It seemed that every country we had travelled through had an allergy to baths, with showers being prominent in all the bathrooms. So it was with much anticipation that we headed to hot water beach, where natural underground hot water springs come to the surface in a small area of rocks. With the help of a locally hired spade, we started digging ; unfortunately, just digging below the surface exposed water so hot it could burn your feet and leave you dancing the merry jig to keep your feet high! So we dug our bath where the waves could flow into it and cool it down, yet not swamp it. The trouble is every wave is different, and 5 minutes after finishing our bath, mother nature proved our building skills were rubbish and our bath sides were swept away. With Lindsay's birthday approaching, we headed to the bay of Islands for a Dolphin spotting tour. 3 hours on a boat and no sightings later, the company gave us a voucher to repeat the trip which we did that afternoon. 1 hour into the trip, and it was dolphins galore with them swimming alongside the boat. We quickly changed into wetsuits and swam towards them, however, they were clearly tired of tourists and they headed off immediately, leaving us cold wet and a little depressed. Having told the crew that it was Lindsay's birthday trip and how sad she was that her dream of swimming with dolphins had been missed, the Captain invited her to the bridge where she sat in his chair, and under close supervision, was allowed to steer the boat, sip champagne and eat chocolate all at the same time.