Rotorua...

Upon arrival in Rotorua one thing was immediately prevalent, the overwhelming smell of sulphur protruding from the hot pots all around. It was an amazing site, driving around and seeing the steam escaping from the ground everywhere.

Bree was very hungry and therefore slightly deranged as she thought the sulphur smell was enjoyable and that it 'smelled like cheerios.' Because this was definitely not the case we made it a point to feed the poor child and then she too realized how unpleasant the sulphur smell really was.

See the steam? Yeah, not a cheerio-eche smell...sorry Bree.

After a good night's rest, we set out to find the natural (and best of all *FREE*) hot and cold pools just outside of Rotorua. This is a pool that has two streams leading into it, one hot and one cold (slightly obvious from the name eh?). The pool was fabulous, and while we were initially apprehensive, we soon found the hot section to be very relaxing and all in all quite fabulous.

While enjoying the hot pool we were joined by a naked local who enlightened us on the exfoliating properties of the lava rock surrounding the pools. Being gullible Americans as we are, we proceeded to smear the volcanic ash on our skin and then pose for pictures.

Here I was going for the rugby look,

While Brooke was working on her glamour shots for next months edition of Vogue.

After the ash mud mixture had dried we proceeded to rub it off, and luckily for us and our already dry and travelled hides, the crazy local was not as crazy as we had initially believed. The mixture worked wonders as an exfolient and left our skin silky and smooth... a wonderful natural scrub, and we didn't even have to pay loads to use it, shocking really.

Looks like an ad campaign for the ash... coming to a drug store near you!

Upon leaving the hot pool, we realized that for the first time since our arrival in New Zealand, we were not cold. As our new found friend explained, the hot pools warmed even your bones and we enjoyed our new found warmth for the remainder of the day.

Following our hot pool experience, we went to see another naturally phenomenon in Rotorua, the boiling mud. This was brilliant; the molten mud bubbled and popped from the volcanic activity beneath the surface, providing a fantastic show.

After experiencing some of the natural wonders of Rotorua, we went on to take part in some commercial scams as well. Zorbing. A New Zealand phenomenon where you are put in a very large blow up ball filled with warm soapy water and then sent rolling down a hill.

The Zorb making its way down the zigzag path

Though a bit expensive, this is a must do for the young and young at heart. All three of us piled into the zorb and went flying down the hill like hamsters in their running balls. When we reached the bottom, we were a bit disoriented, but found the soapy water to be the perfect chaser to our earlier sulphur baths.

Can't you see how clean we are?

If you happen to be in Rotorua and decided to try Zorbing, I recommend the wet single Zorb on the zigzag track, or the 3 person Zorb down the straight track. Either way you will have a good time, and come out dizzy and nice and clean.