We had arranged to pick the cars up at 8am so Matt and Cathal set off for an early morning walk to find the car rental place which was about 20 minutes away and safely get the cars back. Whilst they were doing this Catriona and I had a few sneaky extra minutes in bed before packing up all the stuff and lugging it down to the entrance of the hostel. Considering it's usually Matt and Cathal that carry all the heavy bags, we had quite a task on our hands. With there being so many bags and them all weighing quite a lot we figured we would probably be best to do it in stages: getting everything out of the room and into the hall, from the hall into the lift, go down in the lift, out of the lift to the corridor, from the corridor to the entrance and then out onto the street. Who needs boys hey!! The boys do make it look much easier though but we were proud of our efforts. Matt & Cathal pulled round the corner moments later so we set off on our journey. Catriona and Cathal had to go to the Chinese Embassy first to sort a visa so we planned to go on ahead and they would catch us up.
 
The drive out of Auckland was beautiful as you leave all the city buildings behind and suddenly your winding through green hilly landscapes again . It felt so much nicer though being in a car rather than in the Stray bus as you can see so much more and it feels a bit more special. We drove for about and hour then stopped for breakfast and for Catriona and Cathal to catch up, they had been successfull in getting their visa so they were happy. 
 
As we carried on for Rotorua we accidentally stumbled across Hobbiton. Hobbiton is the place where there turned a farmer's field into the shire full of hobbits for The Lord of the Rings films and now The Hobbit. With the films being so popular they have now made the Hobbit village a permanent fixture so they can do tours. As we were so close we decided it would be silly not to go and have a look even though we later discovered that Matt was the only one that had actually seen the films! I'm still not sure whether he was joking, but Cathal seemed to think Harry Potter was the main character?!
 
As we approached the area it really felt like a hobbit's home. The scenery was unbelievable so it's easy to see why Peter Jackson chose here for the film . The tour was $75 each so we decided against doing it as we just didn't have time and it was a lot of money for the set of a film only 1 of us had seen. It was still lovely to go to the area and see all the green rolling hills and the Hobbiton sign. Needless to say we bought a magnet so it was worth it just for that!
 
We were now in a bit of a rush to get to the mud baths and have time to get changed for our evening show but it's near enough impossible to drive very quickly around these windy roads so we made it to Rotorua in not much under the predicted hour from Hobbiton but we were still in good time as it wasn't even 2pm yet.
 
Prior to the turn of the century, Rotorua was already becoming world famous for a natural attraction. The pink and white terraces which were located near Mount Tarawera on the edge of Lake Rotomahana. They were considered to be the eighth wonder of the world and drew visitors from all over at a time when New Zealand was at best very difficult to get to. They were made up of silica based terraces filled with geothermal water . This great attraction was sadly completely obliterated by the eruption of Mount Tarwera in 1886, a volcanic eruption which also destroyed nearby villages and killed about 120 people.
 
Now though the culture, the boiling mud pools and shooting geysers make Rotorua one of New Zealand's biggest tourist destinations. This is all because the earth's crust here is the thinnest in the whole world and as a result there are lots of natural geothermal hot pools and mud baths, there's also a distinct horrible smell of rotten eggs in the air as sulphur in the steam pours out of holes in the ground, man hole covers, drains and even people's front gardens. A cool thing about this is that many homes are able to take advantage of the natural resource with private bores allowing them to do everything from having private geothermal hot pools to heating their houses. It used to be a bit of a free for all until in the 80s when the council noticed that all the private use was reducing the level of geothermal activity throughout the city and so put restrictions on private use .
 
Way before we had even arrived at Hells Gate Mud Bath and Sulphur Spa, we knew we must be getting close as there was a definite smell in the air and it wasn't Matt for a change! When we pulled up in the car park, it didn't quite look as we had expected and the awful smell was overpowering! We made our way in and were shown to the changing rooms before being led to our mud bath where our guide explained to us the strict rules we had to follow including the fact that we were only allowed to be in the mud bath for 20 minutes as it is considered dangerous after that due to the heat. We quickly set about covering ourselves in mud while posing for pictures. The guide had told us we weren't allowed to put any mud above our eyes but, of course, Cathal ignored this and slapped some straight on his forehead! We all found it very funny seeing each other covered in mud and spent more time giggling than we did relaxing! By the time our 20 minutes were up, I have to say I could notice a difference in the feel of my skin: it was much softer and smoother! After showering to get rid of as much mud as possible we made our way to the sulphur spa . This was very much like the hot springs we had visited in Franz Josef and Lake Tekapo just a bit cloudier, so we relaxed for a while before heading off to get showered and dressed and back on the road to find our hostel.
 
We found the Crash Palace hostel without too much trouble at all and, after checking in, set about getting ready for our evening tour. Over 35% of the population in Rotorua is Maori so there are plenty of signs of the culture, including a number of cultural villages and we had booked to visit the Tamaki Maori village. A coach took us there from the nearby booking office and Cathal was very keen for us to sit at the front of the bus. We later discovered his reason for wanting to sit there was that he had heard that during the journey, the driver chooses someone to be our tribal chief which gives them special roles and responsibilities throughout the evening and Cathal was desperate to be chosen! His luck was in as he was selected and given the job of leading our group! He was very happy!! After a 30 minute drive, during which we were constantly entertained by our crazy bus driver, we arrived at the cultural village and led by our tribal chief, we made our way into the entrance area . Here we all waited, along with another coach load of people, as the village warriors came out to complete the welcoming ceremony. This involves each one performing a powerful haka (war dance), in an attempt to scare the visitors, before placing a branch as a peace offering in the centre of the ring and inviting one of the visiting tribal chiefs to pick it up. If they pick it up, it means they come in peace and allowed to enter, if not they are sent away but probably not before a battle takes place! Cathal was chosen to take the offering and he accepted which meant we were allowed in but not before he had completed one last welcoming task: the hongi. This is where the two people press their noses against each other twice and then say Kia Ora. With this complete, we followed our leader through the gates and into the village.
 
As we walked through the village, many different activities were taking place which we all got involved in: Cathal and the other tribal leaders learnt the Haka, Catriona and I learnt poi dancing which is much harder than the performers make it look and Matt learnt a tribal game involving long sticks intended to improve the warriors' hand-eye coordination and agility . He was very good at it and should have won but the girl he was up against in the final round cheated and threw her stick to the ground!! We also learnt about the tattoos Maori men and women have on their faces, how they make the clothes they wear and one of the exercises children are taught in order to prepare them for becoming a warrior.
 
We were then led to a large viewing area around two big pits in the ground. the tribal chief explained that the food we were going to eat was in these pits and needed to be lifted from the ground! The smells were incredible as the layers of sack covering the food were removed and the smoke was released. By now, we were all very hungry and, with the food smelling so good, we were keen to try some!
 
First though, we were taken into the Wharenui, which is the sacred meeting ground where all of the performers put on an excellent show of poi dancing, stick fighting, singing, a weapon demonstration and the Haka. From there we were led through to the dining hall where we enjoyed Hangi & Wharekai (dinner and entertainment) . The food was set out in a buffet style and there was plenty for everyone! We even went back for seconds plus dessert!!! It was absolutely delicious, possibly some of the best food we'd all had in a long time. Finally, there was a closing ceremony of songs, speeches and all the tribal chiefs (including Cathal) performing the Haka before we had to climb back on the coach and make our way back to the hostel. It had been an absolutely brilliant evening, we learnt so much but in a really entertaining, interactive way! I was in my element throughout the whole evening but Matt really enjoyed it too, so it must have been good! Our bus driver turned out to be crazier than we thought as he spent the whole journey back singing songs from all the different countries of people's nationalities. To give him his due he was very funny and obviously knew his songs because he did very well. He even went round a roundabout 3 times whilst singing so who knows what the people in the others cars must have thought as they watched a big coach go round a small roundabout 3 times with an old man singing behind the wheel!!
 
The next morning, we checked out of the hostel and went for a look around the town. It was actually much bigger than I'd expected but still with a distinct smell of rotten eggs in the air, I really don't know how people live there! Matt and I had decided to post all our New Zealand souvenirs home rather than taking them to Hawaii with us and that took quite a while to sort out as they wouldn't let us post magnets and we had about 20 scattered through our box so this meant digging through everything to find them! Once we were all done, we met Catriona & Cathal and went for a lovely cooked breakfast at a little French cafe we had spotted earlier. Time was getting on so we didn't have long to sit and relax before we needed to be back on the road in order to get to Waitomo in time for our caving adventure!