HI still in the sulpher city! god the smell when i woke up this morning!! it took a while to adjust!! Hired a bike today and did just over a 30k round trip! it was great getting away from the town. My legs are killing me though!! it was up hill almost the entire way!! at one point the up hill lasted approx 4km!!!! 4km!!!!!!!! i had to get off and push eventually. The cyle (which i did myself) took my up and out of rotorua and towards sonme of the volcanic lakes surrounding the area. it was a very hot day and although i was slapping on factor 30 sun screen my arms still got a bit burnt. they were ok the next day though. I cycled up and then down to lake Okareka which was beautiful. There was meant to be a swimming bit but it was so hot and i just wanted to get on and this was a detour i did. I then heading to the blue and green lakes, named so beacause of the colours they look from above! they were gorgeous! The blue i went paddling in the water was so clear further round i could still see the bottom of the lake in the middle! everywhere here the water is so clear. i then got to the green lake. it was hard to see this lake as it is privately owned by maoris and you are not allowed t walk about it or anything! found a wee gap in the trees though and it looked stunning! going to up load my pictures hopefully over next few days so you can see for yourself! it was so peaceful and untouched! Continued on up more hills than down and having to get off bike a few times till i got to lake Tarawera. it was really nice! big huge down hill in to the lake (went further down at an area than i was meant to so i had to go all the way back up again!!!) Cylcled about half way rounf the available road and found a spot and jumped in!! it was soooooo refreshing! so clear and had the old volcano that created the lake in the back ground! i wanted to sty there for the rest of the day but i had to head back! was a lot quicker going back then getting there downhill the whole way!!!!! was exahausted that evening and crashed out about 8pm!! I was the only british person in my dorm room in rotoura, had fench and japanese wiht me! have hardly met any british travellers! German and Swedish in auckland, then Irish (lots of them) and american in tauranga and then here! its great though! it amazing hereing everyones stories and different opinions! Have booked a bus tommorrow morning leaving very early to head to lake Taupo! have also booked a 12,000ft free fall skidive!! should get to taupo and haead straight for drop zone!!!