An easy hours drive from Taupo took us to Wai-o-Tapu, a geothermal park. We raced to get there for 10.15am, the time when the Lady Knox Geyser erupts on a daily basis. Wow, we thought, a natural phenomena with an inbuilt clock.... how does a geyser know when it's 10.15am?! Well we did feel a little foolish to find out it wasn't quite a natural event, rather that the eruption was coaxed with a bit of soap powder. Still it was impressive! The rest of the park was characterised by steaming fissures and craters, boiling mud pools, acid lakes and the smell of rotten eggs (from the sulphur). It was rather like walking on the moon, or so we imagine!

In Rotorua we checked into a hostel which turned out to be our worst choice yet. It was filthy with matted hair over the shower floor and at least a 6 month build up of congealed food in the fridges...ugh! Still we weren't planning to be there a lot!

In a moment of bravery (or foolishness) we booked to go white water rafting on the Kaituna river. Kaituna means 'Eel Food' in Maori - comforting! The Kaituna rapids are grade 5 (rapids are graded 1-6, 6 being unraftable) and includes a 7 meter waterfall, the highest waterfall to be commercially rafted in the world! After a Maori prayer to the river Kim was asked to throw a silver fern leaf over her shoulder. Apparently the superstitious believe that if it lands silver side up all will be well and if it lands green side up disaster looms. However the guide had no idea what it meant if the leaf sank without trace.... oh dear! Anyway the rafting was brilliant fun and the scenery spectacular... we all clung on for dear life as we sailed over the waterfall and Kim suddenly realised what the sinking leaf had signified when she fell off the raft and found herself being churned in a white water washing machine. Luckily she remembered her training and eventually popped up, alive (if a little bedraggled) and still clutching her paddle!

In the evening (having dried out) we headed off for a Maori cultural evening. We witnessed ancient rituals, dances and songs and indulged in a hangi meal, traditionally cooked in an underground earth oven. It was good fun; Mark won an agility contest with sticks and we had a hysterically funny guide who made us sing karaoke on the coach back ('Is This The Way to Rotorua' was quite amusing).

The following day we headed to Kiwi Encounter, a Kiwi breading centre which is part of New Zealand's Operation Nest Egg aiming to save the Kiwi. Our guide was the lovely but exceedingly camp Dion who was obsessed with one of the group's shoes and became rather high pitched when excited. The hatchery was very interesting and we were amused to meet a kiwi (bird not person) called Forest who ran frantically backwards and forwards, ricocheting off a post...run Forest run! We were really incredibly lucky because after we had finished our tour of the centre Dion came running back to find us screeching 'the egg's hatching - quick!' Indeed the sole egg in the hatchery that had appeared to be hours away from hatching had suddenly cracked and he smuggled us back in to witness a small and rather bedraggled kiwi chick emerge tiredly from the egg. Amazing!