We woke up at 9.30ish to a sunny day in Rotorua. After breakfast Vicky went off to church and Sophie and Hannah went to the hostel opposite to use the internet. I stayed in the campervan (who we've named Colin) and tried to pencil out an itinerary for the next few weeks. I got as far as the Franz Josef Glacier when the others came back.

We went for a walk around Kairua (I think) park which we were parked opposite. Apart from the smell of sulphur in the air, it was our first experience of geothermal activity in New Zealand. There were steaming hot springs and bubbling mud pools which were really cool.

After the park we drove 3km to Te Whakarewarewa, a thermal Maori village. We saw loads more amazing hot springs, as well as the Pohotu geyser. It sometimes sprays 30m into the air but it was only about 8m when we saw it - still impressive though. The highlight was a Maori cultural performance where they did the Haka, a war dance with some funny faces (see pic), as well other songs and dances. Some of the music and dancing seemed really Hawaiian, so there is obviously a Polynesian influence here I think. It was so good.

After the thermal village we drove round the corner to the Redwood Forest, where we went on a short walk amongst the absolutely huge Californian Redwood trees. I took a picture of the others and they look like Borrowers compared to the huge tree trunks!

From there we made our next longish journey, the 80km to Taupo. We have paid for a campsite tonight so that we can charge our house battery and fill up our water and stuff. So far so good with Colin! I much prefer this sort of self-contained camping experience to sleeping in tents!

xxx