Firstly I would like to apologise for not adding new posts recently-the website I use has been rather temperamental and to be honest Ive been too busy having the time of my life...

Saturday morning, Hannah and I had planned a visit to one of the near by glow worm caves and was expecting to be picked up from reception at 9am. After waiting till 9:20 we discovered we had been booked on a later tour and as a result would not be able to go to the caves- our bus had to leave at midday and time wasn't on our side! Instead we were offered complimentry tickets to another cave within walking distance of our accomadation- although our driver had originally described the tour as being for 'OAP's, providing we saw the glow worms we would be happy!

We walked down to the caves with two others from the Kiwi Bus Tour. When we arrived we procliamed that we were 'The Kiwi Four; and we had come to claim what was rightfully ours! After a few phone calls and being aptly renamed 'The Fantastic Four' by our tour guide- we were good to go! Safe to say that the glow worms were incredible ; We spent an hour or so marvelling at the covered ceilings of the cave, safe in the knowledge we'd saved ourselves around 50 dollars- BOOM!

After a short drive out of Waitomo we arrived at Rotorua. Rotorua is known as 'Little Vegas'- couldn't see it myself, not many bars and very few shops! The only reason 'what happens in Rotoura stays in Rotorua' is probably because its so uneventful no-one would care to hear you out!

After spending a few hours chilling in the hostels heated swimming pool (DOUBLE BOOM!), we got ready to enjoy an evening with a near by Mauri tribe! Quite a few of us had booked the trip and we were all picked up by coach around 8ish. I soon discovered that to my surprise we were not on a coach at all...we were on a Waka! Traditionally 'Waka' would be a Mauri canoe, nowadays it is used to describe your preferred method of transport. We were asked to imagine that we were indeed paddling down a river, making our way to a neighbouring Mauri tribe's village. The look on bystanders faces was almost as funny as 50 people on bus pretending their arms were oars!

We were greeted at the entrance of the Mauri village by tribesmen dancing- deciding if we would enter their home as friend or foe! The dance itself was fansinating albeit a tad intimidating! Upoun entering the village we were encouraged to relax, wonder the individual huts and learn about the Mauri way of life. The majority of the huts were used for honing combat skills.

After exploring the village we were treated to native singing and dancing which was excellent- the individual harmonies were awesome! We then sat down to a traditional Mauri feast. The meats and potatoes were cooked underground in a 'Hungai' and were very tasty!

Must dash internet is going to stop working!

Regards

Oliver JK Smith