After an early rise in Auckland we hopped on the Kiwi Experience bus. En route to Rotorua we drove through the Coromandel Peninsula and stopped off for a sweaty hike from Hayhei Beach to Catherdral Cove and immediately jumped straight into the sea for our first swim in the southern hemisphere.....it was stunning!! We spend the night in a lovely family fun hostel (Turtle Cove) in Mercury Bay, where we treated our hungry stomachs to a yummy $7 dinnner and had the dishes done for us!!

The next day we boarded the big green bus for our trip down to Rotorua, and soon discovered the lack of air-con - the bus reached a very sweaty and smelly 40 degrees!! On arrival we did a spot of luging where we got a satisfying breeze and a fantastic view to the lake from the chair lift. David and Sandra (Vickys distant relatives) picked us up and fed us alcohol and scrumptuous food.

The following day we had the most amazing adventurous day.... We were taken out on Daves (David and Sandras friend) banana coloured boat and went on the donuts all the way across Lake Tarawera at great speeds. We moored up briefly in a small natural hot water pool beneath the trees, then headed for our nest destination 'Hot Water Beach' where that water is surprisingly hot because of all the geothermal activity surrounding the area of Rotorua. There were lots of photo oppotunities and lots of oppotunities to burn our feet in the sand!! After a picnic and swim we headed back and next walked over to Te Puia, the local geothermal park. We saw lots of boiling mud and very impressive geysers while Vickys legs were being attacked by vicious beasty mozzies!!

Our next activity was downhill / cross country moutain biking in Redwood forest. We went all the way to the top of the forest to start our 11k descent and soon realised we had left the camera at the bottom so we missed capturing the stunning view over Rotorua. The descent was eventful with 3 falls off our bikes each, it was STEEP, NARROW, covered in tree roots and there was a 100m drop to the side of us at times. A very scary adrenaline rush!!

Overall our experience in Rotorua was awesome and we managed to have an action packed two days with help from the locals!!