Yo yo yo peeps!

The rain has kinda stopped and now we are in Rotorua - also known as Roto-vegas coz it is American and chavvy-ish. Apparently it has a Starbucks but I haven't checked that out yet...

So after hanging out in the internet cafe in Taupo yesterday, we headed back to the hostel and decided to ring up about white water rafting for today. The woman was like, well you can't do that any more because we are gonna open the flood gates so it'll all be closed for a while... unless you drive over RIGHT NOW and we will wait for you. So literally, we ran and got our togs (cossies) and sped up 130km/h over to Rotorua. When we got there, it was absolutely pissing it down. Sooooo rainy! (apparently its the wettest winter they have had here in a long time - typical!) Anyway we chucked on our wetsuits and booties and fleeces and life jackets and then headed out into the torrential rain (me just thinking omg mum would kill me right now if she saw me doing this) and we carried our raft down to the river. We walked through a field FULL of cow poo, it was absolutely minging, which I kept sidestepping, coz obviously I'm not gonna just walk into big mounds of s***, but I think the instructors thought I was a bit prissy. Especially when they took us to the top of a muddy muddy hill which they expected us to run down, but all I thought was 'gonna. break. my. neck. and. die.' so I kinda sat on my ass and pushed myself down. Looked like a bit of a lame-o, but I got there in the end!

Vicky and I sat at the front of the raft and were the 'timekeepers'. Apparently I was a 'lilydipper' ie. crap and not rowing properly - I just kinda patted my oar around on the water and so they had to swap us around. The actual white water rafting was AWESOME! We went down the highest waterfall in NZ, which was pretty cool - the entire raft ended up at the bottom of the river, completely submerged in water and the camera guy thought we were goners! I was a little shocked for a while after that - I had water up my nose and in my helmet and just bloody everywhere. Was so awesome though, would definitely do it again. Apparently the other day a cow fell into the river and into the waterfall, then popped up and looked around and then sank and died. Sad times. I've got loadsa photos of the rafting, will put up at some point!

After that we headed back to the hostel in Taupo, ate some yummy macaroni cheese and read trashy mags for a few hours. This morning we headed back to Rotorua, to the gondolas and 'luge' - which is basically a cheaper version of a go kart, which you drive around 'scenic' tracks overlooking lake rotorua - which is mahoosive by the way. That was pretty awesome, although I was a bit of a scaredycat at the start and pretty slow, but then on my second go I totally sped up and was thinking, 'hell yeh, I look so totally cool right now' and then some people started shouting my name, and I full on stopped in the middle of the course and couldn't get going again, and looked like a loser. I had no idea who was shouting my name out - turned out it was Katie and Andy in the gondolas (another medic + boyf) - how random! It was really good to see them, but so bizarre. I swear us med students/Brits are keeping the entire NZ off-season alive. (oh yeh, it's winter/spring here and therefore the off-season)

After luging, we went to check out Zorbing, where you basically get in a massive bubble-wrap-like ball and roll down hills. Turns out they were only doing the water zorbing today, where they put lots of water in with you and you slosh about - we were so not up for that (its bloody freezing) so we might go back on another dry day. Kiwis are crazy and up for anything and everything!

We then went to Te Piau, a Maori village, which was really awesome. (not sure why I am sounding so American today...?) We went to a concert first, where there were some men and women dressed up like native Maoris, and they did the haka (the war dance) and did some more crazy dancing and singing, and they do this weird thing symbolising an act of defiance, where they stick their tongues out and open their eyes reeeeeally weird (v. exopthalmos thyroid problem like). It was really fun to watch. Then we had a guided tour by a little Maori granny. She showed us one of their female Kiwi birds - they are much bigger than I thought. Only the female Kiwi came out coz apparently the male is a shy. Probably just lazy and makes the female peck around for food. The Kiwi birds have totally got it right though - the men sit on the eggs for 80 days until they hatch and then THEY look after the newborns for 3 weeks till they can look after themselves. The female Kiwis just chillax. Nice one! We also checked out the geysers there - apparently their biggest one shoots up 30m but it didn't do it while we were there. They have big mud pools there too, which I wanted to wallow around in coz it sounded like fun, until she told us that the mud is at 90-95 degrees! Maybe not then! We got a little train on the way to the carving and weaving schools, and the little granny gave me a microphone and I had to provide entertainment and sing songs all the way. I sang quality tunes like old mcdonald had a farm, if you're happy and you know it clap your hands, twinkle twinkle little star and wheels on the bus. The other passengers loved it. I think. Or maybe not, but I like to think they did.

Then we came and found our Rotorua hostel, which looked pretty nice until we saw lots of buses pull up. We are officially antisocial grannies and just wanted them to all naff off, but we're over it now. We went to the Polynesian Spa this evening, which overlooks Lake Rotorua, really lovely atmosphere and obviously amazing pools! They have a Priest Spa which apparently has healing properties and lots of minerals in - don't think it's working though coz I've started feeling phlegm-y. (thought you might like to know that...!)

Anywho now we are back in the hostel, just eaten some more yummy jacket potato, cheese and beans. If I have to eat porridge again tomorrow morning I will strangle someone. Oh by the way, I forgot to mention - these thermal pools are all natural mineraly thingies, which produce sulphur AND ABSOLUTELY STINK OF BOILED/ROTTEN/MINGING EGGS. I love love love eggs, which most of you probably know, but this smell is seriously putting me off. Rotorua just bloody stinks of bad egg.

Off Skydiving tomorrow morning, if the weather has picked up. Am pretty nervous tbh - wasn't thinking about it much, but when I got the gondola and the chair lift today, I was feeling pretty scared (and thats like 20m off the ground?!) and then remembered that skydiving is 12000 feet! Bloody hell!!!!!!!!!!! So wish me luck peeps. Laterz xxxxx Oh and will put up pics soon, am just being lazy innit x