Ascot Motel Rotorua

... For example the telly is not an LCD for the first time and there's no internet in the room. If you've ever stayed in a Travelodge, it's a bit like that. The price is a lot less as well.

Just been out for some tea. Rotorua is a lot nicer round the town centre, but of course being after 5pm is completely closed. Well apart from the shops operated by people from Japan/China/Korea et al - if the Kiwi's aren't careful they'll have their country off them!

... which totally makes sense since the Maori's came to New Zealand from Polynesia. They are more martial than the Tahitians. A lot of the dances and songs we saw at the show tonight were related to war in some way while the Tahitian songs and dance were more mixed - some war, but a lot more about love, village life etc. Check out the pics and video and see what you think.

... of NZ, they used the thermal energy in most aspects of their lives....cooking, heating, bathing, swimming, spirituality. The Maoris are very spiritual people, they believe that all elements that surruond us have thier own guardian who are the offspring of the Mother Earth and the Sky Father. The dinner was fantastic, everything is cooked in a Hangi, underground, using the thermal steam. It really felt like a true homemade ...

... some tour soon - just so that it is a bit different) that we realise the price we are about to pay for our dryness. Whereas the others may be showering afterwards to get the dampness out of their skin, we may be showering afterwards all the same in order remove **** caked to our *****. The abseil into the cave is 100m high - the length of a football pitch - a vertical drop into the abyss below. The scariest part is leaning back and sitting on the ...

... also cooked kumara (sweet potato) and noemal potatoes too. Whilst this was finishing cooking, they took our group on a tour of the forest nearby where they gave a display of their cultural songs and dances including their haka. After the show, we sat down for the buffet which was all you could eat. And we did. Afterwards they took us for another tour, this time in the dark throught the forest, where we saw glowworms. These were quite difficult to see ...

... out, I told you Bri was good. Ha as if anyone would think he would be stupid enough to stick his head into the middle of a grade 4 rapid. River Rats, the company they went with was gr8. Mad Max had a wealth of knowledge and Two Rocks kept us all smiling and guessing what he was going to hit next. Rotorua is a small but interesting town. The walk around Government Gardens and Sulphar Point was good and FREE. Bubbling pools of mud and steaming holes ...

... Now before i go on I want to point out that it was good and the food was god to but i will let you decide if it can lure you to new zealand solely to see it...... Jumping on your bus for the tour it magically trasforms in to a canoe and we all start paddling. after chossing our chief ( thankfully not me) which the caravan man said that his son in law desperatly wanted to be (this man was 26) a few mauri ...

... and off we popped! No photos or DVD I'm afraid, as there were a few technical problems around that. So at 2pm they collected me, and took me out to the air port. I watched the DVD, decided I couldn't possibly do it, and then went through to get into the back to get into the gear, still insisting that I couldn't do it. I'd signed the disclaimer form saying that it's my fault if I die, break my leg etc etc and that I realise that the health service here ...

... that they would drop it off at the local information site. I was amazed at how nice the person was to go to all of that trouble. I emailed Connie to let her know, and she emailed me that Jeremy had lost the phone while doing a handstand on the beach (huh?). Unfortunately, things did not go as planned, as the person dropped off the phone just after Connie and Jeremy left the information site where they had been told that the phone had ...

... I can't remember why - but I think it has something to do with food and cooking. In the evening after spending some time chatting to the girls and waiting for Tara to emerge from the thermal hot pools we headed out for a Maori Cultural Evening (trip). It was ace! although it did seem to be a bit staged, which I guess it was. It started when we got picked up by the driver - he explained all about how you are to enter a ...