Rotorua, or Roto-Vegas as the natives like to call it, is a smallish city on the shores of Lake Rotorua. The surrounding areas are a geothermal wonderland, with geysers, boiling mud pools, and steaming craters - accompanied by the pervasive smell of sulphur. Rotorua is also a showcase of Maori cultural activities, a centre of tourism and a place of extraordinary natural beauty. It is surrounded by volcanoes, lakes, parks and recreational areas.

When we first arrived Nat, Janet and I went to a traditional Hangi ceremony and concert at a recreated Maori village.

The culture is so interesting, they demonstrated the proper way to greet someone (the touching of noses) the different ways they once used their weaponry to kill the enemy, the significance behind images and the green stone and then we attended a really lovely concert with Maori music and dancing. It was really rather overwhelming.

After the concert we enjoyed a buffet, food that is supposed to be cooked in a pit then covered, or steamed. We had fish, chicken, veggies, potatoes, sweet potatoes and some kind of custard and fruit dessert. It was a really neat evening because we were in a forest, and that particular night it was quite windy, so standing among the tall trees and open fires really felt invigorating.

The next day Nat, Janet, Dee and myself decided to rent a car, which we affectionately called ChaCha, a little red tercel. Natalie's driving could be added to the list of adventure activities in this country, I tell ya! It was so fun though, it really felt like 4 old friends on a road trip. We just acted like goofs and laughed the whole time. Except when Natalie almost drove into the tour bus.

Anyway, we went and checked out a geothermal park and walked through some really interesting bits, hot pools, craters and saw a geyser. The weather was super crazy - sunny, rainy, sunny, rainy. Finally we got to the main even of the day, that being OF COURSE - ZORBING.

Now if any of you want a total laugh, and you have the opportunity, go Zorbing. Basically what happens is that you pay people some money (I think it was around NZ$40) to put you in a giant plastic ball with some water and then roll you down a hill.

We all did it, and I was laughing so hard during my trip I couldn't breath. It is the weirdest experience. You first have to take a running dive to get into this giant ball and once you're in there they stick a hose in and add some water, not a lot, maybe so there's around a foot in there. Then they tell you to stand up and walk toward the edge and then they shove you off this large hill.

I did a solo slalom course, and it was windy on this particular day, so I was being tossed all over the place inside this giant ball as it rolled down the hill. And because it's wet inside you have NO CONTROL over where you're being thrown around and there is nothing to hold onto. It was a complete RIOT. You get totally soaked.

After this we took a gondola up this mountain and Dee and I decided that we would luge down it. So we donned helmets and got on these little luge's and busted down the mountain. He was driving like hell, I was much more conservative because there are no fences or anything so you could, in theory, launch yourself right over the side.

Well my caution came back to bite me in the ass because halfway down my luge trip it started POURING, and I don't mean a little rain, I mean POURING and I got completely soaked. Luckily Dee was waiting for me at the bottom with an umbrella. Then we took a ski-lift up back to the top and did it again when the rain stopped. Good fun.

After all this hard work, the four of us decided we desperately needed a soak in the Polynesian Spa. These are naturally heated geothermal pools. You can't wear any jewellery in them because the minerals will turn it green. They had 4 outdoor pools at varying degrees, 36,38,40 and 42, and it was WONDERFUL and the view was very pretty overlooking the water. We stayed there for two hours. AHHHHHH.