So on the way to Rotorua we got pulled over by the police because Rodney was bellowing smoke out as we chugged up a hill. It only confirmed our worries that Rodney was on his way out! We made it to Rotorua and checked into a caravan park and went and had a little walk around. Now Rotorua is all built on geothermal things so it stinks.....nearly as bad as Kams wind (and thats saying something) so with the lovely smell in the air we wandered down to the lake and sat there for a while...the town centre had a bit of a rundown feel to it.

It was valentines day while we were there (much to Kams amazement....he thought it was in April..thats why I never get a card!!) so to celebrate we made a salad and went to the blue lake on the outskirts of Rotorua. It was very pretty but unfortunately it poured with rain so we sat in a steamed up Rodney!!! We decided that we would have to take Rodney to the mechanics as he was really playing up so we got him booked in for the following day. We dropped him off and walked into the geothermal park in the centre of town. It was extremely smelly but interesting, there were big bubbling mudpools and lakes just absolutely steaming. We dipped our feet in a little pool which was really hot but very refreshing! We then walked to the lake again and saw a maori meeting hut and some maori carvings. We looked in a church that had a lot of maori weavings in. Then the time had come to collect Rodney and here what the problem was. It wasn't good news...the mechanic said that he was on his way out and wasn't worth any money!!! We were feeling a bit down that evening but met 3 crazy Kiwi girls who were drinking quite a lot and had glow sticks all over them...they were really entertaining and very loud!!!

We decided to carry on with our journey anyway as Rodney could still move so aslong as he could get us around for the next few weeks we didn't care!! Our last day we decided to go to a Maori place called Te pai pai (I think it was called that!) it was quite expensive to get in but we got to see a Maori show. It was very touristy but we really enjoyed it. They did some singing and dancing and the best thing of all they did the Haka...was really cool. They got some of the men up on stage to try and do the Haka which was really funny to watch, Kam refused to go on stage and try!!! After the show we looked around the thermal park there and saw the Pohutu Geyser which erupts about 3 times every hour. Was very impressive as it shot really high up in the air! We had to walk pass it and got absolutely soaked!! We got some corn on the cob there that was cooked in the ground which was really tasty.

So that was Rotorua....next stop the Corromandel!