08.09.06
Day 4 Hot Stuff!!!
Woke from the best nights sleep I’d had in ages – think the jet lag had caught up with me 
Rotorua is hard to describe – its sort of has a seasidey feel to it (its beside a lake) but it smells of sulphur!!! 
It has one very long street which has lots of motels on either side with various amenities but the most common is the spa pool because this is right in the middle of a geo thermal area and there is lots of natural hot water about … full of stuff thats good for you !!! 
But there’s also alot of tradition around …
The hot pools have been in use since the Maori settled there – and the arrival of the Europeans saw it develop into a spa area. Visitors came from Europe way back in the 1800′s when the mode of transport was a horse and buggy – or walking (bet they didn’t get jet lag!!! probably took months to get here!!) mostly to see the Pink and White Terraces which were a natural phenomemon in the area and to bathe …
but it is an area of geo instability (still is!!) and of course things tend to go bang every now and again … Mount Tawawera the local volcano blew with devastating effect in 1886 destroying the Terraces forever and causing devastation over a very wide area … one place that was greatly effected was the village of Te Wairoa which was buried by 2m of volcanic material – this site has now been excavated and is known as the Buried Village which was our first visit of the day.
The village was once the home of Hinemihi the Maori meeting house now in Surrey (and the subject of the book The House with Golden Eyes written by Alan Gallop the guy who has written the book the boss is turning into his next play The Children of The Dark … small world!!! 
)
Buried Village Site
Again there was atmosphere I can’t put my finger on – I know its quieter here but some of the places we’ve been to have had a very spiritual quality to them too …
It was quite unnerving standing in the excavated huts and seeing how the volcanic material had just pushed its way in …
Mother Nature is quite something when she’s riled 
From here we headed back to Rotorua via the Blue and Green Lakes – two lakes right next to each other but two different colours – something to do with the material at the bottom of them – but there’s also a Maori legend about a princess dropping a pice of jewellry in one which changed the colour (think I got that right!)
Back in Rotorua we follwed in the footsteps of George Bernard Shaw to Hell’s Gate!!!
up til then I was a little disappointed in the lush green landscape we were travelling through (I know no pleasing some!! 
) – I was expecting huge volcanic wastelands with geysers and mud pools every two feet … 
– but the plants and trees round here are very determined …
At Hell’s Gate I got just what I’d asked for though … ploppling bubbling mud, steam, water spurting, barren landscape …
It was so hot it was cool! 
Hells Gate
And of course we had the mud bath and spa experience 
(we both now have skin to die for 
)
After dining on fish and chips from NZ’s no 1 Chippie 
we retired as I could barely keep my eyes open … well til Dean Bell popped up in the half time of the Auckland Warriors game we found on TV !!!! Me and Deano in Auckland together now that would be a rumour to start …. 
I realise that this will be lost on a few of you – but if I say Rugby League and Wigan Warriors you’ll understand some of my excitement!!! 
Murray said he’d never seen someone jump back to life so quickly 
but I didn’t last the whole game !!!! 