Welcome to Rotorua, the thermal springs capital of NZ.

Yesterday morning Sherilyn & I left Auckland and went down to Waitomo (wai means water, tomo means ground, "the place where the water goes into the ground") which is famous for it's limestone caves (some go for miles and are deep, and there are more to be discovered yet). We arrived just in time to pick up a 3 hour tour of one of the caves with a superb guide who informed us all about the countryside on the drive there (20 mins to that cave) and who was full of interesting tidbits (which I will use obnoxiously for the next few weeks to impress others with my caving expertise). When we got in the cave (the ceilings were a good 20 feet high at least) we hopped in raft and were immersed in the darkness floating down a river in the cave. Almost darkness - thousands of glowworms lit up the roof with their blue/green tails. It's actually their waste that glows once it meets with oxygen and works to attract their food. Although they look like slimy little worms, they are actually larvae that turn into flies and attract food using spider-like silk strands. Whatever you want to call them, the little green guy with a pajama cap on I had as a kid is much cuter. But these guys didn't require batteries which gives them some credit.

We ended up at a hostel that advertised itself as being in Waitomo but was 45km (an hour's drive) from there. Initial annoyance subsided once we realized we had gone from 6 people in a refrigerator box in the city centre to having a country farmhouse all to ourselves for the night. Plus this morning we were only a short drive from the Manakuri (Marakuni?) Falls which were a true natural beauty worth the trip. No trip to Waitomo is complete without a trip to the Museum of Caves and the Shearing Shed. Sheep? No way man, these were rabbits! Huge fluffy German Angora Rabbits! Well not huge once they were done with the poor little bugger!

On to Rotorua! (Roto means second, rua means lake, "the second lake" found when the area was settled in the 1400's). Due to some volcanic activity and other science-y stuff, there are hot pools all through the area. Ever see mud boil in the ground or steam come from a pond? Kind of looks like mom's gravy! We just got to walk through one of the parks which last "erupted" - mud, not lava - in 2001, made supper and now have to sit and plan our Rotarua activities for the next 2 days.