Tuesday 1st March

In the morning Nick took the opportunity to go off fishing again (no fish caught) and then we checked out and drove down the road to a place called Te Puia for a half day tour. Te Puia was on an area near Rotorua with volcanic rock so is referred to as a geothermal valley. It has Maori arts and crafts, a kiwi enclosure and many geysers one of which is called 'Pohutu' which is famous for its explosive personality.

First up we were taken to pick our ingredients which we wanted cooking in the volcanic rock underground while we were on our tour. It was labelled and then taken away. We were then shown a large war boat which had been built with such detail, the tour went on for us to see their arts and woven clothes, our tour guide Chassy was very passionate with her ancestors being from a Maori tribe and was very informative and easy to talk to. Next we had a choice to either watch the Haka war dance again or be taught how to make flowers out of a type of plant leaf they use to also make clothes so chose the latter after seeing a lot of the dancing the night before. Their arts and crafts teaching school we walked around is for men only as this is tradition, but there are other schools also open to women now in the country. We went inside a dark room to see two kiwi birds pottering around behind a glass screen. Chassy said we were lucky to have seen the female one as she is rarely out of the box bed area still getting used to her future mate. The giant mud pool was next along with the 30ft erupting Pohutu geyser. It wasn't as clear to see the eruption with it being cloudy but you could still see the thick cylinder of mist shooting up and blending with the grey sky. As it was a rainy day the area was generally more active anyway which was good to see.

After an eventful morning it was time to eat our lunch which we watched be pulled out of the ground. The food was delicious! Unlike the evening before where the food had been pretended to be removed from the ground for show and had actually been cooked in a kitchen, you could taste that this had sat in the ground cooking and without any seasoning could taste the flavour of the chicken, stuffing and vegetables all seeped into one another both Nick and I were very impressed while we sat talking to Chassy about her family life with 5 kids and how they all have different skills of which she felt descended from their Maori heritage, including one of them being a naturally great singer.

We grabbed a coffee and hurried off to check into the Taupo Top 10 holiday park. As soon as we'd checked in we had to get changed and dash back to reception to be picked up for the jet experience around Huka falls. It's the largest falls on the Waikato River which is one of NZ longest rivers and drains Lake Taupo - the largest freshwater lake in all of Australasia. We joined two Asian girls and a family of three on the boat dressed in some large coats and weird science-lab looking goggles to protect your eyes from the wind. We sat at the back and didn't stop laughing as we got thrown around and did 360 spins by the driver. We had to stop a few times as one lady was feeling sick and once we reached Huka Falls itself she was throwing up over the side as people who had come to see the falls watched over us in the water. Nick found this hilarious and was trying to record it on the GoPro...the driver eventually dropped the lady to one side and continued throwing the rest of us around. We both loved it.

Once back at the holiday park we did a quick food shop out and went to a pharmacy as Nick had been bitten several times by flies from fishing and I still had a bad cough so took some medicine for my chest. It was cloudy when we got back but we decided to put a wash on then go for a swim as the pool was heated and it was playing films on a big screen. We got a cocktail each and sat watching 'Happy Feet' chilling in the water. Afterwards we dined outside with some candles on, a selection of tapas and a glass of wine before going to bed.

xxx