After leaving Whitianga, we stopped briefly to look at some huge trees(!!), while Murray, Maury, (whatever!) told us about the Maori legend of how the earth began. Afterwards we jumped back on the coach and headed to amining area, where we walked over swing bridges and through black caves up and down a valley. The walk through the caves was done "Conga Style", as it was completely pitch black, save for the few gloworms on the ceiling- though they did nothing to actually light the place!

Next, it was off to Rotorua- the self-proclaimed cultural capital of NZ! I jumped off the bus at the hostel while many others went luging (chucking yourself down a mountain on a go-kart) and walked around the town. Went to a park opposite the hostel with mud pools and geysers aplenty! They we fenced off to prevent you going in as you'd actually burn yourself!! Rotorua, it seems, is also the geothermal capital!! But seeing ahuge steam clouds coming from what essentially are puddles was pretty impressive. After a nap, I was off that evening to a Maori Cultural Show. We were picked up from our hostel and taken to the village (or Marae), where the elected "chiefs" from our visiting tribe were welcomed with a show of aggression- we watched!!! After negotiating safe passage into their Marae, we got to see many aspects of Maori life in a recreated village. From there we were taken to a room for a performance of traditional songs, dance and haka. After that we went for our dinner.. cooked under the ground with hot volcanic rocks- the process known as Hangi. After dinner we recieved a closing ceremony before leaving on our bus singing songs from each of the nationalities represented- we sung Swing Low Sweet Chariot... obviously!!! After returning we went to the bar next to our hostel for a good few drinks, and a good few more dance moves!!!

Next day, waiting for the bus the following day, was pretty unproductive. After a swim in the heated pool (it was bath water temperature!), I lounged around doing very little but reading interspersed with the occasional nap!!