Rotarua

We went to Rotarua, the centre of Mauri culture. It was a long drive but well worth the journey. We started off in Te Puia with a demonstration of Mauri dances and fighting, it was short and interesting - just the way these things should be. When that finished we took a guided tour in the rain, thankfully we had been given huge white plastic jackets cos it was chucking down and despite these jackets we got absolutely soaked. The guide was a really funny guy and the talk and tour was interesting. We learned that people from NZ are called Kiwis, not after the bird but after the Shoe Polish. Soldiers from NZ were sent to fight in Europe in the 2nd world war, part of their kit was KIWI polish and other soldiers wanted this polish so they traded goods with them for the polish. After that people from NZ were called Kiwis.

The polish was invented by a Scotsman called Ramsay who moved to Australia and married a woman from NZ, he then called the polish after his wife. A bit of useless information for you all!

Maori culture is very interesting and they still follow many of the traditions today, it's weird seeing 2 completely different races in one country, it is so obvious who is of Maori decent and who is european, I know that seems an obvious statement but it is quite weird and I cant help but wonder if they are really hacked off with the Brits for colonising their land. I've never had the courage to ask as they are pretty scary people!

In Rotorua they have a hot spring where the water comes out of the ground at 90 degrees c and many commercial pools and spas have sprung up along side the town. After getting so wet we decided to have a soak in the pool and even tried to get a massage but they were fully booked. We sat and bathed outside in 40 degrees c with the rain falling down, it was really relaxing.

We stopped for a meal in Taupo where we had been the other day, we found a nice steak restaurant where a pub quiz was being played, we ended up helping the guys at the next table, we managed the questions like "who is a famous Scottish poet whos birthday is in January" . I was a bit offended when they asked a question relating to the 80's and said c'mon it's your decade. It was my decade but I dont like to be reminded.

It was a really great and relaxing day