The Kiwi Experience begins...

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Our Kiwi Experience began with a huge trek which left us exhausted and sweating... from the effort of carrying all our bags down Queen Street to meet the Kiwi bus! The driver took one look at us and renamed us 'The Bag Ladies' - what can I say? We were prepared for every eventuality (breakfast, lunch and dinner, that is).

As we recovered in the bus, we drove to the Coromandel Peninsula and set off for Cathedral Cove on the longest walk I've ever had to get a beach. Windy paths, up and down dale, through forest, fighting off wild animals... well you get the picture. It was worth it though as the cathedral-shaped cove was very picturesque - so picturesque in fact that it was the setting for Narnia in the Prince Caspian film! How excited were we to see the rock Laura had posed on, on the big screen!

We were slightly less excited to walk the 40-minute walk back up to the bus at the top of the cliffs. Unfortunately the tide was too high to dig our own bath at Hot Water Beach - but we did catch up with our friends Harry and Rob who were driving down the North Island at the same time as us. After fish 'n' chips on our very own beach in Mercury Bay we had a nice chat with them in their warm car and then went to bed for an early night!

This early night was a good idea as we had one shower between six girls early the next morning before setting off down south. We stopped off at Martha Mine, a big old working gold mine - which brings in $1 million a year. Then we walked around Karangahake Gorge, complete with swing bridges and a very dark, 1 kilometre-long railway tunnel used in the gold mining days.

On the way to Rotorua we stopped at a couple of touristy spots. We posed by a huge L&P bottle in Paeroa, the home of the fizzy lemon kiwi drink, yum. Next stop was Matamata, renamed Hobbiton - where the Lord of the Rings was filmed. How well did we pose on our knees for the 'hobbit photo? Onto Rotorua - which should be renamed Rottonrua as it stinks! It's famous for its geothermal activity - boiling hot pools and geysers galore but this means every so often a huge whiff of sulphur dioxide comes your way - Not Nice. As one guy told us, they charge you to breathe through your mouth in this place!

That afternoon we rode up on the gondola, which was a lovely day to see the town from above, and had my first experience of riding a luge - a little go-kart thing with nothing but handlebars to BRAKE! Lots of fun - in fact maybe too much fun as I went sailing off down the hill ahead of the others, forgetting to take any pictures of the view over Rotorua. Nothing for it, will have to go round the track again! Had a tiring walk carrying our bags up three flights of stairs in the hostel - only to walk back down one flight as we were put in the wrong room (far too many people in there) - not used to this carrying bags lark!

In the evening we went to a Maori culture night - a trip to a recreated traditional village. We went through a Marae (meeting place), and listened to traditional songs, the Haka and Poi dances, and finished with a lovely Hangi meal - a roast cooked under the ground on hot rocks, delicious. Then collapsed into bed, exhausted!

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