Hey kids...thought we better update you as the last few days have been a bit busy, and very fun!

We left Auckland in a rental car coz we couldn't get a campervan sorted on the day (and in typical style we had nothing booked) but we are going to pick one up in Christchurch in a week or so. For now, we are cruising around in a Toyota Corolla, it feels very small compared to our Brucie in Oz!

We had a lovely drive in the sunshine through the very green landscape of northern New Zealand to Rotorua, where we are now. Rotorua smells of eggs!! It is a very volcanic area, lots of natural hot springs and geysers spewing up hot water all over the place which is so strange, there is always a cloud of steam rising up from seemingly nowhere! Anyway, a side effect of this is the very noticeable sulphorous smell, it seriously reeks. Besides that though it is a really nice little town, and we have certainly been enjoying our couple of days here.

Yesterday we went up a gondola to the top of a mountain which gave a great view over the town and Lake Rotorua, and they had a luge! We happily spent a couple of hours racing down the 3 different luge tracks, ranging from 'scenic' to 'advanced' - the advanced was definitely not for the feint hearted! Thankfully we avoided any accidents.

Last night we went to the Te Puia maori cultural centre for a show and traditional 'hangi' feast, we had an hour or so of entertainment by the singers and dancers, and Nick got to learn the haka, which he loved! It was pretty good, and then the meal was great too, they cook it in a traditional oven in the ground which gives it all a kind of smoky flavour but it was nice, plus our first taste of New Zealand lamb, yum!

This morning we had a LOT of fun, we went zorbing! We both really wanted to do it, but when we got there we had to sit and watch a few others do it first to make sure! We went for the 'zydro' option - you are unstrapped in the zorb (a big clear blow up ball) with few buckets of warm water and then they push you down the hill, so it is kind of like being in a washing machine! It was sooo much fun, just like a crazy water slide, apart from you can't see where you are going! We both went in the same zorb and bounced down the hill crashing into each other all the way!

We loved it so much we immediately decided to go again, there was another track we wanted to try! So up we went again, this time we went down the winding track separately. This one really did throw you around as the zorb bounced up the banks of the track and changed direction before you knew what was happening. We highly recommend it!

This afternoon was a bit more sedate as we went for a wander around a wildlife park, we saw some lions being fed which was pretty cool! They had a few scraps amongst themselves which added to the fun for us spectating, they love their meat! We enjoyed feeding the sheep, goats, alpacas etc etc...oh and Nick fed the ducks! The weather is really nice at the moment so it was a good way to spend an afternoon, then after we went having a look at some of the geysers and hot springs near where we are staying. The rocks are so hot from the thermal activity underneath, sitting on them is like sitting on a radiator!

We are moving on to Taupo tomorrow which is not far away, fingers crossed the weather will stay as good as it has been. I'm sure there will be lots more fun and shenanigans to report on soon...so watch this space!!

xxx