Te Puia is one of the many hot springs in and around Rotorua. Created by a rupture caused by Mount Tarawera located 24 kilometres Southeast. This is sitting on the Pacific's 'Ring Of Fire'. An explosive basaltic eruption in 1886 was one of New Zealand's largest historical eruptions, and buried a town with loss of life. Today, we have a tour of the mud pools, geysers and boiling water pools. The large area unsurprisingly has been a natural barrier to the expansion of Rotorua. The biggest geyser (2 photos) goes off about every half hour but we were there over an hour and it remained asleep. I think it was most dramatic from afar, as it stands out in the distance constantly steaming. But when you get close to it, the gentle wind blows heat towards you from the hot Earth.

Hot water from this area has been diverted by the Government to provide heating to residents. The result is a reduction in the number of pools and geysers, but I think everyone is happy with the results.

Earthshaking that maybe, but the site is also a school for carving. Students learn from master carvers here. The large pieces on the walls are for reference. A student may work on reproducing a small part of one of these. It is unhurried work. Thought goes into every move. Items on the bench are positioned, chair is positioned, tool selected, then a strike or three are made. Stop. Reflect. Reposition. Repeat.

Rotorua seems like a prosperous place. The sort of place with large shops selling everything. The sort of place you can find a USBc/USBMini cable to fix the TomTom. We had a tasty lunch of Lamb Koftas and a fine salad combo at Tiger (Probably a chain.) on Eat Street.

Maori ladies sometimes tattoo their chins, I am getting used to it. Maori fellows can tattoo anything, as far as I know. Our Maori guide leaves us with a blessing; 'May the shimmer of Sunlight dance upon your path forever'.

Adrenalin seekers, like us, take the cable car to the top of the Skyline park. Here they can sample all of New Zealand’s favourite adventure offerings. Luge, Bungee, The vertical catapult thingy and what Liz and I do, the parrallel Zip-wire. Click here to see a short video. We set off together, not quite so many trees.

Lots of Chinese here, as was the case this time last year in Australia. It was 新春快乐 yesterday (Snake).