http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Oceania , New Zealand , North Island , Rotorua en-us Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:25:34 BST Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:25:34 BST Greetings one and all or KIORA from New Zealand Rotorua of the North Island.We landed in Aulkand nearly one week ago straight into the flow of yet another fast moving week.Our time in Sydney fullfilled our plans nicely chillax see some of the great sights and get in some R and R. We managed to blag a room in Tracy's rented house for a week thanks to another housemate moving out sudde http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-332769.html ldquoIrsquom absolutely astonnished. I would never believed they could travel 7500km with this car without a problemldquo Stuart nachdem wir ihm von unseren einzigen Reifenproblemen erzaehlt habenNapier hat viel Charme durch seine vielen gut erhaltenen Haeuser im Art Deco Stil. Die Stadt wurde Anfang der 30er Jahre von einem Erdbeben stark zertruemmert. Die Umgebung war damals sehr sumpfi http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-330981.html Today has been the first day of proper exploring... gone is the safety of Jim and Lynne getting us about... today we were on our own Oh yeah and Em came along for the ride We had loads of ideas about what we would do today... but the bird park was closed We were so looking forward to feeding the tropical birds Anyway we decide to head to Rotorua today and call in at some water falls Oker http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-326588.html mon 15th septage 25 and 364 days On the magic bus and we are off to rotoruatues 16 th septage 26 years spending the day relaxing at the spa and getting a bit of mouri culture ready for ............wed 17th septage 26 and 1 day JUMPED OUT A PLANE http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-324798.html Monday 15th SeptemberToday we spent the day exploring part of Rotorua. We arrived at the i site where we collected many pamphlets on what is in the area. Unfortunately most of these pamphlets are produced by the commercial businesses and are therefore very biased on what they provide. We settled on Whakarewarewa often shortened to Whaka by the locals which is a geothermal area on the edge of Roto http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-324168.html Mount MauganuiJust across from Tauranga is Mount Mauganui we climbed it with Declan Geoff. It was a beautiful sunny day of course we took the wrong path and ended going half way around before realizing we werenrsquot going up so we took a short cut across some fields of sheep. The view at the top was fantastic. Afterwards we had a stroll through Tauranga and a wee drink at the seafront that http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-321476.html I had a really unpleasant experience this evening. Tonight was the only night our entire tour group agreed to go out for drinks after our adventures for the day were completed so we all went to the backpacker bar next to our hostel. Despite the bad music the expensive drinks and the rather dead crowd we were managing to have a good time. Eventually we dispersed to mingle with some people http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-314606.html The last two days I've spent in Rotorua The Geothermal Capital of New Zealand named such because the town lies in a sulfursmelling volcanic crater with geysers and hot springs everywhere. It's a larger town but is almost entirely full of backpackers because there are so many things to do here whitewater rafting relaxing in hot springs swimming in the nearby Lake Rotorua skydiving bun http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-314508.html We are ready for take offDas Fussballspiel in Taupo war nicht gerade ein Knaller was die spielerischen Elemente betraf. Neuseelaender koennen einfach keinen Fussball spielen. Dafuer war die Kulisse vor dem das Spiel stattfand unschlagbar. Wir glauben nicht dass ein deutscher AmateurFussballclub vor einer solchen Kulisse trainiert. Hier ist es keine Besonderheit. Stuart machte seinen Job als Li http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-313720.html it really does sulphur and oxygen not a nice smell makes..so we've had the van over a week now and have been around northland and we're now in rotorua which is around the middle of the north island.in northland we stayed in Whangerei had a wander round some nature stuff then went to zion wildlife gardens where we did the big cat experience tour wher we got to meet and stroke an adult tiger nam http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-311571.html Taupo Bungy is 47 meters or 153 feet. http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-311106.html We docked in Wellington. We drove for 5 hours. We slept in Taupo.And first thing this morning we jumped off of a 135 foot ledge.The rain was pouring but we were checked out of the motel at 900am anyway. We walked up to the bungy checkin thinking we would be turned away due to weather. They said we could jump so we signed our lives away and got us set up. I didn't weigh enough so the guy at http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-311084.html After what felt like a week on the road but was actually only two days we stopped off in Rotorua for a few days. After a 'pyjama day' spent in the room don't you just love those days our Auckland friends Steve and Nancy drove down this weekend to stay with us a weekend renamed 'Steve's weekend of Xtreme fun' as he wanted to do as many adrenalinefuelled activities as possibleAfter a sessi http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-308149.html Hi everyone it is Jason writing the blog on this occasion although Elliott is right beside me checking as we go that i don't miss anything important that may have happened. My memory is quite terrible so here goes.The night was a relatively quiet one except for the text that i recieved from Deena that included a photo of her stuck working in the heatwave Boohoo it was like 1 degree where i was i http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-306554.html ElliottYep as you can see from the title me and Jason did something wonderfulamazingstupid yesterday after he had finished his blog entry...Before I forget If you haven't already subscribe to the blog There's a link on the main page www.mytb.orgjasonandelliott which just asks for your email address. Whenever we write a new entry it'll email to let you know. We're moving out of Ro http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-305782.html RotoruaThe town smells like rotton eggs.....which isn't a problem if you're into that kind of thing. You do get used to it though. Having dropped our gear off at our bb coincidentally the oldest heritage listed building in the city we went for our tour of Hells Gate and mud spa. The town itself is not much to look at but we weren't fooled....there are loads to do in the nearby surrounds. Jea http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-305365.html Hello everyone it's Jason this time sorry i have been a bit lazy when it comes to blogging have been leaving it up to Elliott as to be honest his memory is better than mine and i have a habit of missing huge chunks of events out. But i am gonna do this one just for you folks back home I am hopefully going to add some videos we have done on the camera. Not to sure which ones yet some may be r http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-305278.html Hello Ladies and GentsYou're stuck with me again for today's blog as Jason on the PC next to me has uploaded Skype and is talking to Emma Rozenn and Deena in real time. So muggins here is stuck listening to one side of the conversation. Ah well I get all you lovely people.It's been a while since our last update and that's partly due to the last place we stayed at had no internet and we'v http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-304894.html Day 3We set out after writing our blog to see the glow worms...however the tourch was not working. We did not want to miss them so headed into the forest in the pitch black it was soooo scary Helen chickened out first so we went back to the camp The camp owner felt sorry for us so gave us the hot spa for free.It rained all night and we woke up to grey clouds and pouring rain We put on our we http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-303904.html Only about a week left in the van but still a fair bit of NZ to cover. We're spending a few days in Rotorua as it seems like quite a central place to do stuff from. The plan is to visit an island with active volcano's on but it is weather dependent..... so we're not holding out too much hope. Headed for the tourist information and now have leaflets Kat C you would be impressed and tickets for t http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-302536.html Goed geslapen en in de bus ontbeten. Doordat we hier de tattoo hebben laten zetten hebben we wat tijd over. Dus maar uitzoeken wat we verder gaan doen.Tegen een uur of kwart voor elf kwart voor 10 op onze klok kwam Jason langs om te vragen of het schikte om kwart over 11. Om half twaalf kijk ik op mijn horloge en zie ik dat mijn wekker verkeerd staat. Dus er snel maar heen gegaan. Na weer een ge http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-301688.html Vanochtend terug naar het dorp. Bij aankomst had Jason de tatoeerder het ontwerp nog niet helemaal af. Hij was die avond lang doorgegaan en had nu nog even nodig.Even gewacht en toen had hij hem af. Hij heeft uitgelegd wat wat was en wat alles betekent. Hij gaf het ontwerp mee zodat ik er over na kon denken of ik het ontwerp goed vond. Bij terugkomst besloten dat ik hem nam. Maar hij had eerst n http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-301685.html Vanmorgen naar het thermische maoridorp Te Whakerewarewatangaoteopetauaawahiao geweest. Of ook wel genoemd Whaka. Dit is een dorp waar de maori gewoon leven. Maori's zijn trouwens de tribalstam van Nieuw Zeeland. We kregen een gids mee door het dorp. Er zaten nog vier anderen in onze groep. De gids heeft ons heel veel verteld over het leven in het dorp. Het dorp is op thermische grond gebo http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-301684.html Vanmorgen vertrokken uit Taupo. Nog even langs het visitorscentre gegaan om informatie in te winnen over de verschillende Maoriactiviteiten. Net uit Taupo zijn we langs de Hukafalls geweest. Een zeer interessante waterval. Op weg naar Rotorua langs de verborgen vallei gereden. Dit is een heel mooi geothermisch gebied wat al eeuwen bestaat. Erg mooie geologische verschijnselen gezien. Dat dit alle http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-301681.html After leaving Taupo in the pouring down rain we drove through the Tongariro national park but could not see Mt Ruapehu Mt Doom because of the cloud. Our first stop was Ohakune land of the giant carrot. Ohakune is the carrot capital of NZ and has a monument to this in the shape of a giant carrot. Its also a big ski town where we were hoping to be able to get a taste of skiing.That night we hea http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-300281.html As soon as we stepped off the bus we could smell the unmistakeable smell of rotten eggs or was it sulphur Rotorua was built around thermal springs so we were warned of the smell before we got there but it still hit us pretty badly On our first night there we took part in a Maori cultural evening at Tamaki which is a traditional Maori village. On arrival we enjoyed a welcoming ceremony in w http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-295128.html Right in Rotorua at the moment which is a very sulphurous area therefore smells like stink bomb all the time which is pleasant.Met up with Will and Shane in Wellington which was nice if a little odd as a we were halfway across the world and b they were both wearing togas but it was wicked to see them.Then we headed up to Taupo where the weather was shite so unfortunately we could not do the b http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-292675.html Monday 23rd Today we finally left Auckland and was on the move courtesy of our Bus Magic. It was an earlyish start especially after our lie ins in Auckland and left around 8. From there we went to Mt Eden a lookout of the city and then had a bit of a drive. Rachel got travel sick though poor girl and was sick in our food bag. Eurgh We got to a place called Catherdral Cove after stoppi http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-291458.html Up To RotoruaFollowing our Bungy in the rain we headed into town and picked up a few gifts before heading back on the road for a short journey to Rotorua. Rotorua is a city on the southern shore of Lake Rotorua in the Bay of Plenty region and is well known for its geothermal activity with a number of geysers and mud pools located in the city. The area was initially settled by M257ori of the http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-291385.html Well our plan of working in Tauranga never really happened. We arrived at the worst time of year for work as it was the gap between picking and pruning which meant there were lots of backpackers trying to find work. So after a couple of nights there and at a neighbouring town Mount Manganui we decided to head off. However Mt Manganui was a nice spot with a mount which Ian took an early evening http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-289479.html