22/7/9 Whitianga to Rotorua

We left Whitianga and stopped at the Karangahake Scenic reserve to take a walk through a gorge. We crossed two swing bridges and entered a few abandoned mining tunnels carved into the side of the gorge used for gold mining years ago. It was pitch dark inside and we had a laugh feeling our way through banging into each other. It was a very picturesque walk with lovely views over the river and gorge. We got back on the bus and passed through Paeroa which is famous in NZ for their locally made drink Lemon and Paeroa made from local water mixed with lemon. Close to Paeroa is Mount Te Aroha-the mountain of love.....ahhhh!!! Next we stopped in Matamata also known as Hobbiton which is from Lord of the Rings for anyone who doesn't know. We took some cheesy photos with the model of Gollum and the sign...see photos and then headed onwards to Rotorua. Rotorua is otherwise known as Roto-vegas and Rotton-rua and the towns thermal park with steaming pools and bubbling mud called Whangapipiro which means evil smelling place which is pretty near the truth. We could fart at leisure here with no fear!!! Matt took us to the Gondola ride where there is also a luge ride. The luges are toboggans on wheels which you race along some pretty hairy tracks at top speed. Six of us did it and Liz got the nickname Miss Daisy as she was so slow. Brillant fun. The hostel had a hot pool heated by the thermals which we all sat in for ages until we wrinkled too much and got out for showers. We were booked onto a trip to a Maori evening at Tamaki village and we were picked up at the hostel and driven to the village. Our bus driver was a legend and after saying hello in Maori proceeded to say hello in 54 different languages..it was pretty impressive!! At the village it is traditional for the Maori warriors to go through a peace offering and challenge ceremony (Te Waro) and we voted one of the men as a chief to represent the group. He had to stand straight faced while the warriors came out shouting and gesticulating (Haka style) before they left a gift which he had to accept. Once the gift is accepted the tribe know you are peaceful and one of the females sings a welcome called Pauhiri. We all were invited into the staged village to see demonstrations of traditional Maori activities. It was a bit staged and touristy but was a bit of a laugh. We went to see another cultural performance with more singing and dancing before going to a big hall to eat. Dinner had been cooked in a Hangi which is a traditional oven dug into the ground and the food is smoked over hot rocks for three hours unitl it is cooked. The meal was delicious and there was loads of it. The drivers all sang for us and performed a Haka before we piled on the bus back to town. Our driver sang the national anthems of all the nationalities on the bus which must have been about 15 different anthems. Onca back at the hostel we all had a few drinks to end the night.

23/7/9 Rotorua

We had booked in for another night in Rotorua so didn't leave on Matts bus but got a lift with him to the Zorb park just out of town as we were wanting to have a go at Zorbing. It was invented in NZ and we decided to do a Zydro which is a wet Zorb. We were taken to the start and each jumped into the Zorb which had a bucket of hot water inside. Then the guys just push the giant beach ball down a zig zag path to the bottom and you roll around inside the ball getting soaked and completely disorientated....really funny mad stuff!!Two of the lads from the bus video'ed and took photos of it so we have some great shots. We caught the local bus back into town and visited the community information office which doubled as the police station! We ate lunch at a place recommended by Tony and Ann called the Hungry Dog and the portions were as massive as they had said. We caught another bus out to a geothermal park called Te Puia where we took a guided walk to see the main highlights of the park which were the Kiwi house, mud pools, steaming lakes and three massive geysers pouring out boiling water and steam. There is also lots of Maori cultural activity there so we got to see another Maori cultural show where Phil volunteered to be the chief and had the pleasure of seeing the Maori warrior challenge up close. He did a fine job of staying serious as it is considered very insulting to laugh of smile but they look really funny pulling all the facial expressions. After the show we explored the park some more until it started to get dark and rainy. Back at the hostel we went for a dip in the hot pool again with the rain hammering down. We got chatting to a couple of Aussies and once dry went off to the bar for some food. We ordered Nachos but didn't realise they were for two and we only managed to eat half each but they were great.