North of Rotorua and beyond

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We awoke in Rotorua ready to get our teeth into some hard core mountain biking in a nearby forest. The location of the forest was simple, but we manged to drive past the park twice before feeling the need to ask for directions. The forest was packed full of different trails of varying difficulty; the hardest being grade 6, a leaflet pointing out ´you´re better off walking down these tracks´. We felt we gave a good account of ourselves by reaching the dizzy heights of grade 4. The day was really hard work (physically) but the trails were great fun. We had a quick rest on return to the hostel and met our friends from Taupo for a few drinks down town. That evening it was quiz night in the Irish pub so we gave that a go and followed it up with some dancing. The next day we went to try the much hyped sport of zorbing. In this activity you are thrown together in an inflatable ball and thrust down a hill emersed in water- it was as good as it sounds. Later that afternoon Laura and Natalie persuaded us that we should go with them to a Mauri cultural night which consisted of an offical Mauri greeting ceremony, a traditional show, and a banquet together. It was a really good way in which to spend our last night in New Zealand, kia ora! The next day we made our final drive up north to Auckland to catch our flight out to South America. . .

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Photos

Hot
In a hot stream with our soon to be best friends from Milton Keynes

Downhill Mountain Biking
The end of a challenging ´expert´ track on our day of downhill mountain biking.

Zorb Me
Dave and a big ball.

Are you having a laugh?
The rest of the gang refuse to see the funny side...