More Rotorua

Rotorua is a great place as you can walk through town and see random gas escaping from the earth. You can also dip your feet into thermally heated foot pools next to bus stops etc.

Perfect for tired feet

The pool at the backpackers was thermally heated too - one of NZ's many methods of renewalable energy production; proving yet again how much greener they are than us! Personally, it'd make me feel a bit edgy knowing all that activity was going on right beneath my feet, but I didn't notice the Kiwi's worrying (do they worry about anything I wonder?).

Kat and I enjoyed a Mouri cultural evening (a bit over-subscribed and incredibly touristy, but it had to be done!) where we got a show, traditional 'hangi' meal and an opportunity to learn about Maouri crafts and traditions. The 'hangi' is where they cook food in an oven made in the ground. Pretty much everything at the meal had been cooked in it, and given that there were close to 200 people there, it was quite a feat.

We also invested in a tad more horse-riding and a visit to Waka-o-tapa geothermal site. This was pretty amazing as you could enjoy sights such as the champaigne pool, devil's inkpotsand Lady Margaret's geyser (incidently, they know what time it's going to erupt every morning as they use a soap-based product to chemically react and cause the release of pressure).

After a couple of night's here, it was onto Mt Maunganui - one of the North Island's well loved holiday destinations apparently.