On Thursday we set off for our road trip..!! First stop was Waitomo, where we stayed in a hobbit motel... and saw a crazy kiwi show which involved everything from sawing wood to dancing pigs and sheep shearing..! We then went to see the famous glowworm caves in Waitomo which consisted of a short walk and then a trip on a boat.. The boat trip was incredible, and we saw over 10,000 glowworms. From there we went up a very windy road in order to see a waterfall. We were slightly apprehensive but when we got there it was spectacular..

On Friday we drove over to Rotoroua... which was a particularly rainy day! but when we arrived we went straight to the main attraction which was the geothermal park right in the centre.. We saw mudpools, geysers and a reconstruction of a Maori village.. the geysers spurted up to about 20m and were unlike anything we had ever seen before. We then bought some Maori jewellery and heading off to look at our motel for the evening which turned out to be interesting to say the least... SO for the next hour we searched for somewhere new to stay with the help of the lonely planet guide.. and were successful pretty quickly!!
In the evening we went to a Maori dinner and show.. which was really interesting.. the Maori warriors first arrived in a canoe and then showed us some dances in a really good show.. the dinner was scruptious and after dinner we got a tour round the rainbow springs nature park where we saw the native kiwi birds and other wildlife.. and the whole park was lit up really beautifully!!

Saturday was the last day of our road trip and we got up to get to another geothermal park to watch the Lady Knox geyser go off at precisely 10.15!! We then walked around the park which was beautiful, with more mudpools and craters. A particular highlight was the champagne pool which was an incredible colour.. After this we drove to the Buried Village, which was just outside Rotoroua. It was a particular highlight but it was extremely interesting as it showed the ruins of a Maori village after a volcanic eruption! After this, we headed back to Auckland and checked in to the Hyatt. We went to a Brizilian restaurant for dinner which was an all you can eat barbeque! and then went to the Viaduct Basin to watch the finals of the netball world championships.where new zealand just lost in a very close match. The atmosphere was brilliant and a really good end to our little trip!!!