Rotorua

Day 1: Mangee got us on our way nice and early again as we continued south-bound through the North Island. Rotorua was the stop for today - an unusual town, known for its Maori culture and Geothermal activity. Amongst other nicknames, its called Sulphur City because of the gas that is created and the distinctive smell it gives off - Rotten Eggs basically. Nice!

Before reaching Rotorua, Mangee took us to Zorb headquarters, just outside of town. I've never tried Zorbing before and have heard got things so was keen to get involved. For those that don't know, it involved rolling down a hill in a giant inflatable ball. Simple fun but it looked great.

Also up for it were Erika, Courtnie and Will. Courtnie went for the dry option, which meant being strapped in for a pacey straight roll down the hill. Us 3 opted for the wet option, which meant no strapping in and plenty of dizziness along the zig-zag track.

Erika went first and drew some big laughs from myself and Will as she made her way down the hill. Will was up next and gave an equally funny attempt at seeing how long he could stay stood-up inside (imagine a Hamster in a ball, falling over after about 1.5 seconds). Very funny.

I went last and tried the same but I think I lasted even less time than him. After about 5 seconds of rolling, I was fairly sure I was going to throw up because it makes you insanely dizzy. Thankfully, I managed to adjust to it though and it was great fun rolling all the way to the bottom, whilst being thrown around like a rag-doll and getting thoroughly soaked. Zorbing is great fun if you've never tried it.

After checking in to the hostel, myself, Will, James, Kevin and Mangee himself (a legend by the way) made our way out of town to try some Luging. Not quite like the Olympic event but still pretty damn fast, this involves making your way down some skinny tracks in a tiny cart. Given that Mangee has been doing his Kiwi driver job for quite a few years and gets free activities everywhere, he seemed pretty confident he would put us all in our place.

To be fair, he was dead-on. We had to start on the beginners track but you wouldn't have thought so with the speeds we were reaching. Within seconds, Mangee was zooming past all of us, demostrating the weight-shifting technique that is apparently so key. To be honest, I was just trying to stay on for the first run - they go really fast.

We then got the Cable Car back up to the top and had 4 more runs down the intermediate and then the fast track. We all got the hang of it eventually but were still no match for Mangee as we raced our way down. The tracks had some great tight corners, chicanes and even one part that lifted us all into the air. Such a good laugh and we all managed to finish without any broken necks and with all our skin intact.

Probably the most fun-filled day in New Zealand so far finished with a trip to Tamaki Maori Village that evening. The village was about an hour outside Rotorua, which gave us time to elect Will as our tribe leader for the evening. He would be encountering a Maori challenge upon arrival and would have to represent us all throughout the village.

When we arrived, we were greated with a fairly intimidating challenge from one of the Maoris, which Will and the other tribe leaders accepted. It was all good fun of course but we had to take it seriously and ensure that no-one was laughing or being disrespectful to any of the village members. To be honest, after the initial challenge, laughter was the last thing on my mind. It was pretty full-on.

We made our way inside the village to see numerous traditional Maori games, demonstrations and warrior training. Everyone got involved as we volunteered to be part of them and had good fun making ourselves look ridiculous. The first game I took part in, involved about 6 of us skipping over tightly-packed sticks with our hands on our hips, trying not to hit any. Needless to say, we failed miserably, much to the Maori's amusement. The village was very interactive and great fun walking around.

After visiting more stations and checking out some fine examples of trditional Sculpture and Weaving, it was time for 5 of us to learn the Haka - probably the most well-known Maori challenge, made famous by the All Blacks Rugby team. I'm a big fan of it and so instantly volunteered for the lesson. Josh, Ginge (Jack) and Sebastian also go involved.

To be fair, given the very limited tuition we got, we weren't half bad. There's lots of steps and stages to learn but the Maori teacher told us that if we forget any, just make our eyes bulge and poke our tongues out to cover them up. Once we knew this, it became much easier as we attempted the complete Haka in front of everyone. Again, a really good laugh that made for some funny videos and photos. I'm not sure we managed to make ourselves quite as intimidating as the All Blacks do though!

After trying the Haka, we made our way into the main performance room to observe some more traditional Maori dances and tribal routines. These were really fantastic to watch and everyone was fully engaged. The performances ended with a full Haka from all of the villagers that was absolutely amazing. I've seen the Rugby side do it on TV, but to be sat in the front row watching these guys doing it, you can really get a full appreciation of how intimidating and loud it actually is. It definately gets the message across - I thought a couple of the guys were going to lose some eyes from their sockets!. I'll let you all check out the video when I'm back. It's brilliant.

An awesome evening was rounded off with the best meal I'd had in New Zealand so far. It was a nice, social evening, which Mangee got involved with once again. The Maoris finished by thanking us all, particularly our tribe leaders. We then got the bus transfer back into Rotorua, which was filled up with some singing from all the nations on-board. Ginge stole the show, belting out the Welsh national anthem in a voice that would be fit for X-factor. We had no idea he could sing that well and Mangee was particularly gutted because he said he would have had him up the front of the Kiwi Bus on a regular basis had he known! After singing the anthem, he then went into overdrive with an irish number, followed by Tom Jones ''Dililah'', which nearly brought a tear to my eye (not really of course but I enjoyed winding him up). All-in-all, my best evening in New Zealand so far. The Maori village was well worth the visit.

Back in Rotorua, we headed down to the hostel bar for some Pool and Bar Games, which got us some free drinks and T-Shirts. And of course, pretty drunk in the process.  

Day 2: The following morning, we headed to Te Puia, New Zealand's most well known Geothermal park. We had an awesome guide, who took us through the park to explore numerous examples of Maori Arts and Crafts. The park also had a Kiwi bird house, giving us all our first opportunity to see the national bird alive and kicking (bigger than I expected).

The rest of the park showcases the natural activity of the region and we took a walk around the boiling Mud Pools (far too hot for taking a dip) and Geysers. The rotten-egg smell was pretty potent walking around but it was fascinating checking out all the geothermal activity. The trip culminated with us being given some eggs, boiled in one of the park's hot springs - Not a bad little breakfast. Te Puia was great and I was glad we had time to visit.

I can't really fault New Zealand so far. Kiwi experience has been great, taking us to all the hot-spots and some incredible activities. Loving it here.