Rotorua

We are currently in Rotorua. It is a really cool town in a crazy geothermal setting. That means that there are pools of boiling mud and water that is bright yellow or green or orange. It has to do with the minerals in the ground. It is crazy! For Jigar's birthday yesterday, we went to Wai-O-Tapu which is a geothermal park. We saw a 30 meter geyser and lots of pools of different colored water. The ground is steaming it is so hot. It was beautiful but smelly.

In the evening, we went to a hangi. That is a traditional Maori feast. The Maori are the people who settled New Zealand before the white folks showed up. It was really interesting to see the haka (the traditional dance) and learn about the tattoos and hear some of the songs. The food wasn't bad, either, but a bit bland for our tastes. It needed a little lal marchu (that's cayenne pepper).

This morning, we relaxed at the Polynesian Spa. Our friend Vatsa told us to make sure we went there and she was right! There were 7 different pools of different temperatures. It was very relaxing. We spent 3 hours there. I haven't been this relaxed since we left Fiji :)

We have been very bad bloggers, but we'll do better in the future. We've been so busy doing things that we haven't slowed down long enough to record them. We've gone all the way up to Cape Reinga (at the tip of New Zealand), all the back to Auckland and now down to Rotorua. Our new motto is "Another Day, Another Adventure". We'll make more internet time, though, and I promise to post some photos of all of these adventures soon.