rotorua

have had a really nice couple of days. chilled out the other night watching 'american pie 2' on the telly with random british and german people (so many germans in nz!). we spent yesterday wandering about town. we to the park which has lots of random steam pools dotted about. rotorua is on really thin volcanic rock so that the hot steam bursts through and makes the whole place stink of rotten eggs. you really do get used to it, though, apart from the odd realisation of what you're smelling. the park was cool. there was a larger lake that had huge swaythes of steam coming from it. it looked light it was part of a film set, so unreal. felt like we were wandering through narnia or something. also saw the bubbling mud which, frankly, just looked evil. like it was alive. it was hypnotising, though.

made it through to the lake where there are loads and loads of black swans. never seen black swans before. they have red beaks. it looks all wrong. they also have reeeeaaally white sea gulls here. we had a sneaky milkshake at a lakeside cafe and pondered setting up a caff in the lake district when we get home. we would call it 'rachael's cakes' or something. possibly. we then went on a bit of a trek round the lake and finally came out somewhere in town. felt good for the fresh (?) air.

we got back and found a load of rugby players had arrived from auckland for the night and were setting up home in the bar. say no more about the kind of night THAT was...

today we went for a further trek out to whakarewarewa (say that when you're pissed) thermal village. it was a lot further than we thought to walk it, nearly an hour. but it was a fascinating place. the whole village looks like it's built on steam and, i suppose, it is really. they do everything with the thermal energy: cook, bathe, wash, etc. we saw them boiling some sweetcorn in one pool. we also saw the big geysers that shoot out of the rock. really unusual place.

the best bit was after, though, when we stopped at the chip shop for food. it's fab that nz has chip shops. we got chatting with the lady, saying how we'd walked for miles, when, while we were sitting writing our postcards, she offered us a lift back into town. bless her socks. she was going to the lotto shop cos she was feeling lucky so we went with her and bought some tickets. we've no idea how much we would win if we did win but it'll be great if we win something. i'd go out immediately and get my hair cut and some new clothes that weren't all faded. fingers crossed.