We were planning to go to 'Taupo' next to do our sky dive but the sky dives had been cancelled the last few days due to the weather so we decided to give 'Taupo' a miss and head to Rotorua instead as we had heard so many good reviews about it.

On our way to Rotorua we stopped off at some nice waterfalls and also stopped to take pictures of some volcanoes. Then it was straight on through to Rotorua.

Now I know I have said that we have had some wicked hostels but OH MY GOD, the one in Rotorua was the best by far. It had obviously just been built and the decor was so lovely. It had so many areas to sit in or eat or blether and was soooooooo clean. We loved it!

Guess what.........you are never going to believe it.........Rotorua had blue skies, sunshine and no rain - aaaaaaaagggggghhhhhhh, woohoo! We got there nice and early so we were straight outside to explore.

We had a walk around to get a feel for the place and then headed up the hills. We started with a Gondola ride where we had views over Rotorua. Then we booked in for 'The Sky Swing' and 'Luge' rides.

The Sky Swing was situated right at the top, on the edge of the hills. The swing sat up to three people, you were pulled backwards right up to the top of the swing, you then pulled the rope to release the swing, you were then dropped and travelled at 150km in a swinging motion and you went right over the edge of the hills. It looked and felt like you were being thrown over the cliff into the lake! Was so much fun. We were filmed doing it so we bought the DVD, its absolutely hilarious!

Then we had two 'Luge' rides to do. They are basically like little cars that you sit in and you drive them down different tracks through the hills. It was so much fun. They don't look that exciting but they are really fast. Our first go was awesome. We were both screaming down the track as we didn't realise they were so fast. The track lasted for such a long time. The people in the chair lifts above us were laughing at us screaming our heads off!

It was then time for our second shot. We picked the harder track this time as we were dead good at controlling the luge. We were so excited. It all started off well and we were flying down the hill and screaming. Then we flew by a group of guys that had stopped at the side of the track. As soon as we passed them they started to chase us. It was great fun until all the boys started bumping each other. One guy was showing off and decided to bump me. Instead of bumping me at the back of the luge, he bumped the side which you are not supposed to do. Guess what happened????? Oh my god, I fell out the luge and skidded down the track on my belly for about 4 metres! The guy also fell out and the others then crashed into him. It was so sore and it was so hard to hold my tears in. Thankfully none of my clothes had ripped but the skin was off my knees and elbows. I went mental at the guys, they however thought it was hilarious! They hurt themselves too but tried not to show it and one guy had ripped his jeans the whole way down one leg!! I got back in the luge and slowly made my way to the bottom of the hill trying to keep the tears in - was so sore and those stupid boys ruined my last luge ride!!!!! They offered to take me for a drink to apologise when they met me at the bottom of the track but they were given a sharp 'no'!

That night we had booked to go on a trip to a Maori village. We were picked up by the tour guide, 'Nutter', yes that was his name. He was hilarious! He introduced everyone on the coach and we headed to 'Tamaki Village'. On the way, Nutter was teaching us some Maori songs and he got us all to sing a song from our country to the whole bus. I was the only Scot and I sang 'Oh ye cannae shuv yer grannie off a bus'. Everyone was killing themselves laughing! We arrived at the village and were greeted by Maori Warriors. They did an amazing tribal dance for us and welcomed us to their home. We then walked around the village and were told about the different houses and basically how the village worked. It was dead interesting! Then we were taken into a theatre and the Maori's put on a little show for us. They sang, danced, did tricks and did the hakka too. It was wicked. The theatre was decorated with maori symbols and I could see the same symbols that were on my tattoo.

It was then time for some food. We were shown how they traditionally cook their food and were treated to a massive feast of Maori food - delish! It was the most we had ever eaten for tea in NZ and it was great to get some veg into us! Then Nutter and the rest of the tour guides did a little performance for us. They sang some songs and got us up to dance. Unfortunately it was then time to head home. The bus journey home was good though. We sang the Maori songs again and then Nutter said that he needed to 'round' off the trip. So...he drove around a roundabout at least 8 times - hee hee. It was such a fantastic night!

We got dropped off at the hostel around 9.30pm so we decided to head out and see what nightlife Rotorua had to offer. In the first pub we met a Canadian girl and two of the guys in our dorm. We had drinks with them and then headed to a club. We met loads of people and had a great night.

The next morning we had a slightly long lie and then went for breakfast with two of the boys from our dorm. We were all a little rough so a big breakfast was exactly what we needed. Then it was back to the hostel to get picked up by the 'Magic' bus.

We had such a great time in Rotorua and wished that we could've stayed longer. We just didn't have the time though and needed to head to the next place, Mount Maunganui.

Mount Maunganui was another 'stop over' place. We arrived about 6pm, played some cards and drank some wine then headed to bed. It was an early start at 7am to head to Auckland.