Eggs! Not fresh eggs, but rotten as hell eggs everywhere! That basically sums up our experience of Rotorua so thanks for reading this blog entry.

OK, we'll flesh it out a bit more just for you :)

After our brill time in Taupo (pronounced Taw-po) we headed north towards Rotorua which is the most geothermal active area in New Zealand which means there are lots of hot pools, geysers, sulphur etc, and unfortunately with this comes the dreaded smell of rotten eggs from all the hydrogen sulphide gas. People had said that you'll either get on with Rotorua or not because of the smell but we thought everyone must be exaggerating just to try and scare us.......they weren't.

About 30km outside Rotorua we stopped at a place call Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland which is New Zealand's most colorful and diverse volcanic area. It is filled with craters, steam vents, sulphur pools, volcanic lakes and mineral terraces. But apart from the eye popping scenery there is the eye watering stench that hits you as soon as you step outside the car when you arrive. OH LORD!! We very quickly discovered how long we could both hold our breath, which unfortunately isn't long enough and looking back is probably the worst thing we could have done as it meant after 20 seconds of getting out the car we both took a monstrous gulp of air and nearly produced a lovely pavement pizza right in the car park! No joke, the smell of rotten eggs is completely overpowering and the only break you get is when the wind blows it the other way for a few seconds. Anyway, Wai-O-Tapu was a very impressive place seeing all the vents/pools/craters but after a 4km walk we couldn't stomach the smell any longer so left for Rotorua.

Unfortunately Rotorua actually smelt worse!!! It makes it worse when you get a strong whiff while driving so you open the window automatically only to get an even bigger dose, so logically you turn on the fan. But then you get a WARM dose of rotten eggs right in your face and almost drive straight into the lake while trying to take a breath without vomiting.

OK, apart from struggling to breathe we did start out time in Rotorua by going on a Luge. Its basically a go-kart without an engine and with handlebars instead of a steering wheel which the ingenious Kiwi's put on the top of a steep hill with some paved tracks to the bottom and then set you going with the help of gravity Awesome fun!!! Andy loved it and was gone like a rocket while Em followed behind and let the whole of Rotorua know she was coming with the loudest and longest ARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH you've every head! Priceless!

While in Rotorua we stayed in a YHA (Youth Hostel) as it was nice and cheap, but there are reasons for this. The common areas such as the kitchen were nice, but the room was really small and stunk of sweat and rotten eggs and it wouldn't go. Added to this were the typical nightmare backpackers running around at 3am banging the walls and screaming so we hardly slept on our paper thin sheet, or was it a mattress?

The next day we went to Hell's Gate which is the most active geothermal park in Rotorua. It has over 50 acres of boiling mud pools, huge craters, steaming fumeroles and just some down right creepy sights which make you realize how powerful the earth is and how small we really are. Oh yeah, it stunk!!! While there we went and had a mud bath and sulphur spa which sounded like a great idea at the time, but 3 days later we still can't shift the smell!!

We had originally planned to stay in Rotorua for 4 days but the smell is just everywhere and just gets on your nerves. All our clothes were starting to stink and it gets you down, added to the lack of sleep at the YHA we decided to leave early and head back to Auckland for a few extra days before we leave to Oz.

Only good thing about Rotorua was we had the best ever Gluten Free Pizza and Indian Food we have ever had!