Hello all,

Went on Thursday to a Maori village Te Puia, which is also the place of the biggest geysers in the South Hemisphere. Apparently the biggest in the world is in Russia...?! As the town rotorua has been built on the crater of a massive old volcano, the surrounding is full of geysers, mud & hot water bath used for cooking. This geyser which can go up to 30 m in the air is made of the a complex system of chambers going down to 3.5km into which hot water, steam and gazes are all fed. Those reservoirs become sufficiently pressurised and hot enough for the water to get boiling. The water is then forced up to the geyser vent and expulse into the air. The all scene is quite amazing, despite a very strong smell of sulphur.....who said I wasn`t trying to educate myself during this trip...?

Anyway, next was the Maori village and my first Live Haka. Everybodies know the Haka with the rugby, but for those interested the haka was originally performed by the warriors of Maori tribes before battle. The purpose, trying to impressed the oponent by shouting and doing ugly faces. All in all, nice afternoon spent their.

Next: Auckland 2-3 days before flying to South America

Seb :-)