It was only a short one hour drive from Taupo to Rotorua, which was a real bonus after so many long bus journeys. This meant I had the whole afternoon just to relax and have some time to myself for a change.

I went for a walk around the town, which permanently has a strong sulphur odour thanks to the thermal areas it is built upon. I went down to the lakeside to get a closer look at some of the smoking, bubbling?geisers and mud pools?and unfortunately more than a nostril full of the smell! They are amazing to watch though and the lake itself is a milky colour rather than being blue. But there are some birds who actually thrive in this environment and there is even a nature reserve down there to protect them.

That night we went to a traditional Maori night at the Tamaki village. After a brief introduction to some of the cultural traditions at the information centre we were taken out to the village by bus (with the craziest driver who definitely loved the sound of his own voice and seemed to thrive on treating us like?five year olds on a school trip, pretending the bus was a waka - or canoe - and that we had to row there?!), but anyway, despite that once we arrived we were given a traditional maori welcome, with the full huka; pretty scary stuff...

We then wandered around the village, observing the different daily tasks and rituals maori people would perform before heading inside for a concert of maori songs and dancing. This was definitely the best part (and not only becuase it was warm inside!), but it was really interesting to hear all the stories behind the songs and get a better understanding of what it means to them. And then it was on to the feast, or hangi as it is traditionally called. The hangi is a big pit used to cook food. The food is placed on hot rocks and then covered over and left for 3-4 hours to cook slowly. And the outcome is delicous. We had lamb, chicken, kumara (sweet potatoes), carrots?and a steam pudding all fresh from the pit, accompanied by various salads and if?you still had room, pavlova for dessert. Once we had finally admitted defest, even though there was still a mountain of food left over, we staggered back to the bus?for an equally bizarre drive home - something about driving around roundabouts 3 times seemed to amuse the driver?!

Next morning I got the Waitomo Wanderer bus over to Waitomo to visit the gloworm caves. But rather than just wandering around the caves I went black water rafting inside them instead...It's not as dramatic as it might sound. Basically you get all suited up in the most attractive outfits - full on wetsuits, boots, helmets etc to protect you from both the caves and the cold. The water inside was absolutely freezing so you were glad of as many layers as possible. Once we'd stopped laughing at how ridiculous we looked it was down to the caves to select our rubber ring and begin rafting. Unlike it's name-sake, white water rafting, the black water version is a bit more sedate. You basically float inside the caves in a large inflatable ring, admiring the gloworms from beneath them. But there is a bit of added excitement as you have to crawl through some fairly small holes in the dark and wade through the water in parts to get to the sections where you can raft, and we even spotted an eel in there (!). Oh yeah and there's also a few waterfall jumps which you go off backwards, with your bottom wedged firmly inside you rubber ring, and?you get completely covered in icy water! But as a reward for putting yourself though this delightful experience your guides give you a yummy chocolate fish to nibble on!?Then once back outside we were taken back for well deserved hot showers,?followed by?hot soup and bagels.

The gloworms themselves are fantastic. There are so many of them and the light is so bright. In one place we were so close to them you could almost touch them, although as we discovered you might not actually want to...as gloworms aren't actually gloworms, they are in fact maggots, or to be more precise maggot poo, but somehow advertising glowing maggot poo doesn't attract the tourists so much as gloworms!