Rotorua is right in the centre of New Zealand's geothermal activity, and today started with a trip to Te Puia, just a few minutes out of town, for a tour of the mud pools and geysers. Tempting though it may be to try the local mud, this should only be done with the stuff you find in the shops - the stuff in the ground is approximately 95 degrees at the surface and would have a much greater exfoliating effect than is pleasant. There were also displays here of maori wood carving and weaving, the main traditional crafts, and I saw my first kiwi bird, albeit in captivity. They are much larger than I thought, but suffer the misfortune of laying eggs which are two-thirds the size of their bodies - no wonder they are endangered.

We proceeded then to Waitomo (which means water caves) where we stopped for a trek round the Ruakuri Reserve. Lots of trees, rivers and rock formations, made all the more interesting by the fact that Philipa, our guide, sort of left us behind after about 150m. Never mind, an adventure is just an expedition gone wrong anyway.

After checking into the hostel it was time for black water rafting. We all opted to the the more adventurous version of this caving trip, and it was well worth the extra effort. It started with a 37m abseil into the cave system, quickly followed by a zipwire in the pitch black (don't want to waste the battery after all). We then ran/walked/waded/swam through the VERY cold underground river, surrounded by the green light of the glow worms (or bioluminescent cannibals that turn into flying mouthless reproductive systems), before 'rafting' on rubber tubes back downstream. The rest of the trip involved some great caving and waterfall climbs surrounded by more glow worms, stalactites, stalagmites, helictites, cave coral, fossilised oysters and whalebones. Afterwards, soup and bagels.

To anyone going here - do the 5-hour trip. The 3-hour trip misses out the abseil, the zipwire and a lot of the caving.