Polynesian Spa - Rotorua

Enjoying a mineral spa in Rotorua. Thought we should slow down a little and relax. Had a view of the Rotorua Lake which is a sulfur lake from all the geothermal activity in the area.

Our own personal stone spa.

View from our spa. You can see in the distance the steam rising off the lake.

Spending the night in Rotorua. We plan to go see some of the geothermal activity in the morning. Hoping to see a geyser erupt tomorrow morning around 10am.

Huka Falls Video

This is a video from our jet boat ride. The ride was unbelievable. I can't even describe how close we would come to hitting things. We were also treated to several "bat turns" or a 360' spin in the boat. Greg took some tips from the driver and can't wait to get home and start practicing in our boat.

Taupo - Huka Falls

Thought we needed another adrenaline rush today so we stopped in Taupo to take a jet boat ride. But this is no ordinary jet boat ride.

This is a picture of the boat we rode on. Greg is already getting ideas....scary!

This is Huka Falls. It was pretty impressive and the water couldn't have been a more brilliant blue.

Glow Worms - I don't think so

This is a picture of Stacey "testing out her tube". There are several waterfalls inside of the cave. We had to learn the proper way to place the tube on your "bum" and jump off backwards. I knew the water would be cold, but it was a little surprising how cold it actually was. Thank goodness for the wet suit.

This is the exit of the cave.

Not a very good picture, but this is Greg and I floating out of the cave together. This was a truly unique experience.

So these little specks are the glow worms. Well they actually aren't glow worms at all - false advertising. We found out that they are actually maggots. These maggots live in the cave and drop spider-web-like strings to catch their food. They have no way to excrete their waste (aka poop) so they actually burn it off and thus the glow. It was really cool (literally) to float through a pitch dark cave and see these glowing all around.

Waitomo - Glow Worm Cave

Adventurous or just plan stupid...we are still trying to decide. Thought black water rafting would be an interesting experience. Black water rafting is tubing through a cave in the dark. I know sounds crazy, but this is one of those things you have to do when in New Zealand.

Getting all geared up. Just a little humiliating, but you get over that pretty quickly.

Head to toe Neoprene.

Hitting the Road

So today we thought we would hit the road and see a little more of the island. Photo of Stacey driving on the correct (left) side of the road. Didn't take to long to adjust. Hardest thing to remember was not to turn on the windshield wipers when trying to signal for a turn. Yes, even that is on the opposite side.

Headed to Waitomo and the glow worm caves!