So got to Rotorua after our wee detour via the Coromandel... having had a night of crapo accommodation up there, we'd booked a "self contained unit" at the next place - and there was much excited anticipation as to how good our "secure unit" was going to be... I think Paul especially was in need of one at this point... We weren't disappointed - it was literally the size of a holiday apartment, with its own lobby, sitting room, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom - all for the same price we paid in Bay of Islands for a double room. SWEET AAAAS as they say over here. It was at the Waiteki Trout Stream Holiday Park, just outside Rotorua - I'd had some doubts given the name of the place, but it was awesome. we are old farts. Fortunately our accommodation was also far enough away from Rotorua not to smell of old farts, as it doesn't have any thermal (ie stinky sulphur) sites too close to it.

Checked out the local tourism office where they are just as wonderfully helpful as the Aussies. There is a hell of a lot of stuff to do around here. We were quite keen on getting involved with a mud bath and booked a trip to Hellsgate which included a walk around the mud and a bath in it. Paul had already visited Wai-O-Tapu where all the coloured thermal lakes are, and the Maori "experiences" weren't a massive draw to be honest - we are getting less and less cultural...

We had a full day of stuff in Rotourua the next day, spending the morning wandering along by the lake, where we saw loads of black swans. Really beautiful, with flashes of white when they unfurl their wings - usually done in anger at other black swans as they fight over the food people are chucking at them, despite the numerous "do not feed the swans, they are aggressive" signs plastered all over the lakes... The smell of sulphur got stinkier as we got around a point towards the town, and could see a big change in the colour of the water from blue to a silver grey as the sulphur content increased.

We then headed off to a massive Redwood forest on the outskirts of Rotorua for a wander and a picnic which was very beautiful and tranquil until we came across a summer kids group with a screaming 6 year old, being part held by a weary-looking woman trying to calm him down - good luck everyone...

It was here we realised Paul's Nike flip flops (thanks Cam) were about to bite the dust as they'd developed a rather large hole in the sole, which we discovered about half way round the loop. Now all I need to do is persuade him to chuck them and buy a new pair...easier said than done...

Finally headed to Hellsgate. Oh my God what a smell. Did the "mud walk" through an alien landscape of bubbling mud pools some of which were boiling at over 100 degrees. V hot and v smelly. Jumped into our own private mud bath and then into the smelly sulphur thermal spa water - this had better work wonders on my skin - both absolutely stank despite long showers afterwards... our swimming togs still have a faint sulphur whiff after several washes later. yuk.