which was good. I got given the most difficult horse in the place but she was an angel! I wanted to keep her haha After that we went and had dinner then settled for an early night in. Today we slept in then went out to the mineral mud pits &amp; sulpher springs (hells gate) where we saw mud &amp; sulpher springs bubbling in big pools. There was a mud volcano which erupts up to 5 feet every few weeks but unfortunately ...

... de achtertuin maar wij zijn naar het betere werk getrokken aan de kant van het meer bij volle maan, super! Het bezoek aan het maoridorp was interessant en vooral de haka dans, ge kent da wel, waarbij die getatoueerde gekken van de rugby hun ogen uitpuilen en hun tong uitsteken. Het enige probleem was dat ik als gedwongen vrijwilliger uit het publiek werd gehaald om mee te doen. Geen succes zoals jullie je wel kunnen voorstellen. Rotorua, el ...