Early morning on the first day of our tour the four of us caught the kiwi bus for our first stop Mercury Bay, on route we stopped at the Kiwi office to sort out paperwork so Rich took the opportunity to do his early morning Mangina! ha then off for our first walk on route (looking through our itinerary there seems to be alot of these along the way), this one took us to Cathedral Cove - which is along the beach to where a cove has been eroded into the rocks - the walk was around 45 mins and on the way back it began to rain so not fab but got some good pics all the same. We then arrived in Mercury Bay - not much to report from here really, Rich and Liz hired bikes out but me and Dave got sorted for the following day - plus Dave had booked onto the cooked dinner so we couldn't go too far :-)

The next day we had to get up early to head to Rotorua, this is the last time we let Rich set the alarm as he managed to set it for PM rather then AM so we got up with 10 minutes to get packed and get ready but like the pro-backers we are we managed it! The walk today was through an old minors cave, the boys loved this as it was walking through dark, low tunnels - I was the only one to have a torch but Dave thought it amusing to stand at the front and click away on his camera so to blind the poor people coming through (got some good pics tho - especially of Liz, which she's a little worried about!) After our walk we headed to a town called Matamata, famous for filming the Hobbition in Lord of the Rings - we had lunch and took a cheesy pic with the sign then continued for our next stop on our tour Rotorua. Rotorua is known as sulphur city, on our first day after checking in we had booked ourselves onto the Maori dinner and dance show - the bus on the way there we had to pick a chief and decided upon Rich as Dave point blank refused to do it - this meant that he would lead his tribe (us) into the evening. When we arrived they performed a show, which included them sticking their tongues out, bulging their eyes, waiving their spears and things around and grunting - all good until we was told we weren't aloud to laugh or smile! - Rich managed very well and then we was lead into their village where they made me and Liz try out some test of the tribe which was basically running over some sticks - a bit like hop-skip-jump to show agility! Then came time for dinner - Dave and Rich nearly wet themselves, it was a roast with lots of sweet potatoes and sounds weird but loads of mussels, i think the boys went up for 3 helpings and then whined all the way home they were uncomfortably stuffed. After dinner we watched how they make a hangi which is the method in which they supposedly cooked our meal - they dig a big hole and then lay the meat then the veg then the steamed pudding into the hole and cook it using the volcanic rock letting the steam cook it (well at least that's as much as I can remember?) After dinner we headed home but not before they tried to get Rich to sing our national anthem - none of us, nor the other english on the coach knew it so we settled for some football song?

The next day me, Dave and Liz headed for the Wai-O-Tapu thermal wonderland, first we was taken to the mud pools which was cool then onto Lady Knox Geyser and watched it erupt - after that we entered the actual park and walked around taking pictures of the volcanic area - was a good day and then met rich back at the hostel as he had been fishing all day. We had a lazy one that night as the following day we was all getting up early for White Water Rafting.

The White Water rafting we went to is listed as grade 5 and is the only place in the world that has a 7 meter drop - me and Liz were a little nervous but the boys and especially Dave were confident. After getting kitted up we headed for the river and did the practice moves for the waterfalls - there was 3 all in all (not inc the rapids too!!) 1, 2 and 7 metre - all was going well but down the first rapid Liz was like a rag doll and bounced around the boat - at one point head butting my shoulder, I was stuck in place and adamant I was not coming out - next came the 1 and 2 meter waterfall, again Liz bounced around and this time head butted the poor guy behind us in the shin - I think she bruised his leg and also managed to hurt her head too ooops. After some more practising and prayer saying!! we headed for the 7 meter, we was the last boat so everyone was at the bottom waiting - when going down the waterfalls we was told to hold on tight, duck down in the boat and keep your chin down was is exactly what i did and this does show in the pictures - when we went over we was literally vertical but only for a few seconds then I got covered in water and thought we had turned, i had my eyes closed the entire time so it was until the water left my face and I heard Rich scream (he scream about 3 times) 'Wheres Dave' 'Whers Dave' that i realised Dave had come out - turns out he was the only one out of all the four boats to come out (and the only one to have rafted the Zambezi!) anyways once everyone stopped laughing another boat went and fished him out and brought him back. He came back on the boat all battered and bruised - he had a cut knee and a bruised arm, back and shoulder. We finished the course and at one point all decided to get out of the boat and go down in a line just us (at first I decided to stay in the boat and told the guide I couldn't swim to make sure he didnt chuck me out - think he actually believed me, (almost as good as my fibbing skills at the cinema Gem!! ha) - this time we lost Dave and Liz, we rescued Liz but Dave had to be brought back via another boat - some more rapid and some of which standing up we had finished the course, well after they made me and Liz sit in the front and dunked us under a waterfall! Dave said Zambezi was better and alot more tougher but me and Rich still had a fab time - Liz loved it too but said she got a bit shook up from the first rapid so prob wouldn't do it again. To treat ourselves we all got a dominoes as soon as we got back then the boys had another pizza that night as we had a voucher!

The next day we left Rotorua and made our way to Taupo, on route we stopped so me and Dave could go Hydro-Zorbing (for those of you that don't know and cant see the pics on facebook its a large inflatable ball that you get in then they just push you down a hill!!) we got in and they put a bit of water in as well to ensure you don't get 'ball burn' haha from the side of the ball when you rattle around on the roll down and off we went - had fun and it was on 'my list' of things to do but it wasn't as thrilling as what i expected, still glad i did it tho - you can do a zig zag course but it meant you had to be on your own, and they also offer a dry ball but as your strapped to the sides i know it would have made me sick so i'm glad with our choice :-)

That's where our Rotorua storey ends and our Waitomo adventure begins.....