We arrived in rotorua and were staying at the cosy cottage campground which was surrounded by geothermal activity including a hotwater beach, steaming ground, a steam oven and hot pools, like jacuzzi without the bubbles and heated naturally. We indulged ourselves with a walk to the lake followed by a nice curry and a hot soak in the pools and then we watched some kiwi telly, a police show featuring pommy immigrant coppers. The smell of rotorua was not as bad as we expected, it was sulphury eggy fart smelling but not over powering really.

The second day in Rotorua we headed into town and found lots of shops which was good and bad, we spent more money than we wanted but came away with some clothes, jewellery and souvenirs, Ash very proud of his stubby cooler, it's like a little wetsuit you put on a can of beer(or pre mixed whiskey and coke as Ash uses his for) and it keeps it cold. We decided to change campsites and stay in the top ten as it was closer to town. We then went to the local park and saw bubbling mud pools, steaming lakes and general weird stuff which was a unique experience, all the activity scared Becky being superstitious about the 11/11/11 and the area reminded her of the films Dantes Peak and Volcano! We spent the evening watching tv and reading magazines in th camp Tv room so as not to spend more money!

The next day we awoke to go White water rafting, Becky was a tad nervous but had always wanted to do it and Ash was like an over excited kid! We got onto the afternoon slot so spent the morning doing must needed Internet chores, blog photos and entry's, checking emails and facebooking. We got a double ticket for the rafting and a mud spa for $150nz. When we arrived at the rafting we met some English who had emigrated to Auckland and they told us about some sights to see in the south island. We got dressed up in wetsuits big waterproof jackets and life vests. They told us what to do if the boat tipped over which we thought it was just a safety precaution talk and unlikely to actually happen, as most of these kinds of talks are(naive). We set off and were both paddling the boat at the front, the Indian group in the boat with us absolutely useless and couldnt follow simple instructions (trust us to get the crap group) the instructor said the Indian blokes were weak and Becky was more use than them which was very annoying, Ash was told to paddle less because he was turning the boat as Becky couldn't paddle as hard. We went through some White water and little drops which was great fun. When we came to the 7 metre waterfall drop Becky began to panic as the instructor said the Indians were no use and should just crouch down and told us that us two would have to paddle really hard and crouch down at the edge of the waterfall drop and hold our breath. As we went down we hit the water really hard and the boat tipped upside down, it went under for what felt like a minute, Becky remembered the safety briefing and held the ropes and pulled herself up against the current to the air trapped underneath the raft. She couldn't see Ash and began to freak out thinking he had hit the rocks at the rocks at the bottom, she saw an Indian guys arms flapping all over the place and grabbed his hands and put them on the ropes as none of the Indians could swim(why do they let these people do it?!) She then heard the dude flip the boat over and swam over having the first panic attack of her life and got pulled out if the water by an instructor who had a lot of blood pouring from his mouth when he had fallen out the boat he had bit his lip. He asked you alright Hun? To which Becky replied no I am f**king not this is the worst money I have ever spent, why the f**k do people do this for fun? Once again swearing and over reacting like s Chav but the dude just laughed at her, we guess he gets this reaction a lot!

Meanwhile when the boat flipped upside down Ash was on the outside of the raft hanging on the ropes when the guy flipped the boat the right way he head counted everyone was ok and told Ash to swim as fast as he could to this cove and wait until everyone was on the boat and then they would fetch him.

When they got us all back on the boat Becky was really pissed off because none of the other two rafts with us in a convoy had flipped and we were annoyed that the Indians hadn't helped to paddle to help project us further over the waterfall and we thought that's why we flipped as on the other rafts everyone paddled to the edge not just the front two. She didn't really enjoy the rest of the trip and was pretty freaked out and had taken in a lot of water on the flip but Ash really enjoyed it and just thought it was a good story to tell
as we were the only boat to flip that day and it was much more exciting than staying upright.

After this we went to a mud bath and spa which was next door and a lot of fun but quite smelly. The mud was pretty sulphurous and made our swimwear stink but it definitely tightened up the skin and softened it.

The next day we went on a hike through the redwood forest in Rotorua which was very pretty we saw some huge trees in the forest and met some friendly kiwi locals along the way. Then we had a quick visit to the blue and green lakes followed by a big food shop and a walk into Rotorua for a Sunday lunch which we couldn't find so ate pub grub burgers instead and drank local ales and ciders yummy!