We left Auckland and spent a night at Mercury Bay before arriving at Rotorua. During the trip we had a brief stop at a beach and Karangahake Scenic Reserve where we walked along a disused railway track and through some old gold mines that clung to edge of a bush-clad gorge. We stopped for lunch at Matamata, the area where Hobbitan is constructed. I was tempted to do a tour but the front of the Hobbit holes have been replaced with white plywood. If I were there later on in the year would just like they do in the movies because The Hobbit is being filmed. We arrived in Rotorua at about 3pm.

The first thing we did was to visit the geysers at Ta Puia. The earth’s crust is so thin around the town of Rotorua that it is surrounded by hot springs, geysers and bubbling mud pools. It also stinks of rotten eggs due to the abundance of sulphurous gas which is responsible for the not so pleasant nickname of Sulphur City. After taking in the sights (and smells) of Ta Puia we attended a concert at the Maori village of Tamaki. Here we were welcomed into the village the traditional Maori way. Each member of the tribe attended us in the courtyard; the women chanting above while the men danced in front of us, eyes bulging and lungs screaming. We were then taught the Maori arts of weaving and weapon making. In the middle of our teaching the chief let out a short, sharp chant which signalled the event all of us back packers had been waiting for, the hangi. Before this however we were treated to a concert by the tribe and the males perform the haka which is even more energising live than seeing it on TV. After this we were treated to a Maori feast cooked the traditional way using hot stones place underground. Chicken, lamb, fish, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, gravy and mussels were laid out for us and chocolate cake, fruit salad and pavlova for dessert. A golden rule of back packing is to make the most of these situations because they don’t come around often. I did just that. I made sure I went up for seconds for the main course and dessert and thoroughly paid for it the rest of the night, it was totally worth it though.

The next day the Kiwi Experience bus departed without me. Just like I struggled with the change of pace when I arrived in Australia I was finding it difficult in New Zealand. The gears were shifting up this time, I couldn’t cope with arriving somewhere, doing an activity in the afternoon and leaving the next morning to do it all again. I had 2 months to see the country so I was in no rush, plus the driver I had was stupidly annoying so it was good to hop off and get a new one a few days later. So I said bye to Alex and Michelle who I had had the pleasure of travelling with for a week and went luging. This involved getting a chairlift up a hill and returning down a track in a Go-Kart like luge. It was great, especially when you picked up some speed on the advanced circuit.

The next few days I spent just relaxing in Rotorua. I went for a walk through the Redwood Forest which was really nice and on the last day I went to the Polynesian Spa. This contained several thermal mineral pools ranging from 36’C to 42’C all of which overlooked Lake Rotorua. It was a great way to remove the aches and pains from the previous days walk and spend my last night in Rotorua. They weren’t a patch on Budapest’s thermals baths though.