Day 38 Rotorua Day dawned beautifully bright and sunny, oh what a joy to pull back the curtains and have the sun streaming in the windows and a blinding reflection over the lake outside. We set off in the car after breakfast to visit Hell's Gate but realised we had misread the directions and ended upon the wrong road so visited Waimangu Volcanic Valley instead; not a bad choice and it was a fantastic walk down the valley created by the eruption of Tarawera in 1...

Day 37 - Napier to Rotorua Longish journey today, around 4hrs is the estimate so no hanging around after breakfast. Is not really that far but with no motorways, loads of bend and road works seemingly every few miles it takes much longer than you think it should. It's really weird that no one is in the restaurant again save one family of French, but as most of the hotels seem to be like the US in that they're room only and they charge a lot for breakfast it's...