Rotorua, Mt Maunganui & Waitomo Caves

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Kia Ora!

After the skydive in Taupo I got in touch with my Mum's cousin Graham who lives in the area. The next day I met up with him and his wife Janet and daughter Gemma and he took me out on his boat on Lake Taupo. It was a bit rainy so we were pretty much the only ones on the water but it was cool, I hadn't seen any of it before because of the weather. Also went up to the Huka Falls and did a walk along the river past the thermal pools.

Next stop was Rotorua, or "Rottenrua" as some people around here apparently call it. The town has some interesting areas with geysers, bubbling mud-pools and hot thermal springs. The downside is that they give off sulfur dioxide gas which smells like rotten eggs! You can smell it just walking around the town. On the way in to Rotorua we had a chance to do a bit of zorbing, so I gave that a go. It is basically a giant inflatable ball that you sit inside, then they put a bit of water in with you and then roll you down a hill. Was really good fun, I tried to stand up but it was all steamed up so I was just blindly flying around in there! The rest of the day it was tipping it down, and that combined with the smell outside made staying in the hostel seem the more attractive option. Did a Lord of The Rings marathon, was weird to see some of the places that I've come across on my travels.

The next day I was back on the bus heading for Mount Maunganui on the coast where I stayed for a couple of nights. It was a really nice place, I went for a walk on the beach and somewhere along the line decided to climb "the Mount". Half way up it was Byron Bay all over again, but I finally reached the top a sweaty, gasping wreck and got an amazing view over the town. After that it looked like I'd done all there was to do there so I got back on the bus and headed to my final stop, Auckland.

When I arrived in Auckland I noticed a sign in the hostel that said that if you stay for three nights you get a free trip to Waitomo. I was planning to stay for four nights anyway and I had been a little bit gutted I'd missed Waitomo, so I booked myself up for that quickly. So today I took my free trip to Waitomo (usually $120!) and decided to do the black water rafting that someone had recommended to me. A group of seven of us were doing it, and after getting heavily wetsuited up we headed down into the caves. The Waitomo Caves are popular because of the glowworms that are found there. When we were right into the caves we turned off our lights and you could see the roof of the cave lit up by the glowworms. We pushed on deeper into the caves and into the water, we had these big rubber rings to float about in. We formed a chain and floated down on our backs in the dark. There were a couple of slide/jump things where you went under the water, but most of the time it was fairly relaxed.

Back in Auckland now and I'm trying to get myself slightly organised for Fiji. Still struggling to come to terms with the fact I've only got two days left in New Zealand though!

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