After 4 nights in Rotorua we headed to Taupo with our latest bus driver, Cuddles. We passed on the geyser tour in the morning as we'd had enough of the smell of rotten eggs and didn't want to pay to walk round in the rain with a peg on our nose. The weather was frustrating though as we couldnt do a couple of the planned walks en route to Taupo due to the torrential rain. We did stop at Huka Falls though just outside of Taupo to walk around the top of the waterfal...

Maori Experience After an afternoon in Hobbiton, we arrived back into Rotorua with just enough time to change clothes, grab some cash then head off to the Maori Experience! We got on the bus which really resembled a little school bus and the bus driver started telling us a bit about the Maori culture and what to expect for the night ahead. We were going to be greeted by the chief of a Maori tribe, and a short ceremony welcoming us and ensuring we were there for ...

One of the things on our must do list in New Zealand was to visit Hobbiton! And this was the first activity on offer in Rotorua, so when we arrived we had to rush to our hostel to drop our bags, then set off in another bus cameras at the ready to Hobbiton! Out of our group of friends on the bus, it was only Day, Tim, Leo and I who were actually interested in going, but we were all pretty excited about seeing it! As we appraoched Hobbiton, Uncle Ben (the bus drive...

The next morning we were on the move again, this time to Waitomo where there are famous gloworm caves you can explore. We all picked the most adventurous tour option so mid afternoon 9 of us pulled on a full wetsuit (some with more difficulty than others (Lise was given the wrong size and had a 10 minute struggle getting it off again)) and set off for stage 1 - a 35m abseil down into the cave! It was good fun but a bit scary when the hole got very narrow and rock...

After Bay of Islands we returned to Auckland (via a trip to a local garage when the bus broke down a few minutes into the journey). We spent the evening at Kristina's again before grabbing the last two seats on our kiwi bus headed to Hot Water Beach, where you can dig yourself a thermal pool at certain points on the beach! On our bus were Tim, Vicky and Amy who we'd met in BOI as well as Leo, a globetrotting German, and Louise, a girl who Lise knew from home! Sm...