Heywoods Motor Lodge Rotorua

... nobility and for which I should certainly be awarded a knighthood in due course.
Unfortuneately my gallantry cannot be shown as Gail took the camera to an activity you are not (as she found out) allowed to photograph.

Later that day we drove on to the centre point of our tour in the North Isle, Rotorua.

The 1st thing you notice about Rotorua is the pungent smell of sulphur as you descend the ...

... we had to get down and grab hold of the ropes on the boat as we plummeted vertically down the waterfall. I remember seeing the edge of the waterfall but the actual descent down it was kind of a blur. We were completely submerged and I only remember coming out of the water with the side of the boat tilted and the front of the boat (where I was) right in the air ...

... in the week. Our experience with going to a church in Kaitaia went really well so we were encouraged to try again! (In Kaitaia, we actually talked with a Dutch lady who has relatives in the same retirement home in Brampton that my grandparents just moved into! Small world!). The congregation was super small (maybe 30 ppl or so), but we were given a very warm welcome and several ppl talked us up before the service began. Afterwards we had a quick ...

... self-taught paleontologist and set up shop in her garage. After we left the aquarium we went to Marineland which is a park that now rescues injured marine life like penguins, sea lions, and sea birds. They had a couple of blind sea lions. One of the sea lions that was born there was trained to do cute tricks like blow kisses, shake hands, do a hand stand, and give her trainer a kiss on the lips. They also ...

... it started going over the edge and then it just disappeared and finally even the shrieks were muffled by the waterfall. The second raft was given the go ahead and plummeted off the edge in the same fashion. It was then our turn. Oars clenched, feet unloosened and ready to jump off the edge of the boat and securely wedge our selves onto the floor, our guide let go of the rope attached to the cliff and yelled "forward." There was quite a high possibility our raft would flip at ...

... roll us down a hill. There were two options, get into the ball without a harness and add water or get harnessed into the ball with no water which was the one we chose to do. All I can say is man it was violent! Rolling down the hill all you could see was green/blue/green/blue and then bam you hit the bank at the bottom, seriously good fun minus the whiplash of course! Off to Hawkes Bay next to try out some famous Kiwi wines......and still stink of eggs by the way......

Rotorua A distinct pong of sulphur and bad eggs greets you when you arrive in Rotorua, courtesy of the unique geology of this area and the geysers and sulphurous gas that abounds. We had a pleasant drive from Papamoa Beach after spending a bit of time in the morning getting some flip flops for me as I had forgotten to pack a pair. A quick coffee at Esquires and catching up with the X Factor ...

... picturesque community into a mudslide and waste land forever more. The result, apart from devastation, is of several remaining homes, literally buried halfway down in mud which you can visit and read about the traumatic event in a museum. It's an absolutely beautiful place and to see the last few 1-storey homes remaining, standing at odd angles half in the ground is quite alarming. You can go inside the homes and there are tree roots growing under the roof. We walked around the ...

... which prompted the geyser to erupt (what a shock that must have been!). Before heading out of Rotorua we spend the morning at Skyline Skyrides. We by a block ticket which covers the cable car ride up to the top, plus two trips on the "luge" and a go on the "Sky Swing" . The luge is basically a very small plastic sledge on wheels. We get two trips and can choose from three slalom type courses. to choose from all of which wind their way down the hill ...

... the glowworms reflect in a lake. Ace! Next stop for a history lesson in Waitangi near Pahia where we stayed in the cozy Mousetrap hostel. Pahia is a really cheap backpacker place where we got ridiculous amounts of beer for incredibly little money. Pahia is in the beautiful Bay of Islands ...