This past week has been really quite wet, but that hasn't really stopped us from doing anything. We started off in Rotorua, by visiting a park there that had loads of thermal features that looked like something on a sci-fi film set. It was really amazing and incredible to think that all the different colours in the rocks (bright yellows, greens and reds) where created naturally. The only problem was that it really stank of rotten eggs. Yuck!

That evening we went to a Maori village called Mitai, where we saw a traditional concert and had a hangi meal, which basically consists of meat and potatoes that have been cooked for four hours in a steam pit in the ground. It was lush though, and was to be one of my final meat meals, but more on that later.

The next day we woke up to really heavy rain, so we decided to have a wet-weather day. We pottered around town in the morning, had lunch in our favourite cafe in Rotorua, The Fat Dog, and then went back to have a soak in our campsite's own thermal pool. It was about 38C but also smelt a bit like eggs. Nice. That evening we rented out Fast Food Nation on DVD, which was pretty much everything I hate in a film. It all got too much for me at the end of the film when they showed cows being slaughtered, and so I have been vegetarian since then, as I decided being upset about it and eating meat was very hypocritical.

The next morning we headed over to Matamata, which is where you do the Hobbiton tours from. We then had a very personal tour (we were the only two people on it) of the Hobbiton set. Although we'd heard mixed reviews of the tour we really enjoyed it. I particularly liked learning about the level of detail Peter Jackson and his crew went to, and it was a really beautiful spot. After the tour we got to feed baby lambs. I loved that bit!

It was still raining pretty heavily at that point, and we had planned to got to the Waitomo glow worm caves the next day, although we were hearing reports that the weather had forced them to close. We decided to drive in that direction anyway and were lucky enough to be able to go on a half tour the next day. We still got to see some glow worms and amazing underground features. Later that day we went swimming in Hamilton and spent our last night chilling in our van.

The next morning we drove to Auckland and gave our lovely little van back to Kea. As you can tell I miss it. I missed it even more after we were dropped out our accommodation, Arthur Park Backpackers. What a dive. It was filthy dirty and there were signs everywhere warning of a thief. In the middle of the night it got loads worse as we were woken up by two people having an awful fight. I honestly thought they were killing each other. Then the next morning we went down to have breakfast, and as I opened a cupboard to get a bowl, I was confronted by a piece of festering meat. We told the guy on reception but he didn't seem to care. There and then we decided it was time to leave, and luckily they gave us our money back without a fight. We are now staying somewhere much better, which even gives us a view of the Sky Tower from our room.

Yesterday we got the ferry over to Devonport, a pretty little suburb that reminded us loads of Sydney, with its wooden Victorian houses, kooky bookshops and cosy cafes. We spent a good few hours exploring the area, which also offered some cool views over the rest of Auckland.

Last night we went to see the new X Files movie, which was pretty bad really. It was basically Silence of the Lambs with a few cheesy lines thrown in. It was nothing like the show was in the good ol' days.

Tomorrow we fly to Chile and then on Thursday it's on to Peru. I hope you're all well, miss you.

Laura/Lauz xx