Monday 17 November 2008

Tuesday

Morning! Its Tuesday here and a bright sunny day.

We are staying in a hostel with a double bed plus shower and kettle and small sink for $58, and there are 2.6 $ to the pound, work it out.. (I did its about £21.50)

We cook in the backpackers kitchen and of course that is cheap. Petrol is $1.58 a litre,(59p) so about half the price of here. Car hire for 5 weeks was about 550 quid (no pound sign on this computer!)

Yesterday we drove another very twisty and scenic don't know how many miles to Rotorua. Hostel of first choice was full, were sent here to a place which looked iffy but turned out quite ok. It has a spa pool filled with water from the subterranean layer.

We walked to the lakefront, and to a Maori village where all the houses have a stinky bubbling pool or vent in the garden, which they use for cooking! All over Rotorua there are strange escapes of steam and ominous smells - it has been built over a very active volcanic area and its as full of holes as a colander. Very interesting.

There is a beautiful little tabby cat here. Paul spent ages in the spa pool, he was the only one in it, enjoyed it very much and came out like a lobster.


Look! I found a picture of my dad!!




Hahahahahah!

We shall look at some more of the volcanic bits today and stay in Taupo tonight. Still nothing from Emma about how to pick up her key - may ring her from Wendy's.

Glad your visit from T&K went well.

Much love, Mumbo xxx

1 comment:

Puss-in-Boots said...

I've just come back from NZ and was in Rotorua last week! I went to the Maori Village too...actually I used to visit there a lot when I was a kid as my aunt was one of the guides at Whakarewarewa. How amazing. I wish I'd known you were going to be in NZ...we could have met up.

Anyway, I hope you're having a wonderful time. It's a beautiful country.