Day 108 February 25th 2007, Mud Packs - Rotorua to Taupo, 82km

There were two reasons why we wanted to come to New Zealand during our travels, the first to experience the amazing scenery and secondly to get in some adrenaline fueled sports. So after a day at the Maori village built on top of an area of what i would describe as high thermal activity, we headed off for some Zorbing.

A very hot pool where they cooked corn on the cob in less than 20 secs

First a little about the "Thermal area", one of the first things as a kid I associated with NZ is the bumbling mud at Rotorua, here is it this time on the web vs my Grandparents cine film 23 years ago, high five for technology.

The main attraction is the large geysers of which there are five, the one below is called the Prince of Wales as when it blows it looks like the feathers of the Prince of Wales crest.

In addition to the super fast corn on the cob cooking the Maoris also use thermal vents for cooking all their other food. There are two distinct advantages the first is the cooking time and secondly its free, however as with all modern appliances these cookers sometimes go wrong

On our way out of Rotorua I tried my hand at Zorbing, the idea being that you run down the hill in the large Hamster ball, catch they chuck a load of water in making it very slippery. The result I managed to stand up for about 5 secs.

It was great fun but I would give it a 0 in terms of its adrenaline factor. Leaving Rororua we headed South to Taupo where not content with the tame Zorbing caught the last ride of the day on the Huka Jet. This was also amazing fun.

The Jet boats with no propeller get within inches of the shore skimming across water only 10cm deep in places, the jets also allow the boats to be spun 360. The boats twin jets throw out 800 litres of water per second, I bet there are no fish left on the river. For more on jet boat technology click here. Check out Shelleys hair in the picture below during one of the spins, back row on the left.

The hair before the ride, due to the density of my hair at the moment it didn't move at all during the ride.

Highlights: The bubbling mud and the Huka Jet