Beautiful driving today, we started in Rotorua and visited Whakarewarewa - a living and working Maori village, got taken around the hot pools and spots in their village, basically they're living on top of a volatile thermal hot spring and the crust is very thin so the ground is very hot and hot in all spots.Where the steam breaks through there are constructed wooden boxes where food is cooked by the steam. We ate a hangi meal in the village which was delicious - especially the sweetcorn which was cooked in a muslin bag dropped straight into one of the hot pools. Fascinating, the villagers gave us a haka welcome, demonstrated their games and sang traditional songs. Sent a tingle down the spine for sure. We all had to join in and I thought I did a very passable hip sway and arm and hand waggle as did Dave (but not the hip thing) :-)
Then we went off to a thermal spring in Waikite valley and rented a private pool for 40minutes of skinny dipping but maybe that's too much info lol. We've had a wonderful drive through Hobbit country and are now in Otorohanga for an early visit to the glow worm caves in Waitomo tomorrow and then on to Lake Taupo maybe for a spot of kayaking.
We have a 6-berth van - thank you nice Apollo man for upgrading us free of charge. We're coping with the language (!) and lack of proper road maps (don't think they have them in NZ).
Weather has been nice today and Dave has a very sunburnt head to show for it.