The Land of the Long White Cloud

Our first weekend in Christchurch was spent catching up with family and friends - I hadn't seen anyone since my first trip to NZ back in January 2012, 3 and a half years before.
We had a big BBQ dinner on Saturday night at Helen and Michael Snr's house. Then on Sunday, Helen, Michael Snr, Shane, Damien, Viv, Ali, Zoe, Michael and I took a roadtrip up to Hanmer springs to relax in the hot pools for the day.
On Monday, Michael and I had an early wake up to catch a flight up to Auckland where we hired a car and drove down to Rotorua where we

spent the next 4 nights. On our first full day, we took a long walk around Sulphur Bay (which gives Rotorua it's characteristic 'rotten egg' smell). We then rode up the Rotorua Gondola for a a few rides on the Luge, a scenic bush walk with magnificent views overlooking the town and lake as well as an exhilarating ride on the Skyswing where you are pulled 50m up into the air and then dropped, swinging out over the side of the mountain - 0 to 150kph in 2 seconds! Talk about a rush of adrenaline!
On our second day, we started with a walk to Kaiura Park to see the geothermal pools and then went back to our Lodge for a soak in the hot pool before driving to a nearby town, Waitomo, famous for its glowworm studded caves.
We spent 4 hours in Ruakuri Cave on the Black Odyssey Tour, squeezing through long tunnels, climbing up into tights spaces and marvelling at the magical little glowworms covering the ceiling before traversing a high-ropes course suspended 25m over a roaring river within the cave system Here, we abseiled, ziplined, swung out over the black abyss, walked the tightrope and two suspended ladders, all whiltst traversing the cliff - definitely a highlight of our time in New Zealand.

Our third day in Rotorua, was spent at Hells Gate. We took a tour through the geothermal park to see all the bubbling mud baths and sulphurous pools as well as an incredible hot waterfall which was used by the local Maori tribes as a place of healing.
We then got to try out the beneficial qualities of the Hells Gate mud for ourselves in a private Mud Spa which was thoroughly enjoyable.
We finished off our last day in Rotorua with a visit to the night food markets to taste some of the local produce - and some delicious mini donuts too, of course.
On our drive back up to Auckland, we made a bit of a detour to visit the Hobbiton Movie Set where we got to explore the hobbit holes, peek inside Bag-End, the home of Frodo and Bilbo Baggins and even have a drink at the Green Dragon Inn.
(Below: Hobbiton. Opposite - left to right, top to bottom: Clowning around on Lake Rotorua, the view from the top of the gondola x2, ready for a luge ride, caving adventure x2, mud spa at Hells Gate)