The Lodge@199 Rotorua

First stop in the morning was Huka falls which was rather impressive- looked really fun for white water rafting. Then we stopped at somewhere I can't remember the name of but it's like a thermal wonderland! It was really good but sadly it was raining and dull so nothing looked as colourful as the pictures of it everywhere. There was bubbling mud and steam everywhere- it STUNK of rotten eggs or something, made me gag slightly. I thought it would ...

Left Palmerston North and took the Mountain Pass Highway to Lake Taupo which had re-opened after a load of snow had been dumped on it a few days earlier trapping motorists up on the mountain, brrrrrr. We stopped to take photos of the snow so I took this opportunity to throw snowballs at Nicola, haha! We arrived in Lake Taupo for Lunch and had a nice meal at Piccolo Cafe. We tried to find some of Frisbees mates who were playing frisbee but ...

... camping in our car, there was a few other travellers there too. 
As our car is huge inside it was rather comfortable with a duvet over both of us we were warm, until i (Jo) nicked most of it during the night! Whoops! 
The day before we had bought a portable stove so we had somewhere to make brews and cook our food. We were set up for the night and very happy.
The next day we headed into Rotorua but as it ...

... prioritizing is a must. My choice is tandem (2 person) whitewater kayaking. I have always wanted to try this (as i have been rafting but kayaking seems to be that next level of excitement) but no places offer the tandem and im not aboot to venture oot on my own in the rapids in a kayak. The river has hardly any rocks so its perfect for tandem (only place on the world that offers it i think). It was bloody brillant! I was ...

... and well I've been harnessed walking up the Harbour Bridge in Sydney. We're just being extravagant and spending all round us with little care looking for the next buzz. In fairness, the poor folk on the bus don't begrudge us one bit of anything - they're all enthusiastic for us. If it were me I'd be cursing us more affluent backpackers. Like when you walk passed a restaurant you can't afford and see people walking in to get fed and watered - you ...

... would be a dangerous trek and made his people vow not to eat until he returned, he would gain strength from their abstinence and ensure the gods stay with him. After a while his people grew impatient and ate resulting in icy cold fingers entering Ngatoroirangi's heart. He prayed to his sisters to help him by sending fire to heat his body. They in turn prayed to the fire demon to help their brother. So Te Pupu and Te Hoata (his sisters) jumped into the Pacific ...

... sled on wheels heading down steep hills along various spectacular tracks. On our way out of town we picked up a Canadian hitch-hiker who entertained us most of the way to our next stop at Waitomo, and the glow-worm caves. Arriving in town at the same time as a Contiki bus left us short of accommodation. We eventually managed to find the very nice Big Bird B&B. We had a self contained unit, looking over a small pasture with Ostriches ...

... 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 ...

... cows everywhere. We arrived in Rotorua in the afternoon and then settled in our motel. Rotorua is a mineral town with hot sulpher springs everywhere so the smell takes a bit of getting used to but i hardly notice it now. Steven wasn't feeling well after lunch so he decided to stay home for the afternoon which meant the rest of us could go on a horse trek which was pretty amazing to see all the NZ countryside as we mostly walked but were given the ...

... in their cousin's or aunt's sticky trap and can't complain, cause they don't have a mouth! So to sum things up: glowworms are canibalistic arseless maggots with shiny poo.
While in Waitomo we also went to a pioneer and farm show held by a completely insane redneck kiwi guy. It all sounds a bit tacky when I tell you he displayed pigs, cows, chickens, sheep dogs, sheered sheep with old methods and told us how the old-timers would chop down trees. But actually it was ...