Hello Everyone, Well i do believe i have some catching up to do! Prepare yourselves! After Wellington we had a run of very bad weather which alas made our plans change. We had originally decided that we wanted to do the Torringoro Crossing (where Mordor is!) but because heavy rain, snow and just generally crappy weather was forcast and after a night of constant rain and no sleep (rain and transit vans dont mix- she also sprang a leak, bloody fords- should have got a vauxhall!) we decided to scrap that plan and head to Taupo. Alas the bad weather followed us and we couldnt do any of the outside activities we wanted to do so after a day of visiting the water falls and damns around there we left and headed to Rotorua and along the way we managed to lose the weather and gain some sunshine- hurrah! Rotorua was lovely, it smells of rotten eggs a little- actually quite a lot, it comes over in wafts because the place is a hive of geothermal activity and the smell is caused by the sulphur, you weirdy get used to the smell though but it is still really odd to see steam rising all over the place out of rocks and up through drains. We visited quite a few places whilst we were here, i will detail the highlights as if not you could be here reading this for quite some time! Our first day we visited the Rotorua Museum and got some history about the town and the volcanoes around it which was factually very interesting. Everybody loves a musuem! On Sunday morning we decided to do our best impression of Pocohontas and go canoeing. It would appear we are not very good at this! We had a double canoe and our steering was appaling, we couldnt maintain going in a straight line and we ended up in the middle of Lake Rotorua trying to thinking we could go across the middle- we couldnt the lake is bloody huge! It would have been hilarious to watch im sure! In the evening we went to a Maori Cultural evening which includes a dance and weaponary display, a hangi and a walk to see some glow worms. The night began with the arrival of the Maori tribe in canoes (they could go in a stright line!) and the show which included performances of there traditonal dances and songs, they performed the Haka as well and did you know that the Haka the All Blacks perform is from Wellington and each tribe has their own version! This was followed by a hangi which is a traditional feast cooked underground by hot rocks for about three hours. Our feast consisted of chicken, lamb and cumara (spelt wrong- sorry) which is yummy sweet potato. There was also other buffet type food there like bread, pasta, rice and cauliflower covered in seeds- not one for the atkins devotee! As you can imagine me and Hayley put in some sterling eating work- a buffet brings out the best in us! To help the digestion of the feast we went for a walk afterwards to see the Glowworms which when they turn into a fly only live for about 4 days! We visited Hells Gate the following day, which is a park of lots of geothermal activity, boiling mud pools and super hot water. This place was gusumped though by the Wai-o-Tapo Thermal Wonderland which in goethermal activity kicked arse. It included the Lady Know Geyser which shoots water up to 25 meters in the air and includes craters full of funky coloured water, the most impressive being the Devils Bath which is flourescent green. The water takes on the bright colours because of the minerals in the water. We also had bushwalks, waterfalls and boiling mud pools. We then visited The Buried Village which is the site that was buried in the 1886 volcanoe eruption of Mount Tarawera. We joined a tour which was lead by a Maori whose uncle was the chief of the tribe in the village at the time which made it really fascinating because of the stories he could tell oppposed to the churning out of facts. The following day was my birthday (we will put more pictures on the here when we can find good computers!). We started the day to a fine start with the biggest bacon sandwiches and a couple of mugs of tea. Hayley had also decorated Operah in ballons and pictures of the trip. After the present opening cermony we headed to a sheep show. We saw lots of sheep, cows and sheep dogs, i even got to feed a baby lamb its bottle. The show was actually quite good fun,the bloke leading it was certainly a rummin! It included them shearing a sheep, explaining the different breeds and how tasty they are- right in front of the sheep as well- cruel man! They also milked a cow and gave a quick sheep dog display. There was quite a lot of audience participation- this was ok for us as we understand english some poor japanese lady got dragged up and didnt have a clus what was going on! In the afternoon we took a cable car ride, followed by a luge ride, it was good fun though speeding down a hill on a cart with three wheels was a little scary and then a chairlift ride. We then went out for dinner and a few celebratory glasses of vino- yummy! We are currently in Auckland and have to pack this afternoon which should be good fun as we fly to LA tommorrow evening. So until we arrive in America we should bid you farewell. Missing you all love Holly and Hayley xxx