Hello again!

Since we last checked in we have been to Rotorua, Waitamo and are now in Taupo. Rotorua is probably the smelliest town in the world - smells bad like eggy farts! That's because its a town built inside of a volcanic crater and has lots of geothermal activity going on - your right matt bennett has turned into a geography geek :) but its great for me and D cos we wouldn't know half as much as we do having her along for the ride :).

Whilst in town did lots of things, the first thing we did was ZORB! They put all three of us together in a massiv inflatable ball filled it with water and rolled us down a big hill - we tried to stand up but failed - it was like being thrown around in a washing machine - was AMAZING! We now know all about Maori culture too as that evening we visited Tamaki Maori village a traditional village where we met the chief and his people. His eyes bulged and did some what looked like chicken dancing (D's words) its used in battle to scare ppl off but we found it quite funny but the Haka was extremely impressive and we werethen treated to traditional singing, dancing and prayers. We then ate maori food cooked in an open oven in the ground called a hangi which is heated by the volcanic rock!

Next day we rolled up the museum bright and early - no lie ins for us! We were shown around what was the traditional smelly sulphur spa baths in the early 1900's now its been turned into the museum - we found out that colonic irrigation is NOT a new treatment ugghh!! We learnt about the proper ring of fire - not only a drinking game - its actually a ring of volcanic activity in the south pacific. We also learnt about Tarawera eruption that killed 120 ppl.

After the muesum we went on a walk around lake Rotorua and smelled some very smelly sulphur that made the lake look white and the banks yellow. I though D's nose was going to fall off she was gagging that much from the smell of the bog of eternal stench - Oli if you were here you would be constantly saying it 'SMELLS BAD' in your best LUDO voice!!!

The fun bit comes in now. We got taken to Hells Gate one of the geothermal parks in the area and went to the mud bath and spa. We covered each other in mud under the attendants 'get busy' instructions and sat in smelly hot sulphur water. It was only after that we were informed that we would smell like eggy fart for at least two days after much to our disgust as they failed to mention that before we got in the water.

The next day on our way to Waitomo that we stopped off at the nicest geothermal park called Te Puia which contains the largest geyser in NZ and goes off every hour (see pic above). It was an amazing site to see felt like we were yogi and boo boo in yellow stone!

Anyway the hard core activities come next which you can read about in the next two journal entries..... xxx