"Whiffy....Who Dropped One?"

Sunset over Waitomo
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This thing is going to time out in a minute so the writing might just stop and you'll have to hold on with baited breath for the installment about the eggy city....

Anyway we arrived in Rotorua on Friday afternoon after spending a lovely night in Waitomo at an absolutely fantastic YHA lodge there - really modern, great food and great weather to be in the countryside. I am just so shocked about how small all of the towns are around here as you can walk from one side to another really quickly, even in the big cities like Auckland! Anyway Waitomo was a 2 house town with a great YHA lodge with the best toasted muesli and fruit for breakfast that you could imagine. We spent just one night there and booked to go to the Glowworm caves - I got a walking tour and Nick got suck in and tubed his way through the cave on a rubber ring - jumping down holes and all sorts. Both of us had a great time as the caves were amazing with all of the stalagmites and stalagtites. The glowworms were everywhere too and we got to see how they cast their lines to catch flies and insects that rise from the water below. A glowworm lives for 9 months as pupae and then hatches into an adult for the last three days of its life when it must mate and can't feed as it has no mouth - crazy hey!?

the fact that the men were slightly fit and had their bums on show also kept the entertainment up - well for some of us!

Stalagmites/tites...not sure which?
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Following our morning at Waitomo we got on the road and headed down to Rotorua. Rotorua is the the stinkiest town in the whole of NZ due to how thin the earth's crust is around there, with hot mud pools and water belching out sulphur all over the city! There are just hundreds of geysers all over town and a misty haze that hangs over the town due to the steaminess! The first afternoon we just chilled out and got our bearings - we also ate dinner at the Fat Dog dafe in town which did great wine, coffees and homemade soup - clearly well frequented by travellers. The next morning we went to the Polynesian spa and relaxed in the thermal pools each anywhere between 36 - 42 degrees with amazing views over the lake as you can see from the photo of Nick - his catalogue shot! We then headed back to the Fat Dog for a fry up! In the afternoon we took the Sky ride (cable car to you and I) up to a hill over-looking Rotorua where you can take the luge ride down - our first taste of NZ adventure sports! The carts were actually quite speedy and Nick beat me hands down on the intermediate run - I let him do the advance course on his own.....blasting the little brats out of the way!

Another cool cave shot
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In the evening we went to a great Maori cultural evening called Mitai. There was a bush walk (a walk through the trees to us Poms), another sighting of the glow worms and then a Maori dance, welcome ceremony and explanation of their heritage. That was really cool and the fact that the men were slightly fit and had their bums on show also kept the entertainment up - well for some of us! They stick their tongues out and show the whites of their eyes to scare off predators, even the women do it.

This really is 'Lord of the Rings' territory..
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Following morning we went to see a huge geyser show that spouted water up to 30m in the air and endured some more eggy smells and then left for our huge road trip back up north away from the eggy city - certainly well worth the visit.