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Lets take this gig global!!
Alright folks its me again!
My time on t'internet was a bit short for the last update so just thought I'd round things up a little. As you probably know, I am in the geothermal capital of NZ - Rotorua. Its a pretty unique place here as it sits within an extremely active thermal valley so no matter where you look you can see steam pouring out of every hole in the ground possible!! The sulpher dioxide evaporating everywhere also means that the whole place smells like rotten eggs!! Not the nicest smell in the world Ive gotta say and even though people say you get used to it, it still knocks me for six most days!!
There is also a very strong Moari influence here, so much so that I keep expecting Jake 'the muzz' to pop out at every corner!!!! Not the easiest place to navigate either as street names include such tongue twisters as Ariariterangi st. and tutanekai rd!! It has really surprised me though, Rotorua. The weather here has been great which always helps but its a real nice town with loads of stuff to do and picturesque gardens dotted around and of course as seems to be the case for every town in NZ, a stunning lake to enjoy aswell!!
Well, you've heard all about most of the stuff I've done here but yesterday was another action packed day starting with a visit to the world famous Wai-o-tapu thermal area. The first thing to see is the Lady Knox geyser errupting in the morning which is pretty sweet, shooting boiling water some 20 meters in the air!! Then we cruised around the area and all the various crazy looking ponds of boiling mud/water. It really is like walking on the moon or another planet! The other striking thing are the colours, every shade of illuminous ooze is on show somewhere and some are so bright that you cant believe they are 100% natural! Its like a chemistry lab for the Gods or something!! It took well over an hour to see it all so by the end we were hank marvin so shooted back for lunch.
In the arvo the girls went to town and hit a spa while Akeel and I did the manly stuff and hired mountain bikes for the arvo. Rotorua is the mountain bike capital of NZ so much so that they are hosting the next stage of the international bike circuit next week! We headed to the whakawerewere forest (see what i mean about place names!!) and pumped it out for over two hours! Man, it was tiring but defo well worth it. Easily some of the best trails I have ever riden! Quality fun!
My legs were in absolute agony by the end so in the evening I thought what better way to relax than hit the thermal spa!! The Polynesian spa here is regularly voted in the top 10 in the world and it was amazing at night with the stars out and sitting in the varioius pools overlooking the mahoussive lake. There are various natural pools of different temperatures and after two hours in there I was feeling like a new man!!
The Skydive crew moved on on saturday morning but I decided to stay another night. Worked out perfect though as when strolling back through town after a visit to the Government gardens, Mark (my fellow nocturnal world cup football watcher in Cool Bananas) pops out from nowhere. Was great to catch up over lunch then decided to meet up to watch the rugby that evening. Was only supposed to be for a few quiet beers but things kinda snowballed (as they do!) and before we knew it we were necking shots at the bar and heading to a club with a group of Irish lasses! Was a stonking night though and a nice way to say goodbye to Rotorua.
Today I am off to Auckland where my time in NZ is coming to an end :-(
will update again soon
Dan
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