Having spent most of the afternoon on a bus we finally arrived in Rotorua in the evening and went in search of the lake and some tea!

Our first full day in Rotorua began with an early morning trip to Waiotapu (pictured!) to visit the Thermal Wonderland! Rotorua is the most geothermally active area in New Zealand, and is blessed with many a volcano and exlpoding geyser! To begin with we went to look at the hot mud pools (the largest in New Zealand) and then it was onto the Lady Knox Geyser which erupts daily at 10.15am and reaches heights of 20 metres! Finally we went to the thermal wonderland itself. Here we spent a couple of hours walking around the park looking at mud volcano's, champagne pools, sulphur lakes and many many more cool bubbling things!! Then it was back to the hostel to sit out the rain until the sun came out in the afternoon. Once it had warmed up again we went in search of the Polynesian Spa (one of the top 10 spa's in the world!) which is naturally heated by the geothermal activity underground. The pool temperatures varied from 38C to 41C and after an hour and a half we were well and truly cooked!! After a quick shower we were off again, this time to the Mitai Mauri Village to watch a traditional Mauri show. After the show (which included a real New Zealand Haka!) we were shown war canoe's, a natural spring (with really tasty water!) and glow worms! Then it was time (finally!) for our Hangi! This is a traditional Mauri meal of pototoes, veg and meat (the lamb was possibly the best we've ever tasted!), all cooked underground by the geothermal heat.

The next day (obviously we weren't sane at the time...!) we decided to get the bus to nearby Taupo to do a 47 metre bungy jump!! The jump is the biggest (we think!) in the north island and is off a cantilever platform over a lake! If jumping wasn't insane enough we even decided to do it strapped together! Therefore once Debs decided to jump i didn't have much choice other than to follow! It was probably the most unnatural feeling we've ever experienced but it was well worth it!! After a quick look around the town and lake it was back on the bus to Rotorua.

For our final day in Rotorua we visited Hell's Gate, another geothermal 'wonderland', although this one wasn't quite as good as Waiotapu. After an hour there it began to rain and so we returned to the town centre where we caught our bus back to Auckland, and after a quick overnight stopover in Auckland it was off to Paihia and The Bay of Islands!