Having spent more time at Hobbiton than expected, not only were we running late but also out of fuel!! There are very few filling stations on the main routes and we reached one by the skin of our teeth so a lesson learnt!

Arrived at our Rotorua campsite (close to the city centre) just in time to check in and dash out for dinner. Thought to have a night cap on the way back but discovered that all hostelries start to close around 10pm and the whole populace seem to retire! In fact all towns south of Auckland have seemed quite sleepy compared to us party animals! Never mind as a consequence we are able to chill and write our blog.

We had booked two nights here and today went to Skyline Rotorua, which offers great views over the lake and surrounding areas, with a novel way to get down, via Luge…… off course we did it. Sue was particularly afraid as she thought it entailed a headlong dive downhill at ridiculous speeds - instead we went down in go-carts at ridiculous speeds.

Explored further in the town and yes it is quite smelly (sulphur, like rotten eggs) due to it being the centre of Geo thermal activity in NZ, with many active geysers and boiling pools. You can of course visit geothermal centres but you can just so easily see evidence of erupting thermos jets in the local area. Whilst walking to Rotorua Lake we wandered into a Maori village and just yards from the homesteads there was boiling water erupting from manhole covers and forcing its way through pavements. The village pond had boiling spots and the occasional building had need to channel steam up to escape through their roofs. The sites are still utilised for cooking and heating purposes and it would seem that the locals are really quite unafraid of the phenomenon although we found it all really quite alarming!

Booked a Maori experience for late afternoon/ evening which was very good; we had an excellent tour which concentrated on the main Maori traditions of carpentry and weaving and visited the main geothermal area of New Zealand which has the largest and most active geyser………. But still very smelly! Of course there was the obligatory entertainment, Tom volunteered and got involved in the 'Haka' on stage - very scary with his bulging eyes and fat tongue!

We decided to finish our visit to Rotorua with a trip to the volcanic spa pools the next morning luckily before all the coaches arrived. We pulled up outside the Polynesian spa, Sue got out of the campervan and was nearly sick due to the strong and pungent smell, as it was beside the volcanic lake. Having persuaded Sue to give it a go we went in and it was really relaxing with different pools varying between constant 38 - 42C degrees (Ben would have loved it). We spent about 90 minutes in the spa and then made our way to the next stop (Lake Taupo) some 60 miles away, Sue was so relaxed from the spa that she could hardly keep awake on the journey, would recommend a visit.