We've had a great day today. After Coleen's (aka Hyacinth) delicious and huge breakfast of blueberry pancakes with maple syrup (she made Steve's specially with soya milk) we needed to walk it off so headed for some lakes just outside Rotorua. Depending on their depth and the type of rock the water is either blue or green in colour. Also nearby was a Redwood Forest where we did a half hour walk. Steve took some photos of me but you could hardly see me because I was wearing brown rusty colours and was perfectly camouflaged!

In the afternoon we went to Te Puia to see the Pohutu Geyser and mud pools. The earth's crust is only 5km thick at this point and this is what causes all the crazy volcanic activity, wow! Te Puia also has a couple of kiwis so we were able to see them as well. Kiwis are nocturnal and shy so almost impossible to see in the wild and even in captivity they are difficult to spot so their enclosure is kept dark during the day so that they are active.

Two old Geysers together!

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The weather forecast for today was overcast with showers, but fortunately for us the forecasters got it wrong again and it proved to be clear blue skies and very hot. So by the time we had finished at Te Puia we were exhausted. After a brief rest at our B&B (and a piece of Coleen's banana cake) we headed for the Polynesian Spa for some R&R in the thermal pools.

A short aside; Kiwis (the people not the bird) seem to pronounce 'e' as if it was an 'i' this has led us to think twice when certain words are spoken, examples include “wheelie bin” and “thats a nice deck”,work it out for yourselves!