Hot, hot, hot by Dean

So i thought i would give Megan and Emma a night off from the blogging. You might not be surprised to learn that it is not always so easy to get them to do it. This is especially the case when Australia's Got Talent is on the gogglebox or Emma's particular favourite...Australia Border Force. New Zealand telly is pants! One of the quirks that we have enjoyed in Australia and New Zealand, isthe lack of imagination when it comes to naming animals, bays, mountains, plants etc etc. It is a bit like Catchphrase ....say what you see. So many things are named so literally; like the lizard that has a very blue tongue, yes the Blue Tongued Lizard. I could go on and on and on. Anyway back to the blog. Today we went to a beach that legend has it, has 60 degree c water running underneath it. Guess what....it is called Hot Water Beach. You have to get there one hour either side of low tide, and our luck was out as today that was 9.30am and we are a two hour drive away. So we dutifully got up at 6am to be on the road half an hour later. Our motel supplied us with spades that an Irish navvy would be proud of. When we got there, we saw a few other people digging in a spot so we headed down beside them. It took us two attempts, but we quickly found the hot water. It was actually scolding in places. We dug out a nice little bath, and had a lovely relaxing lay down.

It really was quite surreal. The girls got too hot very quickly, so went off to build a cooler one for themselves.

We stayed for about three hours, by which time Katy and I were too hot to stand it anymore. So then we went to Hahei Beach, which was nice. We hung around for a bit, had some lunch and then after a nice walk to the rocks I got bored as usual.

So we we then went to Cathedral Cove, which was a hour or so walk.

Once again, as per usual in New Zealand, it was view after view after view.

It was a lovely little spot, and if you know the Narnia films well then recognise the arch. That's another film we will have to see on our return.

After that we have come back to our motel. I am now sat on our terrace enjoying this view.

You won't hear from me on this blog again (the girls will blog from HK) so I would like to say a few words....ahem. Like Australia and all the countries in Asia that we have gone to, New Zealand has done us proud with great weather on our last day. Tomorrow we drive to Auckland to get ready for our early flight to Hong Kong the following day. New Zealand is the most spectacular place, and just like Australia has very friendly people. It's been wonderful to visit it, and we feel blessed. I am pretty sure Katy and I will be back one day. Speaking of Katy....what a fatastic wife I have. She has planned it all to perfection, and we just would not have gotten half as much out of the trip if it had not been for her meticulous research and preparation. I keep telling her there is a business in there somewhere, but she won't listen to me. Thanks Katy for working so hard on this, we owe you a lot. Thanks to our kids too who have made it even more enjoyable, watching them making the most of it. I have a memory etched into my brain of the girls diving down to stroke a turtle on the Great Barrier Reef that will be with me until I pop my clogs. They have been so well behaved (well occaisionally they have needed the odd quiet word) and been up for adventure so much that they have put me to shame. I hope they remember it.... So Katy and I leave New Zealand soon with heavy hearts that our adventure is nearly over. Megan and Emma on the other hand are desparate to see their granparents on both sides of the border. I fear for my Dad when he meets us at Manchester; I think he will get winded. Would i do it again....absolutely.....I will treasure our family memories forever, and promise to bore you all to death when we get back. Worrying about the pension etc can wait a bit.... Until we do it again.....

Caves that make you say 'WWWOOOOWWW!!' by Megan

Today we went to Waitomo caves. There are hundreds of different caves under the ground there, and we went to 3 of the bigger ones; Ruakuri cave, Aranui cave and the glow worm cave. First we went to Aranui cave. On the way to the cave, our tour guide showed us some plants such as the native fern (the silver fern), and a plant traditionally used by Maori peolpe to help with illnesses such as headaches, toothache, and stomache aches. When we reached the cave, we saw loads of rock formations known as stalactites and stalagmites.

They look like icicles, but made of rock. They are formed by calcium in a drop of water coming through the cave roof. When the water falls, the calcium is left behind hanging from the top, or it begins to grow on the floor. This happens loads of times until a stalactite or stalagmite is formed. An easy way to remember which is which, is that stalactites hang on to the roof tightand stalagmites mightmake it to the top one day. It takes 100 years for a cubic cm of the stalactite or stalagmite to grow. Sometimes stalactites and stalagmites reach each other in the middle, and form a pillar as they grow together. We carried on walking until we got to the highest part of the cave known as the cathedral, where the acoustics are really good. Our guide sang a traditional Maori song, and her voice became really loud. She had a beautiful voice. When we came to the end of the cave, our guide showed us what looked like a small village that was made out of rock. If you used your imagination, you could see anything.

The next cave we went to was the Ruakuri cave. This was similar to the first cave, except it had some glow worms in it, as the river running through it attracted bugs, so it was perfect for them. When we entered, we had to walk down a massive spiral.

This entrance had had to be built, as the original entrance was blocked off. This was because it was the burial place of some Maori chiefs. At the bottom of the spiral there was a small waterall. When they placed the rock under the water fall eight years ago it was flat, but now the water has carved some channels in it.

We carried on walking, then the guide spotted some glow worms up close. They looked just like slugs, but on a diet. They let down small threads to catch their pray.

If they had had enough, they would leave it dangling until the next day. My Dad managed to take some photos of the glow worms up close, when they were further away, the camera didn't pick them up.

The last cave was the glow worm cave. We had a little walk around, and then our tour guide took us to a boat. When we set off, there wasn't many glow worms, but then suddenly.......BAM!! Thousands of glow worms were everywhere. We weren't allowed to take pictures in this cave, but we could have just taken pictures of the night sky as that's what it looked like; it was beautiful. We were all amazed when we saw thousands of magical glow worms above us, as we glided silently along the river. It was so peaceful.

It is amazing to think that something so beautiful exists naturally.

Mud glorious mud by Emma

Today we went to a couple of different parks in Rotorua.

One was next to to the lakefront, and the other one was in some grounds that had mud pools and steam coming out of the ground. There was also a green pond, and a pool to paddle your feet in hot water.

After that we went to a forest of giant redwood trees. Some of the trees had huge trunks, but they got thinner the higher they got.

We had a walk through the forest, and saw some of the stillest, clearest water we have ever seen.

Then we set off to a place called 'Hell's gate', which we wanted to go to because you can have a mud bath. They also have a cold plunge pool, and sulphur spa pools. Once we were changed, the lady called us into our mud bath. As we stepped in, mud was oozing through our feet. The mud is said to make your skin smooth. You are only allowed to have 20 minutes in the mud.

When our time was up, we got out and cooled off in the shower, then jumped in the sulphur pool. The pool was 39 degrees, and was very cloudy due to the sulphur; it also smelled of rotten eggs!!

Megan and I dared each other to go in the cold pool, and we did it! I got goosebumps all over my skin; I even felt as if I had goosebumps on top of my goosebumps! When I got back in the hot pool, it felt even hotter than 39 degrees. It was a very hot, sunny day which made it feel hotter still. Once we had showered and changed, we went back to the hotel, and Megan and I went for a swim. I enjoyed putting my head under the water again, as we hadn't been allowed to at Hell's gate. After that we went for pizza. Today was awesome; I really enjoyed making the mud squidge between my fingers.

An eggy day by Megan

Yesterday we set off to Rotorua. My mum had read about something, so on the way we stopped at the Huka falls. This isn't really a water fall, it is lots of rapids gushing down a narrow stream. We could hear it before we even got on the bridge. Water was splashing about all over the place.

It was amazing! We got back in the car, and carried on the drive. Next we stopped at a park called Wai o tapu. This is an area where you can see lots of geothermal activity, but this time it was water not steam. There were lots of different things to look at on the walk. There was a lime green pool named the devil's bath (but the devil's house ( a crater), was smaller that the devil's bath!

There were also deep crators, unusual water falls and mud pools.

Before we set off on the walk, we went to see a huge geyzer. It looked like a small volcano. The guide put in a powder to break the surface tension of the resevouir below. After a few minutes, the geyser started to bubble. As the bubbles gradually got bigger, they started to look like ghosts struggling to get out. Suddenly a powerful spray of water shot out the top of the geyser. It was awesome. The water flowed down the side of the geyser.

As we left, we went over to see some mud pools. Mud kept on splurging out of the ground.

It was really funny. We got back in our car, and drove to Rotorua. When we got there, we found our hotel, dumped our bags and went for a walk down at the lake. Our hotel is right across from the part of a lake called Sulphur Bay; this makes it smell like rotten eggs; which is a common smell around Rotorua. It also makes the lake look milky in parts.

We came across some mud pools, and steaming craters by accident; we just came across them.

When we realised this, we got back on the path quickly, as the ground can be unstable with new craters forming all the time. After this we went back to the hotel to have a swim in the pool and some dinner. Today was a very eggy 'egg'sperience!