So we left in the pouring rain. Supposedly they have had the months rainfall in 2 days here - atleast it gets it out of the way! We drove to hot water beach and looked at it from the bus - it did not look nearly hot enough! We had a nice night in 'the cats pyjamas' which reminded me of nana's house and had an eccentric lady running it. The next morning we drove to a town which has now renamed itself as hobbiton as the Lord of the Rings hobbiton was filmed near it. I was more excited about the bakery than the hobbits tho. We had a nice walk through an old gold mine and river valley including lots of tunnels. Then our Kiwi Experience bus managed to break down in the middle of nowhere and we were left with the whole bus listening to BAd Day on mel's ipod. Truly Tragic when this is the main activity of the day. Rotorua stinks! We hid from the rain and the smell for the evening. Today we had our adrenaline filled day. We first went Hydro-Zorbing which was very cool. It consists of us both sitting in a puddle of water inside a giant blow up ball and rolling down a hill. Then we went to a speed track to test our Top Gear skills. Stu stalled before we even left the start line! But then went on to get the best lap time of 14.91 secs. Mel was dangerous and got her fastest time on the first one (15.30s) and then concentrated on going off the track. It was a lot harder than Mario Carts! After that we went to the gondola where there was a nice walk at the top and beautiful views over the city. We raced down the Luge run - which was good fun although we preferred the Courchevel one with no rules and no safety measures. This was all a bit too controlled. Stu was not allowed to go off the end of the track into trees and lose his luge. To finish the day we had our first ice cream since leaving the UK! They took our photos in the gondola and were offering them on postcards for $30 but mel pointed out that seeing they were already printed out we should get them for $5. So they gave us them for free! Will post them home soon! We popped into a glass blowing factory on the way back to the hostel and Stu said we could not carry anything home no matter how pretty it was. Off to the Maori presentation and supper tonight, From the land where they have little hot paddling pools on the pavement, Mel and stu x