We left the hostel at 9am and went to have a walk through the forest where the caves were. The walk lasted about half an hour and involved walking through a few tunnels as well. We then headed to Rotorua. We arrived at lunch time and checked into the hostel.

We quickly unpacked and then headed out to do some lugeing. A luge is a bit like a sledge and a go-cart combined.We made our way to the top in a cable car called a gondelar. From the top you could see the whole of Rotorua and the lake. We made our way to the start of the course. There were 3 different courses, beginners, intermediate and advanced. I got one go on each. We got given a helmet and the instructions were really easy. Push the handle bars forward to go and pull them back to stop. So we lined up and off we went. We travelled down a track down the hill with lots of corners. The luge went quite fast so I used brakes when going around some of the corners. From the bottom we then had to catch the chair lift back up to the top for our next go. The intermediate seemed easier than the beginners one as the track was wider. The advanced one was definitely the hardest as the track was angled so you went up the sides on the corners.After the three goes we got the cable car back down to the bottom. We went back to the hostel to get ready for our Maori feast.

The bus came to pick us up at 6pm. The bus driver was very good and very funny. He said hello and welcome in 61 different languages!! On the bus we elected Mike to be the chief of our tribe! When we got there we gathered around the enterance behind Mike our Chief. A man appeared and started doing a war dance infront of the chiefs. It involved bulging eyes, sticking the tongue out and jabbing his spear. Then a gift was offered to the chiefs and we were allowed to enter the village. We looked around the village and they explained lots of things to us. One lady described how they use a plant for weaving clothes and baskets. Aman showed us how to carve wood and another one how they do their tattooos. We then went to see our food being taken out of the oven. It was a special underground oven. It was a big hole with hot rocks at the bottom. On top of the rocks were 2 big crates. One was full of chickens and lambs and the other onehad potatoes and carrots in. The hole was then covered with cloth and then soil. It was the chiefs job to remove the soil and cloths to reveal our dinner. When they did a big cloud of steam came out of the hole and the food smelt amazing.

Whilst the food was taken to be served we went to the meeting house to see some Maori singing and dancing. This was really great, they danced with sticks, spears, balls on the end of string and clubs. The dances involved lots of stamping and hitting the legs and chest. After the show dinner was served. It was delicious!! I had a piece of chicken and a slice of lamb, some potatoes, carrots, a little bit of sweetcorn and some stuffing and most importantly something I had not had for a long while ... gravy! It had been so long since I had had a roast dinner, it was amazing. YUM! It was all you can eat so I went back for a little more and then I had pudding with custard for dessert.

To close the night the 3 chiefs had to join the men to do a Hakka. He asked if any other boys wanted to join in so Ray, Rob and Aaron also went. I videoed it for them. They were quite good as they really went for it. It was then time to go back to our hostel so we got back on the bus. The journey back was even more fun than the way there. He made all the different nationalities sing their national anthem and once again he knew the words to many different ones. We then sang the wheels on the bus and had to do the actions and then the really funny bit was when he started to sing here we go around the mulberry bush and drove around the roundabout about 10 times! We eventually got back to our hostel and said goodbye. It had been a really great evening.