Waimahana Apartments Taupo

... an underground cave (which was very wet and not for the claustrophobic), spent the night in a traditional Maori meeting house (where we learned the Hakka) and bathed in natural hot pools (which were very smelly due to the sulphur).<br><br>And as for the voice at the back of my head, it seems to have gone silent for now...<br><br>Well I'm off to prepare for a pub crawl round the lakeside town of Taupo. Hope you're all well!<br><br>p.s. pics to follow!

... the changing weather and terrain. Bit of a disappointment really and with the weather rarely letting up we had to occupy ourselves with quizzes (both nights!) in the local Irish bar (Mulligan's) and the shed. Still it was a good laugh and we were joined by the lads! Our hostel was fine, although we were in a 9 bed dorm (split into a 4 bed and a 5 bed section and unfortunately we had the couple from hell ...

... Another thing to tick off our list was the lookout point in Te Mata which gives 360 views of Hawkes Bay. The walking tracks from the peak are not directed so needless to say we strayed into the unknown longer than desired yet again. Cape Kidnappers requires a full day tramping so that was ruled out. The affluent towns of Havelock &amp; Hastings are all within a ~30km radius so we took a sconce. Everything appeared meticulously clean ...

... or bungy jumping but I settle for a walk along the Waikato river to watch someone else bungy jumping. The weather is beautiful so I go for a swim in the river with the locals after which I end up watching what appears to be a local BMX competition. I arrive in the middle of the under10's age range doing there stuff and stay for an hour or so. Kiwi's seem to be quite big on these community sporting events.

... the Waikato River. It's not very big really but it was impressive because there's a huge amount of water going through it. On the way back from the falls we stopped at some natural hot springs. There's just a stream that runs into the river and you can swim in it as much as you want and it's totally free. Only catch is that means there are a lot of people. Especially European men in Speedos. But nonetheless we sat there for a while enjoying the natural ...

... that things are more laid back here, like hawaii or mexico, than we were expecting. things may or may not happen at the scheduled time. After all, NZ is made up of a couple of Pacific Islands! it's like a funny cross between hawaii and england in both the scenery and culture. Taupo was not that exciting -- we just chilled for a few days. We hiked around Huka Falls one day -- supposedly one of the best waterfalls in the country. we took the Taupo shuttle van to get there ...

... ve talked to different people about this who have been traveling for awhile and they say this happens all the time. Our bus driver accompanied us as well and he spent most of the time at the bar explaining the differences in the various types of rugby. The bar that we went to was called Mulligans (which is an irish pub...its funny how many of these there are in the country) and if you ever get the chance to go...tell the bartender ...

... FACT!!! So I had teh second skiing lesson ive ever had in my life and it was just amazing, apart from the **** vietnamese guy in the group that kept trying to wipe us all out! I managed to stay on my feet the entire day apart from when trying to master one of the ski lifts and falling on my face!! although i did master it on my second attempt!! i learned to turn, and break (handy!) and i even did a couple of jumps and started to weave....so the ...

... drive along a quiet country lane in a dapper hat (well, dorky helmet really) approaching at a rate of knots. Bloody Volvo drivers. It was so much fun that I talked Carsten into doing one more ride than we probably had time for, and, slightly late, the coach started moving out of the car park as soon as we jumped onboard. <br><br>At our next stop near Taupo we experienced one of my North Island highlights, a strange ...