Sport of Kings Motel Rotorua

... Overall, it was awesome and I&#8217;d definitely recommend it. I have a video to supplement the pictures which I&#8217;ll share when I&#8217;m back.<br><br>Following the highs of jumping nearly 3 miles down, I headed into Rotorua itself to have a look around. The town centre itself is nothing remarkable (apologies to another council!) - but the lake view is amazing. I had to head back to the motel I was staying at to catch a bus to see a 'traditional' (yet obviously built for ...

... forest that was only a couple of kilometers away. Apparently the Red Woods were planted in the early 1900&#8217;s after being imported from California. Now, the woods stand at a height ranging from 150 to 250 ft. The avenue of giants in Northern California tower to almost 360 ft, so it wasn&#8217;t quite as epic, but definitely humbling all the same. This is just one example of how diverse NZ&#8217;s ...

... Having not seen ANY billboard throughout the drive, except for PSAs about drunk, tired, and distracted driving, more and more Coke and McDonalds billboards are popping up on the way into towns...sigh...<br>We found a little Italian restaurant with the hopes of finding quick takeaway pizza and ended up getting talked into staying by the girl at the door.  Good thing too as we found another, and even better, mussel dish to dine ...

Jack: We actually went Zorbing today, did the tripple, Strapped in on the straight oh my god,whomp, green,grey,whomp,this is quite relaxing, green,grey,whomp, green,grey,whomp, green,grey.. Together on the straight with water. Slosh giggle,slosh, giggle,slosh,giggle,slosh, giggle,slosh,giggle,slosh, giggle,slosh,giggle Singley, wiggly track with water, slosh, gurgle, grey,slosh green, gurgle, slosh, grey,greeen,gurgle,slosh ...

... Jon &amp; Robyn and headed south to Rotorua, where the soil is all bubbles here from the underground heat. This whole area is in the volcannic belt and we stopped by Hell's Gate to experience the themal heat. And it was fantastic! Loads of bad smelling sulphetic steam coming up from the ground, puddles of mud bubbling away, it was evil. And we loved it! It was great fun, extremely smelly, but worth the long ...

... and the mud pools, which were very funny to see. We also saw two kiwis - luckily they were behind glass as they were fighting at the time of our tour! The highlight of the tour was a Maori culture show, with plenty of singing, clapping and a brilliant haka. We found a brilliant club, just opposite our hotel, and met some brilliant people who all wanted to talk about rugby and Wales!

... that is part of the ring of fire (which also includes Hawaii), so there is plenty of underground excitement going on. On the surface, this appears in many ways.  In one hole in the ground, the water and steam escaping apparently sound like deep drums doing some sort of beatbox thing.  According to Cousin Ben, Peter Jackson recorded the sound coming from the earth in this spot, spiced it up just a little, and used it in Lord of the Rings as the sound of orcs ...

... campsite which allows free access to the bathing (Claire and Mikki note). One can have a private pool, and we do. Back to Rotorua for an excellent meal at the Relish Cafe with some most satisfactory Mac dark beer. On the way, we pass a local (or at least he sounded Antipodean) looking at the menu for a restaurant specializing in meat served to your table to be heated on a hot stone :'I'm not going out to eat to have to bloody cook myself.'

... of the familiar and the strange. Photographs will come later, when I travel back through under my own steam. As we got further north, stops became more frequent and the bus got fuller. I doubt that I will ever again manage to visit Hamilton and Cambridge on the same day, let alone Bombay! The hotel in Auckland isn't great - poky room with boiling hot shower (at full cold setting) and little charm.

... fed by water from the thermal Rotorua Lake...<br>again, think of the faint smell of rotten eggs we've not gotten so used<br>to in the whole area by now. But the pool was nice and hot, in<br>comparison to the cold drizzling rain on our faces- a feeling all too<br>familiar from the Blue Lagoon in Iceland. I came to conclusion that the ...