Sport of Kings Motel Rotorua

We got up early and headed to Wai-O-Tapu where we saw Lady Knox geyser erupt at 10:15. We were shocked at how high it went and how long it went on for but it was pretty amazing to watch. We then enjoyed an hour and a half walk around the Thermal Wonderland reserve looking at various craters, caves, lakes and geysers. It was a really pretty place though it smelt bad of sulphur! We then went to the mud pool which was basically a big bubbling mud lake which ...

... some leafs on the ground in front of the chief of the visitng tribe (us - and the chief was a japanese guy who looked a bit lost) picked the leaves up as a sign of submission and then we all walked into the main house together. Our chief, Yoshi, then went up and had to touch noses with all the performers and then the performance began.

We saw several dances and they sang beautifully - there were only nine of them but ...

... there was a huge outdoor TV and an outside pool and loads of screaming kids. Not quite what I had imagined. There was a christian rock band practising when we arrived - that was exactly what we imagined, in fact Jack guessed thats what it was. We wondered if they had set up there to protect people from hell's gate? they also had goats there which I always think are a bit demonic. One had escaped and reared up at me by the campavan.

... to grab something to eat before catching the shuttle to the Skyline and Luge at 11.50am. When we arrived it was really busy as it was Easter weekend and half term, therefore there were big queues for everything. We had pre-booked 5 luge rides but as it was so busy we only used 4, and one of those was mainly to retrieve Zoe's flip flop which she dropped on the cable ride back up from the 3rd ride. It must have been funny for those riding the cable car back up to see ...

... they didn't start to compare with what they had in Yellowstone Park and I was happy that I'd seen smoke coming out of the ground and mud bubbling we so weren't bothered about doing more here. I did have a swim in the pool at the hotel (30 degrees) and a short soak in the geothermal hot bath (40 degrees) but found both too warm to stay in for long. Then we had just the best fish meal - pan fried John Dory with prawns, squid, and scallops ...

... to house the family. He was helping build everything. What struck me as so interesting about Joey was his presence. The man was about half a foor (100 Cm) taller than me but felt like he was double the size of me. It came down to the fact that he was just the nicest, strongest person I ever met. You could tell he was just a hairs away from defending anyone as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders. He took everything like it ...

... at the ruins of the factory that once mined the sulphur but that had been destroyed during the last eruption. Apperantly the volcano doesn't spout lava when it erupts, it spouts large boulders and mud flows. The factory had survived in perfect conditionuntil the last erupion destroyed it. We the made our way round the crater looking at the various steam spouts until we reached the lake in the middle of the crater. It is filled with rain water but the ...

... national park. We got in to the hostile around 8pm. I made a quick run to the grocery store to make some dinner. After dinner, I met a guy from France, Manuel, and a girl from the UK, Leah, both were very nice. Unfortunately Manuele had his backpack stolen the day before so he had to head to Wellington (the capital) to get another. That night the three of us went out to the pub for a short time. I finally went to bed around 11 or so. The end for today, Chris

... meme roule dans le parc pour aller voir de plus tres les volcans. C'etait vraiment impressionant ! Nous avons aussi profite de la presence des sources d'eau thermales pour aller se detendre dans un spa aux eaux magiques !!! Nous avons egalement eu la chance d'aller regarder un match des All Blacks (equipe nationale de Rugby, tres populaire (un peu comme nos chers canadiens)), la moitie du village s'etait reuni au pub local ! Ce fut une tres belle soiree, un match tres serre ...

... the local river.

Once inside the caves, the insects get thoroughly confused, and when they see the myriad lights above them they believe they're seeing the night sky, and fly upwards... to their death.

Unbeknown to them, the cunning little glow worms have made a series of cocoons on the ceiling of the cave, and from these cocoons they've spun very ...