14/3/09 The day after our second day at Rotorua was a Saturday, and because of this Ian and Kaye offered to show us around the local countryside. They drove us through Waimana Gorge into very mountainous country - and on the way, we passed by a small Maori cemetery and a big sign that told us we were now in on Tuhoe land and to treat the area with respect because of it. The Tuhoe were one of the few Maori tribes which did not sign the Treaty of Waitangi with Brit...

12/3/09 Day trip to Rotorua! The first thing we did was bypass the town centre and drive about 30 km further south, where we had been reliably informed there were some free hot springs you can swim in. We turned off the main road onto a gravelly road, and after a bit more of a drive, pulled up into the small parking area. It was very quiet, and seemed quite isolated, which I was pleased about - not very touristy, unlike those in the town centre which have been tu...

10/3/09 The pickup time for our hired car was 9 am, so we checked out of the hostel early and set off to find the rental place. We were loaded up with all our stuff, so although it was relatively easy to find, we had to stop a couple of times to rest. Our car is in the 'El Cheapo' hiring range and is tiny in comparison to the stationwagon we had in Australia, but it runs smoothly and nothing seems wrong with it. We were heading towards Whakatane, because for the...

7/3/09 We had to get up at 4.30 am because although our flight wasn't until 10 am, the only free shuttle to the airport from the hostel was at 5 am. Cue lots of hanging around once we were there, and checking in our bags early. There wasn't any free internet available, like at Singapore and Sydney airports, so we just sat in a cafe, bought a sandwich each and read for ages. Having waited so long after checking our main bags in, we thought we had plenty of time b...