Kia Ora…. Firstly - Rotorua smells horrible! The sulphur that comes from the geothermal activity makes the whole place smell like rotten eggs. Anyway, so day one in Rotorua (Friday 8th) saw Loz and Steph go Zorbing. For those of you who don't know what this is, basically they put water into a big inflatable ball and you get in it and roll down a hill. Didn't appeal to me and so I was the photographer! They had a wicked time though. Then we went back to the hostel for the evening. Tonight we were heading to Tamaki Maori Village which is a village set in pre - European times. Our driver picked us up and he was a lot of fun. He explained the work Kia Ora meant hello etc and full of life, goodbye then he explained what it meant in 58 different languages fluently - very impressive!! We then had to choose a chief who would represent us at the village and would face the challenge at the beginning of the evening 9the challenge was very scary - see pictures) We were so excited. We were going to be experiencing the challenge of the maori people to us (Wero), a welcoming ceremony (Powhiri), view a huge village with fires and houses before eating a massive buffet in the meeting house (Wharenui) and learn the history of the Maori culture and people, with songs the Haka and dancing. It was such an amazing night - had the best night of the trip so far. We got a video on the camera of it all. The food was amazing - Lamb, Chicken, Fish, Mussels, Carrots, Sweet Potato, Salads etc etc… The night was so good, and I definitely recommend it to others. Our bus driver was hilarious. On the way back he made everyone sing their national anthem. He then explained he was going to need quiet as he was going to sing a really interesting Maori song that had long difficult words in it when he belted out The Wheels on the bus go round and round. Then whenever we got to a roundabout, he'd make us stand up and he'd go round and round it several times which was a lot of fun - nearly got caught by the police but it was fun!!! Then as we got of the coach we had to do the traditional Maori greeting of touching of noses twice.When we got back to the hostel we then headed to the Lava Bar which was next door to our hostel and had a really good night in there with the people of our bus. The guy who worked at the zorbing place appeared and kept buying us shots - even handed Loz a hundred dollar bill to pay for them at one point. So it was a good night and eventually we retired to bed. At 11am on Saturday (9th) we got picked up outside the hostel and headed towards a little town called Putaruru where my mums cousin lives, Ken and Helen. We arrived and went to their house for some sandwiches. Ken then took us for a wander around to show us some sights of New Zealand. First stop we walked along the Te Waihou Walkwayto see the Blue Spring. This is where the bottled water comes from and the lake was amazing. So clear and fresh. He then took us on a bush walk which was really cool, and nothing like England. We then headed back to the house and fell asleep whilst Ken and Helen went to the shops. We then had a lovely BBQ with lots of food (Helen if your reading this please can you email my mum the recipe for the onion and cucumber yoghurt thingy). We had a few glasses of wine and had a lovely evening. We then headed to bed (I shotgunned the double bed and had the best nights sleep so far).Sunday we woke up and had breakfast - some lovely smoked trout that Ken had caught! Then we headed to Rotorua to sort accommodation out and went on a little tour with Ken and Helen. First up was St. Faiths Anglican church. Inside was a picture of Jesus on the window and if you looked out the lake was behind it and it looked as though he was walking on the water. Ken and Helen then took us to Hells Gate which is Rotorua's most active thermal reserve. It smelt funky (like bad eggs - but that's the whole of Rotorua for you due to the geothermal activity). This was awesome - saw so much activity. Bubbling mud pools, and the temperature of some of the pools topped 100 degrees c, and the steam coming off it was phenomenal. We then headed to a café for some lunch before heading to the Blue Lake (Rotokakahi) and Green Lake (Tikitapu) to a lookout at the Bay of Plenty which is in the Rotorua District. Ken, Loz, Steph and I started walking and after about 15 minutes we decided we were going in the wrong direction so headed back to the carpark to find the lookout point a 30 second walk in the opposite direction. It was too cloudy though so you couldn't see the two colours of the lakes. They then took us to Pac and Save for a quick shop before dropping us off at the hostel. It was a really nice weekend. So here we are. Our last night in Rotorua (which will include chilling infront of the tv) before heading to Waitomo tomorrow. So I hope all is well back home, I will update soon. Kia Ora xxxxxxxxxx