Before we left Rotorua we visited several more geothermal sites in the 'Volcanic Valley' which stretches from White Island 250 Km across the North Island to the mountains around Tongariro. All the geothermal areas we are visiting sit in this valley formed by the subduction of the Pacific plate under the Australian plate.

The Te Puia geothermal site was only a short bus journey out of town so Sid and Peter got a rest. Although that morning he (Peter not Sid) had gone white water sledging. This apparently involves going down a white water rapid river with your own little board (sledge) in a wet suit with flippers. Sounds a bit dodgy to me but Peter said he enjoyed it despite it being scary and him swallowing half the river.

Te Puia is famous for its geyser Pohutu which is a bit erratic as to when it blows and to what height it blows - so not of much use for us tourists. We waited around for an hour but it didn't show. We caught the local bus out to the site and Peter was rather pleased when the driver said all journeys today were free as it was polling day.

After this we took the Gondolas (enclosed chairlift) to the top of the crater in which Rotorua sits. The volcano must have been enormous as Rotorua only takes up a fraction of the crater floor. Luckily the volcano is considered to be dormant. Next we set off to a pub with several locally brewed craft beers and another 10 or so on tap - Peter was in his element.

A better bet on the geyser front was Lady Knox, at Wai-o-Tapu, which does erupt daily at 10.15 to a height of up to 20 metres (we had to get up early for this one). It's named after the daughter of NZ fifteenth governor - not sure if that’s a compliment or not – maybe she was a bit volatile in the mornings. However I should point out that the only reason Lady Knox blows every day at 10.15 is because some bloke pours a soapy substance down her throat. It breaks the tension of the cold water layer allowing the boiling water below to burst through to the surface - Peter thought this was a bit of a scam. Wai-o-Tapu park has been active for 150,000 years and has the most surface geothermal activity in the area with a range of different features besides the geyser including some very deep (20 metres) craters with ferociously boiling water at the bottom, the Primrose Terrace which has taken over 700 years to develop and is the largest in NZ and the coloured pools like an artist’s palette. But the best of all was the mud pools - they were quite something.

Now I thought Possums sounded quite sweet little creatures and was rather hoping to see one but here they are not at all popular. We have seen them referred to as pests and seen lots of traps for them but in this park they must really not like them as they are referred to as 'noxious’ animals, a bit hard I thought.

After a quick nap (very useful driving around in your home) and lunch we headed to a massive forest with over 170 species from all over the world planted, around the early 1900’s, in an attempt to see which would be the best to grow for timber. The Radiata pine won but the remaining forest has a massive Californian Redwood population with one tree 67 metres high. I did worry about Peter going off for a run without a map as he does have a tendency to get lost. On top of that he did look a bit of a twit with some new long white running socks he is testing. They seem a bit big and the heel sticks out the back making his ankle look very odd.

We are getting a bit Geothermalled out but did manage to visit another site called Waimangu which came about as a result of the 1886 Tarawera volcanic eruption, so it’s the youngest of the geothermal sites in the area. During the explosion a lake (Rotomahana) exploded to 20 times its original size-not something you would want to be nearby when it happened, but we did get a nice boat trip out of it. It was rather chilly so we were pleased to get back into Sid for a warm up with soup but we had ran out of gas so had to dash to a BP station for a fill up.

After four nights in Rotorua we headed out west to Waikato (don’t you just love all these names) in search of more glow worms and some Kiwis (birds not fruit). Waikato is famous for its limestone caverns.

We popped to the Otororhanga Kiwi House, which is involved in Kiwi conservation and yes we saw them, 3 different species. They have them set up in large pens that are dark as they are nocturnal. They also keep their public appearances short so they don’t get stressed by us gawping tourists. They are the silliest of birds and I am not surprised they are endangered as they have little sight, no feathers only a hair like covering, no tail and no wings as such so can’t fly. But before you start to feel sorry for them they do have exceptional sense of smell and hearing and thick legs and feet making them good runners.

Our wander around the rest of the small park was brought to an end when we came across a rather fierce looking bird with claws on its wings. It was on the path and was not at all happy with us trying to pass. We eventually made it and walked of at a quick pace but as we turned a corner the bird reappeared from behind an enclosure and proceeded to chase us- yes we did run- towards the exit where we ran into a keeper who said Thora was quite tame and not to worry, easy for her to say. Thora in case you are interested is a Spur Winged Plover, and yes I will admit she isn't big but you weren’t there, she looked evil.

We stayed in the village of Waitomo to visit the caves which are limestone formations formed when the region was still under the ocean about 30 million years ago. The limestone is composed of fossilized seashells,fish skeletons and many small marine organisms which, over millions of years, have been layered upon each other and compressed to create limestone. The caves began to form when earth movement caused the *************e to bend and buckle under the ocean and rise above the sea floor. Subsequently the rock was exposed to air and cracks allowed water to flow through them dissolving the limestone and over millions of years large caves were formed. The three we visited were big caves. In the first we travelled in a boat. The ceiling of the cave was alight with glow worms. The second had amazing stalactites and stalagmites.

To finish the day Peter went Indiana Jones abseiling in a washing machine - that’s how the adventure is described. A prerequisite is that participants need to be fit and brave, so I stayed in Sid relaxing.