We left Waitomo pretty early in the morning and set off on our journey to Rotorua. On the way we stopped off to do a couple of little walks. None of the caves seemed as impressive as the ones we had been in yesterday though! We arrived in Rotorua just after lunch and this place had a very bad smell. It's something to do with the sulphur under the earths surface comes out more because the surface is thinner there I think? Anyway the rotten egg smell was something we just had to get used to. Amy went off on her Lord of the Rings trip in Hobbiton with some other girls (I'm sure she will tell you all about it at some point) and me and Bron decided to catch some rays by the pool before going for a walk around the town. We found a good ice cream shop and sat by the lake eating them. When we got back to the hostel the pool was full on everyone playing frisbee and different games, which was fun!

That evening we went to experience a Maori cultural evening at a Maori village. It began with a ceremony of us being accepted and then we learnt about lots of different tasks and trades they learn growing up as a Maori. One of the tasks was the Hakka which was very entertaining to watch our boys try, not really as attractive as the All Blacks rugby team performing it but we didnt tell them that!! We watched some tradtional dancing then and listening to some love songs. It was then time for feast which was food which had all been cooked underground!! There was so much to chose from, lots of meat, vegetables, salad, stuffing and then Pavalova and sponge pudding for desert! Definitely worth the money.

We got back to the hostel and headed over to the bar for a few drinks and a couple of games of pool. Chatted to some different people on our bus and had a great night. Then it was time for bed ready for the next place of our trip, Taupo!

Lots of love Meg and Amy xxxxx