Union Victoria Motor Lodge Rotorua

... 2... 1... Go!" but Peter was going to do things on his own time, which meant pulling the cord a second after he said "Go" and therefore catching Ari off guard and making the experience all the better. The pictures that were taken don't give a great sense of height or speed but believe us, it was tall and fast and terrifying and exhilarating. <br><br>We had some more adventures in the nearby town of Taupo, but I'll save that for another post. Thanks for reading!<br>

... into a bus and headed to the river. On the way "GoFor" (his actual name) gave us instructions on what to do, but with his accent, his lisp, and crude jokes, he was a bit hard to understand. All I really got from his rambling was that if you fell out of the raft, curl into a ball and hope you came up, and also that it was eel mating season, and if you were to fall into the river ...

... was amazing - cooked in a hangi pit, but the demonstrations (weaponry, tools, customs) and music were done brilliantly as well. Seeing some glow worms didn't hurt the magic none either. The whole thing was a pleasant surprise.<br><br>Anyway, I got dropped back to my hostel completely stuffed with food and feeling ready for bed, but I'd arranged to have a drink with Amanda and even though we were both a bit wrecked, neither one of us had any excuse to wimp ...

... coming in peace. Next we had to take our shoes off and go inside for the show. This consisted of traditional dancing including the Poi dance and the Haka. All the ladies in the audience were invited on stage to be taught how to do the Poi dance and the Men were given the opportunity to learn the Haka. We were told some Maori stories and then taken to dinner. This was a three course meal and the meat was so tender. After ...

After a heavy night it was a bit of a challenge forcing ourselves out of bed to get up to catch the next bus. I've had to quickly learn to get used to the late nights and early mornings otherwise I'm not going to survive the trip! As per usual we were greeted by our chirpy driver, Josh, and fellow passengers so our hangovers were quickly forgotten about. To help break the journey down we stopped off at a ...

... amidst the eggy smells! We also saw the eruption of the Lady Knox Geyser which occurs daily at 10.15am with a little help from the ranger. We then drove to the Waimangu Thermal Valley, the world's newest geothermal eco-system. The walk down into the valley was exceptionally beautiful, especially the view over 'Frying Pan Lake', which took in for a good 20 minutes. The steam from the earth covered the ...

... therefore are biodegrading if they are not protected.  Additionally, there is a lovely waterfall on the site that is worth the walk unless you can't really do stairs at all. Mom and I did a supermarket/souvenir shop walk when we got back.  It was funny that we couldn't find dried kiwi fruit anywhere.  The grocery store was pretty similar to US grocery stores, although some of the flavors were different.  Just like in Australia, there were tons of chicken flavored chips ...

His name is Piri, he can have Kara's old bedroom! Picture to follow when we apply for his passport. Included is a picture of us with some of the locals. Later we went for a Maori evening. Highlight of the evening was when I perfomred the Haka, the idea of which is to scare your enemy! Wait till you see the video...

... for an hour or so and saw the dirfferent mineral pools we decided we needed an adrenaline boost so we went zorbing down a hill ( for those that don't know what zorbing is, they place you in a plastic sphere inside another larger sphere, add water to the inner sphere and role you down a steep hill just for laughs)Sarah and I did the combined one and it was class! That afternoon we ...

Nous arrivons à Rotorua, cette ville très connue sur l'île du Nord pour ses sites volcaniques très impressionnants, mais également parce que c'est l'endroit où l'on peut découvrir la culture Maori. Même si plus personne ne vit de façon primitive, la culture Maori reste très importante car les nouvelles générations sont très fi ...