rotorua: you know what they say...

.....you can smell it before you can see it! and by gosh, you can. like rotten eggs. the amazingness of the whole place definitely more than makes up for it, but it is quite a smell. i believe this is due to all the volcanic activity in the area creating sulphur emissions or something.

well we had a pretty good day driving up to rotorua through the north island yesterday. the scenery changed so much on the drive; we passed by lakes and through deserts with snow-topped mountains in the background, through forests and by hills closely resembling something from the cotswolds. we made pretty good time and pushed on until we got to lake taupo where we stopped for a late lunch. whilst we were having lunch we perused some brochures guiding us as to the extreme/adventure sports available to take part in and we thought "you know what our visit to new zealand is missing? some proper adrenaline-inducing high-risk activity". so when in rome and all that.

after our game of white-knuckle mini golf, which jam won despite my best golfing poses, we made our way to huka falls. a set of waterfalls, which were just breathtaking.

we arrived at our accommodation where the owners have the cutest little dog that jamie and i are very much trying to befriend. although the way he is sticking his tongue out at me in this photo makes me think he is being a bit cheeky.

today we went to 'the redwoods - whakarewarewa forest' (which is just huge) with a quick stop on the way to look at the blue and green lakes, close to lake tarawera, where we are staying just outside of the town. when we got there we picked out a reasonable little walk and set off. the size of the redwood trees was just incredible. this photo doesn't really do the height justice but if i'd edged the camera up any higher then you wouldn't have been able to see jamie at all and then you wouldn't have any idea of scale.

after our 'trek' through the redwoods we thought we better spend the rest of the day at the polynesian spa where we enjoyed bathing in a variety of seven thermal pools, a combination of acid and alkaline ranging from 38 to 42 degrees in temperature - some even with mystical healing properties! - in the outdoors overlooking lake rotorua. a blissful way to end the day.