Hilary had slept badly the night before. In parts due to the cold that she had picked up, the noisy road and her distaste for the place that we were staying. Visited the nearby Lady Knox Geyser, which goes off at 10.15am every day. It was quite a show. How come it always erupts at 10.15? It's because one of the park guides, after giving a short talk about the geyser to the assembled crowd, drops a bag of chemicals down the mouth of the geyser that then acts as a ...

Arrived in Waiotapu and visited the aptly named "Thermal Wonderland". It sounds tacky but it is genuinely special. Situated in the heart of a geothermal region running across the North Island, this relatively small area, which we walked around in about 90 minutes, contained many multicoloured craters, fumeroles, hot springs and mud pools. Each took our breath away, literally, as a strong smell of rotten eggs permeated the whole place. We stayed overnight in Wa...