[101st post!] Raglan - Rotorua

So we got to Rotorua a few days ago intending to stay for 3 days. We're now on our 3rd day and looking to stay another 2. That's one of the good things about hop-on-hop-off bus services.

The first thing we did was visited a local Maori village where we sampled the delights of "Hangi" (or food steamed underground by the geothermal activity). We also saw huge steaming pools of foul sulphurous-smelling water and boiling puddles of mud. It was all very other-worldly.

Apart from geothermal activity, Rotorua is also famous for a fun passtime that was invented round here called "zorbing". Zorbing is essentially throwing yourself down a steep hill in an oversized inflatable hamster ball. It's a lot of fun - especially when they throw a bucket of warm water in after you (hydro-zorbing).

Apart from the zorbing, we've partaken in another local first, the local luge track. This luge doesn't involve snow or ice though - it's a concrete track down the side of a hill and you steer a little go-karty thing down. There are 3 tracks which increase in difficulty (or intensity?). The "beginner" track is about 2km and is nice and gently sloped whereas the "advanced" track is only 1km, but pretty much straight down with a few bumps in it. The main problem is encountering slower lugers on the way down and avoiding them. Grrr.

Tracy and I parted ways for a morning today as we chose different paths - I chose the way of white-water rafting, Tracy chose the way of a few hours extra sleep thanks very much. I spent the morning trying to stay in a raft while plunging over waterfalls and paddling down rapids. I reckon I got the better of it - although Tracy may argue otherwise. The highlight of the morning was plunging over the 20ft (7m) Tutea Falls (and living to tell the tale!).

Other high adrenilin activities on offer are being considered and a bungy is not out of the question, but that'll be for another day and another post. In the meantime, I'm keeping my ears to the ground as I'm expecting news any day now of how Simon and (more importantly perhaps) Jenny are getting on with their new arrival due any day now... I'll keep you all posted.